Ruminations On A Friday Afternoon

Well the weekend is finally here and there’s really no specific topic for the day. Yes, I know, you all count on me for your daily mental stimulation, but it’s Friday, I’m fasting, I’m tired, and I really can’t spare the brain cells required to go into a well (enough) thought out post for your amusement. So I thought I would do something I haven’t done for awhile: just talk. Rant, ramble, rave. Rock, roll and jive.

Life this last week, in no particular order:

1) Bank Audi sucks. Terrible service.

2) At Chili House the other night, my friends and I wanted to order the “Cheese Coney”, which is to Chili House what the Big Mac is to McDonalds. The Egyptian waiter taking our order was pretty rude and when I jokingly asked how they could open the place without the coney he exclaimed “me fishi 5obez, a3mal aaaay?!” (there’s no bread, what do you want me to do?!)

3) Java U sucks. And I mean really, really sucks. The food and beverage is just awful, despite the playful staff. But it remains the only place these days where I don’t have to drive several kilometers just to search endlessly for a parking spot, all so that I can sit with friends and talk about serious issues, while trying to make my voice heard over the loud music. Broadway is good, especially with the free internet, but there’s no parking, and these days, walking into or near Abdoun circle gives me the eerie sensation that I’m walking into Hell. Something I’d like to avoid whenever possible.

4) Forced to watch several minutes a day of Ramadan TV shows with the family only serves to validate my self-conviction of why I don’t watch TV anymore.

5) I have heard the phrase “I’m sorry, I’m fasting”, said as an excuse to sheer stupidity, around 4 times this past week. As a Muslim, I have to say, I was really unaware that refraining from food for roughly 13 hours a day, had the ability to render anyone retarded.

6) Speaking of, I was reading an article the other day about a man who was arrested for eating in the street. The police took him to the precinct where he spent the night in jail. The next morning he was found dead. This story created a heated discussion between my father and I. He was of the opinion that if someone is eating in the street then they’re disrespecting the will of the majority who are Muslim, and that it’s a way of intimidation. I could not get on board with that, as I argued that democracy is also respect of the minority and moreover not only does a Muslim have the choice of fasting or not fasting, but you can’t just lock people up for eating in the street. It’s not only silly and archaic, but it creates a slippery slope. Moreover, the guy could’ve been sick and had to eat. My father however, argued that while there is the choice of ‘to fast or not to fast’, people should respect those that are around them, and they should summon the will to eat in their own homes. That is kind of true. The man was 52 I think.

7) I have not had a decent nights’ sleep since Ramadan started. This involves several personal reasons I don’t want to talk about right now but suffice to say, my sleep schedule is in another dimension. Usually I’ll stay up till after the fajir prayer and sleep at around 5:30am. I get to sleep for a few hours and then wake up to do what I have to do. Sleeping in that 1.5 hours before the meghreb athan is a great sleeping niche, but I wake up grumpy for ftoor. My average this week has been around 5 non-consecutive hours a day.

8) Apparently, that staple lemon drink they sell at places like Safeway during Ramadan, next to the toot and tamr-hindi, has some type of freshness to it. Previously, I believed the main ingredient was “yellow”, but yeah, apparently they do put some lemon in there. Unfortunately, this discovery was made after I decided to buy 4 at the same time, instead of having to go everyday and wait in line. Suffice to say, the 4th one had quite a kick.

9) Last night, a friend of mine observed that lately, he’s felt Jordanians are becoming more outspoken and anti-government, due mainly to rising prices. These are voices heard on talk radio, tv and in the newspapers. It’s actually a valid social observation. You can do a lot to the average Jordanians’ spirit; take away freedoms, add oppression, possibly even a hint of torture, but once prices start getting out of hand, you can’t shut people up. In the history of the world, this type of discontent is usually followed with the heads of peasants on pitchforks.

10) It’s been about a week now and I’m really glad I put up Faridon’s work on my blog. I find myself loading the page and just sitting there waiting for the pictures to change and change and change, even though I’ve seen them a thousand times by now. Mesmerized is the word I’m looking for.

11) Last night, coming out of an office late at night, my friends and I were taken aback by this overwhelming sound nearby. We discovered that it was a worker, hanging from one of those makeshift rope-and-wood platforms, on the side of a building, cleaning it with one of those high-pressured pumps. At first I thought it was idiotic to have someone doing this task so late at night, while nearby both a hotel and a hospital, but then I thought that it’s probably because it’s Ramadan. It’s too difficult to do this kind of thing in the morning when you’re fasting, so they resort to working at night. In that same moment I thought about how I avoid talking so much during the day so that my mouth doesn’t dry up. I mean, that’s literally the worst case scenario for someone who spends much of the day working from behind a computer. What it must be like to have that man’s job!

12) This coming week is home to a single day that will be extremely important for me. Unfortunately, it will be part of (and contribute to) what is expected to be, one of the busiest weeks in my life thus far. My weekly calendar looks like a minefield.

13) That being said, Ramadan has also meant the start of a project that I’ve been currently working on with friends. It is extremely top secret and we’ve all been sworn to secrecy (for everyone’s safety). Finding time for this project has been near disastrous, especially with it being a time-sensitive one. Hence we’ve resorted to getting together after 10:30pm, in a little office somewhere, to work for a few hours. Ok, yeah. Alright. Yeah, I think I’ve – yeah, I’ll stop right – no, yeah, ok, I’ve said enough. I leave you with photographic evidence.