Eid trip

Today, the second day of Eid il Fitr, a few hours after sunrise, the Fellowship was formed. It consisted of 12 people representing 4 tribes of Middle Dubai – 4 from Jumeirah, 4 from Karama, 2 from Satwa and 2 from Bur Dubai. Immediately, we embarked on a journey to search for the One Open Beach in Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain. As if to remind us of the uncertainty of what we had set out to do, a strange orchestral music slowly filled the air ...

It was the intro of Aerosmith's I Don't Want to Miss a Thing. Great! The new FM Modulator was working.



In Fujairah, we saw an open beach where there are gazebos with umbrella roofs. It seemed okay but we wanted to look further. We came to the bank of the river that leads to the Gulf of Oman. It's a natural place, with some trees and herbs around. The beach is a little farther away. When we walked closer, we saw a No Swimming sign. Anyway, we ate lunch and stayed there for awhile.



At around 3:00pm, we headed for UAQ. We passed by the Dreamland Aqua Park and the Barracuda Beach Resort. Not our type. May bayad kasi. We drove farther towards Ras Al Khaimah looking for an open beach. We found one, also a natural place, and set up our tent between those of 2 kabayan groups. We ate and swam and sang songs until 7:00pm.



We were home by 9:00pm. Wanderlust satisfied.

Eid mubarak!

Inject to Eject

Recently, about two weeks ago, a minor clinical procedure has been done to me. A momentary pain I have experienced suddenly wiped out more than a month of hurt in my left foot. An inch long needle was injected to me thrice bringing some fluids that will cause some numbness on my left toe. The culprit, my toenail which did not follow normal position while growing cause pressure and scars on part of my toe where a concentration of nerve endings are placed. Although infected, I decided this toenail be removed.

Results, two days out from work having a mild fever. Week long daily taking of antibiotics/pain reliever, wearing of sandals and daily nursing/dressing of wounds. Job impact, being missed by site engineers therefore deferred approval of site installation. Physical impact, I missed 1 Saturday badminton play (my only strenuous exercise).

Lessons learned, first, never wear shoes that are to tight that will cause abnormally positioned growth of toenail. Second, take time carefully cutting the toenails.

Season of Slurs

A Resolution of sorts

Whereas a-b_t_h-of-a-columnist described our not-so-rich countrymen as “cheap” and she would not be caught dead with the bunch of low-life. Fate has something instored for her. Democracy gives the right for people to have freedom of speech. As some writer found out, the same liberty would guarantee maddened dogs to hound her endlessly. Barking, yelping until she would go insane and could not take it no more. Until…. She lets go and resigned her post. No requiem for her there.

Whereas an enlightened writer of a famous TV series questions the educational acumen of our nurses is in itself questionable. The same nurses have proven their exemplary medical capabilities for years on end; it’s moot and academic to argue otherwise.

Whereas one mans’ “discrimination” is another one’s “right to eat whatever he likes aside from briani”, armed struggle may be necessary. Good thing that some has heeded the call of reason and sidestep irrelevant and rubbish claims.

Whereas congressmen accuse each other of bribery due to the hastily prepared impeachment charge against the executive. You can't help notice that it is like watching a dog chases his tail. Sometimes it’s amusing, but most of the time, its not. Ruff!!!

Whereas the Champion of the People, boxing thru glory as he is, has allegedly given a sexy actress some luxurious villa and a 4WD vehicle is not entirely unfounded really. In circumspect, it is none of your darn bloody business anyway. Hehehe!!!

Thereby we enact that no such slurs are to be allowed to defame our person, dignity and rights.

And agreed to be vigilant against these menace as long as we shall live.

May God help us...

Some quotes

Why do you think we should suffer in silence? When a heart is broken, there's nothing to break. – Robbie Williams

Get up, stand up. Stand up for your right. – Bob Marley

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. - Matthew 7:7

Patience and fortitude conquer all things. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sabihin mo lang pala … at umasa at maghintay … at maghintay nang maghintay … at mag-biryani muna nang mag-biryani … at darating din. – Jun San Miguel

Mabuhay ang pinakbet! – Paul Munji

Badminton sa Jumeirah - 2nd Season Preview

Ramadan starts

It is prohibited to eat, drink and smoke in public from sunrise to sunset for the whole month, the ninth in the Islamic calendar. The first day was yesterday, Sep 13. In the workplace, we have the pantry for drinking and eating but the pigpen for smoking is exposed to the public. So how?

The upside is that there are shorter working hours. There may be more if we relax and try to understand the occasion. Let's start here: http://islam.about.com/od/ramadan/f/ramadan_faq.htm

Iftar shahy.

Cloudy hands

I’ve just come from my first session of Dr. Chen’s Taichi class. There were 4 of us in the batch but we were joined by students from previous batches at the breakwater of the Jumeirah Open Beach. There’s a paved circular area there, at the center of which, we formed a circle and followed Dr. Chen’s instructions. We did a lot of “cloudy hands” for our first lesson, where we waved our hands in slow-mo like clouds in the sky. “Cloudy hands” is one of the forms in the 24-form simplified Yang style Taichi Chuan that we will learn in 3 months. Classes are held Sundays and Wednesdays. (Got to move my Wednesday Safa jog to another day.)

You can find Dr. Chen’s website here: http://www.chenqiang.net/taichi.html.