Holidays

Not too much longer, then everything will be back to normal. [Normal, being a relative term.] There has been very little - of interest to me - in the papers lately. Today is National Day and that is a holiday. Next week Ramadan ends and Eid begins - and that will be celebrated with a two or three-day holiday. On October 7th, it will finally be both productive and safe to go downtown. I can get the paint samples I want, I can see about getting some cornices made, and some lampshades, too.

Our shipment should arrive at that point - I believe it is in the Sandbox, but I'm doubting we will see it until after the holidays. Customs will need to inspect it - and that might involve work. I am dreading what "they" are going to do to 120 pounds of food for my Kids from The Honest Kitchen, after what "they" did to the last food I shipped in. And, I only hope that as "they" slash my twenty-four boxes open that they don't shred my new towels or puncture the industrial-size containers of Tide. I'm guessing that the two cases of canned crab meat are going to make it through, along with a case of canned potatoes - although there must be some sort of ban on those products as they've not been seen on any grocery store's shelves in a year. Who knows why... With the many cartons of cigarettes that I have had shipped over in the last six years, only a few packs have gone "missing." The men in customs must not like menthol... And, any books in my shipment are fairly innocuous - questionable titles get hand-carried back - so the books should make it through customs without a problem. I always remove the dust-covers - no need drawing any attention to my books. Customs will be surprised to find a box of empty CD and DVD cases. I know better than to ship the actual discs - they would all be confiscated so that they could be "reviewed." I hand carry the discs back and put the cases in the shipment, empty. I doubt "they" would actually keep season three of Monk, but the music CD's might be deemed "offensive," especially Tim Buckley...

Speaking of offensive... If this isn't offensive, I don't know what is. How many eight-year olds are going to have to be married and divorced before someone puts their foot down and says, "no more." There was an article in one of the papers last week that said something about how both parties would have to consent to marriage before it could be deemed legal. There is NO eight or nine or ten or eleven or fifteen year-old girl capable of making that kind of life-altering decision! Just stop it. You are portraying yourselves in an incredibly negative light with this kind of insanity.*

Insanity... Just par for the course. I mean why else would two young men sneak into a mosque to watch women praying?*

*Thanks to WZ who "scours the bowels of the internet" so I don't have to...