What's New in Lishaland?

My mother draws my attention to the fact that nothing's been posted since halloween. I'd like to say that this is because I'm leading a fast-paced, action-packed life, and that I have no time to do such things as update blogs, but this would just be false and misleading.

The truth is, I've been up to not much. The main news is about work: I managed to secure a large grant for a work project, which is going to keep me very busy but also keep me on a good professional career path for the time being.

Cousin Michael also came to visit, which was a lot of fun - the boys went for a spin at Aquaventure while I was at work:

We also decided to celebrate my birthday early, since this year it falls during Eid al-Adha and National Day (a week or more of national holidays which will send everybody skittering off out of town), so went out on the 5th to Chi at the Lodge, where we sat in VIP and drank a lot and danced our tooshies off until 3am. It's interesting in this town, that at 3am, they actually turn the music off and turn the lights on, even though the whole floor is still packed with people who seem like they could easily go until 6. I think in the States they usually just stop serving drinks at closing time, and let people dance themselves into a more coherent state for a little while. Am I wrong?

Lastly but not leastly, we are planning a little week-long getaway to Thailand for the above mentioned holidays, which fall from Nov 27-Dec 4. Not sure of all the details yet, but I'm sure it will be fun! More to come.