four right chords

Over the past few days I have been contemplating what to write about (maybe I've burned out too hard and too fast) but whilst in the bathroom at a local pub known as captain's cabin (which plays the best music of all time ie; bob seger, pink floyd, third eye blind (hint hint), toto, etc.) I thought maybe I'd do a recap of my likes/dislikes of my experience thus far. I know my "journey" is still in it's infancy (it's actually more like a fetus, I haven't even moved in to my dorm yet and classes don't start until October 5th) but I feel as if a recap/analysis of my time here thus far will be helpful. I can step back and maybe learn something from this...or it could just be another meaningless rant about the world. Who knows? Half the time I don't even know what I'm talking about, so I don't expect anyone out there in the universe to give a rat's ass.

So far there are a lot of things that are amazing about this place, and a bunch that I wish would just no longer exist, and then on top of that there are things that (depending on the situation/place/company/state of mind) can go both ways. All in all, I couldn't ask for a more amazing summer its been over 4 months since I have taken a test, read a book (for school), studied, worried about grades, did homework, blah blah blah. I made some money, met some cool people, chilled with my friends, made ammends, and just enjoyed the time I had left in the states. But to be honest, I kinda can't wait to start school here. Not saying that my cousins aren't keeping me entertained because they are the shit and I'm having an amazing time so far (wissam, petra, sanaa) you guys have been so welcoming and I can't begin to describe how much I appreciate it. There's just so much downtime while they are at work living their own lives that I start to think too much about why I'm here and how much I miss everyone back home. I just need to be busy, get in the groove of things you know?

Well that's enough for this post, here are some impressions of my first week in the paris of the middle east (where black & white fades to grey).

Likes:
-All the toilets are probably capable of flushing down a whole pineapple, along with an entire flock of seagulls 
-The soap made of olive oil (I think it's making my hair grow back...not)
-The acceptance of foreigners (everyone I have met so far has been very friendly)
-How cheap somethings are (Movies, water, fast food, smokes, faux sunglasses (Roi Banes), taxis.
-The bars (great music, great food, nice atmosphere)
-The driving (it's like a god-damn roller coaster ride, or a dirty stinky lazy river (cause of the severe traffic jamzzz))
-The beaches (they have huge salt water pools along with your standard ocean, and the one we went to today called "sporting" has planes flying low over it to land at Beirut Int'l which was pretty sweet)
-The darkness my skin is acheiving
-Karate class (I started going with wissam three times a week and it is kicking my ass right now)
-Coffee shops/cafes (offer a chill atmosphere to just sit listen to music and have a nice cup of coffee)
-Being forced to communicate in bumbling broken Arabic (and hand gestures) when I'm not with my cousins.
-The weather
-The political rallies (sp?) (although I couldn't follow what they were saying, they had sweet flags and there were army dudes with rpg's, AK's, and other crazy weapons guarding the rally.
-THEY HAVE KETCHUP FLAVORED POTATO CHIPS
-Soda in the glass bottle/old school cans (with the pull tab)
-Fireworks at all hours of the night (or are they gunshots?)

Dislikes:
-How expensive somethings are (Clothes, good food, drinks at bars, and gas).
-Fake people (literally though I haven't seen this many "plastics" in one city before. Too many people look like a leathery joan rivers had beach balls stapled to her chest).
-The amount of pollution/garbage in Beirut, and the complete disregard for the environment (I guess they currently have bigger fish to fry)
-The power outages
-Most women here are like expensive liquor, you stare at them for a while, you think about buying it, then you realize you can get the same end result from something much cheaper.
-That my cousins have real jobs so they aren't around during the day
-I can't drive, nay I'm afraid to drive, but maybe soon I'll give it a go.
-The car's horn is more important than it's seat belt (in the next ten seconds I'm going to count how many times I here a car beep its horn ready? go...23 beeps. wtf.) 

So it looks as though the likes outnumber the dislikes, I know there are more but I think the sun baked my brain today at the beach. Although I have these certain feelings about this place I understand that there are some things you just can't change. So why even let it get to you? If people wanna act like assholes, or if they wanna carve themselves up, or if they insist on honking their car horn, let them eat cake. Let them stuff their over-collagened lips, spiked hair, and car horns with all the fucking cake in the whole world. It ain't no thang.

If anyone feels like putting soapy water in their mouth make sure you take a nice long drag from a hookah first so you can blow sweet smoke bubbles. Or just use the stuff that comes in the bottle with the plastic wand i guess. This DJ at a rooftop bar called le capitol or something was first off, playing the shittiest house music and dancing like a fairy princess on extacy while wearing pantyhose on his face. Then he started blowing those smoke bubbles by putting soapy water in his mouth. I wanted a mighty wind to maybe nudge him just close enough to the edge...and...no bad idea, shouldn't write these things on the internet.

Best of luck on all yall's mid-terms,
Ramathorn

PS- I had some bangin sausages in a spicy pomegranite sauce last night...deeeelish. Im thinking about opening a five guys here it would be a gold mine. People here don't understand what a true burger is.

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