My mood is:
Our weekend in brief…I put my foot down and was strictly 9-5 on Friday (my day off). Our friends Matthew and Mary Ann came over with their daughters for dinner. A good time was had by all. Stella was either curious or had her curiosity provoked about my guitar so she, Danielle, and Matthew played around for a little while (see above). She wanted to play it like a cello (I think her uncle plays the cello). It was cute. We ate and talk about this and that, but as is often the case when you’re hanging out and being adults and enjoying yourselves talking about adult things, the kids have to go to bed, so the adults have to leave early. To be fair, the kids toughed it out past their bedtime. Amy and I went over to Torino for a little while afterwards, but ended up calling it an early night.
On Saturday morning, I drove out to Bourj Hammoud with Matthew. He was picking up some maps he was having framed at a place out there and I went along for the ride (and hopes of buying some artwork). I did end up buying a small painting. On the drive out and back, Matthew and I discussed Lebanese culture and the differences between trying to live in Lebanon as an American as opposed to an American pretending to be Lebanese. That is to say (and this may be oversimplifying), either it bothers you that your power goes out every other day and you can’t download all your podcasts, or it doesn’t.
After I returned home, Amy and I walked down to Gemmayze, had some pizza at Olio, a coffee at Torino, and then tried to see a movie in Achrafieh. No dice. Determined to see a movie, we took the #2 bus back to our neighborhood just in time to see Brokeback Mountain at the Concorde. It was interesting because when the film came out, we weren’t even expecting it to be screened here (which I think was naivete on our part). We’d read in Timeout that it was edited for showing in this country and I was hesitant to see the cut version before seeing the original. As it turned out, it couldn’t have been more obvious what parts had been omitted. I’d thought that they would’ve edited around the subject matter to make the relationship between the two main characters seem more ambiguous. This was not the case…they just didn’t want to show men kissing. So the two cowboys would lean in and–cut–lean out. We all laughed every time it happened.
Afterwards we went home and ate leftovers. Having not had my fill of films on the topic of complicated, adult male relationships, I watched Stuck On You on TV.
Today we went for our regular Sunday walk on the Corniche. I got some work done and then we went out to with Bjorn and Mike and some other people to Captain’s Cabin. It was kind of interesting as many of our crowd hadn’t been there since they were in high school…20 years ago. We talked about cabbages and kings and true love and life before, during, and after the war. Amy and I went home early again. We’re old and I’ve got the job in the morning.
And other than that, no news fit to print.
Here’s some pictures….
Stella’s handprint in the dust on my guitar case, which I noticed the next day.
Some flowers I saw on Saturday.
The painting I got in Bourj Hammoud.
While I’m at it, here’s a shot of the coffee painting we bought in Hama, Syria.
The waves on the Corniche were massive today.
