Sandier Pastures

I’ve scoured the net for giveaways and contests and I will not stop until I win!! Thanks Kailani for some tips.

Win a $100 Amazon Gift Certificate!

Author Rosina Lippi has a new book and launching a contest on her site. Instructions are simple, just answering the meme she posted on her blog will act as your entry.

Here’s the meme: Five Reasons the [best bloggers, writers] come from [a geographical space, real or imaginary]

Five Reasons the best writers come from Dubai:

1. The eternal traffic in the city that is changing every minute, will make writers spend looonger times doing short trips by bus. What better way to kill time than write? Chances are, interesting images are seen along the way, including labourers working under the hot sun who’ll shot gazes at you with eyes  like that of the Afghan girl in National Geographic cover.

2. More than 80% of Dubai population are foreigners from more than 200 countries. Writers/bloggers can talk about all the skin and hair color they want and fight on what is the best food in town.

3. The amount of inspiration available is endless even for the drained and hopeless. When writers are tired of looking at vast desert painted red by the setting sun, they could always go to the pristine beaches.

4. Writers are OFF on Fridays so they can cook something up while the whole world toils.

5. Writers work on Sundays in this globally-unsychronized corner of the earth so while the rest of the world go to church and spend time with their families, they are in their work cubicles, particularly doing nothing but write the best stories! =)

Done! Whew, this meme was difficult and this must be the first post I’ve squeezed my brains into.  

Tied to the Tracks by Rosina Lippi. July 3, 2007. ISBN: 0425215326

“[This] is a hilarious, smart, sexy novel with a heart of gold.” — Susan Wiggs

“[Lippi] turns her buoyant creative talents to the romantic comedy genre with an effervescent tale of a trio of offbeat Yankee filmmakers plunked down deep in the heart of Dixie.” — Booklist

Read an excerpt. (Adobe Reader required)| Watch the book trailer

You can find Tied to the Tracks at Amazon , Barnes & Nobel, Borders, Powells, or at your local independent bookseller.

This meme has been entered in the Tied to the Tracks contest, originating on Rosina Lippi’s Storytelling2 weblog. If you’d like to enter the BUCKS & BOOKS meme contest, get the rules here.

Oh, got to tell ya, The Carnival of Family Life is up at Everyday Disasters and one of my older post was included! The entire post is long so you’ve got to hit the Ctrl-F key and enter Sandier Pastures to see where I was placed.

Don’t scream now but I have not had alcohol for more than six months already. For non-drinkers, I’d get a duh! in the face but for my friends and former office colleagues in Japan, I’ll get a high-pitched unbelievable!

Wait! I was not heading to rehab prior to our move to Dubai. Got to get that straight and clear, ahem.

Drinking in Japan does not carry the stigma with which it is saddled in other countries like America. In fact, it is viewed as a trust-building endeavor that helps cement relationships. The Japanese even has a name for this form of communication through drinking: nominike-shon (????????). It implies an opportunity to speak candidly and to let off steam, and even provides an acceptable excuse for what otherwise might be deemed inappropriate behavior. Let’s put it this way, you can smother your boss saying his management sucks and get away with it on Monday, he could not blame you…you were under the influence.

Back to my real point. Drinking in the UAE which is a muslim country is not allowed. Technically. When drinking a pint of beer could land you in prison in some parts of the Middle East, alcohol is tolerated in Dubai, with non-Muslims allowed to imbibe alcohol in city’s bars, restaurants, clubs and hotels.

Beer and other spirits are not available in supermarkets but they can be bought for personal consumption only in special stores like A&E and MMI and would require a liquor license. No liquor license, no booze.

Although we are of legal age no matter how young we look hee hee, M and I don’t have liquor license. Six months of not having a single drop of alcohol and we are perfectly ok. Did we miss alcohol at all? Hard question…but my answer would be NO.

Now, I can’t even think of any relevance why it has to be served on parties and make a scene like this. Can you?