Osama + Daniella, mixmastermig, Leila Khaled, Lebanon coming undone
These are a few reasons my new friend Osama and Daniella should make babies, the kind of babies that when they come out of the womb, instead of crying, will come out weeping feet first with booties already on that look just like mini-versions of Robert Smith's shoes.
--a conversation had between him and Marina at our favorite little bar, By the Way, in our neighborhood:
Marina: "Do you like this place?"
Osama: "yes, I really like it."
Marina: "Why, because it's quiet?"
Osama: "yes, because it's quiet and if you go to these places and everyone is dancing . . . and I don't like to dance, I feel lonely."
--reason number 2 is that he was heard remarking while in his home that he felt like he should mark one of his bathrooms for men and one for women, just because he thought it would make the women feel more comfortable.
--3, In the middle a lucky night of playing poker, our friend Kal mentioned the saying, "luck with cards means no luck with women, luck with women means no luck with cards." Kal then asked him, "Do you have luck with the ladies?" Osama thought for a moment, his tragically handsome face bent down peering at his poker hand and replied "no," just before he hit a full house.
--4, he has an inspirational picture of puppies hung above his bed.
So with that out of the way I have to thank my little brother Nico and my not-so-little sister Tali, for getting me started with Texas Hold 'Em. I won the whole pot last week and left the table up 40,000 lira this time around, what that says about my luck with ladies? I don't know, probably that I'm just one lucky son-of-a-gun. I've always said so. At least the extra income helps with buying a few drinks at By the Way, though they've been getting cheaper and cheaper each time I go in there. Sure, I'm getting to know the bartender, sure I'm getting to know his wife, a Norwegian Hippy who came here in the 60's and decided to stay, but more importantly we've all talked and decided that I'll be playing music one of these night's in the next couple of weeks from my computer. Her husband, the bartender, showed me the two brand new-subwoofers they bought just for the occasion (yeesh, I guess I better deliver on this one). The deal is that I put up all the flyers, do all the footwork, play the music and at the end of the night I'll get a straight percentage of whatever the profit may be. ...and they say the US is the land of opportunity.
I guess that leads me to the US and it's convenient idea of what a democracy should look like. After splitting my time playing poker and going out, (after the sun went down this weekend); and walking in the march commemorating the death of Yasser Arafat in the Bourj al-Barajni Palestinian Refugee Camp and heading the furthest south from Beirut I've ever been for a professional Basketball Tournament in Saida (while the sun was up), I saw this country from some seriously different angles in some very different settings and can't help but wonder what will happen now that six members of parliament have officially left their post, 5 muslims and one christian (the christian who left hopefully making this crisis less of a sectarian issue), all of them apparently pro-Syrian allies. Where the US comes in is it's hard-line talk accusing Syria and Iran of a conspiracy to destroy a fledgling democracy. The reality of the situation however is that these members of Parliament are seeking a "national unity government" that would be a more accurate representation of the population of Lebanon, letting all other political parties have a say in the government. Ofcourse, the US will do their best not to have that happen, as the parties that will gain some power are, for the most part, not on the same page as the US. Following something that my Pop said, it's easy to see the hubris of America, believing that a true democracy is only one that more closely shares the same values that we do, whatever values those may be (those who are in power I guess). A democracy that disagrees with the United States policies is targetted and dismissed as "communist" when it comes to latin america and "terrorist" when it comes to the middle east. If the US isn't careful, who knows what kind of alliances will be made.
can anyone say ""Che Guevara Commando Unit of PFLP, aka Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine?" aaahhhhh, Leila Khaled, you're more than just a pretty face on a poster.
... and though I can't say that I would necessarily agree with any changes that may occur in Lebanon if more socially conservative powers were to have more of an influence, ultimately, as a foreigner, this is not something that is up to me. In a democracy, the will of the few must give in to the will of the many....and therein lies the rub.
--a conversation had between him and Marina at our favorite little bar, By the Way, in our neighborhood:
Marina: "Do you like this place?"
Osama: "yes, I really like it."
Marina: "Why, because it's quiet?"
Osama: "yes, because it's quiet and if you go to these places and everyone is dancing . . . and I don't like to dance, I feel lonely."
--reason number 2 is that he was heard remarking while in his home that he felt like he should mark one of his bathrooms for men and one for women, just because he thought it would make the women feel more comfortable.
--3, In the middle a lucky night of playing poker, our friend Kal mentioned the saying, "luck with cards means no luck with women, luck with women means no luck with cards." Kal then asked him, "Do you have luck with the ladies?" Osama thought for a moment, his tragically handsome face bent down peering at his poker hand and replied "no," just before he hit a full house.
--4, he has an inspirational picture of puppies hung above his bed.
So with that out of the way I have to thank my little brother Nico and my not-so-little sister Tali, for getting me started with Texas Hold 'Em. I won the whole pot last week and left the table up 40,000 lira this time around, what that says about my luck with ladies? I don't know, probably that I'm just one lucky son-of-a-gun. I've always said so. At least the extra income helps with buying a few drinks at By the Way, though they've been getting cheaper and cheaper each time I go in there. Sure, I'm getting to know the bartender, sure I'm getting to know his wife, a Norwegian Hippy who came here in the 60's and decided to stay, but more importantly we've all talked and decided that I'll be playing music one of these night's in the next couple of weeks from my computer. Her husband, the bartender, showed me the two brand new-subwoofers they bought just for the occasion (yeesh, I guess I better deliver on this one). The deal is that I put up all the flyers, do all the footwork, play the music and at the end of the night I'll get a straight percentage of whatever the profit may be. ...and they say the US is the land of opportunity.
I guess that leads me to the US and it's convenient idea of what a democracy should look like. After splitting my time playing poker and going out, (after the sun went down this weekend); and walking in the march commemorating the death of Yasser Arafat in the Bourj al-Barajni Palestinian Refugee Camp and heading the furthest south from Beirut I've ever been for a professional Basketball Tournament in Saida (while the sun was up), I saw this country from some seriously different angles in some very different settings and can't help but wonder what will happen now that six members of parliament have officially left their post, 5 muslims and one christian (the christian who left hopefully making this crisis less of a sectarian issue), all of them apparently pro-Syrian allies. Where the US comes in is it's hard-line talk accusing Syria and Iran of a conspiracy to destroy a fledgling democracy. The reality of the situation however is that these members of Parliament are seeking a "national unity government" that would be a more accurate representation of the population of Lebanon, letting all other political parties have a say in the government. Ofcourse, the US will do their best not to have that happen, as the parties that will gain some power are, for the most part, not on the same page as the US. Following something that my Pop said, it's easy to see the hubris of America, believing that a true democracy is only one that more closely shares the same values that we do, whatever values those may be (those who are in power I guess). A democracy that disagrees with the United States policies is targetted and dismissed as "communist" when it comes to latin america and "terrorist" when it comes to the middle east. If the US isn't careful, who knows what kind of alliances will be made.
can anyone say ""Che Guevara Commando Unit of PFLP, aka Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine?" aaahhhhh, Leila Khaled, you're more than just a pretty face on a poster.
... and though I can't say that I would necessarily agree with any changes that may occur in Lebanon if more socially conservative powers were to have more of an influence, ultimately, as a foreigner, this is not something that is up to me. In a democracy, the will of the few must give in to the will of the many....and therein lies the rub.
posted by miguella guerilla at 5:20 PM
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