Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

[catelin]

Ok, here's the deal....I kept quiet about it with the shitstorm of tirades and anger going on but I'm not going to anymore. A couple of days after all this happened, I was just hitting the random journal button. I do that sometimes just to see how many journals I can find out of 5 or 10 that are actually maintained by someone over 12. You know what I'm talking about, baby! Anyway, that's a whole other pet peeve of mine....so on with this. So out of the blue pops up this journal----and I'm looking at Arabic! It kind of freaked me out for a second...but then I just thought, "Weird!" So I'm checking out this journal and thinking how bizarre it was to run across a Saudi journal in the midst of all this Arab-bashing that's been going on...and I think to myself, there's got to be some strange reason why that came up...or if it's just random, it's certainly some sort of opportunity to do some kind of something. So I said "hello" and introduced myself to this 45-year-old Saudi who likely got on here looking for chicks (unless he's really into the 60s! Hee!). His English may be a little broken, but it's a hell of a lot better than my Arabic; and he seems like a decent enough sort. It doesn't take a lot of English to communicate polite apprehension about people hating you just because of where you're from...which is what endeared him to me in the first place. So I've added him to my friends list and I hope that some of you will say hello to him and make him more a part of things. Please be nice!!!! I don't agree with him on everything and you may not either, but I would hope that he will see the best of what we are...and not the worst. I was really hesitant about even bringing him to anyone's attention, because I don't want to be sorry for it later. I asked him, though, and he's ok with it, so I will be too. So meet my new friend, Abdallah, everyone.

Comments

[budhaboy.livejournal.com]

a typical catelin friend... very nice.

two things:

1) how did you manage to get the arabic character sets

2) I sometimes wonder if my behaviour during the past few days has been off-putting to some (esp. you, regarding Ms. Psymonetta).

ciao.

pb

[catelin.livejournal.com]

Why, Patrick...none of my friends are typical! ; )

Question #1: I have frequented many sites in Arabic long before this started...as I frequent many other sites in other languages. Partly out of curiousity and partly to get a different perspective on everything. I have no idea how my browser supports the characters...my one at home does not. The one at work does. I'd have to check my fonts to see where the difference lies, I guess.

Question #2: There's no doubt that your behavior has been off-putting to some...to some people dear to me and to me as well. But here's the deal, Patrick. You are one of my friends. You were one of the first people here at LJ to be kind and generous to me, always interested in what I had to say and with something interesting to contribute in return. As for your defense of Psymonetta--I think she's a twit, but how you behave with/because/for her is your business. So, off-putting or not, we were friends before this, and we will be friends after this. I judge the value of my friendship with people by how they behave with me and try my best not to interfere with their interactions with others...if that makes sense.

Re:

[budhaboy.livejournal.com]

1) can you read arabic?

2) thanks, cate... somehow, I think the reality isn't what it appears... I've been working on post. It might take days.

[catelin.livejournal.com]

1)I wish! Nope, I just stuggle along with a online dictionary when I think something looks really juicy. Most of my interest was in middle-eastern music...which led to all sorts of interesting pages, believe me! I have actually gotten to a point where I recognize a very few words, though.

2)You're welcome.