Happy birthday Ovi Magazine !

So here are 17 things about me when I was 17.

First off, maybe I shouldn’t be discussing this, but I am straight but sapiosexual. This means I don’t really go on dates with women, and that I need to be challenged intellectually by a woman for me to even consider dating her.

Sapiosexual men and women are a strange breed. We don’t go out on a date unless books and knowledge and intellectual observations are on the menu, all day, every day.

Problem with this : I’ve been out on many dates where my dates were bored with me after a couple of dates. One of my dates when I was 17 told me straight out ‘’I’m not your philosophy teacher’’ . That was one hell of a painful date.

2. When I was 17 I would spend many hours daydreaming about having normal conversations with normal people. Still wish that was the case today.

3. The 9/11 attacks happened when I was 17. The Second Intifadha also happened when I was 17.I was desperate to join the army and fight those terrorists. At some point, stupid mistake, I even said that Hitler should have taken care of the Arabs and left the Jews alone. I know, 17 year-olds are stupid. At least I was.

4. When I was 17, shop owners and construction workers and on-duty policemen where my best friends. Unlike my classmates, those guys had interesting things to say.

5. I used to refuse speaking Arabic when I was 17. Oddly enough,at age 18, I spoke Arabic wherever I could.

6. I don’t recall, not even once, having thought about college or my future job. Never crossed my mind when I was 17.

7. Both men and women think that my warmth and affection are an invitation for a one-night stand. No, honey, people I’m warm with are like family to me. But I do praise a lot and can get touchy-feely, but not anymore, because these days hugs are mistaken for sexual foreplay. So I just leave my warm feelings inside and just tap people on the shoulder. But part of me wants to give my friends tight hugs, which are more natural to me.

8. I always hated aggressive people. Still avoid that crowd like the plague.

9. I was a huge sit-com fan when I was 17. Any sit-com or comedy show was good for me.

10. I loved books but there were no decent book stores in my area back then. Also, a lot of times, I did not have time to read books. I had to study for tests, you know.

11. I wanted to speak Hebrew and Persian when I was 17. I also wanted to be a journalist and cover the war in Afghanistan. ‘’Joseph Gatt, for CNN,Kabul’’ was a sentence I hoped to be able to say some day.

12. In French politics, Jean Marie Le Pen madeit to the second round of theFrench presidential election. I remember hesitating between Alain Madelin and François Bayrou for the first round. But I would have voted for Le Pen in the second round. Too many immigrants in France were proud of what Al Qaeda did on 9/11.

13. Kylie Minogue and Shakira were my favorite pop artists back then. I was a big fan of singer Anastasia as well.ButI kept that a secret.

14. I didn’t daydream about being rich and famous and successful when I was 17. I just wanted to be the member of a community I could belong to.

15. NBC’s Saturday Night Live was my favorite show, and I never missed a re-run of old shows.

16. Being a writer or writing anything never crossed my mind when I was 17. But a lot of guys came to me and asked me to ghost write their love letters, which I always did. For free.

17. People asked me to do their homework for them and I agreed as well. And never asked for money for doing that.

What’s Ovi like now that it’s 17 ? Will Ovi do the same stupid mistakes that I did ? Now wishing a happy birthday to Ovi Magazine. I love the Magazine and the readers no matter what, unconditionally.