The Middle Eastern Tiger Woods.....not!!

How's it going everyone? I kept pretty busy the day after Thanksgiving. One of the perks of being over here in the Middle East is that you don't have to worry about those damn Christmas shoppers at the mall. Friday afternoon I went driving through downtown Doha and it was not that bad. There wasn't much traffic on the road so I didn't have to worry about crazy Qatari drivers going all over the place. It was strange to drive through the downtown area though, and not see many of the shops open. I guess they don't open till late in the afternoon.

After wandering aimlessly through the city we linked up with the civilian, who works in our office, and one of his local friends to play some golf. Now I had just planned on driving golf balls over at the driving range but instead I ended up just driving the cart around. It was actually fun to drive the cart around. Watching the others golf I realized that I actually enjoyed golf a little bit. They were hitting the ball real well and even making some nice putts. It made me want to get some golf clubs when I get back to Atlanta, just so I could go play some rounds of golf every now and then. I think the next time we go out to the course, I will attempt to play. Now I won't be awesome at it but I hopefully can hold my own out there. By the way if you ever have the chance to play at the Doha Golf Club I would recommend doing it in the afternoon. By the time dusk hits, one of the holes provides a scenic picture of the city. It's an awe inspiring pic. Too bad I forgot my camera LOL.

Inspired Thanksgiving

Well ladies and gentlemen, I hope your Thanksgiving was as good as mine. This was my Thanksgiving in the middle of a war and a deployed environment and I have to say it was pretty kick ass. There was much food to be devoured. We had lobster, prime rib, turkey, ham, and all of the side dishes one would expect at a Thanksgiving dinner. The higher ups were the ones who were serving the food and they did an excellent job. Hell some of them even inspired me to become an officer or maybe even reenlist. It was good to see the folks who had their families out here enjoying themselves. It was much unlike the Thanksgiving I had posted of in one of my previous posts. The only thing that sucked about beig out here though was when the football games started. Normally I'm use to being able to eat and watch the game. Not this time. I had to wait several hours to catch the games, but it was worth it.

Currently I'm suppose to be participating in the Commander's Cup (a campwide sports event)in both volleyball and swimming. Now volleyball I have no problem with cause I've played it on and off for many years, since going to U of Hawaii. The swimming though is kicking my ass. The last time I actually swam was back in 2002 and that was cause I was surfing. We are required to swim a 200m leg and it's just overwhelming to me. But I like that it's so challenging because it makes me want to get out there and get it done.

I'm almost done with my application to get my new apartment and I just want to thank the people at Promove. I just want to thank them so much and recommend that they start putting more shops in other regions. This is a pretty good service and save's me alot of headache trying to find an apartment, since I'm deployed, and it's free. FREE!!!!!! Can't beat that. Well that's all for now. I'm hungry as hell and it's time to go chow down. See ya'll later.

Time for a new video

Okay guys I think I've had the Tiesto "Adagio for Strings" up for a little while. I'm trying to decide which video to put up next. If you have any you would like to see up let me know. Personally I'm thinking of putting up Bloc Party's "Two More Years".

Gobble Gobble

Well Thanksgiving (in the US) is coming up and unfortunately I'm not with my family to celebrate it. But it doesn't matter cause I missed the Candian one as well. Now this is the first time that I've been away on a deployment and have missed several holidays and it really doesn't feel too bad. I know that I should probably be with the family to celebrate the holidays but I'm not particularly aching for it. I'm kind of getting the "Been there, done that" attitude. The holidays just seem to old and commercial. I mean yeah to be there with the family is good and everything, but I really don't want to hear about the problems that you've been having, and have already emailed me numerous times about. Face it, if you haven't gotten them fixed by now it's probably going to take a little bit longer to take care of those problems. I'm not even going to start on the failed New Year's resolutions. Needless to say I've never put much stock in them and I still don't. Well this ends my holiday rant.

Yesterday I bought NCAA March Madness '06 and I just want to tell EA Sports that once again you have let me down. You have so jacked this series up that it's not even funny anymore. For example I'm playing a Classic Game between the Dominique Wilkins Georgia Bulldogs vs. Michael Jordan's North Carolina. Now my team has the better overall ratings in FG shooting and everything else, yet I can't even make a simple 14 foot jump shot. And why is the shooting rhythm so off. You guys better pay attention to ESPN College Hoops. They know how to get it done and they even offer the game at a cheaper rate. You guys might want to take next year off and figure out what is going wrong.

Qatar Pics

Here are some more photos of Qatar. Some of the water shots remind me of Waikiki.

One of my pet peeves (be forewarned some offensive language is included in this post)

Ok ladies and gentelmen I have to disclose one of my biggest peeves that I have with the military machine. Now I know that I'm a soldier and I shouldn't be talking bad, but this peeve has gone on for far too long.

Now we being America's military and diplomatic envoys are suppose to be a shining example of all that America has to offer. But I wonder if one of the values that we are exporting is racism. Now your probably wondering how can the military be viewed as racist? Blacks, Whites, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, and various other races are all in the military so there is no way we can be racist. Well I would say your right and wrong. Here's why. Since I've here in the Middle East all I ever hear from military members when it comes to identifying the Third Country Nationals (TCNs) is Haji. Now I don't know how they got this name and why it would apply to them, when many of them aren't from the Arabic peninsula. Many come from India, Pakistan, the Phillipines, and elsewhere.

This has been really getting on my nerves only because everywhere I go I hear this term. So hear is what I'm thinking of doing, jokingly of course but it may help people to realize how their actions are, I'm going to call each person who I hear that from a racist name. So if they are Black they will get nigger, White people I will refer to as either cracker or honky, Asians will get either slant-eye, or yellow boy or girl, and Hispanics will get wetback.

Now I'm not a racist or anything but you know if I was to ever really call someone by these terms they would get offended. So how about we go ahead and take a look inside of ourselves and figure out whether we should still be calling these TCNs Haji. And if you think so then you really need to get a grip on reality.

Now if you have any comments on this I ask you to post them. I think this is a discussion that really needs to be out there.

Oh and by the way I now know where the term Haji comes from. It refers to those Muslims who have made the trip to Mecca. Now I'm not sure if the Hindi, Filipinos, and others get this term.

Why me?

Well yesterday evening sucked camel butt to the highest extent possible. First it started with a supposed jaunt down to the mall being cancelled. I didn't care too much about that since I'm going to be here for so long and it will always be there. But I go down to my room and start playing Socom Navy Seals 3. Lo and behold though all of my game data is nowhere to be found. Friggin outstanding. So I start going back through the game so I can use the crosstalk feature and then the game freezes. (Sony you need to fix this quick cause it's happened with my NBA Live '06). At this time I'm kind of upset cause I was doing real well on the game. I then decided to watch TV and Road to Perdition is on. Now I've never been able to watch this movie due to deployments, DJing, and just not enough time to go to the movies. Well right in the key portion of the movie the cable goes out. That is when I almost hit the roof. How many things can go wrong in a single day? It looks like a lot can. Than to add insult to injury my alarm doesn't go off this morning, which results in me not being able to get to Physical Training on time. Well other than not waking on time my morning seems to be going very well, for right now LOL.

I think I've found my new internet craze. It's called Yahoo 360. It's hilarious cause it seems to be where people go to post their "special pictures". LOL Well I've got to go eat so I will see ya'll later.

My new additions

Well folks, I've been busy with work again. But I've also been busy with checking out new video games. Recently I've bought the following games:

Battlefield 2 PS2
Socom Navy Seals Fireteam Bravo PSP
Socom Navy Seals 3 PS2
Star Wars Battlefront 2 PSP
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories PSP


All of these games are pretty good and also addictive. My favorite game so far is Fireteam Bravo, only because I can unlock some items on the PS2 Navy Seals game. It's interesting how it works (the crosstalk feature). You basically play a level on the PSP game and then you can just hook up your PSP to the PS2, via a mini B USB cable, and bingo. I have Madden 06 for both PSP and PS2 which basically allows you to work on your franchise season on both systems, making it very handy.

Battlefield 2 is cool because you can basically play a myriad of soldiers and utilize many vehicles. This is possible by a move, which reminds me of the Matrix movies, where you basically point and hit the square button and it changes you to that guy. Now some of the AI could be better, but all in all it's pretty good. Another cool item, I might add, is that near the end of the game you can choose to play as either the NATO or Chinese forces.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 is okay, when they start selling the PS2 version out here then, I'll be much more enthusiastic. My only gripe is the controls for the personnel on this game. For the PSP your basically using the triangle, square, x, and circle buttons to move your sights. Now there are other settings but I don't like using anything but default settings to play some of these games.

I haven't really gotten a chance to play GTA much. But I can say this beyond a reasonable doubt, it looks excellent. And it seems to run smooth. Once again Rockstar North, Leeds, and whoever else was involved in this game have earned another multimillion dollar game. Everything is kickass with this game from the music featuring "Spin Spin Sugar Armand Van Helden Remix" by Sneakerpimps and some tracks from the Lox, to the graphics. If I didn't know better I would swear that this is running off the PS2 onto my TV (albeit a miniature TV).

Well that is all for now time to go to the bathroom and play some Fireteam Bravo.

Aspirations

Well folks, I know it's been awhile since I've posted so here goes.

I'm currently working on my movie idea. I researched the price of HD Digital Video Camera's and I am amazed that they are within my price range. I'm debating now which one I really want to get. It's between either Sony, JVC, or Canon. So if anyone out there knows anything about these brand of cameras please let me know.

Now you may be asking, why do I want to make a movie? Well just like blogging, I have a story to tell and I think I could do it and be good at it, with practice of course. I've always been intrigued by moviemaking because I've always believed that I could tell a better story and even present it better as well. When I get back to Atlanta I know I'm going to be so busy working on this movie and also getting the necessary equipment for it. I have seen the light and have decided to go to Apple. Everything I've seen about the Apple products has just wowed me. I have the Ipods and now just need to get the computer.

I'm also pondering running for a political office. I think I would start out in Atlanta on one of the city commissions. I've always wanted to experience what it would be like to run for a political office. So when I get back I plan on doing that. I don't think I will get too many votes but I would just like to try it out and experience it. Well that is all for about now. I will try to keep you regularly posted.

Trip to Qatari Ruins

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well. The past couple of weeks have been kind of hectic. Ramadan was finished and Eid began. Because of Ramadan finishing up we are now allowed to go visit places during the day. On 5 November we decided to visit some ancient Qatari ruins. It was pretty fun. Not too many people were out at the ruins and it was pretty cool to see their relation to the country. While we were traveling up we saw a camel just out grazing. Then a little ways down the road we visited the camel racing track. This track was huge. I'm so used to seeing horse racetracks and they had nothing on this one. It took us awhile after viewing all of this to get up to the fort but when we did it was worth it. I will try to post the pics of the fort on here so you can check it out. It was rather small and I found it amazing that 100 people, livestock, and weapons for all could be placed in this structure. My only gripe though was that I kept getting attacked by damn flies every so often and my digital video camera was acting up.

Shortly afterwards we then headed a a old town at Qatari Historical Marker #25. It was pretty cool to see how they use to build their houses. It seems that what they would do is get rocks and stack them together to form a wall. Then after this was done they would take cement and pour it over the rocks forming the wall. I don't know what the roofs were made of, since many of the places were in such disrepair that there really was no place for the roof to go but into the ground, but if they were like the ones at the fortress. Than they were made of wood and thatch with a cement cover. Well that is all for now enjoy the pics.

Nope I don't need the tongue, I think I'll have the brain.

Well how's it going once again folks. Went to a birthday party for one of the Qatari locals and all I can say is that they throw one hell of a party. The place where the party was held was a private home yet the interior looked like something you would see at the White House or something. The meal was exquisite as well. We had goat, Lebanese salad, hummus, veggie mini pizza's, and rice and several other tasty dishes. It was all good till there was a disagreement who about who would eat the goat's brain and it's tongue.

Now not having been exposed to "treats" like this, my first impulse was to introduce everyone to my friend "Ralph". (Or in other words to vomit.) But I took it in stride. I mean cause I'm a foreigner in a new land. So just grin and bear it, and if offered to me politely refuse. Well I didn't have to worry about wording my refusal because all of a sudden two gentlemen were arguing over who should get the tongue. Now this was comical to me on many levels but mostly cause it was two grown men arguing about this piece of tongue. Then another argument started up about how should get the goat's brain. FUN TO BE HAD BY ALL. LOL

On another note, this one from the political realm. It looks like alot of drama is affecting the Republican party. I look forward in the next couple of weeks to see what happens. Oh well. TTFN.

Sorry an additional note as well. Met the lead attorney who works for the Qatari ruler and this guy is pretty amazing. He went to law school at Georgetown during the Watergate scandal. This guy is what I would like to be if I ever went into international law. And the girl who he was with. Man talk about HOT!! LOL. Also feel free to leave comments and criticism I have thick skin (thanks to the Army).

Things seen and heard

Yesterday evening while watching MTV Europe I saw some pretty cool videos. One was the new Paul Van Dyk, think it's off his new album, and I have to say it was pretty good. Bascially Paul and another gentleman act as guardian angels for an elderly man and his dog. Real nice video. Kind of made me wish for my dog Lika. (Oh and the video was called "The Other Side", I forget who the vocalist is but this sounds like an album worth buying. Even though I've always like a lot of the music PVD's made.) The other video I enjoyed was Bob Sinclair's "Love Generation". That song and video was pretty good. Now I just wish MTV would do away with lots of the shows like Ashlee Simpleton's, Newlywed's, Wonder Showzen, and the one with all the bratty kids who exploit their parent's money. Gee daddy look at me I'm spending all of the moola you worked so hard for to have a sweet 16 birthday party that no one is going to remember after a couple of years. Oh and if you don't get me what I want for a present I'm going to bawl like a baby and call you a bad parent. SICKENING. Oh well that is my rant and spill for the day. I will see you guys later.

And ladies if you want to make your man happy I would suggest getting EA Sports' NBA Live 2006. Your man will love you for it. My girl didn't get it for me but I know that if she did I would love her so much more (hint, hint). LOL

You might want to slow down highspeed.

Yesterday I went to my friend's birthday party at the Oasis club and I was very dissappointed at the turnout. The guys who were DJing there were doing a good job. (MAJ Dennis you need to keep on DJing you did a much better job than the guy who was at it later in the night.) They mixed the genres pretty well. They played, salsa, reggae, reggaeton (spelling might be incorrect I apologize), and hip-hop. I listened to the Spanish version of "Happy Birthday" and I never knew it was so long. Some people were joking that by the time the song was over, G would have gained another year. All in all pretty good. Except for one person.

Now some of you may know that here at the camp we have a three drink limit. Well I think a Staff Sergeant must have slammed all three of her drinks. By the night's end she was a belligerent drunk on the verge of passing out. By the time I left she must have passed out cause staff duty was piling her in the truck. Not the way I want to be remembered around here. LOL. This place is somewhat like a small town where everybody knows everybody. So you can be sure that everyone will know what happened. So my advice would be to slow down highspeed, you have another several months here and the alcohol isn't going to disappear.

The places we go and the people we meet.

Staying here in Qatar I now realize why they call it the "Switzerland of the Middle East". The people out here are not narrow minded. They allow The people here are friendly to a large extent and will go out of their to make your service enjoyable. Everyone here seems to be well off. And the architecture around here is pretty awesome.


I'm real excited because today I get to go out and pick up some shirts that I had tailored. Now I don't know why this is such a major event for me (it could be the fact that I was stuck in Kuwait with nothing to do for several months) but I'm giddy. I had about 5 shirts tailored which cost me about 500 Qatari Riyals. Not sure what it equates to in American dollars (might be about $100 or even less). I might even wear one to the birthday party today. I'm going to try to see if I can get a suit tailored for me as well. I will be taking pics of these items so that all can view and comment. Well TTFN.

Won't this guy ever learn?

Well ladies and gentlemen the guy who I lambasted in my last post, for being a pest, has gone and done it again. The night was going good. They had the salsa playing for a bit switched it up to The freak "Gloved One" (for those not in the know, that is Michael Jackson), and then played hip-hop. But then numbnuts goes in the booth and tries to act all hard and he just f'ed it up pretty bad. I don't know if this guy knows that he's a killjoy or what but someone needs to tell him before I do. Oh well. I have a birthday party to attend just not sure what day it is though. LOL. I think it's Saturday. Look forward to having fun. Will soon be posting pics up here so look out.

New Google content

Browsing other blogs to get some ideas and I came across this one from Brendan McCarthy at Dancerdance. I personally think this is awesome. But it still won't keep me from actually going out to get real paperback or harbound books. Hell I've got tons of books on my PDA and still buy alot of paperbacks.

Yes. And you are?

How's it going folks long time no see or hear from me I guess. Well I've moved to Qatar and am not DJing right now, though I probably should be considering the talent pool out here. We have a nice little club called the Oasis here and it's not too bad. I mean who can complain when you can now go out and get 3 beers, I'm not talking about the non-alcoholic variety seen around the camps in Kuwait, of Heineken, or Budweiser. But one thing really does get on my nerves, and this has always gotten on my nerves as a DJ, people who think they run the club and try to act all hard but are really not. These guys will come in and try to act like they are all hard and that people should bow down to them.

Well first things first.....YOU ARE NOT THE BIG MAN ON CAMP. Your just like the rest of us stuck here your no more important or less important than I or many of the others who live or come here to work. Because of your attitude though you are a dirt dart in my book.

Next if your not the DJ and you don't run the MWR, stay the hell out of the DJ booth. There really is no need for you to be there. Your occupying valuable space and air being in there.

Another thing just cause you think a song is "awesome" doesn't mean that the rest of the camp thinks it's awesome. If it's not going to get people out on the dancefloor than there really is no reason to play the song. The DJ's job is to get people out there to vibe, dance, and generate drink sales for the club, not for you.

Now this is to the jackass who brought his piece of crap guitar out to the Oasis during hip-hop night. NUMBNUTS, GET A CLUE, THERE IS A REASON WHY THERE IS A THEMED EVENT AT THE CLUB. You want to get that loving feeling do us all a favor and take it elsewhere. I'm pretty sure those who went to the back area to smoke, since they can't do it in the building, did not want to hear Jimmy Buffet, (I like Maragaritaville, thinks it's from spending too much damn time in South Carolina), songs or namely any damn country songs. You should have taken your pathetic self to the Top-Off club which was having a country night. I understand your a loser and need to reach out at hip-hop night to try to convert people but it's just not going to work.

To the guy who feels the constant need to go into the DJ booth, just to announce "NO DRINKS ON THE DANCE FLOOR", I don't think the DJ is a mute or handicapped so he can probably accomplish this on his own. We don't need your input. The officer who was DJing the other night got it right. He did it on his own cause he knew he was grown and didn't have to rely on someone else to do it. So hopefully the DJ can go ahead and do this as well without your input.

And is there some way we can get more than just hip hop and country played out here. Hell play some rock, folk, and techno, something than these other two genres educate the people out there.

Well that is all for now. And I'm not going to comment on the DJ's mixing skills cause I understand he's just starting out (I hope he is cause his mixing straight up sucks (not that bad)!! LOL)

*I'm adding a counter to my blog but unfortunately it includes an ad for the University of Pheonix (in no way do I personally support this school or anything it stands for, I would rather put the Univesity of Hawaii Manoa on there but I don't have that luxury unless some one can give me code to make my own counter.). So bear with me till I can get this rectified.

No Love?

It's very interesting to see how Hip Hop and R&B night are treated around the camp. We are always told that we need to be closed by 11pm, but when it comes to the other nights i.e., Country and Salsa night they are allowed to remain onstage past 11. I'm starting to get a large following but they don't seem to understand why I don't play past 11pm. I think I'm too naive and nice and just play by the rules. I know I should probably say something but it doesn't seem to do any good. I'm glad to have generated alot of buzz out here but I'm so ready to go home though. I just want to see family, pets, and just chill out and not have to worry about anything. Oh well. Well tonight DJ Crank is playing out at the MWR center and this guy is awesome. He's inspired me everytime I go to his nights to up my game. As soon as I get back to Atlanta it's time to hit the decks and upgrade as well. Well it's time for me to go I'm going to add some new links to the site. Also I'm going to try my hand at podcasting. It should be an interesting experience. Ok lates, peace and much hairgrease LOL.

Hey DJ!

I've been DJing several times a week since my last post on here. So far it's been pretty interesting. I'm DJing Hip Hop and Top 40 (who's I dont' know yet LOL) and it's going well. I've noticed though that when I play Hip Hop with a message (i.e., Common, Public Enemy) no one seems to be that interested in listening. They are so programmed by corporate media that when I play crap they hear on the radio they come out of the woodworks. It's pathetic, to say the least. So now when I play in the Mirage room you can expect alot of radio tracks. Outdoors though that is when I play for myself. I'll play everything from the oldies to trance and techno. Some of the people seem to enjoy it though they won't dance. I could care less about the dancing though. My goal is to expose people to other types of music and get them to try something new. It seems to work with the TCN (Third Country National) MWR workers. They like it and ask me to give them more. They say that the availability of the music they want out here is very limited. This one short Indian guy wanted me to play Axel F's "Crazy Frog" for the longest time. Well after a jaunt to the Kuwait City International Airport I was able to play it for him. It was funny cause he was dancing to it and had this huge smile. That's when I know DJing is worthwhile. If people are having a good time then it's well worth it.

I went to my buddy's DJ event out at the sunshade and I had to provide him with assistance on his DJ program (which he recommended to me, go figure). They couldn't seem to work it good so I had to provide them guidance. All was going good till some idiots (who probably drank too much of the Kuwaiti moonshine) decided to try to throw down. Now having been a club goer for quite awhile I never figured out the appeal of watching two men about to throw down at a party, and I can say that as a DJ I still don't know. One thing I did learn from it though is that it's a huge party killer. People's moods go south and it's the DJ's job to bring that mood back. But the DJ couldn't seem to do it so he played love songs for half an hour. Once everyone was down then he started playing the crunk hits, LOL. Everyone was dancing but over half the crowd had left, probably cause they thought the MP's would show up (though they did not come out once LOL), and it was kind of a lost cause.

I was suppose to DJ tonite but the weather is so sandy out that I'm not even going to risk messing up my equipment. Well got to go see ya later.

1 Step Closer

Well this morning was fast and furious. But I had one bright moment out of everything that went on today. That was the discovery of how easily it was to get the DJ position out here. I was told that I needed to just head down and speak with the manager of the cafe. Then after that I should be able to get the position since so many of the people who were DJing have gone back to the states. So I called my buddy in Atlanta and he's going to be sending my CD's out here. So here's to hope.