A week, I need another week to wrap a few projects up, and then I can sit down and properly blog. But in the time, how about some blogletts?

A brief update: Bebeface is taking his first wobbly steps on his own, and his fantastic new mobility means dire things for my paper lamp, the crystal in the living room, and edible-looking dustbunnies everywhere.

SubhanAllah: I visited the chateau (my parents’ apt)a few days ago, and was playing idly in the living room when I heard the sound of the azhan coming through the balcony doors. It sounded strangely familiar. It sounded like my father.

It was my father, MashaAllah, calling the azhan from the masjid up the street.

Freelancing: Has moved in to an interesting new direction, where previous jobs involved graphic design, or editing, or creating content, this new job combines all three, and I get to use an awesome program called Articulate, which apparently only ubergeeks like HF and I find cool and exciting. Articulate is a software for turning Powerpoint presentations into flash-based presentations, with interesting interactive options. Right now I’m designing courses for an online academy, as well as their hand-outs, a few logos here and there- it’s enjoyable work, and it pays well Alhamdulillah.

On the down side, I have to get everything done while Bebeface snoozes, and lately, he hasn’t been doing very much of it. His sleeping schedule has taken an odd new twist, now he wants to sleep 8 hours a night instead of the 12 before, so we’re trying to adjust his nap times and waking hours accordingly.

Things are going well, Alhamdulillah, and I’ve been trying to keep my Fridays as work-free days. Yesterday HF and I went out to Ibn Battuta Mall, wandered around the shops, munched on Chinese, Mexican, AND Shawarma in one evening, and got to meet up with some friends from Abu Dhabi for a lovely time out.

Update: Bring on the lasers! A doc’s visit this evening has revealed that I have torn the miniscus (sp?) in my knee, which is apparently an important little blob of cartilage shaped like a black bow tie (that’s what the doc said) and I’m scheduled for LASER SURGERY (zap!) this 28th, InshaAllah. Please make dua everything goes well and I recover fast, bebeface is reaching new and death-defying levels of mischief with the newfound mobility, and in order to keep up I’ve got to move pretty fast.

Peace & Handi Grease!
-Abez

It is fitting that this ultra-brief recap of Chai’s layover in the UAE be typed when I am sleepy- Chai had no less than two naps in the same afternoon, and consumed no less than a thousand jellybeans and defeated us in Scrabble by no less than a million points.

And we shopped, but we forgot to eat ice cream, and we stuffed ourselves silly at Fuddrucker’s- a place I had never been to and am uncertain of how to spell. We had burgers. They were Good. I did not have enough room to sigh by the time I was done trying to accommodate 1/3 pound of burger (it was the smallest size, really!) in my stomach, part of my spleen, and two-thirds of my left lung.

Ok that’s sort of gross, but the burger was really good, and that’s a compliment coming from me- my response to eating American food out is never overly enthusiastic. I’ll have a nice time, but I’ll decide that I can make the same thing at home for nothing (using only a small aubergine).

I digress. Chai is as crazily wonderful as usual, and there was much rejoicing, and much sleep deprivation as her flight arrived at 5:50 am and then departed less than 24 hours later at 2:45 am.

She’s flown away again, that crazy international bird, and we look forward to a whirlwind jellybean festival again soon, InshaAllah.

And speaking of jellybeans, my son is finally asleep. It’s past 2 am now. His Momma is tired, and his Momma is mentally arrrgh about the prospect of another day of busy-ness tomorrow. I’m working on basically the biggest, coolest freelance project I’ve had to date, the coolest part being that it pays in US dollars- possibly with three zeros on the end, w00t! But it’s ALOT of hard work, and I spend my waking hours taking care of Khalid and Khalid’s sleeping hours (as well as some of my own) taking care of work. Had Khalid been a good bebesaurus and gone to sleep at his normal 11 instead of tonight’s 2, then I could have gotten two hours of work in before slinking in to bed next to HF, who’s been snoozing since the jealously reasonable hour of midnight. Alas.

SubhanAllah, life is busy, sleep is precious, and the bed is calling my name.

Know what I mean, jellybean?