happy happy birthday!

it's my birthday today! my favourite day of the year.... =)

i was a little worried that my birthday would truly suck this year as i was feeling very very down last week because of work-stress and the general fatigue from all the travelling i've been doing recently. BUT BUT BUT...my mood has picked up very much...i'm starting to wear colours again!
with me...how i dress reflects my mood. I wore a rich royal purple dress on Monday, bright green cardigan with gorgeous green earrings yesterday, and today I'm wearing a brand new satin striped white shirt with a gorgeous wrap-around bow thingee around my waist...and my lovely new Aerosoles wedges..and i feel like a million bucks!

My dad sent me to work today! so i feel like a princess worth a million bucks! and hey! somebody called me princess today- he hasn't done it for a long while. so it was nice...

this year's birthday was strange though...i bumped into one ex at the gym last night...one ex emailed me his birthday wishes today...and another pseudo-ex texted me this morning...makes me happy....that all the significant people in my life are still around, reachable, etc. I'd feel a little empty otherwise...

btw..i feel a year younger today! FABULOUS!

one of those days...

i'm having one of those days... no weeks...
my heart feels heavy... and i really need to focus on breathing...
lest the invisible dam of tears break...
and floods my soul with grief...

so irritating

photo courtesy of brommel. check out his other other great insights into life in Pakistan and in Manila. his photos are hilarious!

i spent another week in Lahore. It was pleasant, except the day of my departure, when i was stuck at the airport lounge with a 26 year old protocol officer who has really traditional ideas about women, work and politics.

i took all the patience in me not to stand up and slap him. i don't know what started it, but we started talking about women in the workforce. he made his stand pretty clear, that he didn't like the idea of women working, and no wife of his should have to work. he must be able to support his entire family. his wife's duties towards him would certainly be affected if she had to work and so that must not be- no honourable Muslim man should see his wife out and about, mingling freely with other men. It is not the Muslim way. He also proclaimed, that Islam teaches us that our women should not be allowed to work, etc. etc. When i said that the prophet's wife was a businesswoman, he retorted that she worked from home. Of course he supported himself by saying that all the Muslim 'saints'- the imam's at the mosque- teach everybody this.

Oh did i mention, at home, they do not allow their sisters or mother's to watch movies or listen to music, because it's not morally healthy for them to be exposed to all the love scenes etc.

Bloody hell! I was close to slapping him about 10 times during this conversation. Soo irritating!