Bye Bye Orlando

Auvers Village
Originally uploaded by noony67.

This is my last post from Orlando. Blogging will be halted for me until I settle back home. I’m anxious to get home but certain I will soon miss my little place here.

I had my farewell dinner at the house of this amazing friend/ex-teacher Cecilia over some Cuban music intersected with the playful guitar playing of the cutest 3 year old ever. Victor could only play after he finished tuning his guitar strings. He miraculously does that by grabbing each string and rubbing it. Once his guitar is ‘tuned’, Victor decided to play for us his own version of a song about a mouse and a cow. In his song the cow jumped over the sun and the dish ran away with the mouse. I’ll post his picture when I get back home and have full access to all my computer accessories.

This is such a wonderful family that even my two sons, who are usually reluctant to socialize, wanted to prolong our stay there. Unfortunately I had to leave and come back to packing. I am now officially packed and ready to head home, already missing Cecilia and her family.


In recognition of the end of my stay here, I change my name to its original, un-shortened, un-nicked version.

Field Greens at California Pizza Kitchen

Field Greens at California Pizza Kitchen
Originally uploaded by noony67.

I think this is my new favorite Italian. This salad comes with sugar-coated nuts and pears. I love it. Reminds me of those amazing salads my cousin makes.

I wanted to add a picture of my pizza too but didn't know how to do multiple pictures in one post and am too sleepy to bother now. Click on the picture and it'll take you to flickr where you can see the pizza. Yum.

I love playing with the little notes you can add to the picture though, as you can see :)

What's your favorite Italian in Kuwait?

A Tribute to My Bike

I'd write a poem if I had any talent writing those. Having found none even after I begged for my muse to pay me a visit, I choose prose instead.

My biking days are over. Those refreshing morning trips I used to take from my place to Winter Park Starbucks, with my laptop in my backpack, my (67) cap on my head, have finally come to an official end now that my bike is given away in preparation for returning home. I now have to settle for biking around our dismal neighborhood in Kuwait with my boys, nephews and nieces before fu6oor in Ramathan. As much as I miss my Kuwaiti neighborhood and those fun little rides with the kids, Kuwaiti streets are not very bike-friendly.

Well, I guess talent writing prose I do not have either (didn't catch episode III yet but I can still mimic Yoda.) And no. I'm no Star Wars fan, I watch the new ones for Natalie Portman's beautiful presence.

Touchdown in 9 days :)

CONGRATULATIONS :-)

My joy shall not be clouded by those crazy restrictions. Not today anyway.

Is it just me or is this a beautiful sight? 

2 Weeks

My To-Do List:
1. Provide the boys' schools with new address to send transcripts.
2. Disconnect phone, cable, power, internet, cell phones, hotspot, blockbuster.
3. Call furniture store to pick up furniture.
4. Change address with Bank.
5. Call Kuwait Airways.
6. Arrange time and date with shipping company.
7. Return books to library.
8. Call Cecilia and Murphy to thank for their help.
9. Find buyer for car.
10. Get rid of extra furniture.

And if there's time: shop, shop, and shop. Barnes & Noble and Gap (I hate shopping for boys in Kuwait) I'm gonna miss dearly :(

Oh and of course, PACK. The horror! The horror!

Am I Faithful Am I Strong

It's 7:30. I'm getting ready to leave, and X sends an msn message. Now I haven't talked to X in ages (ages is a relative term of course, it could be one hour or 10 years, depending on the person), but I have to go. Sarah is waiting on stage, N and B in the car. How can I dismiss someone I haven't talked to for that long? Can't I give them at least 5 minutes. Sarah would still be there and N and B won't mind waiting too much. Except of course, I wanna go out and have fun and I'm worried that a conversation longer than 'hi how are you gotta go' might ruin the experience for me. I tend to obsess over my friends. I don't show it, I almost never show my true feelings. Some call me cold, some pure rude, some a snob. I think what it is is that I don't have enough confidence to say and do what I would want to say and do. Of course this might just be an excuse for someone who is really just cold, rude, and a snob. A cold-hearted bitch.

So I tell X I gotta go. I'm heading to enjoy Sarah but I know even before that msn message that I won't be in the right mood. So when she appears on stage to do a duo with The Perishers, I don't cheer with the rest, I don't see it in me, again obsessing about losing a friend. The Perishers retire and I think what I need to get in the mood is a glass of Chardonnay (sp?), and that does help a little. When Sarah says Am I faithful am I strong, I finally kick it with her, regardless of the fact that I am neither faithful nor strong. Now is it the wine or does that song actually speaks my mind? 'All your expectations bury me':
>>All my insecurities
>>Try to own my destiny
>>But I can make or break it if I choose
>>You take my words and twist them around
>>Till I'm the one who brings you down
>>Make me feel like I'm the one to blame
>>For all this
Does Sarah know me that well? And then she says:
>>I have to take myself away from you
>>Cause I can't compete
>>I can't deny
>>There's nothing that I hadn't tried
>>How did I go so wrong in loving you?
And I immediately want to sms X those words. What stops me, what stops me every single time I think I should let go, is fear of letting go. I don't wanna lose X for good.

If you know you're causing pain to someone close, if you know that your words of comfort are bringing them down, if you know they're better off without your cold-hearted friendship, do you let go?

The truth is I am neither faithful nor strong enough to do that.

 

A Dedication

When the day is long and the night, the night is yours alone,
When you’re sure you’ve had enough of this life, well hang on
Don’t let yourself go, everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes

Sometimes everything is wrong. now it’s time to sing along
When your day is night alone, hold on, hold on
If you feel like letting go, hold on
When you think you’ve had too much of this life, well hang on

’cause everybody hurts. take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts. don’t throw your hand. oh, no. don’t throw your hand
If you feel like you’re alone, no, no, no, you are not alone

If you’re on your own in this life, the days and nights are long,
When you think you’ve had too much of this life to hang on

Well, everybody hurts sometimes,
Everybody cries. and everybody hurts sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes. so, hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on
Everybody hurts. you are not alone

Goodbye Book Club

Today I said goodbye to my book club. Six meetings only, lasting two hours each, but an interesting experience while it lasted. I figured taking a picture of the books is faster than typing their names. Secret Life of Bees and Kite Runner were my favorite two. Very dramatic the way I like my novels to be :) Paradise Alley was good too but a little too depressing, reminded us all of Gangs of New York. Me Talk Pretty One Day is a fun read, The Professor and the Madman interesting in a way, The Bridge Across Forever is supposed to develop into some sort of science fiction but the first 100 pages didn't appeal to me so I stopped reading.