appreciation time!

In light of the year (almost) behind us, I feel as if there is some appreciation due my roommate, Andrew, for his wonderful acts throughout the year to defuse tense situations. He had a fun time learning how to get out of them himself, and then applied that knowledge to be the riot police in our apartment. He always manages to avoid getting involved in arguments, and for that, I am jealous. His restraint is commendable. For issues such as putting more harif in the food, he allows no argument - simply spicing the foods to his own taste. Whenever he feels as if it is getting unpleasant in the apartment, he will take all of our worries with him for a cooling-off period on a whirlwind tour of Egypt, Ramallah, Turkey, or any assortment of other countries. He always manages to keep the rest of the apartment's tensions at bay with his exceptional sense of humor, and we thank him greatly for that. Although, sometimes I wish he would get mad, just so we could see what it would be like...