Bling Creep

It's happened. Bling Creep is what I refer to as the incremental transformation in esthetic from minimalist to the "more is more" camp of Gulf tastes, specifically in the embellishment category. Creep as in mission creep in military boondoggles that start out with a clearly defined objective (ideology) and with the passage of time, the indigenous conditions prevail and compromise the original position. All of the sudden, I find that my closet has a significant sequin presence...t-shirts, sandals, and a handbag clad in matte or more rarely, super-shiny sequins. This (former) minimalist has fallen for the indigenous bling tendency but it doesn't end with the closet.

My furnished corporate apartment is distinguished by all the furnishings I had removed and placed into the building's storage and the replacement accessories that convey my locally-inspired interest in bling. A collection of bejeweled pillows have slowly accumulated on the insipid orange couches in an effort to diminish the hideousness of that orange since I will not pay for or endure the hassle of having them slip-covered.

Tonight's dusk ushered in the first of Ramadan. It's a month of anarchy for a westerner and we've been dreading it accordingly. My favorite falafel sandwich place near the office will be open from 4pm-4am as the faithful can eat only after the sunset and before dawn. Office hours are 8am-1pm since no food or drink can be consumed during the day and one is not expected to last a full day in this heat with these abstinence requirements and produce quality output. Alcohol permit holders had until dusk today to purchase a month's supply of alcohol because the one store in town is closed for the holy month. The madness in that place was epic these last weeks...like the rush for water, batteries and non-perishables when news breaks of an inbound category 5 hurricane in South Florida in August. The restaurants and hotels with liquor licenses are not permitted to serve alcohol for a month. My local intel has determined that the one place to consume alcohol in public is the golf club. Since my weekly Friday brunch with another New Yorker is now suspended until mid-September, we're headed for a private lesson and a bucket of balls on the driving range. It will be hotter than hell but we'll deal with that at the bar.