Middle Eastern detox

Ahhhh. That is the sound of my relief at leaving the dismal isle of Ireland for sunny Kuwait. No offense to Ireland, but it's just hard for me to get motivated when constantly encircled by a blanket of mist (and mental haze, if you count the alcohol). Plus, their food sucks.

And now, for the next week, I will be in an enforced state of sobriety, which I'm sure at some point will prove irritating, but for the moment I'm embracing healthy living. I will be on a rotating schedule of sleeping, eating, working out, and sunning myself. How do people live without easy access to a body of water? I can see the Gulf of Arabia from my window. I think I need the water, its vastness precludes my becoming too wrapped up in my own little egocentric world.

I was observing some women in burkas over breakfast this morning and was pursuing what I'm sure will be an unpopular course of thought - that, in a sense, the burka is liberating in a way. Of course, I don't agree with women being forced to cover themselves, but knowing so many women (okay, pretty much every woman I know) with hang-ups about their bodies, elaborate methods of enhancing their bodies, concern hinging on obsession with their appearances in general, etc., wouldn't it be lovely if we didn't waste so much of our lives in the throes of this overriding, constant evil?

Okay, that was an interesting thought. Now I have to add that I like wearing the least amount of clothes possible (though not in an obscene way) in hot weather. It is imminently pleasurable to feel the sun shine on your skin, and the breeze cooling you. It must be damn hot in those things.