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About Ramblings of a Hopeless Khowaga

Welcome to my Web site. My name is Chris, and I’ll be your host. I\'m an opinionated, snarky, gay academic with a predilection for the history, the Arab world, languages, photography, food, and music. I live in Austin, Texas. You can read more about me, learn 100 random things about me, and if you’re wondering what the heck a khowaga is, click here. Feel free to browse, read, and leave comments!

Tag: ‘party’



Garbage Analytics

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

I’m barely awake this morning – we went to see Star Trek at the IMAX last night, and, even though all I did was sit on my butt and still get to bed right around my normal time, I’m still kind of tired.  I must be getting old.  Or it had something to do with the two martinis at Clay Pit before the show.

This morning, as I was puttering around the kitchen (forgot to set the coffeemaker last night, dammit), I remembered–for once!–that it’s garbage day, so I began gathering up garbage bags and the varying detritus from Ray’s birthday party on Saturday night and hauled it all out to the curb.  And then I stood back and realized that our neighbors must think that we’re total alcoholics.

It doesn’t help that the sturdiest boxes one can pick out of the bin at Costco are the ones that are used to ship wine or beer.  And this morning, the trash cans were full of discarded six packs and right on top was a box that had once held 12 bottles of Glenlivet.  (For the record, while I don’t know what was transported to our house in this box, I can assure you that the Glenlivet never made it to the party.  I’d make a point of remembering.)

On the other hand, the neighbors on either side never talk to us, so it’s not like I care that much.

What did get brought to our party was a variety of beer, wine, tequila (cheap, cheap tequila.  Whoever brought it needs to sit down with me and have a discussion about the merits of not buying handles of “blanco.”), and one extremely confused (and drunk) twentysomething gayboy.

The gay boy was brought in the company of an acquaintence who had had a bit much to drink at a wedding earlier in the day and picked him up.  The problem here, as you will readily see, is that said acquaintence is female.  And this boy was the kind of gay you can see from outer space.  Margaret Cho would have described him as “fanning the flames of his faggotry.”

So, what does a twentysomething gay boy do when he gets picked up at a wedding by a woman who brings him to a party where he doesn’t know a single person?  Well, in this case, he borrows her makeup before he arrives, and then spends half of the evening whining to everyone who will listen that no one loves him (because the hunky groomsman he was staring at all afternoon pretended like he didn’t exist), and the other half of the evening asking everyone if they have a joint.

Let’s face it.  We were all twentysomething once and confused about the best way to deal with (and express) our sexuality.  While I wouldn’t choose to do so the way this young man did, good for him for having the guts to do it, and in Texas to boot.

On the other hand, it was a birthday party to which all of the guests had been invited because they knew us and we wanted them to be there to celebrate Ray’s birthday.  I wasn’t particularly happy that our acquaintance just decided to bring along someone that she’d known for all of four hours (and that he then proceeded to ask everyone if they had a joint).  It wasn’t that kind of party.

I will admit to having emitted a sigh of relief when the female acquaintance sobered up enough to realize that she needed to get rid of him.  Now.  And then made that happen.

Sunday was spent recovering and asking the post-party question that I always ask: why do we do this?  We spent parts of Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday cleaning the house so that our guests wouldn’t think we were slobs, and then spent Saturday … OK, technically very early Sunday morning … and the other part of Sunday re-cleaning the house up after everyone. It’s sort of like when you clean before your family comes to visit and they managed to undo all the cleaning within the first 10 minutes of their arrival.  All you can think is, “Why did I bother?”

On top of it, Mocha apparently was unhappy that we weren’t paying enough attention to her and acted out all weekend.  Between trying to dig a new hole in the backyard (which, it turned out, was to access a baby bird hiding under the AC pad … which I later found decapitated elsewhere in the yard), tracking mud all over the house, eating food right off the counter — including a bag of rolls that she took out back in the middle of the night and devoured — and just generally being a bad dog, she’s … well, she’s in the dog house.  (I hate cheesy puns when they come so naturally!)

Anyway.  Saturday brought a cold front through.  Even though it was still damp for the party, I’m loving the weather – we’re in the 50s at night (low 10s C) and in the mid-80s during the day (high 20s C).  If it could just stay like this for a while … that’d be perfect.

Get on that, will ya?  ;)

12 of 12: May 2009

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

It’s time, once again, for 12 of 12!

This month … the 12th falls once again on a Tuesday.  I’ll admit it, fellow 12ers, I’m tapped out.  I’m out of ideas on how to make a normal Tuesday in the office seem interesting, so this month I played around with post-processing and making the photos look cool after the fact.  Nearly all of these are presets for Lightroom that have been developed by the very cool Matt Kloskowski — if you like them, check out his Web site and download your own.

Anyway …

6:50 am: Tollway to heaven?

May09-1

On the way to work …

7:47 am: Wasting Water

May09-2

OK, maybe not.  The University does collect all of its wastewater and use it in the campus-wide cooling system.  But, damn, do they have to water those stupid ferns every morning?  It’s starting to look like Jurassic Park!

7:48 am: Iconic Architecture

May09-3

The Texas Union and the Tower atop the Main Building.  Doesn’t get more picture postcard-y than that!  I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: my undergraduate institution looked like something that Stalin might have built to subdue Poland, so I do enjoy the limestone and red clay-tile roofs.

7:51 am: Stephen F. Austin is a Zombie!

May09-4

OK, I give up.  What do you think this mural is saying?

7:53 am: Shadow and Light

May09-5

The lady at Jamba Juice was taking too long to make my smoothie, so I started making her nervous by taking a picture of the shadow pattern on the floor.  That’ll learn ‘er.

8:49 am: Ready to work … ?

May09-6

We’re getting ready to publish a new edition of the book Year of the Elephant by the Moroccan writer Laila Abouzeid.  I offered to fund part of the publication if we can market the books to classrooms, which necessitates writing a study guide.  Somehow that wound up being my job.  So, I’m sitting here trying to send “go away” vibes while reading the book and taking copious notes.  The problem is that this tactic never works — I don’t really have space in my office to spread out while I read, but people interrupt me if I use the conference table.  I’ve got to find a better place to work on stuff like this.

10:25 am: Facebook silliness!

May09-7

Which Middle Eastern Dictator Am I?  Turns out I’m Hafez al-Asad from Syria!  Armed with this information, I can now safely declare my life complete.  (I would have guessed King Hussein of Jordan, but whatevs.)

3:11 pm: Playin’ with Clay

May09-8

I’m supposed to give a talk in a few weeks on “the Islamic City,” and, unlike other talks, I’ve decided not to wait until the last second to think about what I want to say on the topic.  However, there’s a bit of a problem with the ability to work uninterrupted that I previously mentioned.

But, look!  This guy who wrote this book made models of the city plans of the 7th century Arab cities with clay, and he published them in his book.  That’s so cool!  I want to do that.  I could … and probably have … drawn maps of medieval Cairo on cocktail napkins.

Why, yes, I am a massive dork.  Why do you ask?

5:31 pm: Doggie grin

May09-9

It’s already too hot to walk Mocha in the afternoons – it’s been in the mid 90s for the past two weeks (mid 30s for those of you who speak Celsius).  I’m trying to train her to get used to evening walks, but she still follows me around the second I get home.  It’s always me when she wants a walk, and Ray when she wants food.

5:35 pm: Baby Limes

May09-10

I’m trying not to be the obsessive plant stalker and inspecting my garden every day … just every few days.  I’ve got some Hungarian wax peppers almost ready to pick, and the lime tree has little baby limes all over it.  They’re about the size of a pistachio right now, but they’ll get there…all at once.  And then I’ll have to figure out what to do with dozens of limes.

6:03 pm: Party Planning

May09-11

Ray’s birthday is coming up, and so there will be a party.  I’m trying to make a shopping list so that I can hit the grocery tomorrow because Thursday evening will be spent wrapping jalapeños in bacon.  If you haven’t tried it, don’t knock it.

This is the fun kind of homework.  Certainly more fun than this:

May09-12

Yeah, I brought my work home with me.  Ray has to study tonight for his macroeconomics final, so I figured I’d make some productive use of the quiet time.  And I’d probably better stop posting my 12 of 12 and actually get to it!

Happy 12th everyone!

Weekend

Sunday, April 26th, 2009

It’s been a busy weekend here in the khowaga household.

Let’s see.  On Saturday, Ray and I went to San Antonio, to the King William Fair.  Ray’s co-worker’s parents live on King William Street, which is the old-money/rich gay district, and every year they have this big street festival where they have a parade (first thing in the morning – we never make it) performances and food booths and arts and crafts and whatnot.  So, we chugged on down there.

It was supposed to be overcast.  It wasn’t.

So, here’s an old truck all festooned out …

… and a cute little house with a banana tree in front of it …

… and, oh, my God, these were some terrible bellydancers.  They were in front of the house where the party was, and I had to stop and stare and … OK, I know you’re probably thinking that I’m an expert on bellydancing or something because of what I do, and so I’m holding them to a really high standard of authenticity, but you’d be wrong.  I do, however, know what it’s supposed to look like, and it’s not middle aged white ladies in costumes swaying to 70s pop music.

The proper term for bellydancing is raqs sharqi, or “eastern dance.”  This is more like raqs shitty.

We got there just in time for the mariachis to start playing.  The guy in the white shirt and ballcap in the lower right is Charles Butt, owner of the HEB grocery chain (it’s huge in Texas).  He lives next door …

… in this little shack with the Texas Historical Landmark plaque in front.

So, Ray and I went walking round the fair, which was crowded despite the heat (it was 86 / 35) …

… stumbled across a house that we would very much like the owners to leave us in their will …

… funnel cake!  How’d that get there?

… and joined the lengthy line of gay men taking photos with the world’s largest bougainvillea:

Then we drove back to Austin, where I had to turn around almost immediately and go into campus for a special evening event: a private concert with Lebanese musician May Nasr.

She played an acoustic set – woman with guitar on her own, but she has a powerful voice and it was an incredible hour and a half of just sitting and watching her spin her tale.

I bought her CD (and she autographed it – yes, you may touch me), but I found it a little overproduced.  Her voice is still powerful, but it gets kind of buried in there.  I liked her better on her own…

Anyway.  So, that was my weekend.  Hope yours was awesome!

Random Round Up

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

It’s been a while since I blogged, and I know I’m falling behind. It’s that end-of-the-semester crunch time, and I’m actually making an effort to put the computer down when I’m not at work. (I didn’t say I was being that successful at it, but I’m trying).  In about a week and a half, classes will end and things should start getting back to normal.

However, here’s a random bunch of things that have happened recently about which I feel the need to express an opinion or one another.  (Perhaps I should call this post “Opinions by Chris™”)

1) Miss California needs to shut up now, thanks. You didn’t lose because you’re against gay marriage.  You lost because you’re an obnoxious chatterbox and no one can listen to you talk for more than 15 seconds without starting to bleed from the ears.  The reason why you can go on Fox NEws and talk about this at length is because everyone who works there is from outer space.

2) Perez Hilton needs to shut up now, thanks. There’s really nothing new there, but I just need to bitch slap HER down, too.  You run a blog.  This doesn’t make you famous or talented.  It does, however, apparently qualify you to go on Larry King.

3) Dick Cheney needs to shut up now, thanks. His term is up, and yet he’s still fearmongering all over the television.  No, Mr. Cheney, releasing the CIA memos on torture doesn’t make America less safe.  Kidnapping people from their homes, flying them halfway around the world and torturing them in secret prisons does.  Wanna know how I know this?  BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT THE TERRORISTS ARE SAYING, JACKASS.

4) GOP Leaders, please read the above.  Then shut up.  Thanks.

5) I still don’t care about Madonna and the Malawiian baby.

6) The financial bailout. I’m not sure Obama knows what he’s doing.  I’ll admit it.  I don’t think anyone else knows what they’re doing, either.  I do, however, wish that Fox News and a good chunk of the Republican party had a long term memory (it’s been FIVE MONTHS) and could remember that it was the Bush administration that approved the much-maligned AIG bailout that came with the million dollar bonuses.  We’re all in this together, idiots.  Stop blaming it on the Dems.

7) The Battlestar Galactica finale. I liked it overall.  Two things I didn’t like: the non-resolution of the Starbuck plotline (I’m sorry – Ronald Moore’s explanation that it’s “Whatever you want to imagine it to be” is LAME); and the hit-you-over-the-head robot sequence at the end.  For a series that worked entirely with subtlety, that was really annoying.  Also, his cameo at the end was distracting.  And I really want to be able to read what they produced for the fake National Geographic article because, yes, I am that lame.

8) Everything’s better with a bag of weed.

If I have to embarrass myself singing this as I walk down the hallway, so do you.  Bwa ha ha!!!

And I’m spent. More later.

eGads

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

It’s been a busy second day of January, 2009.  There are many errands to run, laundry to do, and a house to deChristmasify.  I usually take down all the Christmas decorations on New Year’s Day but … well, there was a lot of sleeping on New Year’s Day.  Has something to do with New Year’s Eve.  I’ll let you fill in the blanks *innocent look.*  About the most active we got was taking the dog to the park, which we did mainly because she gets to run around and play and we can just sit there.

Ray and I ran some errands this afternoon.  On Monday, the two of us, along with my parents, are off to Seoul, Korea, to visit my brother and sister-in-law.  In addition to the usual pre-travel chores (hit the trial sized section of the SprawlMart to gather various and sundry toiletries in 3 ounce-or-less sizes), we have been invited to one of my brother’s friend’s daughter’s birthday party (got all that)?  She’s going to be one … which I think in Korea means she’s actually two … and it’s a huge deal.  In other words, gifts are expected.

I have to admit that I do not have the full range of gay genes.  I enjoy the fine food and wine.  I’m picky and choosy and a bit of a snob about certain things (wine does not come in a box).  I’ve been known to enjoy show tunes.  I have a decent sense of style (mostly expressed in disapproval of other peoples style).

I do not, however, possess the shop-till-you-drop gene (third world markets are an exception), and I find myself at my most fish-out-of-waterish when I am in the presence of things that can be described using one or more of the following words: “cute,” “precious,” and/or “darling.”  Hence, buying a birthday present for a female toddler?  Not exactly something I’m cut out for.

Ray provided the solution–we bought her a board game: Chutes and Ladders.  Yeah, it’s a little above her age, but what can you get for a toddler that she won’t outgrow in a few months?  Everyone remembers this game from their childhood when they were coveting their female playmates’ things, right?  It was surprisingly inexpensive, and we bought wrapping paper.  The decision now is whether to wrap it before we go or just put the roll in the suitcase and wrap it there.  “Either way,” I told Ray, “it’s going in your suitcase.”  (I still hold the title of “Man most likely to have been strip searched before getting on this plane.”)

So … then we went to checkout.

I have an unparalleled talent for picking the absolute slowest lane in the store, without fail.  What’s interesting about this is that I also have a knack for picking the shortest lane in the store, and I’ve recently decided to start taking detailed notes about how lines can be both short and incredibly slow.

The other day, Ray and I were at Sam’s Club (yeah, I know.  Shut up.) to pick up supplies for a party that a friend had asked us to get.  We had exactly one item.  Ray was looking at something, and I got into the express lane behind two other people.  One of them had one single item, the other had two.

Naturally, the first lady decided to pay by check, a process that makes getting into the United States (especially when you’re me) look easy.  I also don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone take that long to write a check in my life – I’m not sure if she was writing it out in Copperplate script or something, but she just kept writing … and writing … and writing.

The next lady, who had a Sam’s Club membership … in her own name … didn’t know that you have to pay cash, debit, or with a MasterCard at Sam’s.  She only had an American Express card.  This was a lengthy, lengthy discussion, which eventually ended with her friend pulling out … you guessed it!  Her checkbook.

All told, it took close to ten minutes for us to get through the express lane.

Today, I got in line behind a man with one item.  As we walked up to the register behind him, the cashier was finishing up with her previous transaction, and seemed to be wildly preoccupied with little pieces of paper on her workstation onto which she was writing random numbers.  She was also carrying on a lengthy conversation.  With herself.

I must give the guy in front of us credit — he was very smooth.  He said, calmly and a little louder than the situation required, “Good afternoon, ma’am.  How are you today?”

She kept messing with the slips of paper and talking to herself.  Finally, a full thirty seconds later, she looked up and, as if seeing him for the first time, exclaimed, “Hello!  Just the one item?”

At this point, I started to giggle a little bit, just because … well, my luck is just that good!

Anyway.  I hope you had a relaxing New Year’s, and may all your checkout lines be short and speedy!

 

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