Now thats what I call Qatar 5

Hey Kids...

One week in and it seems like a life time ago i was moping around the streets of london spending every day with Shamina and the evenings in clarencegate gardens!!

Just been watching Freeks and Geeks, for those who dont know its one of those usual american soap/drams, its set in the 80's, which i guess is the only major difference to the usual soaps but it is decent and for those bored I would recommend for you guys to go and watch it but not out of your way..

However 2 shows that one should watch is Weeds and Las Vegas... Weed as the title suggest is about the herbal remedy..that is known the world over as Marajuna or Cannabis, and its about a Suburban Milf who becomes a drug dealer for her wealthy neighbours, its got some comical moments and i would recommend going out of your way to get it via downloading or renting prob not worth buying it though! Las Vegas on the hand i think would be worth buying, it gives a great insight into the world of gambling and las vegas in general, plus the theme tune is that song by Elvis u know the remix one that came out on the Nike Adverts, its a cool show and i would recommend all of you to jus try it!!

I have been emialin quite a few of my friends and seeing how everyone is doing, and its really weird how everyones lives are going in such different directions, and i do get jealous of those whom are just like following their passions like my friend Spyros who has traveled to Madrid and just doing what he feels like, which i think is really cool, or Fern, who has gone to London to try to start his filming life, and theres so many more of my friends who also are just doing what they feel, and i really respect them for that, however i am not regretting my choice in life because though im part of the corporate world i am also living in a Islamic country which is something i have always wanted to do, even though its quite lonley....

Aneway im going to keep this short again so take care of yourselves

Asif

Now thats what I call Qatar 4 Starving Marvin Edition

Dear All,

I been slightly going off in a tangent recently though to be honest there is no real striaght line for me to follow anyway!

Im at work at the moment, and i have finally be placed in my team a week after coming here, and 2+half weeks after joining Bechtel! But i have a feeling they are going to start making me earn my money soon, however I have the mighty month of Ramadan on my side, which means i do less hours than my non-muslim collegues!! My normal working hours is 7-6 sunday to wednesday and 7-4 on thursday, and pretty much everyone leaves on time and arrives on time, so in a way its a good site to work on, and you can structure urlife around the hours because there so rigid... During Ramadam I am doing 7-2.30 on sunday to wednesday and 7-1pm on thursday, which is wicked and i still get paid for normal hours...however I am STARVING even with those hours...therefore explaining the name of my blog...added to that the fact that today im working till 6 because there is a training/meeting going on between 4-6 im Starvin Marvin!!

Well i havent really been up2 much to be honest, I been chattin to Shamina on one of the most AWESOME things ever to be made VOIP, or SKYPE as most people will know it as, its phenonemal for the x-pats among us, i jus cant belive how useful it is, its so cheap compared to mobiles or calling cards the only problem is the sound and connection but iA that will get sorted and it would be BEST INVENTION of the21st Century (at least till the new nintendo console comes out, which will take 3-d gaming to a whole new level, for those whom dont know about just read up on it, because ill gurrantee even those whom arent intrested in video games will be blown away by it!!)

Aneway I best go to my meeting now, but take care of yourselves and keep doing whatever makes you happy..

Asif

Censorship

Dear All,

Your inconcent writer has been verbally attacked in the blog that I have been praising all week, and as a result I have written the following statement to these attacks by the intifida:

Dear All,

You will have heard of the great Dupree and the shamed Judas before, but like the US media this is a one side portyal of the battle of good and evil...


The BUMS and LOWLIFES that are HOBOCHIC and TFO will continue to rot on this plannet while those of us more succesful, FM, JD, and MS will continue to do well, and then there are those who just do nothing for society and a prime example was of TOWLBTS also known as Riaz Khan....

Thats right i revealed who he TOWLBTS was but thats not all, because of my firm belief in the freedom of information act, i will continue to reveal the low lifes, and yes you guessed it one will be revealed right here right now....

HOBOCHIC...you must wonder if such a low-life could exist or is he/she a fictional charachter made up by those crazy people at Clarence gate gardens, well sadly to say he is a real person, and that yes he does take crack, and walk the streets of camden counting cars because he has nothing else to do, and a name for this half man/half hobo....Bukhari...

It makes you wonder when half men/half hobo's start trying to censor other people what the world is coming too...well ill tell you all this, visit www.stormy786.blogspot.com, for more up to the minute un-censored reports and views from all over the world.....and like Anne Frank i will continue to write my diary(/blog) and not be feared for my belife in the freedom of information act....

Long Live Freedom....


JD



All kidding aside however, the story of information and what some consider important and others feel its theres to distribute as they see fit, has always caused problems throughout history, and mainly through the liberal media- and the tight-nitted goverments, however this balance of freedom and- security/personal information is a balance in all relationships, and i have misjudged it on many occasions, and i felt bad as a result, this time however i dont c my wrong, as the readers of that blog are completly independant to mine, and therefore there are no links between the two...

Aneway let me know your views on censorship because after visiting China and the Middle East i have witnessed a great deal of it...

take care

Asif

Now thats what I call Qatar RAMADAM KAREEM EDITION!

Hey my Kaffaur and non-Kaffaur friends,

U may think my into was maybe harsh but doesnt most people classify their friends in one way or another, from the ones who say you go to school with, to the ones you work with, however I heard recently someone describe their friends by their family wealth which was a new one for me, and though TOWLBTS (the guy who does classify his friends by wealth) said that you maybe wondering who the fuck is TOWLBTS, well if you been reading the blog of the week, www.clarencegategardens.blogspot.com, TOWLBTS is one of the people mentioned in the blog, it stands for The One Who Lives Behind The Sofa, aka Riaz Khan, the most pompous bengali ull ever meet!(Riaz if ur reading this...u know its true)

Well i watched the Liverpool and Tottenham game at a fellow X-expats house, watched it with the disciples, Gonzalez scored which is on my fantasy football team so was happy about that!
However not happy about liverpool winning, but oh well what can one do, arsenal won but I had henry, so there is some consolation in ur least fravourite teams winning on the hand if Chelsea win no matter who the hell is on my Fantasy Football, because i hate them with such a passion!!!

I jus ordered a fuck load of food from this place called Caravan that does, indian, chinese, and thai food but only found bout the thai after i ordered because the thing was on the back, it realy pissed me off, cuz thai food jus kicks its really nice and a nice blend of chinese and indian food(in terms of spices) and part of that reason was because of myexperience in Thailand,which was really something, it was my first trip solo and i think it was quite easy though in terms of independant traveling, as my friend Ken lives da, and i stayed at his mums hotel which if any of you guys go let me know and ill tell u the name of the hotel because its a faboulous hotel which makes me thing of boutique hotels vs the chain hotels, i have been most impressed in boutique hotels however i have also been most unimpressed in boutique hotels, and its a real case of hit-miss or word of mouth, i think if u find a nice hotel though it can and will make or break ur holiday or ur performance at work!!

Aneway i got work tomormow and my normal working hours are 7 to 6, however because of Ramadam which incidently began today it means for the non-kaffur among us we have less hours, 7-2.30 on sunday to wednesday and 7-1 on a thursday, its pretty cool doing my first ramdam in a muslim country, which means that thoUgh the country is obviously very accomadating to muslims, all those around me are non-muslims and so doesnt feel too different from england!

aneway good night and God bless...

Asif Mahmood

Now Thats What I Call Qatar 2

Hey ya'll

Its day 3 in Qatar (if u include the evening that I arrived), and its been fairly action packed but less-so than it could have been!

Yesterday after i wrote the blog, i went out to lunch at the Marriot hotel which isnt that far from my office for lunch, fuckin living it up!!lol!

Im hanging out with the disciples, lol Michael, Peter, Chris, Paul and John.... these are my fellow bechtel employees who live in my building. There all really nice guys, all of em apart from Paul(my flatmate) are English, and the ones whom i went to the Marriot and today i went to Ritz Carlton with them, which is fucking opulent place but more on that later!

So yesterday i did pretty much fuck all, attended a few meetings, including a security meeting that stated that Bechtel is supposedly a target for some Jihadi organisations, so we got to be careful, oh well! Oh and the guy who did the security was this croatian guy and the HR women who gave my intial induction and i was thinking what the fuck is the chances that there would be 2 croatians on the project, and well it turns out pretty f'ing likely when they are married!

So after work I went back to my flat, and then went shopping to the main shopping centre, i been here before and it has changed in certain aspects, but largely the same but just on a grand scale, like the whole middle east, there is a massive construction boom, but unlike say Dubai, they are also building grand mosques everywhere, and aren't ashamed of being Islamic, if you go to Dubai, for a Muslim city, the Mosques are dreadful, the grand mosque in Dubai, is Jumeria Mosque which is like just a standard Mosque in Doha, and for that I respect Doha much more than Dubai.

However the majority of very rich gulf arabs are all the same, islamic by name and in public but non-islamic by nature in private, last night we went to Doha Club, which is a genetelemns sports club, which is also like a place where all arabs go and get drunk!! Then my buddy Peter dropped me home cuz i was tired whilst EVERY1 from bechtel went to a party at the Ridges, where it seemed everyone jus got pissed and then over the next few weeks it will be gossip galore!!

This morning I met the disciples at the Ritz Carlton, which when any of you guys visit we will have to go to for brunch, it was 40quid, but was WELL WORTH IT, if u compare it to England, because the brunch had everything, you name an item of food and it had it, it was jus wicked, and everyone there was either white or LOADED arabs, like their was ferraris outside the place, were going to Dinner on the top floor tonight as wel, which will be cool, as for once i can attend a pompous french restaurant and eat everything which will be allow me to truly to taste if french food is all that!

I hope you guys checked out the blog, www.clarencegategardens.co.uk , because its jus so funny, FM is Farouq Miah, an Investment Banker from Lehman Brothers, and each post another person will be unreviled, because this is what Dupree does!!!

Aneway best go take care

Asif

Now thats what I call Qatar

Dear All,

I been working for the US giant known as Bechtel for a week now, its been a interesting week that has taken me from London, to Manchester and finally to Doha(Qatar).

From my last post, which was on the auspicious day that is known the world over, September the 11th, where tragically 3,000 people lost their lives, which is terrible, however because of that day hundreds sometimes thousands of people are losing their lives everyday as a result of 'the war on terror' and yet there is no memorial or rememberance for those lives, and as one US politician put it, Western Lives(US and UK) are more valuable than those from elsewhere, and if you doubt my words, then think about Sudan right now, or Africa in general, how much importance is placed on their lives every day? however when a natural disaster like the Hurrican Katrina hits US, or there is flu outbreak in the UK, the whole world must hear about it, with up-to the minute reports, just pisses me off on how the world works, but maybe just maybe were witnessing a 'passing of the torch' as China and India grow, their importance on the world stage grows, and as a result the USA won't have the same authority it currently enjoys as the only superpower, I am not saying the world will become a better place, on the contrary it may become worse (again Sudan, Darfur, where the Chinese are refusing the UN mandate because of their intrests in the land and natural resources) but at least the world won't be dictated by a man oblvious to the rest of the world, and purely concerned with his and those around him, intrests.

Aneway did't realise i would do that rant, so appoligizes, by the way for those Google loves check this out http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1641757,00.asp!

Well after my first 2 days at Bechtel, where i had my induction, they arranged a night out, near Piccadily Circus, at Tiger Tiger, they put 650quid behind the bar and let the graduates RINSE it! Shamina came along with me, and we got our fairshare!! She also got to meet my fellow graduates, those of whom i like and those whom i bitch about (after all I am the King Bitch!!)

The rest of the week I was working in the City, near Blackfriars, and jus doing this and that around the office, pretty chilled and in the evenings seeing Shamina and staying at 41 Clarence Gate gardens, whom incidenctly have started a blog, known as www.clarencegategardens.blogspot.com, which has to be one of the funniest blogs out there, Im known as Dupree on the blog, and ill reveal the others in my next few blogs.....

Over the weekend, i stayed in a hotel around Euston, called the Novotel, it was a really nice hotel, and would recommend it highly and hte breakfast was really nice! and for those wantin the cheap version of the london eye, take the middle lift to the top and you get to c the whole of London, its a beautiful site!

Aneway to cut a long story short now im in Qatar, im living with an American-Itallien guy called Paul, whom is typically American but in a nice way,(the way i c it, theres more or less two different types of Americans, you have the obnoxious, ignorant, dumb american, then you have the nice, polite, energtic and all around nice guy american, thankfully he is of the latter variety(and most of us will only meet the second type as they tend to travel and beware that the whole world doesnt revolve around USA and therefore are much more humble).

My buddy from the UK is here, whom is kinda supposed to be my mentor, and he is really nice, Peter, he invites me pretty much whereever he goes, and so its nice to meet other people!

I better go but take care of yourselves

Asif

First day in the Corporate World

Dear All,

I hope your well, and you had a good weekend...I am writing this from a undiscolsed location in the UK (baker street if u must know!)

I jus completed my first day of 'work' if you can call it that, it was an induction day where not much happened, jus ate alot (FAT BASTARD is what ur thinking...cuz if u know me u know i made sure i got my travelcards worth!) and did some fairly pointless activites, such as this group activity trying to simulate a real project, but in the end they wantedus to work together with the other teams when originally they pitted us against each other (ur confused...well thats my point there jus pointless non-meaning exercieses thar companies love to waste thousands of pounds on jus so they can say they invest this much time and money into training!)

However for all those who does work, will know that the only tangible benefit of working is the last day of the month(PAY DAY) and though im way off it at the moment im already spending like i jus got paid!!

aneway my family is calling so ill write more later take care

Asif

Its grim up north.....

Dear all,

I have been trying to fiddle with my blog and try to change things but think in the ned i jus fucked it up a bit more!!

I want to put pictures on it but its not that easy for some weird reason....but i have pictures on my facebook and hi5 account if you want to see pics...and i know u all do u vouyuers!

Talking of voyuers, what do u guys make of the new facebook? i really like it, unlike 90% of the facebook population, its good to know wot people have been getting up to and keeps an eye on thouse pervs out there... and there are plenty out there ...cough cough Bilal Anwar cough cough
(for those of you wondering what the hell is facebook..its a website that links thought who work or went to school/uni with each other its a really cool idea)

Well I have had quite a few visitors to the blog recently but no comments on the blog but more directly to me, many people were quite shocked at just how personal I was in the last one, well i decided to be more open and take the theory of a problem shared is a problem halved...

I graduated on tuesday, i got a 2.1 on BSc Project Management for Construction from UCL (University College London) which i was really happy with and though its no first for me it was a good result. My parents were happy, and gave me a handsome reward!!
I stayed at a friends place in Baker Street, where unfortunantly i dont c myself staying there again as i screwed the guys with their keys im sorry guys especially Farouq whom just left me a voicemail stating his views, which are completely understandble given the pressures of working in Canary Warf, to come home without keys to ur own flat, i completely understand cuz putting myself into his situation it would piss me off to no ends so i would like to say sorry here as well to the people of the flat....

Aneway im going back to London this weekend and then possibly off to qatar...I have had such a shit day, jus thinking of going to qatar fills me up with excitement yet fear and wearyness i jus want everything to be organised, this has to be one of the things that most piss me off, when i dont have anywhere of my own to stay, i can handel stayin over for a night or two but any longer and i jus feel lost, like i dont belong...some people wonder why i travel on my own, and part of the reason is i enjoy my own space and time, i like doing things at my own pace and my own way and i feel inhibitied when im staying at others... This summer i spent alot of the time with Bilal, and though he was a very good roommate, i did feel like i was constantly impossing on him and though he never made me feel like this its just my senstive nature that made me feel in that way but either way i just want to be settled..

So from the title it suggests i aint enjoying my northern stay on the contray I am firmly enjoying my stay however the situation surrounding my stay ie the test results, the marrige situation its all causing plenty of headaches and thus causing grimness around me...if ur confused think about the song 'Why does it always rain on me'...and u get the idea!

There is plenty more i have to say but i dont wish to bore you so til next time take care

Asif

Mixed feelings

Dear All,

Its been a while and I appolgize to all 262 of my readers but as you can tell from the title of the blog i have had some intresting experiences which ull read about...

Well Hong Kong, was truly incredible as was the whole trip, the kids are so cute in China, there very willing to learn and really want in integrate which is a refereshing change from the youths in England.

Hong Kong is as modern as most people expect yet there is a lot of proverty amonst the Cantonese there, and you can tell in many ways that it used to be western ‘owned’ and like I said in my previous post I love the fact its left hand drive!!

Oh before I forget I want to thank whomever left the last message in my previous post, it was an inspiring message!

Well since getting back I stayed in London, at James and Rehanna’s at first, then at Shamil’s and then at Bilal et the Cambridge crew and I thank them all for letting me stay even though I had to move my heavy ass luggage (I was over 25kg overweight on my flight back to London, on a side note which I was also upgraded to World Traveller Plus on BA and it was much appreciated for the 14hour flight!)

I am currently residing in the Ghetto of Knutsford some say the Harlem of the UK and after my daily mercing of sum next manz I been spending time with the family and especially my nephew, Rayan, whom is the cutest guy in the world!

I been preparing myself for my departure for Qatar, its been quite hectic as I been going to Harley St fairly frequently for my medical and I’m about to tell you something that I been thinking of weather I should or shouldn’t announce it to all of you in such an impersonal manner and even if I want all of you to know about my personal life, but then I think of the whole point of this blog is so people learn about me and even some personal things, well I failed my original medical because the doctor found a lump, this was quite a while ago, but I have kept it quiet from everyone including my family, it made me really think about life and what-ifs, all the things I considered important all of sudden seemed so trivial, such as my job, my graduation, the whole Qatar thing, it made me think a lot more about religion and heaven and hell, for those of you whom are not religious I do wonder if you found out that you may or may not have cancer then would you think about afterlife or think of live for now before your six feet under.
Well after the first meeting I have had subsequent meetings with Cancer specialists, I think there called Urologists but don’t old me to that as I do have the unfortunate situation of having dyslexia as well!

Well after further tests it is determined I have benign Cancer, so its not dangerous and will hopefully be removed in the near future but I should be allowed to go to Qatar, and though it would be foolish of me wanting cancer it gave me reason that I couldn’t go to Qatar, as I am incredibly nervous about it and leaving everyone behind.

Added to this I have been speaking to my parents about Marriage to Shamina, and it is causing a no-end of arguments within my family and myself, I have realised how hard love and family is, and deciding what you really want It also puts great-strain on myself and even my friends, I don’t see how it is going to be concluded yet but lets all hope in a happy ending, I know its going to be hard especially with me going to Qatar but hopefully it will be worked out and thank you for all those whom have supported me recently in my struggle and thank you Shamina for standing by me in all of this.

Now onto nicer things…

Well whilst writing this I been watching Veronica Mars, for those whom don’t know it, its this kinda new US show about a teenage girl whom is also a kinda Priviate Investigator its an ok show, for me its really good because I like mysteries, but I would recommend checking it out if you have time! Also Prison Break has started again and Entourage which are 2 of the best programs out there at the moment and I think appeals to the masses so u shud definitely check it out, and there is plenty of eye candy for both sexes!!

Aneway I best go sleep its well late, and Veronica and I are getting tired hopefully Shamina understands….

Take care

Asif