Another Day Closer to Freedom
I went to go see Godzilla with Martin last night. I think it's funny how the Japanese pronounce it 'Go-jilla." But the movie was fun nonetheless. I learned that in the American version, they took most of the old movie and spliced Hollywood shot sequences into it, all the while cutting out the satirical elements. So Hollywood's dumbing down of cultural mediums is nothing new.
Today at work, some friends from the Immigration and Corporate groups took me out to lunch to wish me a farewell. We went over to Fornos, about a 5-10 minute walk from our building in Newark. The restaurant was a lot nicer than I expected. Zainab, the Pakistani girl who works in Corporate, was opinionated as usual. She's a really interesting character. We always have little mock skirmishes about India-Pakistan and whatever else, but in the end, she and I relate to one another better than most others at the office. For some reason, she's always pissed off at someone or something. Luckily I havn't managed to cross her the wrong way. I think it's culture shock. She doesn't fully understand American culture, nor does she feel comfortable here. She's such a smart woman, but gets written off pretty easily because of her accent or whatever... hell, she did go to Law School. I guess that's enough to annoy most anyone. Plus I doubt her husband is happy here. They're also a little worried about raising their 2 year old here in the states, thinking that he'll be treated like a foreigner the rest of his life. I can realte to that, growing up on Long Island, there was no shortage of dickheaded elementary school kids calling me 'Ghandi' or whatever the hell else... ignore the fact that I'm American born. Eric, one of her officemates, made some dumbass comment and crossed a line somewhere. I think it was when he jokingly said, 'Curse Allah' or something like that. I politely and privately told him that he should be careful, especially around Zainab. She finds it offensive and is pretty sensitive to the whole anti-Islamic trend that's becomming more mainstream.
So after taking a 2.5 hour lunch break, I went back to the office and passed the time. Only 5 workdays left. After work I went to Jamatkhana for services. They had some members of the national council in town, and surprisingly, had a really great discussion session after. Talked mainly about portraying the soft and intellectual face of Islam and Ismailism. I'm pretty glad to be Ismaili. We (realtively) have our stuff together here in the states.
The ex called me and left a message again today. She mentioned she's having a birthday party the first week of June, and I really don't feel like going. I know she'll be annoying if I skip it again, like last year. Hopefully I can bring along a friend to keep me company. She's such a weird case. When we were together, she got to know me better than most other people ever have. So it's nice to have a conversation with her every once in a while. But the past 2 years or so have changed me tremendously. I don't think she knows the Zahir of 2004 as well as she did Zahir of 2002. Every time we talk, she either says something really meaningful or something really annoying. I'm sure I'm going to rant more about her the more I write.
Today at work, some friends from the Immigration and Corporate groups took me out to lunch to wish me a farewell. We went over to Fornos, about a 5-10 minute walk from our building in Newark. The restaurant was a lot nicer than I expected. Zainab, the Pakistani girl who works in Corporate, was opinionated as usual. She's a really interesting character. We always have little mock skirmishes about India-Pakistan and whatever else, but in the end, she and I relate to one another better than most others at the office. For some reason, she's always pissed off at someone or something. Luckily I havn't managed to cross her the wrong way. I think it's culture shock. She doesn't fully understand American culture, nor does she feel comfortable here. She's such a smart woman, but gets written off pretty easily because of her accent or whatever... hell, she did go to Law School. I guess that's enough to annoy most anyone. Plus I doubt her husband is happy here. They're also a little worried about raising their 2 year old here in the states, thinking that he'll be treated like a foreigner the rest of his life. I can realte to that, growing up on Long Island, there was no shortage of dickheaded elementary school kids calling me 'Ghandi' or whatever the hell else... ignore the fact that I'm American born. Eric, one of her officemates, made some dumbass comment and crossed a line somewhere. I think it was when he jokingly said, 'Curse Allah' or something like that. I politely and privately told him that he should be careful, especially around Zainab. She finds it offensive and is pretty sensitive to the whole anti-Islamic trend that's becomming more mainstream.
So after taking a 2.5 hour lunch break, I went back to the office and passed the time. Only 5 workdays left. After work I went to Jamatkhana for services. They had some members of the national council in town, and surprisingly, had a really great discussion session after. Talked mainly about portraying the soft and intellectual face of Islam and Ismailism. I'm pretty glad to be Ismaili. We (realtively) have our stuff together here in the states.
The ex called me and left a message again today. She mentioned she's having a birthday party the first week of June, and I really don't feel like going. I know she'll be annoying if I skip it again, like last year. Hopefully I can bring along a friend to keep me company. She's such a weird case. When we were together, she got to know me better than most other people ever have. So it's nice to have a conversation with her every once in a while. But the past 2 years or so have changed me tremendously. I don't think she knows the Zahir of 2004 as well as she did Zahir of 2002. Every time we talk, she either says something really meaningful or something really annoying. I'm sure I'm going to rant more about her the more I write.
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