You can tell me the title isn't true all you want. You can say, dude, you spent the past year in fucking Qatar. Qatar. Sure, you've been getting trashed in Europe every chance you've got. You said yourself the country sucks; nine months mostly spent there can't possibly be that good. The happiest days of your life? I don't buy it.
And I'm not selling it.
[Aside: The Qatar Airways business lounge, as wonderful as it is, does not serve alcohol in the morning. Ouch.]
I guess there are some tangible things in this country that I will miss. The huge apartment I don't pay for and the constant reckless driving stand out right now.
Sitting in the business lounge, I'm mostly suppressing the few drops of tears that are threatening to come in the name of friends. That's what I will and am missing most dearly.
[Boarding. May or may not pick up again.]
[Picking up in Frankfurt ... after some pretty consistent drinking.]
I was planning on adopting my friend Ryan's plan of staying up throughout my time in the air to enjoy my business-class flights. But by the time I was leaving the Qatar Airways business lounge in Doha I was beginning to doubt if I could bear staying awake and in thought for twenty-some hours.
Wine was the solution. (And is.) Onboard my Doha-Frankfurt flight, I saw Happy Feet and then basically zoned out/passed out listening to amazing music. Nothing I haven't heard before, but it sure was nice to have full albums of Pink Floyd, Beatles, U2, and Led Zeppelin on the flight. It wasn't even an upper-class-only thing; economy totally has the same stuff, only on a smaller screen, not that it matters when you're going for music. Only just discovered it on my last flight, though; I totally would have listened to music on my flight back from Italy last month. (If you're flying Qatar Airways at some point, it's in On-Demand Music under Interactive.)
I only just realized that when you're not flying economy, it doesn't matter how long the layover is. Short (as Tim had it) would actually be hectic; long, on the other hand, gives you time to get liquored up, enjoy life, and possibly miss your flight. Awesomeness. I don't remember what happened when I was in Heathrow on the way to Qatar last August, but I don't think I made it to the business lounge; perhaps it was a short layover.
[Don't get me wrong, I still miss my friends in my half-trashed state. Alcohol's just numbed it for now, which is pretty much imperative. But as we all know, alcohol changes nothing, at least not in the good direction.]
[By the way, Marjorie, when I was going to back fetch my laptop someone else approached the computer I was using (there aren't many) and I told him it's okay, just log me off. Which is why I'm typing up this part of the entry now and not drunk-chatting with you. I hope you'd forgive me.]
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6 comments:
Dude. I went down to the TA cave this morning, and your Jazz pendant was still up on your cube wall, and I started crying.
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes,
Let them know you realize that life goes fast,
It's hard to make the good things last.
You realize the sun doesn't go down,
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round.
Nice post.
I miss you too, Andrew! I have no lyrics for you, and my office is unfortunately lacking in Jazz drawings, but I can absolutely say that life in Doha will be less interesting with you gone. Try not to get too many moving violations in Jersey, k?
ANDREW IS DA SHIZ0r!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!
lol. Doug can always be depended upon to add a touch of class to any thread.
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