#and because its at the mall and theres 2 starbucks no one is ever in the cap cafe

[oozeclown]

the trans baristas are so nice at the capital one cafe i brought my free coffee card and he just let me keep it to use it again

[skiasurveys]

Talk about...

1: Talk about the first time you watched your favorite movie. - I cant remember that well since I was a little kid.. ( The lion king), um but I remember being so into it and I loved animals and it kind of started me wanting to draw. But i cant remember the first time i watched it. 

2: Talk about your first kiss.  We were really awkward, I liked him..but not enough, and so we went driving around, got starbucks, and then found this bench and we were talking/flirting, and then he just kissed me. But it was nasty asf, it was so gross. his spit was all over me, blehh. I hated it. I remember being like if this is kissing i do not want it. It wasnt tell i kissed another person that i was like Oh thats what its supposed to be like..

3: Talk about the person you've had the most intense romantic feelings for. He is my current boyfriend. We met on Okcupid in 2015 right after i had finished high school. It was like September. its funny because i wasnt rly serious on that site but then I started to talk to him and we hit it off really well.. we dated for  a week then broke up LMAOOO. But then in April 2016 we started to talk again and in May we dated. so its been a year so far, and i am really in love with him. He and I click very well, he’s  7 years older than me. we play video games together but sometimes i watch him play by himself cus its fun that way too. He likes anime tho and i hate it lol. hes very funny and he can be super sweet and romantic and sometimes hes jusr a fkn nerd. idk what else to say before i start going on forever about it.

4: Talk about the thing you regret most so far.  Meeting the dude who assaulted me. we were just friends and i had a bad feeling about him but i shoved it off. and then he attacked and assaulted me. I wish i went with that gut feeling. Thank god hes gone.

5: Talk about the best birthday you've had.  My best birthday was either my 18th or 19th. My 20th was boring. But my 18th I got a wii U and i got drunk too, and i had fun. but yeah, like idk the best prob was when i was a child and had lotsa friends and cake.

6: Talk about the worst birthday you've had.  My 16th because my dad was dying.

7: Talk about your biggest insecurity.  My biggest insecurity is my body shape.weight. I just hate it because I feel fucking ugly and fat and I really am not, but idk i just want to be skinny and tiny.

8: Talk about the thing you are most proud of. I am proud that i graduated and got my license, since I was struggling to graduate which was like 2 years ago but i was going through a lot.

9: Talk about little things on your body that you like the most. I like my eyes, and I do like that i have small hands and feet. ( its easy to find shoes). But I also like my legs and that I have a bigger butt. 

10: Talk about the biggest fight you've ever had.  theres been a few. But i think with my ex friend who just said she hated me and it was random asf, but she ghosted on me after and so it wasnt really a fight. another one i had was when i started to date my current BF and he wasnt being the best and I was like maybe i should drop him so i tried too and then we fought and then we actually were adults and explained the situation and we sorted it all out. since then we have been so good. like we know how eachother works. Lol fuck.

11: Talk about the best dream you've ever had. I cant think of one.

12: Talk about the worst dream you've ever had. i had a nightmare where this creepy ass creature was crawling up my walls and turned its head all around and had lifeless eyes and creepy sharp jagged teeth, and it was just terrifying. but then my mom killed it.. wtf

13: Talk about the first time you had sex/how you imagine your first time. The first time i had sex I was super nervous. ( It was with my current bf), and we tried and then i started to cry because I was nervous and also from my trauma, and then he was like okay thats fine. Then later that night he asked if we wanted to try again so I said sure. and so we started to make out and then before i knew it was actually inside me and I was like wtf that wasnt bad, and it felt really good. It wasnt overly romantic like they make in movies but it was super good and he was slow and good with me. ever since then i crave dick every minute LMAOOO.

14: Talk about a vacation.  I went to disneyland with my mom the year i was graduating high school. It was so much fun, I felt so safe and happy . I cant really explain what i felt just felt like everything was gonna be OK and the rides were just so awesome and the food was great lol

15: Talk about the time you were most content in life.  It was when I was starting to date Connor again and we were hanging out and I was like wow, my life is going perfect right now and I felt so happy.

16: Talk about the best party you've ever been to. I never go to parties but the one i went to was at my boyfriends friends house and I just started to drink rum n coke and it was really good and made lots of friends but there wasnt that many people there but i felt really happy.

17: Talk about someone you want to be friends with.  I cant think of anyone lol

18: Talk about something that happened in elementary school.   i got bullied alot for stupid shit.

19: Talk about something that happened in middle school.  I was in foods class and I was with my friend Jenna, Brittney, Shae and Julia. There was orientation for the kids from elementary that night, and so we asked if we could stay extra and make the cookies and so we were allowed. Then Julia and Shae left to use the washroom. Jenna and I had finished up and were heading to our other class, and as we walked in there was a alarm for a lock down and we were like holy shit. There was somekid with a knife walking around. they calmed him down, but it was really creepy. But our friend brittney was by herself in the foods room and she was crying and i felt so bad omg rip brittney

20: Talk about something that happened in high school.  I had math class one afternoon and the class before me apparently this girl had a seizure. But i didnt know, so when we walked in the classroom I was like wtf why are the desks all pushed around and so i thought they did some activity, but it turns out this girl had a seizure, and my friend told me about it and how it was super traumatizing our teacher even got bit. it was really weird..

21: Talk about a time you had to turn someone down.  He is my friend still but he really liked me and he asked me out and I had to tell him No and i said that i wasnt looking for a relationship but it was super awkward but hes cool.

22: Talk about your worst fear.  choking.

23: Talk about a time someone turned you down. I really liked this one guy and we went on a first date and then he asked if  i wanted to chill the next week and so i said sure. But then that day he had texted me and said he was busy and that i couldnt come over and so I was like Oh ok, cool. and then he told me to make sure i wasnt looking for anything serious, and then so i never saw him again after the first date. But he was really boring so thank god i didn’t. and its funny cus a few months after he had some gf and i think he is still with her cus i would see them at the mall all the time. but yeah im glad it didnt work out!

24: Talk about something someone told you that meant a lot. One night ( this is cheesy ) It was like 4 am and Connor was watching TV and I was scrolling through tumblr lookin at funny memes/posts and he just turned and looked at me and said “Jen, youre my best friend” and it just made my night. It was super sweet and i felt great. 

25: Talk about an ex-best friend.  ho ho ho okay, so we were friends since grade 9 summer/beg of grade 10. we were close asf, we liked the same shit, we thought the same. she was great. she was the first best friend i ever had rly. so a couple times through out our friendship she would kind of vanisha nd not talk but it was her depression and it was annoying asf. anyways.. after grade 12 grad  (this is like oct 2015), i tried to message her but it wouldnt let me! so i soon realized she blocked me on everything. i texted her thanks for that and then feb 2016 we became friends again, then may 2016 she ghosted on me but she finally sent message saying how she hated me etc and really too this day it hurts but i still dont know what actually fucking happened.

26: Talk about things you do when you're sick.  if im really sick  i just sleep and watch youtube videos. or ill have a bath.

27: Talk about your favorite part of someone else's body.  i really love my boyfriends arms. theyre so big and strong. mmmm.

28: Talk about your fetishes.  i dont rly have a fetish tbh.

29: Talk about what turns you on.  i like when my bf dominates me, but not too hardcore. I like neck kissing, facial hair, deep voices, motivation. I like being tackled like play fighting and i like when he touches my thighs etc. mm

30: Talk about what turns you off.  being an asshole, racist/sexiest, if youre super smelly. if youre really tall and skinny.

31: Talk about what you think death is like.  i dont know. its probably weird asf.

32: Talk about a place you remember from your childhood.  i remember this place called Moonwalkers and it was this crazyass jungle gym we had and it was the best shit ever.

33: Talk about what you do when you are sad.  i draw, listen to music, have a bath..etc

34: Talk about the worst physical pain you've endured. getting hit by a car.

35: Talk about things you wish you could stop doing.  i wish i would stop comparing myself to every fucking person i see.

36: Talk about your guilty pleasures.  some anime. 

37: Talk about someone you thought you were in love with. i thought i loved wade, but i really was just liking the idea of someone. this was in high school. lol it was really weird and i didnt like it.

38: Talk about songs that remind you of certain people. it depeds on the song and the person. pink floyd reminds me ofmy ex friend. Anime/kpop songs remind me of Kyra and super lovely songs and omam remind me of connor

39: Talk about things you wish you'd known earlier.  not everyone you lose is a loss.

40: Talk about the end of something in your life. the end of high school and teenage years was really weird. i remember feeling so out of place and not sure what t do with myself.

[choujiro]

ph

so i spent 3 weeks at ph and oh gosh

week one: 

the flight wasnt bad at all tbh i got to watch my kdrama & listen to my favorite music

scratch that was kinda annoying because my brother took a xan & instantly knocked out once we were seated, my mom and a flight attendant got extremely worried because he wasn’t really opening his eyes

i told them he was just really tired

he fuckgin drooled and it smelled

i couldnt sleep for like an hour or two because we saved his dinner but on my tray and it bothered me

incheon airport is so nice omfg !!!!! bought a macaron at a starbucks there & i wish we had that here at u.s

my uncles picked us up from the airport and our younger uncle (20 yrs old) got chubbier and said he got really fat so we were like no ur jst thicc

while we were waiting for my mom to fix her phone he was talking to me about kdramas because he saw the iu photocard on my phone LOL but its really interesting because guys arent really into stuff like that

found out his girlfriend makes him watch kdramas lol

found out the portions at jollibee were wayyy smaller so my uncle told me to buy two of the same food yah huge shock to me

the wifi was incredibly slow; we had to buy this portable wifi in which we bought 1gb of connection for idk 300 pesos??? wow first world problems for sure

my mom, brother & i slept on the same bed & it was just so hot i honestly could not sleep (we couldnt really sleep anywhere else)

the next day my cousins and i walked to our other cousins house & the aircon in her home was just fucgkin AMAZING 

we could not stand the heat tbh it ruined us

we went to the next town over to buy stuff at the market because we found out my uncle had fake gucci slippers

i bought fake nike slippers and some of us got the same along with gucci ones lol

went deeper in the market and found hella fake stuff like fake vans and addidas (i was planning to come back to buy them and when i came back to the market we didnt have time to get them so im really bummed esp since they’re cheap like 200 or 300 pesos only)

went to the local mall the following day & found this really cute shop that resembled h&m, i ended up buying this overall dress & used up 800 pesos out of 1000 & didnt have enough to buy anything else lol

went to the supermarket the following day inside another mall & ended up buying a bunch of snacks in BULK (my cousins bought wine & alcohol, ended up tasting really weird)

bought a LARGE ASS bulky bag of corn chips called bawang na bawang & when my auntie found out i called it “bah-wang” instead of “buh-wang” she kept laughing & told everyone else because apparently im saying town instead of garlic

met my other cousins’ family (they live in the same town, a 2 minute drive basically) and ate good food, talked to their uncle about palawan since we were going there soon

attended our parent’s high school reunion and watched them perform this dance line lol

we werent really interested in their reunion, i mean it wasn’t really for us anyways??

i actually got really sick the day before new years, i had a bad fever & had cold sweat. i told my cousins to move the fan away from me despite the weather being 80+ degrees :-(

i took antibiotics & got better several minutes before the new years hit lol

week two:

got sick to the point where i lost my voice 

went to pagasinan and ate rly good sisig & etc

went to the same supermarket from the one back in my family’s hometown and ended up buying more snacks in bulk

my skin got super worse & im just like fuck it dammit

on jan2 we were supposed to go to palawan but our flight was delayed, we were transferred to a super nice hotel nearby, free of charge of course

got a massage with two of my other cousins for the first time, the lady thought i was korean so they were like “oh !!! korean!!”

i couldnt speak so my manang talked for me lol

gosh the massage was both relaxing and hurtful LOL

i understood the lady speaking to her coworkers as she was massaging me as she said she felt sorry for me because my skin has alot of scars

i didnt mind at all, i felt bad that she had to see it tbh

she told me to turn my body facing the ceiling so i did and omfg she pulled the towel and massaged my ..... armpits and boobs (im so ashamed because i shaved before i left the airport and it grew fast oh my god)

my cousins and i were talking about how our butts hella hurt after they massaged that part because FUK it hella hurt oh my god i have never clenched my buttcheeks so hard in my life

my kuya said he was ticklish there so he let out a giggle

we boarded our flight to palawan the next day and went island hopping right away. i felt really bad because my skin got even worse so it made me uncomfortable & i couldnt talk to anyone so yeah bad time lol

island hopping was nice nevertheless, we couldnt explore the cave because the tides were high

my cousins, brother and mom got a massage at the hotel we were staying after finding out we got one in the other hotel

the masseurs come to the room instead of having a separate room

so i couldnt go to sleep right away since the bed was being occupied smh

we went to a place called bakers hill the next day & it was really nice idk how to say it, it was much of a hill tho. lots of places to take pictures there i guess??? theres only one bakery there and its small, the families bought alot of pastillias and hopia to bring back home, basically we left the store with a box full of sweets

went to bagiuo the day we returned back to our town and went to a place called mines view where we had an amazing view of the hills/mountains

its realllly nice and green and man !!!!! gr8 view

went shopping for gifts at the local market and bought a jacket & two wooden keychains shaped as a small ..... dicc

my brother bought a wooden flute and he really used it throughout the whole trip like he played in the house AND during car rides. i think the good part was that it wasnt annoying at all, he actually knew how to play and did some covered a bunch of songs that made all of us laugh (my cousin recorded it and has the videos on her phone so i cant show everyone here)

we went driving at pengbenga park, but not literally driving. we got to drive these plastic race car things and it was sososo fun!!!! i overtook some kids & adults but mostly kids on the driveway & i crashed like only twice

we were given the choice to use a bike/multi-seater bike, race car, & other stuff but yeah race car boi

ate really bomb waffles and pancakes at this pancake house and LORD !! GOOD AMAZING AAAHH OOOOO

went to a small mall the following day and bought 50 peso facemasks and i spent like 15 dollars worth of them??? idk i just bought hella without counting my money lol

drove to manila few days later and went to a place called greenhills (famous for fake brands like nike and gucci) and my cousins and aunties bought alot of gucci, ray bans, louis vuitton (wallet, belts and bags lmao). went to a store called miniso and it was so packed i wasnt able to look around as much, & i really wanted to go here ;___; it was okay tho

so there are basically two malls in one, one small one with a food court and market with the fake items and a REAL mall; they’re connected by a yard which is partially a church lol (there was a tv outside so we assumed it was a concert of some sort, found out there was a priest praying inside the building along with so many others)

next morning, instead of going to another pancake house we were accidentally taken to a coffee house but honestly, it was the best choice ever

it was so fuckgin AESTHETIC I LOVED IT they decorated the place with flowers and it wasnt like overwhelming full of flowers it was just right and the iced latte?? AMAZING and ugh man i loved ittttttt

we went to a museum after and learned so much about jose rizal and the history of philippines before and during spanish colonization and it was super interesting

darn u white ppl go away

it was really ironic to see white people check out the museum too like.. first u colonize us then u wanna check our museum hm

went to eat after at a place similar to pepper lunch, so basically hot sizzling food

i ordered a sizzling tapa and it was so fuckgin AMAZINg gattdamn ugh i love sisig

we went to the mall after hoping to check out another museum inside the place (an ice cream one) but we found out that it was opened until feb 

anyways we checked out the whole mall and ate some aesthetic looking ice cream which was amazing also

dropped off two of our cousins at the airport since they were only here for two weeks (the rest of us dreaded over the fact that we had one more week left when our trip here was originally 2 weeks)

went back to my familys town at la union and didnt do much

spent two days at baguio, day 1: found a kbbq and ate lunch there, it was only 300 pesos per person so we werent complaining

we went to the mall after and i checked out this store that had really amusing shirts, bags and pouches. i ended up buying a shirt with a bunny that said “bunnies like carrots but not this one. this one chose the jacuzzi” it was so amusing omfg

i bought a pouch that said “lechon is my lifeforce” aka pig and my friends were like “thats really amazing”

we left the mall to buy tea and i didnt have enough because i bought the bunny shirt so my uncle bought a drink for me LOL (i felt so bad tho)

watched netflix the whole time till it was time to sleep

the next day my other cousin was dropped at the house and we went to go out for a different kbbq place, it was much better (500 pesos per person too!)

went to the mall again and watched jumanji

watched black mirror when we came back

left the next day & went back to the mall since it connected to the other large buses to go back to town

week three:

next morning i met a faith healer who looked for the cause of my eczema, she cured my mom the day before because someone had cursed her food (she had stomach cancer several months back but she’s better, she occasionally has stomach problems tho)

one of the amazing things i have heard from her was that when she was cleaning my moms body with a white towel, she squeezed out the remaining water & black sand came out. she says the curse has been removed & that she’ll feel better soon

she looked at my skin and proceeded to put a special oil everywhere and said it mightve been the burning of a dwende outside the house when i was kid (when he was hurt, he probably hurt me too)

the next day she came by again and lathered a special oil again and came to the conclusion that when i visited the house when i was about 4-5 years old, the dwendes decided to play with me (which actually hurt me so)

she said to only have faith and keep praying, virgin mary will come by to heal you in the form of a sudden breeze with a nice scent

i know that alot of people might think this is crazy and all, but since i come from a spiritual family and had actual experience with something like this, its really easy to believe 

it seems like the dwendes dont like modern medicine so everytime i put on my creams or ointments, the healing effect didnt last long

the next and final day, she put on oil once more and concluded that the dwendes have been playing with me since i was a kid so it was the root of my eczema. she had personally asked them to stop yesterday so she said they wont play with me anymore

as she was lathering oil on my skin, she said that i had nice legs and hands, the dwendes had played with me because i was “pintas” or pretty

so that kinda shocked me like me? pretty?? lol

but after that she said i will get better, i need to have faith and pray all the time. once you believe, it will happen (i have great faith in both the faith healer and myself healing, my wounds are slowly closing so im really determined to recover from eczema)

the thing about faith healers is that they DONT ask for money. you could donate, but they dont ask for anything at all. i believe that they heal people in the form of good will

my mom & i gave money and clothes, and soap as a payment for her time and faith healing and im sososo thankful for her

she also did this thing where she could figure out things by putting oil and water in a plate and picking out rice grains and letting them either sink or float in another bowl

3 rice grains had floated while the others sank and she concluded that there was something wrong with me, both spiritually and physically?? i couldnt understand quite well since they were speaking in ilocano

but something along the lines of that, she had called me soul in order to protect me so i can heal. and that kinda boggled me like soul? is that always with you? is my soul somewhere else? why was it that my soul had to be called? so yeah interesting

she also found out that my grandpa had visited (he visited last week too, along with my grandma) and he’s just watching the family in the living room

also odd thing but last week a white butterfly came inside the house while my cousins and i were just doing whatever and it landed on the couch my manang and i were sitting on

my kuya said there was a butterfly behind me and i was like fuk imma move couches cuz i just dont like bugs in general (my cousin had entered the back door the other night and felt something crawling on his head so he slapped it away, turns out it was a HUGE spider so yeah FUK that lol i wanted to throw up when i saw it)

so i switched couches and the butterfly followed me and went on my head so i shoo’ed it away

the next day after it had happened a lady who had a third eye/some sort of spiritual power said my grandparents visited last night and i guess i shoo’ed my grandpa away lol

anyways, going back to the rice grain thing, the faith healer knew i couldnt sleep well because my body has been burning for the longest time, so she put those 3 rice grains in a cotton ball and safety pinned it to my shirt

my mom said that her mom would often do the same thing to her sisters back when they were kids, it was really effective in to protecting yourself

i think its really crazy how theres so many spirits and the like in philippines, and also in vietnam and other asian countries as well. i thought it was because it was 3rd world countries or countries that had been colonized

i searched it up and 1) when PH was colonized, the conquestors often scared them with stories about spirits and 2) when the angels had fought lucifer and his army out of heaven, alot of them fell on earth, landing on the islands of PH

we all packed our stuff last minute and my mom was having a hard time since everything could not fit in the luggage, i told her just to put everything in our large balikbayan box and she refused, she eventually gave up (even the stuff barely fit inside the box). we left at 1am that day for the airport at manila and man, i guess i’ll miss ph

our stopover was at incheon again and this time we had more time to buy stuff at the airport. my mom bought her starbucks mug in which she was excited about. i bought another macaron and planned eating it on the airplane but my mom misplaced it & once we came back i found out it was smashed lmfao

i went to the duty free store and looked around for some snacks, the ladies were rly kind in helping me, i tried speaking in korean but had no luck at all lol all i said was kamsamnida after they had helped me

while waiting for our flight, my mom and aunties were telling us about stories about our other auntie since she’s really mean and all lol we were all curious to why she had treated everyone so unkindly basically the their whole lives

my cousins dont like this specific aunt and i dont have a good judgement of her either but my other aunt told us to always be kind despite that. 

i had planned to watch the rest of my kdrama on the plane but i knocked out for 9 out of 11 hours of the flight

the men at the airports where they check our passport were so handsome omfg. the ones both at manila and san francisco like... so... handsome. i told my mom that they’re really good looking and she assumed it was because they were light skinned but even if they werent light, they were SO handsome like i dont discriminate against color man if youre handsome you are HANDSOME

arrived back at SF at 2pm and my manang welcomed us by making us cajun shrimp and it was literally the best meal ever ugh i miss american food

i had school the NEXT day, and i had barely realized that i signed up for a class at UC DAVIS instead of sacramento and oh my god i was truly fucked up lol (ended up fixing it tho)

i checked up on my character on maplesaga and found out that literally everyone had outleveled me like ok fuk 

to summarize the 3 weeks there, my skin did not get better at all lol. although we were originally going to stay for 2 weeks, my mom couldnt fix our flight time and ended up staying there longer. despite it being dreadful at times, im really lucky that i had met a faith healer the 3rd week for my eczema. if i had left the 2nd week, i would not have been healed (the doctors here in u.s were completely useless so...) i was sick 80% of the time of the trip which made me feel bad lol but its my immune systems fault :-/// im really prone to extreme changes in weather, so coming from a 50 degree city to a 80 degree country took a toll on my body. it was the same back at home, during the summer the weather was often bipolar so that also took a toll on my body

anyways its so good to be back home except for the piles of homework stacking up ;__;

[globalcreating]

Why live in DUBAI?

Before I moved to Dubai, I moved from Rio to Lima to Belo Horizonte back to Rio to to Angola back to Rio to Oxford to Maputo to Lagos to South Africa to London. By the way, this all happened in 5 years. So yeah- its very possible that I’m biased and any place would seem great if after so long you get a chance to build some roots. But I also think Dubai is a very special place thats almost unlike any other. Before this, my top 2 cities (to live, not to visit) were Rio and New York- I couldn't imagine any other global cities that could compete with Rio on climate, beaches and beauty or with New York on diversity, shopping and night life. And maybe Dubai doesn’t directly compete on these metrics but for me, its as close as I’ve ever come to a perfect place to live. As a tribute to my adopted city (even though I'm in London at the moment), here’s a few reasons to love living in Dubai: 1. Never cold and always sunny. The coldest day of the year thus far was 65 degrees- at night. 2. Diversity on Fleek. With 85% foreign born population, day-to-day life exposes you to Emirati, Philippino, Lebanese, British, Indian, Pakistani, Moroccan and about 180 other nationalities, including food, clothing, music, customs, a wealth of new perspectives in a global village. Diversity and cross-cultural learning are good for the mind and spirit. 3. Beauty everywhere. From the Arabian arches of palatial hotels like Atlantis to towering heights of Burj Khalifa to the brilliant blue of the city’s private and pubic beaches to the illuminated palm trees lining the downtown Boulevard (UAE's version of Champs Elysees), most days are full of beautiful sights. 4. Unparalleled safety. Women can walk alone at 10 pm, 1 am, 5 am, You can leave your iphone on a table in Starbucks and come back in 2 hours! Many people leave their doors and cars unlocked because there are cameras everywhere and strict deportation laws so nothing ever happens. Plus since expats can only be here with a job or a sponsor, theres pretty limited economic incentive for stealing and crime. 5. Luxury lifestyle. Totally affordable to have a maid, dry clean all your work clothes and go to the spa every week. Plus everything from prescriptions to bedding to a can of pepsi can be delivered nearly 24 hs/day.  If you want the cost breakdown on this, feel free to comment- but its a small fraction of prices in the USA. The caveat (and I gotta be real about this) is the externalities or hidden costs of bringing low-skilled labor to a global hub at low hourly rates which makes these services so affordable. 😦 Just being real, although an equitable solution would be very complex and dependent on multiple statekholders. 6. Round-the-clock convenience. Malls close at midnight, supermarkets are 24-7, restaurants are open til 4 am, hair salons are open til 10 pm. Basically, no matter if you work late, you can still get stuff done or hang out late on weekdays. 6. Low or no taxes. The latter holds true for all but U.S. Americans and even we get significant exemptions as foreign residents. 7. Auspicious gender ratios. 3 men to every woman, which means men are plentiful and willing to invest in a good woman.  I’m married now so this is no longer a consideration- but for single educated women, this place has extremely favorable odds. 8. No police brutality, frisking laws or anti-Black racial profiling. Compared to USA and Brazil, Black people are afforded better civil rights. 9. Real estate value for money. Compared to similar location in New York, equivalent rent payment lands you 3x as much space. Compared to Washington DC, 2x as much space. Plus will usually come with doorman, intercom, security access, pool, gym, sauna and sometimes balcony. 10. Cosmopolitan ammennities. From the likes of Nobu, Koi, Rosa Mexicana, the best US/European chains are all here! This applies just as much to top restaurants like Trader Vics and Nobikov to top brands like Armani, Gucci and Hermes. Now Dubai and Abu Dhabi are doing similar partnerships with top museums and cultural institutions like the Louvre so cultural offerings will only get better. Hopefully there will be some kind of partnership with the Schomburg (a girl can dream, right?) 11. Biggest mall in the world. And its great. 12. Beautiful beaches! And yes we can wear bikinis. 13. Never rains- because (duh) we are in a desert! UV rays and blow outs in full glory year-round. 14. Amazing connectivity. Within an 8 hour flight to 80% of the world population. With carriers like Emirates, Etihad. FlyDubai and AirArabia, its super cheap to go to all of Asia and Europe and significant portion of Africa. For example. RT to Delhi was 200 bucks and Bangkok Thailand 350 (though I got the latter free with FF miles 😉 ). You can easily travel to a  dozen countries in a year without breaking the bank. 15. Not as racist as USA or the Americas. Every place has social stigma, barriers and inequality. But unlike almost every other global capital, Dubai has a Black/Brown majority as well as Black/Brown leadership and economic elite- so naturally, the racially-related socio-economic barriers for Black/Brown people are presumably relatively more auspicious. Which is not to say there are not barriers related to nationality, religion, language or skin color. Just that its better than USA/ the Americas in terms of the socio-economic and security disparities associated with race. 16. Family oriented. The expat population (which is over 50% Indian/Pakistani) is typified by countries with high birth rates and the local population has average 4-5 kids/family. Add to that Arabian cultural values which emphasize family and you get a place where its normal to see families all over the mall, where the airline gives you free strollers, where there are special lines for moms and kids and where there are special amusement parks just for kids. Its pretty cute. And no doubt adds to the ease and appeal of raising kids here. 17. Excellent benefits for skilled labor. Twice as much vacation days as in the USA. Plus (at least at my company) six months of maternity leave, which is like 10 times more than back in USA. I’m not a mom yet but damn lets give them the respect they deserve. 18. Ramadan. 1 month of reduced working hours plus beautiful, neverending Islamic feasts with dates, apricot juice, hummus, sujouk and more 19. Support for women. From women-only taxis to VIP lines for women at some airports/ government entities, women are sometimes sometimes treated as separate but equal but different. Rather than discrimination, these seem more like additional ways to protect women and children. And thats cool with me.  Also, the predominance of the abaya makes life easier, increasing women's ability to be efficient with their daily routine and have more time for the important things in life 20. Shisha. While Dubai will never join Cali and Colorado in legalizing ganja (this blog does not advocate or have an opinion on whether legalization is an appropriate public policy!), we have endless venues to relax with fragrant intoxicating relaxing fruit-flavored Arabian argileh. 21. Arabian fragrances. I DO love Tom Ford ( NdN, Noir, Black Orchid) but I’m telling you even the top Western perfume houses can not even touch the amazing, intoxicating and hypnotizing artisanal fragrances crafted here in the Arabian gulf. Especially when the oud hits your head like a memory from a past life lol. 22. A historic first. Its kind of exciting to be a part of the ascent of one of the top global financial and business hubs out side of the Western world. Click to Post

[runawaytimberwolf]

With the unusual asks, ANSWER ALL OF THEM!

Oh, uh, ok O.o

Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora? Spotify

is your room messy or clean? Clean, but only because I spent 3 hours obsessively cleaning it

what color are your eyes? Brown

do you like your name? why? I’m kind of on the fence about it. I don’t LOVE it, but I like it well enough

what is your relationship status? Forever alone

describe your personality in 3 words or less. Creative, quiet, stubborn

what colour hair do you have? Brown

what kind of car do you drive? colour? A Mitsubishi. It’s black

where do you shop? the local mall - it was recently renovated and got 70 new shops or something. it’s great. Sometimes I go into the city

how would you describe your style? A weird mix between country and beach-y. Probably hipster, to a degree

favorite social media account? Tumblrrrrr

what size bed do you have? King single (what kind of a question is this???)

any siblings? A younger brother and two younger half siblings

if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why?

favourite snapchat filter? I don’t use snapchat

favourite makeup brand(s) I rarely use makeup, so no opinion

how many times a week do you shower? At least once a day. I am borderline obsessed with keeping myself clean

favorite tv show? Arrow or Stranger Things (do Netflix shows count?)

shoe size? 7.5 or 8

how tall are you? 5 feet, 2 and a half inches (so basically really short)

sandals or sneakers? Sneakers

do you go to the gym? Ha! I didn’t realise we were telling jokes now

describe your dream date. There are mountains. It’s snowing. We ski all day, then get hot drinks. and possibly dinner

how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment? $14

what color socks are you wearing? I’m currently barefoot

how many pillows do you sleep with? 3, or 4 if you count the one that always falls on the floor

do you have a job? what do you do? I am unemployed. Unfortunately

how many friends do you have? 2 dozen or so...

whats the worst thing you have ever done? Ate all of my brothers easter chocolate then told him it was our cousin. Brother and said cousin didn’t speak to each other for nearly a week

whats your favourite candle scent? Lemon myrtle or pear and lime

3 favourite boy names. Alex, Jack, Leo

3 favourite girl names. Blue, Sadie, Winter

favourite actor? Uhhh... I have no idea. Probably Anthony Hopkins 

favourite actress? Again, no idea. It’s not something I’ve ever really thought about

who is your celebrity crush? No celebrity crush. If we were talking fictional crush, however... (but don’t ask because I’m not going to answer)

favourite movie? Too many to choose from, but I’m always down for Marvel or Star Wars 

do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? I am never without a book. My favourite is either the Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater or the Matilda Saga by Jackie French

money or brains? Intelligence ftw

do you have a nickname? what is it? Not really, since what I get called on a daily basis is already a shortened version of my name (although I have been called Hawkeye on several occasions by a select few)

how many times have you been to the hospital? Myself, only twice, not including visiting relatives

top 10 favorite songs. In no particular order -  Wait For It - Lin-Manuel Miranda, It’s Time - Imagine Dragons, Hotel California - The Eagles, You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon, Bright Lights - Rob Thomas, Little Wonders - Rob Thomas, Steer - Missy Higgins, Manhattan - Kings of Leon, Violin - Amos Lee, When the Day Breaks - Ryan Keen ( I can keep going, these are just the first that came to mind. I can list another ten off the tip of my tongue???)

do you take any medications daily? Not at the moment

what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc) Regular I guess???

what is your biggest fear? My teeth falling out

how many kids do you want? 2. Maybe

whats your go to hair style? I don’t know if it really counts as a style, but its slightly wavy, slightly longer than jaw length

what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc) small, 2 storey house with a very large backyard

who is your role model? I don’t know if I have one

what was the last compliment you received? That my skin looked nice (thanks mum)

what was the last text you sent? A gif declaring ‘IM BACK’

how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real? 7 or 8

what is your dream car? A pale green (or grey) Kombi 

opinion on smoking? Don’t do it

do you go to college? No, but I want to once I finish school

what is your dream job? Investigative journalist (with art/writing on the side)

would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs? Rural

do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? Yes. And the soaps

do you have freckles? Yep. Lots and lots of freckles

do you smile for pictures? Yeah

how many pictures do you have on your phone? 1010

have you ever peed in the woods? Probably

do you still watch cartoons? Only if theres nothing else on, because cartoons these days suck

do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds? Maccas (mcdonalds for you non-australians

Favorite dipping sauce? Tomato sauce

what do you wear to bed? a singlet and pyjama shorts

have you ever won a spelling bee? nope

what are your hobbies? Drawing, writing, reading

can you draw? Yes

do you play an instrument? Nope

what was the last concert you saw? Fleetwood Mac

tea or coffee? Tea

Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? Starbucks I guess

do you want to get married? Yeah

what is your crush’s first and last initial? No crush

are you going to change your last name when you get married? Yes! I HATE my last name (I actually want to change it sooner. Hence why I go by something else online)

what color looks best on you? Black or khaki 

do you miss anyone right now? Nope

do you sleep with your door open or closed? Closed

do you believe in ghosts? Yes

what is your biggest pet peeve? People touching my hair

last person you called` my mother

favorite ice cream flavor? Cookies and cream, or salted caramel

regular oreos or golden oreos? Regular. What are golden Oreos?

chocolate or rainbow sprinkles? CHOCOLATE

what shirt are you wearing? A grey tank top with an eagle on it

what is your phone background? The quote ‘the mountains are calling and I must go’

are you outgoing or shy? It depends who I’m with

do you like it when people play with your hair? TOUCH MY HAIR AND I WILL RIP YOUR ARMS OFF

do you like your neighbors? Yeah, they're nice

do you wash your face? at night? in the morning? Yes, at night

have you ever been high? Nope

have you ever been drunk? Possibly (possibly) slightly tipsy, but never drunk

last thing you ate? A bacon and egg sandwich 

favourite lyrics right now. “I am the one thing in life I can control, I am inimitable, I am an original. I’m not falling behind or running late, I’m not standing still, I am lying in wait”

summer or winter? Winter

day or night? Day

dark, milk, or white chocolate? Milk

favourite month? August

what is your zodiac sign? Leo

who was the last person you cried in front of? My best friend

I hope you all enjoyed this long (and unnecessarily detailed) session of Q and A. This was exhausting.