Half

Yes, I'm nearly in 'holiday' mode. Not quite, but getting there. A mad dash to the shops to get myself a few items for my trip home. I got a few of them but not all. I'm not too concerned though. I pretty much have everything that I need. Nice.

The weather even got all Scottish as well, just to make me feel all homesick - wet and windy. Not massively wet but wet enough. The irony being that back at home, it's snowing! Gloves and scarf and the ready.

4 days until home time.

Climb

Thank goodness.
That working week is over.
It was godawful.

I had an assignment due. The assignment was on problem solving and decision making. I had to choose the problem to tackle and go through all these steps in order to 'solve' it. It's done but it's not of a high standard. I should counter that and say that it's not a high standard for me, but it might be enough to pass overall and that really is my sole aim. I had difficulties doing it. I just couldn't be bothered in all honesty. I knew I had to do it but when it actually came to sitting down to do it, I just couldn't summon the energy. Even now that it is sent, I just don't care much for it.

In addition this week was all those batches of supervisors coming for their English test. Much like the assignment, it was something that had to get done whether I wanted to or not. I certainly don't enjoy it and come today, I just wanted the time to pass quickly and everyone to get it completed with minimal fuss. In the end, they did and I finished a little early. Now all I have to do is mark the test papers and collate all the information. Then send it off to all the relevant Departments and people. I'll have to do that on Sunday even although it is a day off - Islamic New Year. But, when that gets sent I can definitely say that I'm on my holidays. I certainly don't feel I am on holiday at the moment, that's for sure though that will come soon enough.

Stay

I wonder if it's just me, but often, a lot of people just do my head in. They annoy me. they don't always have to do that much but often they just don't think and start going on about utter nonsense. Nonsense that they have no real knowledge of but just want to make a point and make themselves appear more important than they actually are. Politics would be other way of looking at it too. Office politics. I tend not to get involved in it all because ultimately, it's all a pile of horse-poo.

So today we had our weekly update with our line manager. This should take place each week for an hour but it hasn't since the end of October as people have been on holiday, we've had Eid and other stuff as well. I had about 15 minutes to update everyone on 6 weeks worth of information. Impossible. I did what I could but of that 15 minutes, 20 minutes of it got taken up with basically 'me bashing'. It all arose because when I applied for my holidays, I put in for the week between Christmas and New Year. It then wanted a few days before Christmas and a few days after New Year. Since I had already been given the week inbetween, I simply sent an E-mail asking for a) the days before Christmas and b) the days after New Year. It made sense to do it that way. But no. My line manager wanted to make a fuss of about it and said that I should cancel everything and start again to cover the total period I wanted to take off. In essence, there is no difference in the slightest about the final outcome whichever why it is done but then dearest line manager started to go on about HR rules and regulations and then something about 'company insurance' when someone leaves the UAE on their 'weekend'. Yeah, me too, I didn't get it. I just sat there thinking 'what on earth is this?' It was just all a nonsense. Then a few of the others at the weekly update decided to wade in with there own 'views' i.e. agreeing with the boss so that they will look good. I just kept my thoughts to myself and didn't get involved much. In the end, my line manager said that she would contact HR for verification.

So, what was the outcome?

Nothing. What I did was perfectly fine and all nonsense that was aired was just that, 'air', of the hot variety. At the end of the E-mail explaining this was something along the lines of '...yeah but I would prefer 1 e-mail in future covering the whole period of holidays'. I thought it best not to comment on it. I will here though. Stupid. Don't make a scene if you don't know what it is your arguing for. That is more aimed at my respected colleagues. The ones without brains.

Obtuse

You always get one. One 'student' who resents everything and has an opinion that he has to share with everyone. Today was that day. I knew it as soon as he sat down. He had that look in his eye. To begin with he just couldn't see the point of coming to do this English test that had been scheduled for all the supervisors. He was too good and he considered it an insult to him. He was Egyptian and no Egyptian would fail this test. He went to an American University and he had been a Dispatcher blah blah blah. In fact, he said that even his 5 year daughter could come and do this test.I could and probably should have pulled the seniority card on him and given him a few 'facts' for example that a number of Egyptian's had come to this particular test and failed.I didn't do that but I merely said that everyone was doing it and that if it was too easy for him, then fine.

Isn't it ironic that when I came to mark his test, he passed by the skin of his teeth. Empty vessels, biggest noise spring to mind. Idiot. I later found out that he had been in a higher position but had been down graded because he had caused a serious safety breach. He's so good, yet only in his own mind. These kinds of people should just keep quiet and do what they need to and do it well instead of commenting and blaming everything and everyone.

I hope I don't have the misfortune to see him again. I'll only see him again if he gets downgraded further. Which might happen.

Tell you what as well, it rained for 12 hours straight today. When I mean, 12 hours, I mean 12 hours. Not just a little on and off. No, it was 12 hours straight and it was chucking it down. The roads were flowing with water. There is a big massive puddle at the end of the street which could be classed as a small sea. Shocking!

Ditto

Rain.

Heaps of it.

I guess it had to come sooner or later. And when it did, it certainly does. No messing around. No drizzle, nothing.

Hardcore!

I actually had to turn on my windscreen wipers.

Still trying to figure out how to turn on the rear ones mind.

Songs of the Decade /apparently, according to Rolling Stone/

1 | Gnarls Barkley — "Crazy"

2 | Jay-Z — "99 Problems"

3 | Beyoncé — "Crazy in Love"

4 | Outkast — "Hey Ya!"

5 | M.I.A. — "Paper Planes"

6 | The White Stripes — "Seven Nation Army"

7 | Yeah Yeah Yeahs — "Maps"

8 | Amy Winehouse — "Rehab"

9 | U2 — "Beautiful Day"

10 | Eminem — "Stan"

11 | MGMT — "Time to Pretend"

12 | Eminem — "Lose Yourself"

13 | 50 Cent — "In Da Club"

14 | Missy Elliott — "Get Ur Freak On"

15 | Johnny Cash — "Hurt"

16 | The Strokes — "Last Nite"

17 | Bob Dylan — "Mississippi"

18 | Kelly Clarkson — "Since U Been Gone"

19 | Kanye West — "Jesus Walks"

20 | Justin Timberlake — "Cry Me a River"

21 | OutKast — "B.O.B."

22 | Amerie — "1 Thing"

23 | Rihanna — "Umbrella"

24 | Radiohead — "Everything in Its Right Place"

25 | Missy Elliott — "Work It"

26 | Coldplay — "Clocks"

27 | The Postal Service — "Such Great Heights"

28 | Randy Newman — "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country"

29 | Kanye West — "Gold Digger"

30 | R. Kelly — "Ignition (Remix)"

31 | The Flaming Lips — "Do You Realize?"

32 | Franz Ferdinand — "Take Me Out"

33 | Daft Punk — "One More Time"

34 | Coldplay — "Yellow"

35 | Bruce Springsteen — "The Rising"

36 | U2 — "Moment of Surrender"

37 | LCD Soundsystem — "Losing My Edge"

38 | Gorillaz — "Clint Eastwood"

39 | Modest Mouse — "Float On"

40 | Kelis — "Milkshake"

41 | LCD Soundsystem — "All My Friends"

42 | Arcade Fire — "Wake Up"

43 | The Roots — "The Seed (2.0)"

44 | Britney Spears — "Toxic"

45 | Kylie Minogue — "Can't Get You Out of My Head"

46 | MGMT — "Kids"

47 | Green Day — "American Idiot"

48 | The Killers — "Mr. Brightside"

49 | The Walkmen — "The Rat"

50 | Beyoncé — "Single Ladies"

51 | D'Angelo — "Untitled (How Does It Feel)"

52 | Christina Aguilera — "Beautiful"

53 | The Rapture — "House of Jealous Lovers"

54 | Coldplay — "The Scientist"

55 | OutKast — "Ms. Jackson"

56 | Radiohead — "Idioteque"

57 | The Shins — "New Slang"

58 | The White Stripes — "Fell In Love With a Girl"

59 | The Strokes — "Hard to Explain"

60 | Beyoncé — "Irreplaceable"

61 | Jet — "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"

62 | Alicia Keys — "Fallin'"

63 | Lil Wayne — "A Milli"

64 | U2 — "Vertigo"

65 | Green Day — "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"

66 | Madonna — "Music"

67 | Wilco — "Jesus, Etc."

68 | Coldplay — "Viva La Vida"

69 | Santigold — "L.E.S. Artistes"

70 | Arctic Monkeys — "I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor"

71 | Justice — "D.A.N.C.E."

72 | Kings of Leon — "Use Somebody"

73 | Queens of the Stone Age — "No One Knows"

74 | TV on the Radio — "Wolf Like Me"

75 | Arcade Fire — "Rebellion (Lies)"

76 | Madonna — "Hung Up"

77 | Dixie Chicks — "Not Ready to Make Nice"

78 | LCD Soundsystem — "Daft Punk is Playing at My House"

79 | Robert Plant and Alison Krauss — "Gone Gone Gone"

80 | Phoenix — "1901"

81 | Pink — "Get The Party Started"

82 | Jay-Z — "Dirt Off Your Shoulder"

83 | The Gossip — "Standing in the Way of Control"

84 | The Clipse — "Grindin'"

85 | The Dirty Projectors — "Stillness Is the Move"

86 | Aaliyah — "Try Again"

87 | The Knife — "Heartbeats"

88 | Jay-Z — "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)"

89 | Bright Eyes — "Lua"

90 | Midlake — "Roscoe"

91 | Bruce Springsteen — "My City of Ruins"

92 | Brad Paisley — "Alcohol"

93 | Snoop Dogg — "Drop It Like It's Hot"

94 | Radiohead — "Pyramid Song"

95 | Mary J. Blige — "Family Affair"

96 | Lady Gaga — "Poker Face"

97 | Fleet Foxes — "White Winter Hymnal"

98 | Amy Winehouse — "Back to Black"

99 | Gorillaz — "Feel Good Inc."

100 | Damian Marley — "Welcome to Jamrock"

 

Interesting list.
My goodness, I need to stoop all this 'lists' nonsense. I'm turning into that bloke from High Fidelity.

LCD has 3 entries. The Rapture is there. Phoenix is. Daft Punk. Justice. Strokes. White Stripes. Santigold. THE DIRTY PROJECTORS!

There are a good number of UK acts also which is surprising for an American publication. I guess you could infer that the UK does actually make some decent music after all. Minus certain Coldplay songs of course. I'm not sure I would have selected that many U2 songs but I guess with a lot of these lists, the publication in question has to be nice to bands that have been on their covers.

I wonder if it's possible to get these downloaded and a playlist made up. Now that would be something.

feed

There are some days that things just don't go to plan whatsoever, irrespective of how much you want them to. In fact, the more you try and get things to go to plan, the more awry they go. The previous game of football we had, everything I touched went in. It was brilliant. This time however, I couldn't even pass properly let alone score a goal. Without sounding too big headed, my first touch is generally pretty decent and often I can flick the ball off to a team mate in space. I just couldn't do it this time. I was passing too strongly or too weakly. My shooting was equally poor. The worst being missing an open goal. In my defence, I wasn't that close and at an angle. I tried to pass it into the goal but missed to the right. That was it. Despite it being only a practice match, I just wanted to disappear after that.

The only 'reason' I can think of for this was my shoes. Lame excuse, huh?

Previously I had just been wearing my normal trainers. This time though, I had proper football boots and it's the first time I've worn football boots for years and years. The boots are made of a different, stronger material to my trainers meaning that I can't 'feel' the ball as well. Also, the laces and bits the laces go in aren't in the certain of the shoe like my trainers, rather, they are off-centre which supposedly makes it easier to strike the ball. Maybe so, but I wasn't striking it well at all.

Off I traipsed after the game. Dejected. I was crap. Simple as that. With a week to go before the big competition, this are looking bleak.

Bugle

Isn't the Hangover, the funniest film you have seen in ages and ages?

If you haven't, I'd definitely say get in downloaded. It's quite common for American films to be hyped with the promise of being 'funny' but then after watching, you feel somewhat underwhelmed by it. I guess that has much to do with the differing senses of humour of both sides of pond.

The Hangover though. Yes. It actually is laugh out loud funny. I shouldn't spoil it but let's just say that Mike Tyson is in it. And he sings. There's a tiger in the bathroom. A real one. And 'Alan' steals the film. He's 'out-there'!

"Is this the, you know, the real Caesar's Palace? Did he live here?"
"No"

If my Stag Night is even half as good, then, well, let's just say my future Mrs might not want to find out about it.

Pentagon

Definitely sore after yesterday's football bonanza. I had expected it but I did try to stretch off as much as I could. I did need a bit of deep heat though. Ouch.

It wasn't so much the sore muscles, rather, it was the insect bites that 'happened'. For the first time here in 'Dubai'. It wasn't Dubai though, it was Sharjah. Maybe they have insects that bite and not Dubai. Irrespective of the 'where', I was bitten a few times. Legs and knees. And they itch like hell. It's that sweet tasting Scottish blood. I need soju or marmite. Both tended to do the trick, though not mixed together. No one would speak to you if you had both at the same time.

Bird

It's quite nice to be able to get up on the 2nd day of December and not freeze your ass off. Instead, it's something of a luxury to get up and think 'oh, I might go up to the roof and have a swim'.

And so I did just that. In fact, it's was quite warm as well. In saying that, the pool is cold. I think it's still on the summer setting. It definitely doesn't need to be as cold as it is. In such cases there is only one thing for it and that is just to jump in and hope for the best. Like a man.

To add to my general sense of smugness and all round good health, football was back on the agenda. We have a 7-a-side competition on the 12th December. This time, it's on grass. I haven't played since before Ramadan which was in August. I realise that starting up again with only 10 days to go before the competition starts is shockingly bad but I've had my reasons; namely that were everyone plays isn't actually in Dubai, it's in the next Emirate over in Sharjah. It's quite a distance and there is always traffic. Lot's of it.

But, I went and to be honest, I was knackered. I did what I could and indeed, I scored 5 of the goals in our teams total of 8. It's like everything I touched went in. Take the first goal. The game had literally just started and within 30 seconds we were in their penalty area. I was about 10 feet from the goal. I got the ball but I was facing the wrong way, with my back to the goal. I just thought 'to hell, just backheel it and see what happens'. Low and behold, in it sailed, off the post. I was faintly embarrassed but a goal is a goal and over all these months, I take it.

I wonder how long the good fortune will last. Not long, I suspect.