Dubai or not Dubai? That is the question...

I can remember a day quite clearly, about five years ago or so, when I was sitting on my couch in my house in New Jersey, watching my favorite channel – the Travel Channel. I love to watch the shows on the Travel Channel, and make all kinds of imaginary plans to visit places and countries and hotels. I’ve always had a rather strange obsession with hotels, and would gladly stay at one in my own city, if I thought it was interesting enough and I had the money to waste. And an interesting hotel set in the middle of an equally interesting destination is even more appealing to me. So imagine my fascination on that day, years ago, when the Travel Channel began to air a show about an amazing hotel. A seven-star hotel. And that’s not even a real rating – everyone knows hotels only go up to five stars. But THIS hotel was so unusual, they had to tack on a couple extra stars...

I sat on my couch, transfixed, pulled into the images of the hotel on my television screen. It was filled with fountains, and fire, and giant aquariums. It had rooms with purple drapes and ornate bathroom fixtures and unbelievable views of the ocean. It had a dizzying, towering atrium, zooming up through twenty-some floors. And the whole thing was set out in the middle of the water, built to look like a billowing sail. And I knew, without a doubt, that I’d have to find a way to get there some day. The only problem? My amazing hotel is in Dubai. And, as has been made clear by the recent “port deal” controversy, it’s not exactly on everyone’s list of vacation spots.

But I have to ask – why in the world NOT? Am I the only person who saw that Travel Channel show? The fact of the matter is, Dubai is running out of oil. So to ensure continued revenue, they are, quite successfully, turning themselves into one giant tourist destination. A giant, crazy, never-before-seen kind of resort city. In addition to the hotel (check it out – http://www.burj-al-arab.com/), they’re constructing entire islands shaped like palm trees and maps of the world. Oh yeah, and did I mention the indoor ski resort? How crazy is that? I just love this place. And I’ve never even been there…

The sad thing is, people hear “Middle East” and they freak out. They don’t read about it, they don’t learn about it, they don’t talk to people who’ve been there, they don’t try to form their own educated opinions. They simply hear “Middle East” – and some kind of long-ago-formed, preconceived idea jumps into their heads. I suppose it must be something simple, like, “Middle East = bad.” Personally, I don’t like to label things that broadly. And I’m not stupid – I’m not planning a Baghdad getaway any time soon… I’m not thinking about strutting down the streets of Riyadh in a miniskirt and halter top. (Although I have to admit I WISH I could visit Riyadh… the Kingdom Tower and Al Faisaliah Tower are another couple of architecturally interesting buildings. However, I fear – seeing as I lack a Y chromosome – many areas would be off-limits to me.)

And that’s the great thing about Dubai – they don’t really care about your chromosomes. X, Y, whatever. It’s all good. But I still doubt I’ll get the chance to go there any time soon – off the top of my head, I can only think of MAYBE three people I know who would be willing to make a trip to Dubai with me. And then of course there’s the fact that rooms at my super-cool hotel are about a thousand dollars a night. (But that’s the price you pay for super-coolness…)

Personally, I can’t understand why there’s any kind of “controversy” over this whole Dubai port deal. I mean, look at that hotel… look at the crazy islands – these people KNOW how to make good use of water. My first thought when I heard about it was, “Yeah! Let Dubai run some of our ports! Then maybe WE can get some super-cool hotels and crazy tree-shaped islands!” I suppose there isn’t much “resort planning” included in the port deal. But you never know. It could happen. I’m keeping my fingers crossed…

Comfortability...

This is the second time since I’ve started my blog that I’ve had a request to use a certain word in a post. The first time was when my friend Nick asked me to use “dandy” – and not “fine and” dandy, mind you. Just Dandy. Poor, underachieving Dandy, who so longs for independence from Fine And. But more often than not, overbearing Fine And tries to tell Dandy what to do, and they wind up stuck together. Not what Dandy wants, necessarily, but what to do? Fine And and Dandy are such icons of togetherness that they have a hard time separating. Fine And Dandy. But I digress… what was I talking about? Ah yes. Comfortability.

My friend Faisal asked me to title my next post “Comfortability,” I think mainly because it’s a word he made up, and now he’s searching for validation. Although in Faisal’s defense, Eric mentioned that he found it on a website somewhere – and if you Google the word “comfortability” plenty of websites pop up that make use of this word. If you want to know about the comfortability of a couch, or the comfortability of cozy cotton pajamas, or the comfortability of a car, you can probably find it somewhere on the world wide web. The only problem is, comfortability isn’t a real word. Even now, as I type out my paragraphs in Word, preparing to cut and paste into my blog, Word is repeatedly underlining “comfortability” with a squiggly red line, in an effort to draw my attention to the error of my ways. (Of course, it’s also repeatedly underlining “blog.” However, “blog” DOES have an entry on dictionary.com… I guess I just don’t have an updated version of Word…)

And this is not all to say that Faisal goes around haphazardly making up words. In fact, most of the time, he has an excellent grasp of the English language (and a few other languages that I don’t even understand, so who am I to talk? How WOULD you say “comfortability” in Urdu?). Why, just a few years ago, Eric and Faisal and I were all having a discussion about the word “smelt.” Faisal and I were certain that smelt could, in fact, be used as a past tense form of the word “smell,” but Eric thought that “smelled” was the only proper word to use. And “smelt,” he believed, was something only having to do with metals. Like iron smelting and such. But, of course, Faisal and I were right, and Eric was totally, completely wrong. I mean, embarrassingly wrong, really. Comfortability is one thing, but smelt? I mean, I can’t even count the number of times I’ve found the word “smelt” used in various forms of writing and literature. I even looked it up in my German dictionary, and discovered that this particular form of the past tense of “smell” is used around the world.

But even if “comfortability” was a real word, I’d still have a problem with it. Because really, in what instance would you use the word “comfortability” that you couldn’t use “comfort”? Like the comfort of a couch, and the comfort of cozy cotton pajamas, and the comfort of a car. It’s kind of like the word “utilize” which IS a real word, but means the exact same thing as “use.” So why would anyone utilize utilize when they could just use use? But all pet peeves and joking aside – I honestly do respect Faisal’s thoughts and opinions very much, and if he wants to use (or utilize) “comfortability” in his everyday conversations, it’s fine with me. :)

But I seriously DO want to know how to say it in Urdu…


Faisal, using only household objects and an ordinary backpack, proves that comfortability is easily attained in any situation...

Speak your mind...

I’ve been thinking about how I like to write, and how most people (I guess) don’t. And how I DON’T like to talk, but again, most people (I guess) do. And I’ve been thinking about all the times in my life I’ve been made to feel as if I’m the defective one, as if writing is some form of substandard communication, only employed by freaks and outcasts – strange, unintelligible pariahs incapable of vocal language. Yes, according to the majority – and majority rules – I am the one who should be required to change.

And yet how often have I found myself wondering, “what is wrong with these OTHER people? What is so wrong with them that they can’t simply write down all the things rattling around in their brains?” Of course, questions like that just lead to other questions – like, “do other people HAVE thoughts and words rattling around in their brains 24/7?” Maybe most people DON’T have words wandering around aimlessly in their psyches. Which makes me worry that I’m not only a freak, an outcast, and a pariah, but also just outright weird…

But how difficult is it to simply WRITE the things you’d just as soon SPEAK? I suppose “normal” people might ask just the opposite – how difficult is it to speak the things you write? Unfortunately, for me, it can be ridiculously difficult. Speaking has always been a fear of mine, and no matter how irrational it may seem to some people, that knowledge of the “irrational” makes little difference. I’ve never heard of anyone with a fear of writing – a DISLIKE, perhaps, but certainly not a fear. Nobody is afraid of WRITING a report – but standing up in front of a few dozen people to TALK about it? Plenty of people dread such a situation. School bullies don’t band together to ridicule the kid who hates spelling class – but the shy kid? Fair game.

When I was in high school, I let an acquaintance read something I’d written. When she was finished, she said, “Wow, Lisa… it’s like you’re two different people – the one who talks, and the one who writes.” In my life, I’ve compensated for my lack of vocal confidence with a fierce devotion to writing. I happily send and answer emails, I text message with abandon, and I have no problem with writing out random strings of thoughts for everyone and their brother (and my brother!) to read. And I have to agree with my classmate’s assessment – I DO have a tendency to hide the “real me” from most people, when I’m in a face-to-face setting. But the real me – my sense of humor, my thoughts, my feelings, my opinions, my words – all of these come out when I feel free to write.

Writing, for me, is simply taking all these words that float around in my mind on a daily basis and putting them to paper (or computer, as the case may be...). I suppose for most people, talking is the same way – you think about something, you say it. Simple as that. But when I open my mouth to talk, my words are met with a roadblock – they’re starved of oxygen, barely able to form a flame before fading to smoke. Whereas THESE words – the ones I write down – actually stand a chance of being noticed and picked out and chosen from the streams of never-ending linguistic choices in my mind. Why these same words make a run for the hills every time I start talking is a mystery to me.

The hope I always have is that people will have the patience to understand that the things I write are a valid form of communication. When I have things to say, I can say them – maybe not always when I talk, but definitely when I write. Does it mean less if it’s written as opposed to spoken? Does it lose some kind of credibility when the words are literally visible? Is it not worth the effort it takes to read through a few paragraphs? I suppose it’s all a matter of perception. But no matter what anyone’s perception is, I know I’ll be writing for as long as the words continue to journey through my mind.