It's starting to warm up here. We're hitting around 90 most days. It's not hot, at least compared to 130 it's not. The evenings are fucking amazing! It won't be much longer that I can keep my windows open and enjoy 'fresh' air. I'll try to send some warmth and sunshine your way b-lo. Now onto more photos from the north of Qatar.



whenever I travel I always wonder about random articles of clothing I find in the street, or up in a tree - in this case, what's the story behind a single sandal in the middle of nowhere?


I really mean the middle of nowhere!


where we found camel bones


and got a flat tire! (that's why you never go adventuring alone, even with a healthy spare)


we came upon a place that might have been part of a war


it was riddled with bullet holes


and graffiti


we also found what looks like a natural rock in the middle of the desert


but is a place for a man to hide out

stay tuned for more next time!

top of a lookout tower


staircase of the tower


remnants of the wall that surrounded the neighborhood


the homes are built using rocks, then they just smooth it over with a cement like mixture; i guess this house has returned to the earth


view from a window


this reminds me of mexican pueblos


this area used to be under water, the ground is made of millions of tiny sea shells!

One of my co-workers and I are testing out various forms of massage to find what style and place we like best, with the best price of course. So we tried this Chinese massage at the 'Chinese Health Center'. I sign-in and then I'm taken to my room. My room happens to be directly off the office area. No hallway, just a door leading directly into the lobby and a second door leading to another room.
My masseuse speaks like 5 words of English. Four of which were, "Clothes you take off". I'm thinking, ok, where is the changing curtain, but there is none. Just drop trou there in the middle of the room with two doors leading to other clients that aren't locked. So I'm trying to maintain some level of modesty while magically changing while holding a towel up.

I jump on the rickety table and she begins with a nice gentle glide of her oily hands over my shoulders. I thought the oil smelled like baby powder and ass but with the amount of incense in that place, who knows. Not 2 minutes in someone comes barging in from the other room apparently asking for some oil or something. I'm like, "Helloooooooooo, client on the table for Pete's sake!" They get what they want and leave. I can hear the music from the other room but I don't get any of my own.

Then my masseuse starts hitting me ye old karate chop style. My poor face was getting squished down into the face hole so far I thought she might break my neck! She finally pauses and I think relief is in sight. Then she starts slapping me like sumo wrestler all across my shoulders and down my back! I was thinking, "Shit lady I only have one kidney could you try not to damage it". She stops and pinches my neck for what seems like 5 minutes, then moves down to my legs.

This is when the party really gets started. She begins violently rubbing my legs lengthwise. Thankfully with the oil she was only able to rub off one layer of skin and not 7. Next thing I know she starts shaking me. My entire body was being whipped side to side and I thought for sure I was going to slide right off the side and onto the floor.

Next my dear masseuse gets to my feet. She started punching them and grinding her knuckles into the soles. I had to interject for fear of passing out in pain because of my right foot. So she eased up and it actually felt nice until she cranked my ankle in a weird way. Ding-ding, time to flip over. I wondered if I could tolerate the abuse on my front side. It's much softer than the back and surely cannot tolerate the same abuse.

She starts with my face. Pinching it and squishing it, I almost yelped when she grabbed my eyebrows. It felt like she was trying to pull them right off my face. Had she been a little stronger she just might have. She's very gentle on my arms which contradicts everything she had done up to that point. Then she yanks the towel up and starts pushing on my guts! I began chanting in my mind, "Please don't karate chop me here". She didn't. She moved on to the legs again and began bending and twisting them in yoga like ways.

Lastly she yells at me to, "sit". I held the towel and sat up. I thought it was over and maybe she would give me a little privacy this time to get dressed. Nope. She jumps up on the table with me! I thought for sure that thing was going to crack the way it was groaning. She takes another towel and starts again with the violent rubbing. My chest is being heaved into my knees and I can feel the burn on my back. To wrap it all up she gives me a final beating.

I had to run to the market this morning for a few programming things. Suddenly this older (maybe 50) Qatari man approaches me and says, "Mademoiselle, mumble, mumble, mumble". I look around to see if he is in fact directing the comment at me, which he is because the only other person in the isle was a man. So being the polite, although partially deaf, person that I am I say, "Pardon me?" He again mumbles something which sounds like Arabic. So I try my best to say in Arabic, that I in fact do not really speak it. So he mumbles again and holds this box of custard in my face. I'm thinking MAYBE he's trying to ask me a cooking question? It's my nature to want to help people. So I attempt to communicate and ask what he needs help with. Then he starts saying, "Friend, friend, friend".

Okay then. Um....I'm just going to excuse myself from your presence and you have a really great day. So I mosey on my way, trying to finish my list as quickly as possible because I have more important things to be doing that grocery shopping for programs at this point. Well, 30 seconds later my little friend turns the corner and rolls his cart right over to me. "Friend, friend....you, me, friend, friend". I admit I was probably looking at him like he was an asylum escapee. Then he makes a telephone gesture and says, "mobile, you, friend, friend" and winks at me. At this point I realized this dude was trying to pick me up! EWE!

He was probably mumbling in case any moral police were around.

I'm trying to organize my photos into folders so I can clean them up post my painting project and exploration of the north of Qatar. Meanwhile, here are a few bits-n-bobs that don't fit any category.



One of my staff had a Valentine program to watch a sappy movie and decorate heart cookies. This was mine. Tre GAG.



People spend an ass load of money on weddings here. It's typical to have around 500+ guests. Anyway, I couldn't go to this one, but pitched in on a group gift for a co-worker. These were the wedding favors. 1 GB jump drives, with leather embossed casings.



I miss my pooch :(



What the hell happened that I looked like this less than 3 years ago??? Seriously must get back to 'normal' self! Minus the short hair. I had just chopped mine off to donate to Lock of Love when this pic was taken.

Before I die I really want my picture taken with this sign!

Thanks for the love (e:Lettuce)! Much appreciated :)

I'm spending the night with my Italian lover, Disaronno. Amen!




I promised photos from my adventure up North. I don't have time to make a worthwhile post of it so I'll give you a teaser photo. Enjoy.

Should I paint or go to bed? I could go either way. I think what kind of music I put in my stereo will dictate. Should I close my eyes and reach for a disc? Yes, I'm going to do it.

Stand by for results: Her Space Holiday, Manic Expressive

Pajamas it is!


I plan to hit the liquor store with my aunt and uncle tomorrow. Then maybe we'll brave the souqs for some cool do-dads.



Went to bed. Got woken up ass early (what kind of students are up and chatting in the parking lot at 7:30am on a Saturday!!!???) so I decided to paint my hallway. I got a bit messy so I've just showered up and am heading to the aunt's house. We'll probably hit the fabric souqs, and of course, we'll be making the journey out to buy croft some adult beverage to keep her sanity!

More cool QF stuff. (e:Jenks) mentioned a tid bit of this in one of her recent posts. I found the article which details the donation. I thought it was 2.5 million, which I thought was pretty cool. However, it was actually 60 million, which is amazing! I'm just going to post it in here because you have to have membership to read the article at it's original site.

Qatar Gives Money to Katrina Victims
From the issue dated May 12, 2006: Chronicle of Higher Education
By PAULA WASLEY

Last week the oil-rich emirate of Qatar announced the allocation of $60-million to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. More than half of the money will go to three universities in Louisiana.

Xavier University of Louisiana, the country's only historically black Roman Catholic university, will receive $12.5-million to expand its College of Pharmacy in order to increase enrollment, and to hire staff members for clinics in low-income neighborhoods of New Orleans. An additional $5-million will go to a Qatar Scholarship Fund, to provide full scholarships to Xavier students affected by the hurricane.

Tulane University was promised $10-million for scholarships for both new and returning students from Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi who were affected by Katrina. Qatar also pledged $3.3-million to Louisiana State University for a fund to provide help with tuition, room, and board for 1,249 students.

The announcement detailed the distribution of a portion of $100-million in hurricane-relief funds pledged in September by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, emir of Qatar. The country's embassy plans to allocate the remaining $40-million in pledged contributions in the next several weeks.

In a written statement, Scott S. Cowen, Tulane's president, called the donation "an extremely generous gift."

The beneficiaries were chosen by Qatar's ambassador to the United States, Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa, with assistance from an advisory committee comprising James A. Baker III, a former U.S. secretary of state; Laura D'Andrea Tyson, dean of the business school at the University of California at Berkeley; John J. DeGioia, president of Georgetown University; and Lee R. Raymond, recently retired chief executive of the Exxon Mobil Corporation.

"Hurricane Katrina was very devastating," said the ambassador, "and the world is becoming a village. In today's world, we are one world. ... People wanted to help."

The three universities were chosen, he said, because each one had a large population of students coming from the areas most affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Qatar chose to donate money directly to the institutions rather than to intermediary organizations, such as the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund or the American Red Cross, so as to ensure transparency and accountability, he said.

In my dream, I lived in a city. I was walking down a sidewalk to my older sister's house. I was only wearing a short, light blue, terrycloth towel. Once I entered the exterior street door I was in a massive foyer. It had a rich and ornate church like interior. A double wide oak staircase was blocked by a thick oak railing. I used the small gate, climbed the steps, and entered the house through the stained glass door.

My sister was hanging out in her bath robe making some tea. My nephew was sleeping in his crib. We were just going to sit down for some cookies when the door bell rang. Still wearing my towel dress, I went out to the foyer. There were two (e:peeps) greeting me. It didn't make any sense to me why they would be there, or how they even knew that I was there. I invite them in anyway. One of them decided he was better off jumping the railing rather than using the gate. His foot got caught resulting in the rapid propulsion of his body over the railing thus planting his face firmly on the ground.

It was actually quite messy. He popped up with his busted self, blood running down his green shirt and jeans, and says, "Change of plans I'll fuck you later when I get out of the hospital". He and the other peep leave. I head back in to my sister's house.

Apparently my sister was very wealthy and had a larger number of staff at her disposal. For fun she made them partake in 'games' that I saw as a cross between reality tv bake offs and that crazy hysterical Japanese show MXC.

Next thing I know there is a giant Jelly Belly bean cook off. Five chefs had to make a jelly bean the size of a small child. I think they weighed around 50 pounds. They had to put their jelly bean in their apron and attempt to stay on their feet while going down a wide plastic slide covered in flour. Seriously! Needless to say they all wiped out. However it doesn't end there!

The bottom of the slide is in a basement maze. Here the chefs have to run around in near darkness collecting 3 artifacts and then finding the single spiral staircase to victory.