Too Much...For One Weekend!

Hey everyone,

Have you ever had days when you wish you had loads of things to do, but there is nothing to do? You wonder how you can fill your day up by doing stuff which you never had a chance to do. You wonder whatyou can do to make your day more exciting. Well, yesterday, and today are days that I know will makeup for all those days where I had nothing to day.

Let's see, what happened yesterday. In the morning, I was supposed to go to the doctor to get the follow up check but did not do so. I should've but didn't as I had other committments at the work place. Then, from the work place I got chatting to a friend and we discovered something new on the Yahoo Messenger. In YM, there is an option to upload "environments" which basically give a theme to your screen. So, we got the Doodle one, where my friend and I could doodle on the screen and playgames and do drawings and all. It passed a good two hours easily! lots of fun and crazy laughs along the way.

Came home, and had to get ready for a presentation in Dubai. My father is involved with a group of people inPakistanm who are developing a housing project in Lahore, Pakistan. The project is called Sukh Chayn Gardens, which means Peaceful/ Serenity Gardens. It was invitees only presentation, and I asked another friend of mine to come along with me, since I did not want to be there alone. See, what happens is that if I am alone, I have to somehow meet up with all the uncles and aunts there and then having to face questions and more questions from them. It puts me in an embarassing spot, especially when someone asks me either what class I am in, or when my marriage will take place. Aarrgh!

So my friend and I watched the speaker talk about the project, and watched a documentary. I wish I could post the documentary here since it was so informative, and the minute they showed it, I realized how much I was missing my hometown Lahore. I so badly wanted to go there and savor the pleasures of living in the cultural capital of Pakistan. Lahore' s culture makes Dubai's culture look so pale and devoid of anything remotely cultural. The presenatation was over and the floor was open for questions. Ok, even as I am writing this, I am suffocating, because when I think about the questions the people asked, I was infuriated.

One of the guys who was questioning was a student with me at university, and he has a repuation of being a perfectionist. He started off in a fake american accent, " Yes, I have a question, which is actually a two part question." Everyone in the hall groaned. After his two part question were answered, he grabbed the microphone, and said "Sir, I have two more questions." Everyone groaned more, and his fourth questions had several sub parts to it. I began suffocating, because this questioner was dissecting this project as if it were an academic project. Why do you have to make a fool out of yourself by asking questions which seem intelligent but actualy make you look like a fool? The people who were invited here were people from well to do background and educated. Why do they have to ask dumb questions, totally irrelevant to the whole project. It's beyond me!

My friend and I had to meet a third friend of ours, and since everything was late, we had to leave the rest of the question and answer session and miss the dinner. We had dinner at Automatic restuarant, which I will affirm as the best arabic restaurtant in Dubai. Then, the friend was invited to Zinc over at Crowne Plaza Hotel, supposedly one of the better clubs in Dubai. So we headed over to Crowne Plaza hotel, where my friend's friend came down and talked to the bouncer and let us pass through the waiting list. We climbed up at least two floors and entered the club.

"Zinc also has a live band, which performs the latest R n B tracks from the previous weeks. This band is highly talented, and can really attract the crowds. The drinks, are about 22Dhs here, nearing towards £4. You may think that this is very expensive, but if you make sure that you goto a pub first, which I will advise you on shortly, you will not have to spend so much money. I will mention that Zinc has a very stringent entry code. You must wear fashionable clothes, and if you are obesely overweight, or for example have bad acne, you will not be allowed to enter (which I think personally is very prejudist). Also, as is everywhere in dubai, it is stricltly over the age of 21. So even if you are 20, forget it (you may get away with it in most of the other clubs in Dubai)"

My friend and I were very lucky that we were dressed smart, since we are at the presentation function earlier at another hotel. Otherwise I think we would have been rejected from the club. My friend and I could not even stay for 15 minutes. Amazingly loud music that made the whole body shiver. People falling all over each other. Girls doing ruanchy dancing. Men ogling at the women. The Filipino singer trying to sing like the black rappers. We had enough when one of the guys who was obviously drunk fell all over my friend. "That's it! We are leaving!" So, within 15 minutes, my friend and I left Zinc and headed back home.

It was quite interesting to see what Zinc was all about. It's supposed to be one of the better and cleaner clubs in Dubai. If Zinc was like this, I wonder what the others would be like. This was probably the third time I went to a club in Dubai the whole time I have been here since 1998. I know I am not missing out on anything.

So, I got home, and I watched E.T, which my friend had on DVD and I borrowed.

So today, I got up at 9am and had to go to a colleague's house, where they were having something for the kids and he asked me if I could help him out. So, I was there from 10am to 1pm, helping him out with the kids. Good grief! I tell you, when you have hyperactive boys aged 7-8, it is extremely difficult to keep them under control.

And, oh, today afternoon, I am participating in a fun run that McDonalds has organized. I will be running the 6km part of it. There will be prizes give aways as well, so I am kind of excited about it. I have never run 6km, but I know I can do it because I can walk 6km and more.

Goodness, for all those days when I had nothing to do, here I am having loads to do!

Mansur