If I could sum up my year and a half at Khaleejesque Magazine, I’d simply describe it as phenomenal. Starting from Day 1, I was hyped about working for the first time and even more hyped that it was with 6 (give or take a diva) amazing divas. All things ultimately come to an end at a certain point, like this column, my being-fat days, and my time here. All I want to say is thank you to the divas, all the readers of our magazine, and the divas once again for convincing me to get a MacBook because it made me feel younger. Being the only male staffer, I thought it would be awkward and I’d start buying man-bags but no, it was the greatest time of my life.
Good morning my peeps and welcome to ‘The Last One’. I really didn’t know it was the same name as the last episode of Friends until a sentence ago but it doesn’t matter. How about for this last entry to the column, we talk about my favorite moments/highlights at Khaleejesque Magazine? Starting off with Day 1:
I sat in F2’s chair and I’m still having nightmares about that day because of that. I had the simplest of tasks which was to point out interesting topics and articles written in the very first issue to be featured online. Even though it sounds as easy as play X-O, it was frightening and let me tell you why: If I hadn’t ticked a certain article that seemed interesting to write online then it would be like the article isn’t interesting at all which would make my first day very, very bad so what did I do? I ticked every single article and I may have ticked advertisements by mistake.
Another favorite highlight was the one year anniversary celebration we had for the print version. Everyone from the office looked stunning especially Captain with her red dress (I’ll never forget it), X-Grande Latte wore her green outfit, Critic wore some new shoes she had been talking about months before, both F2 and Braces (remember her?) were hot in black and Turban looked colorful as usual so did Princess in purple (or was it another color?) The music wasn’t as enjoyable to me as it was to everyone else who was clapping and swaying left and right but as long as everyone looked nice, it was a good anniversary. I still don’t why I invited my mom and brother who were sitting in the corner eating nuts and drinking juice. You remember the anti-social kid in your class? Yes.
I remember my very first article online. It was about ‘Star Wars 1313’, the video game. If you actually search for it online, I think you’d notice a huge different in quality. I didn’t have the access of writing on WordPress so I had to email the text to Captain. Very lame, I know but when it was posted, it was like seeing your name on the Dean’s list in university. I was so proud of myself and reading the title now makes me think how easy it was back then to come up with a title. Star Wars 1313: From Hollywood to Your Gaming Console. Amazing right? Thanks.
All the breakfasts, lunches, and issue-celebrating meals outside and inside the office made my time here one for my stomach to remember. Before Khaleejesque, my taste in restaurants was as poor as
all the sudden Arab singers on YouTube but with the divas, I had to update that so I started having good breakfasts, lunch consisted of light yet delicious sandwiches, and with all that I didn’t have to have dinner. Bad thing about having breakfast before work was that it made all of sleepy and lethargic. Still worth the mango pancakes and incredible chocolate milk in a certain restaurant.
Having interns at the office was always interesting. It was like F2 and I made eye contact with each other to who we liked and didn’t. ONLY WITH EYE CONTACT. There were some we loved, some that were a little over the edge, some that were as quiet as a mouse, and some that were as close a family. Even though I didn’t get to interview any of them at the start, having new faces at the office was a pleasure. Just not the one who wouldn’t stop her phone conversations with her mom. The divas know who I’m talking about.
If I had to pick a favorite diva, I couldn’t. Not that I’m being cheesy but really, I can’t. Each one of them had something special about them and I learned something from each of them. For example, Captain taught me how to have a good poker-face and how to search for viral videos on YouTube. X-Grande Latte had the greatest stories about Sophie the cat, flight stories that were frightening, and her funny moments were hilarious. My writing skills were developed because of her so I owe her a lot for that.
Ending the column, I’d like to say how proud I am of officially joining the ‘cool club’ which meant I had the privilege of using the magazine’s Instagram account. I could’ve taken selfies and pictures of clouds but I didn’t but using the account made me feel like 40.
Khaleejesque Magazine is the best magazine in the world not because I’m arrogant but because it really is. Starting the internship summer of 2012 was the best decision of my life followed by buying a MacBook and losing weight. Thank you divas for it all!
Adnan Al-Timimi is the only male editor in the female dominated Khaleejesque workspace. We hope you enjoyed reading his adventures at Khaleejesque HQ; He will be dearly missed!
