aDrenais' Book of Shadows

Woohoo, my first comment on tagboard in a month! I must be turning popular again, quick drop me some messages, all of you! Sorry about the flooziness, getting free stuff (or in this case, using free Internet access) really floats my boat.

It's finally the weekend, whew! Just to recap, the weekend in this part of the world is Friday and Saturday, with absolutely everything closed on Friday so everybody can pray. It's been a long induction week, listening to everybody telling us how glad they are to welcome us into the Etihad family (most of them sound sincere, though it's still too early to tell), and going through the motions of joining a new company. To date, I've already submitted 18 copies of my passport photo, in addition to the 6 copies I submitted when I passed the interview; why would one single company want to see my face on so many different documents?

There are very strict laws governing Abu Dhabi, which really is a good thing. I need a liquor license, not only for the consumption, but also for the possession of alcohol. This means that, assuming I don't have a liquor license, if I purchase liquor in the duty-free shop (where I don't need a license) in the airport, but get pulled over by the police while on the crew bus heading to the operations building or back home, I'd be prosecuted for carrying alcohol illegally. Communications with the outside world is also restricted, unlike Bahrain where there are dozens of international calling cards available, so that I can call Singapore for next to nothing. Until 3 months ago, there was only 1 mobile service provider available in the UAE, Etisalat, owned by the government of course.

I received my allowance for the training period today, together with my crew ID. I'm proud to announce that I only bought 1 top for about SGD$15, although I only brought 5 tops and 5 bottoms to Abu Dhabi. I mean, honestly, how the hell am I going to survive on 5 sets of clothing when I'll be receiving my uniform only on 25th July! Ugh, not thinking again when I packed my bags. I'll think of something.

What happens when I finally get in touch with people whom I've lost contact with over the past few years, only to find that I don't have much in common with them anymore? Should I exit gracefully while the memory of how we used to click is still strong in both our minds, or should I hang around and wait for that connection again? Memories are most trecherous things - we probably never were that close to begin with, but as unpleasant incidents faded away with time and happy times magnified by faulty brain (mine), it seemed that I genuinely had a strong bond to return to. Now I chat on MSN and find myself touching on meaningless trival topics that are of no concern to either party. Ponder upon this, I shall.

TGIF, but I'm not going Dubai for the weekend. TGIF, but there's nobody to visit. TGIF, excuse me while I go do my washing by the river.