Eid Mubarak!!

Eid Mubarak!!

Or.... HAPPY EID!!!

Well, as this may not be as exciting to most everyone that is reading this, here it is exciting because Eid marks the end of the holy month Ramadan, and is considered like Christmas for Muslims - gifts are exchanged, there are a lot of festivities, lots of EATING, etc. For the last month, Muslims have fasted from dawn till dusk, and now it is over and they can all CELEBRATE! We too can celebrate because during that time we couldn't drink or eat in public to respect their fasting, AND all bars were closed and now they have re-opened.

Eid also marks a sad time. Why? For the last month we all have worked 30 hours instead of 50 AND in honor of Eid, we have 4 full days off. Total vacation, huh? I'm sad it's over and now it is going to be TOUGH getting back to work, I'll tell you that. This month was somewhat of mentally refreshing as it really felt like vacation... work was a bit slow (many people are out of the country) and I had lots more free time on my hands. Too bad it just went by too fast!!!

I had my pre-Ramadan goals, or things I wanted to do, and I think for the most part I accomplished them!

• Update my blog, he he - CHECK!
• Do a photobook from my trip to Rwanda/Uganda - CHECK! (it's at my parents house, BTW).
• Finally make a system for the 2098203982 passwords I have for various things - CHECK!
• Organize finances/$$ - Umm.... basically I LOOKED at my finances and realized how hard it is to save in Dubai. Does that count? haha. 
• Read up on educational PT stuff  - Kinda check.
• Back up desktop to external hard-drive - CHECK!
• Read 2 books - CHECK!! Read a good one my friend from Rwanda recommended: Land of Thousand Hills by Roseland Carr. It was very good. Then read The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta... umm.. very different book. I wouldn't say it was my most favorite book, just ... interesting. 
• Pick up a new sport - CHECK! Squash! It's actually pretty fun, and nice to do something different. I even doubled the CHECK by buying a squash racket just yesterday. Woo hoo!
• Work on 2 presentations I have to do back to back in September - Darn it, that is probably the ONE thing I REALLY should have done, but darn it, just kept procrastinating. I kinda looked into some information about it, but eh.... nothing more than that :-(
• Learn a few more cooking recipes - Kinda check. I didn't do that, BUT I FINALLY, after sitting around for literally 5 months, used this steamer I bought and steamed some veggies and chicken, which I was quite proud of (although it is very easy). So I at least did something related to cooking. :-) 
• Catch up with people (email, phone, etc) - CHECK! There are of course A LOT of people out there, but I did the best I could and am satisfied with reaching out. 
• Go scuba diving! CHECK! This was a 2-part process because as it has been more than a 6 months since I last had been scuba diving, I had to take a refresher course. Which, if you ask me, is just a scam, but whatever (I've gone years without diving and have jumped right in). I went and it wasn't as bad as I thought, and I guess I did refresh some skills I totally forgot about since I got certified in 1996. True story. Then TODAY I went to Fujeirah, another Emirate of the U.A.E. Although the visibility was a bit poor and the bottom temperature was surprisingly cool, it was nice to get out of town and be outside. Saw turtles, moray eel, lionfish, comet fish, and much more. And got some sun despite it being, as usual, muggy and sandy out.
• Watch American TV and/or a movie - I caught up on Glee (hehe), 30 Rock, and Modern Family. Then I watched Gorillas in the Mist to mark my full-swing Rwanda rediscovery, referring to the book I just read and now watched this 90's movie. 
• Watch Olympics - CHECK! That was super fun! As I don't have a TV, I used the BEST THING EVER, my new VPN! I use Witopia, logged on into London, so the computer things I am there, and then watched LIVE Olympics! Yea!! Then a few times my nice neighbors let me come over and watch it on their actual TV. Thanks neighbors! 
• Decorate my apt a little bit - No check :-( My apt is awfully.... bare and white, so I will have to change that. I have posters and paintings, but have been slow moving to get frames. Maybe I should make a goal to do that by next Ramadan? haha. 

Hmm... I think that was it on my list! Soo... overall, not too bad. Although I am still in a bit of a funk post not having Olympics to look fwd to and also my vacation to Serbia came and went too quickly, but what to do? That is life - all good things have to come to an end, unfortunately. But, alas, there is some brightness ahead - I am going to Jordan in September, and then the "cooler" season begins here in Dubai, so life things should pick up again - both sports and social life. Then come end of November, I'll be coming home! Yea!!! Time flies by here, so it will be here before you know it!!!

So wherever you are, EID MUBARAK!!!