The Big Things that make you happy

Before sending out that last post on Beirut, it’d been more than two weeks since I updated my blog. In my own defense, I had been working for about 15 days straight before finally getting a first day off, most of them out off the country. This was becoming a serious source of stress to me – not updating my blog that is (not the work mind you. I was getting ready to complain about having had to work for two straight weeks on the phone to my Grandfather, but then I remembered that he had worked on his dairy farm every day for 17 years from the day his father died until he first took a holiday, so I decided to stay silent). I would quickly peek at it at work and was beginning to get physical stress symptoms, that same uncomfortable knot in my stomach I sometimes get when I check my bank account: I owe waaaay too much…

By my count, it was three posts at that time that I definitely owed: Ethiopia, Beirut and Part 2 of my First Impressions. At least that’s down to two. Unfortunately, this post won’t change that balance, this is more of a general update.

I have now moved into my apartment. I have my luggage in with me in here, and… that’s sort of it. I have two pieces of ‘furniture’: a huge blow up bed that I borrowed from one of my colleagues, and a cheap white foldable plastic chair that the former tenant must have thought was too insignificant to drag along and left on the balcony. I am now sitting on that chair (thank you, space-time continuum neighbor) with my laptop perched on my largest suitcase, which stands upright against the wall.

I’m here because I'm waiting for my first piece of furniture to be delivered at some point today: a large, comfortable, white, large, large sofa. I’m so excited about this. Ever since I left my parents house I have been living in rental apartments with cheap furniture that usually has little in common (certainly not colour or style) except for being much too small for me to comfortably fit in. This thing is big… it’s a 3+2, plus it has a big extra footrest that’s as long and wide as another ‘2’, so the three pieces can even be pushed together to create a big, soft, flat area bigger than any bed (this seems to be the in-thing with sofa designers in the UAE these days, my colleagues and I refer to it as being ‘orgy-friendly’). In other words, size does matter, but how you use it can really maximize your comfort and pleasure. Can we all agree on this? (Please vote in the comment link. Silence will be counted as a ‘yes’ vote. I am counting the number of people reading this, and can figure out who you are by tracking your IP numbers. This is easier than you think.)

The only problem is that I’m far from convinced that the ‘3’ will fit in the elevator… which is a bit of an issue when you live on the 17th floor.