Thursday, February 28, 2013
Come back?
Its been close to 3 years since my last post, then out of the blue i got a message from a random guy saying he really enjoyed my blogs and hope i wasnt dead...lol! Well in the last three years i been through shitloads, but havent we all?
I think i will continue writing but I wont make it public like I did previously, linking it to my fb, etc but I did enjoy writing and sharing my views and thoughts! I been on some epic journeys these last three years so will try to recapture the highlights of them and also delve a little into my personal life just to add context to some of the adventures and outlooks that I have.
Anyway thanks again @BatooniGoonga for inspiring this come back!
Take care
Stormy
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Red white and battered...
Hey Y'all
This will be my last post from the US on this trip at least as im writing it in the lounge at houston before i board my flight..
Well i had a pretty crazy time since my last post as i left my friends in LA and headed north and then east , as I went from San Fransico to Yoshmite National Park to Las Vegas to Grand Canyon to Phoneix Arizona and now back to Houston!
I am so exhausted and just bewildered by the last 3 weeks! It feels like i been here forever..
San Fran was fun, as my friend in LA put it, if the west coast and the east coast had a city it would be San Fran, and i can c exactyly what it means, its liberal and yet hard working, its mixed and expensive, quite densley populated but good public transport, i would recommend to go, as it is a beautiful city and has alot of things to c and do! Especialy going tyo the Yshimite National Park, which is like 3 hours there, its a stunning national park and has these amazing waterfalls, and the biggest trees i have even seen in my life, there called like Sequoias trees or something and they are unbelievable, you need to google that shit seriously HUGE!
Aneway, so then heading the vegas, the real Silicon Valley, as its just full of girls with fake breasts! Now you hear stories about Vegas and you hear the ridiculous stories about how Vegas is a bit of a family destination, well those people are smoking crack, there is guys handing out cards of women2ur door on the street, there is girls wearing next to nothing just walking about and this is during the day so u can only imagine what happens at night. This is not to say all was bad, far from it, the food was some of the best i have ever had, they have top class chefs and restaurants and at verygood prices, the shows on offer are amazing,. i went to c a comedyt club which was very funny and then david copperfield and that was unbelievable and something i dont think i would have been able to in many other places, so u c it does have its postives but the gamblign and the women and night activites do overbear alot on the city!
Im not a fan of buffets anymore, but if u r, they are nuts about them, i find myself spending the same as i would on a buffet in a normal restaurant and at least then i get exactly what i want, and the concept of it, goes against my priciples and beliefs where you fill yourself up and waste alot of food, in Islam your only supposed to fill your stomach up a 1/3 of food, 1/3 of water and 1/3 of air, and so clearly going to a buffet will reduce the chances of such a feat dramatically.
Also what i find weird is how 'celebs' and i use the term lightly celebrate their bdays in one of the clubs there and the clubs advertise it, like Kim Khadasian did it whilst i was there and the girl from Friday night Lights, and the girl from Beveerly Hills 90210 is going to be doing it as well, and its just really bizare, but they at the same time manage to attract huge names, this week along, russel peters was going a night,cheer, b.o.b., shakira, amr diab and many others...so for those living there i could imagine it would be pretty cool. Talking about living here, i was told its the fast growing city in the US, partly probably bnecause there is no income tax! And locals get cheap entry to most of the shows and nights and cheaper offers so i can c the benefit!
There is this huge new development called City Centre, which is a joint venture between MGM grand and Dubai world, at first i thought it didnt contain gambling as its really swish and obviously the gambling and the Dubai element, however my faith in the relgious values of Dubai were misplaced and it turns out they have huge casions there as well! However i got to say Dubai and Vegas reminded me of each other, both are in the desert and built into huge metropolis cities and both have a very superficial level and are questioned by its neighbours on its ethics but are still kinda desired and envied and used as the local or international party destinations...
Anyway I better board my plane soon, but i hope my next piece wont be like in a few months like it often is and i manage to sustain this, and the next time i write ill be 27, inshallah, and so i need to start fixing up and looking sharp *(in the immortal words of dizzy) and ill let you know what i end up doing for my bday though right now i just want to chill, but will c once im back home in Doha...
aneway take care and
Asif
This will be my last post from the US on this trip at least as im writing it in the lounge at houston before i board my flight..
Well i had a pretty crazy time since my last post as i left my friends in LA and headed north and then east , as I went from San Fransico to Yoshmite National Park to Las Vegas to Grand Canyon to Phoneix Arizona and now back to Houston!
I am so exhausted and just bewildered by the last 3 weeks! It feels like i been here forever..
San Fran was fun, as my friend in LA put it, if the west coast and the east coast had a city it would be San Fran, and i can c exactyly what it means, its liberal and yet hard working, its mixed and expensive, quite densley populated but good public transport, i would recommend to go, as it is a beautiful city and has alot of things to c and do! Especialy going tyo the Yshimite National Park, which is like 3 hours there, its a stunning national park and has these amazing waterfalls, and the biggest trees i have even seen in my life, there called like Sequoias trees or something and they are unbelievable, you need to google that shit seriously HUGE!
Aneway, so then heading the vegas, the real Silicon Valley, as its just full of girls with fake breasts! Now you hear stories about Vegas and you hear the ridiculous stories about how Vegas is a bit of a family destination, well those people are smoking crack, there is guys handing out cards of women2ur door on the street, there is girls wearing next to nothing just walking about and this is during the day so u can only imagine what happens at night. This is not to say all was bad, far from it, the food was some of the best i have ever had, they have top class chefs and restaurants and at verygood prices, the shows on offer are amazing,. i went to c a comedyt club which was very funny and then david copperfield and that was unbelievable and something i dont think i would have been able to in many other places, so u c it does have its postives but the gamblign and the women and night activites do overbear alot on the city!
Im not a fan of buffets anymore, but if u r, they are nuts about them, i find myself spending the same as i would on a buffet in a normal restaurant and at least then i get exactly what i want, and the concept of it, goes against my priciples and beliefs where you fill yourself up and waste alot of food, in Islam your only supposed to fill your stomach up a 1/3 of food, 1/3 of water and 1/3 of air, and so clearly going to a buffet will reduce the chances of such a feat dramatically.
Also what i find weird is how 'celebs' and i use the term lightly celebrate their bdays in one of the clubs there and the clubs advertise it, like Kim Khadasian did it whilst i was there and the girl from Friday night Lights, and the girl from Beveerly Hills 90210 is going to be doing it as well, and its just really bizare, but they at the same time manage to attract huge names, this week along, russel peters was going a night,cheer, b.o.b., shakira, amr diab and many others...so for those living there i could imagine it would be pretty cool. Talking about living here, i was told its the fast growing city in the US, partly probably bnecause there is no income tax! And locals get cheap entry to most of the shows and nights and cheaper offers so i can c the benefit!
There is this huge new development called City Centre, which is a joint venture between MGM grand and Dubai world, at first i thought it didnt contain gambling as its really swish and obviously the gambling and the Dubai element, however my faith in the relgious values of Dubai were misplaced and it turns out they have huge casions there as well! However i got to say Dubai and Vegas reminded me of each other, both are in the desert and built into huge metropolis cities and both have a very superficial level and are questioned by its neighbours on its ethics but are still kinda desired and envied and used as the local or international party destinations...
Anyway I better board my plane soon, but i hope my next piece wont be like in a few months like it often is and i manage to sustain this, and the next time i write ill be 27, inshallah, and so i need to start fixing up and looking sharp *(in the immortal words of dizzy) and ill let you know what i end up doing for my bday though right now i just want to chill, but will c once im back home in Doha...
aneway take care and
Asif
Friday, October 08, 2010
Contentment...
Hey,
So i been all over the place the last few days, well and truly nailed Cali and even went south to Mexico, which isnt that different from many places in California where there is large his-spanic speaking communities. I found out that his-spanic actually means Spanish speaking people, so technically doesn't mean Brazilian but the rest of south and central American communities, i guess it was always going to be natural migration where the south and central Americans will slowly infiltrate North where there is the land of opportunity and supposedly a land offering a better life than the one they are in. However I sincerely beg to differ, after spending time int he US, yep its has its positives and negatives like most places but for me the negatives for outweigh the negatives in living here.
I met this Russian waitress in a Shisha bar the other night in LA, and she was telling me how she works 2 jobs, and has been here a year, she loves it but says how shes always working, and its hard to make a living with the high costs of living and the way things are, i mean i think there are ways you can make money here and its an entrepreneurs dream with the opportunities available, but im quite averse to most business and money making things personally, im just not geared that way, i much prefer a normal job and just a normal salary, I really wish i was wired to be set up like a business and after seeing the social network (which i highly recommend) it shows just how one good idea and some luck and you can just be on your way, but the thing is with Mark Zuckerburg, he managed to make the right decisions, ie he didnt sell out too early or go for advertisements when others would have, and you think what if i made that decision to sell up to early. In the film, it explains the history of the guy who set up the Victoria Secret (the lingerie shop)and how basically he sold it for like something like 10 million and like 2-3 years later it was worth 500 million and he committed suicide, and the thing is he didnt even set it up in the first place for a business but something for his wife or something, and then it made me think how the most important thing one can do is be satisfied with what we have i guess and for some its to do with accepting that not everything is always equal on the surface. However as a Muslim, we must believe in equality, and so thats why i said on the surface, because we believe in a Just God and therefore the world must be just and balanced if not now, it will be later, and so that kinda gets you by, when you face those times where you think how does that person live or feel (when you see poverty or persecution)...
Contentment, is often a word i use in my life, as people ask me why i am so happy or always smiling, firstly im not, and secondly when i am, its down to contentment, there are many other people who are more fortunate than i am in every sense fo the word, relgious, better looking, richer, intelligent, etc etc but the important thing is to be happy with one self, i mean of course there are things we all want to change within each other but im really content and i guess because of this contentment i dont have the drive to do businesses i guess or like investments i dunno because at the moment im content regarding my life but i guess if I was like a new immigrant, like my father, or the his-spanic community in USA then inshallah (God willing) i would have that drive like the new immigrants have but because im 2nd generation i dont have anweay im off to magic mountain inshallah today! so will write soon!
Anyway a bit more about my trip, so i went to San Diego and its a really beautiful city, i was highly impressed it was very military centric as its right on the boarder but despite that or maybe because of it, its a really stunning place. LA on the other hand is like any other large city in that its got its nice neighbour hoods but generally its quite grimey...so not been hugley impressed! If i was to move i would either go for San Fran or San Diego as the other cities havent really done it for me!
Take care
Asif
So i been all over the place the last few days, well and truly nailed Cali and even went south to Mexico, which isnt that different from many places in California where there is large his-spanic speaking communities. I found out that his-spanic actually means Spanish speaking people, so technically doesn't mean Brazilian but the rest of south and central American communities, i guess it was always going to be natural migration where the south and central Americans will slowly infiltrate North where there is the land of opportunity and supposedly a land offering a better life than the one they are in. However I sincerely beg to differ, after spending time int he US, yep its has its positives and negatives like most places but for me the negatives for outweigh the negatives in living here.
I met this Russian waitress in a Shisha bar the other night in LA, and she was telling me how she works 2 jobs, and has been here a year, she loves it but says how shes always working, and its hard to make a living with the high costs of living and the way things are, i mean i think there are ways you can make money here and its an entrepreneurs dream with the opportunities available, but im quite averse to most business and money making things personally, im just not geared that way, i much prefer a normal job and just a normal salary, I really wish i was wired to be set up like a business and after seeing the social network (which i highly recommend) it shows just how one good idea and some luck and you can just be on your way, but the thing is with Mark Zuckerburg, he managed to make the right decisions, ie he didnt sell out too early or go for advertisements when others would have, and you think what if i made that decision to sell up to early. In the film, it explains the history of the guy who set up the Victoria Secret (the lingerie shop)and how basically he sold it for like something like 10 million and like 2-3 years later it was worth 500 million and he committed suicide, and the thing is he didnt even set it up in the first place for a business but something for his wife or something, and then it made me think how the most important thing one can do is be satisfied with what we have i guess and for some its to do with accepting that not everything is always equal on the surface. However as a Muslim, we must believe in equality, and so thats why i said on the surface, because we believe in a Just God and therefore the world must be just and balanced if not now, it will be later, and so that kinda gets you by, when you face those times where you think how does that person live or feel (when you see poverty or persecution)...
Contentment, is often a word i use in my life, as people ask me why i am so happy or always smiling, firstly im not, and secondly when i am, its down to contentment, there are many other people who are more fortunate than i am in every sense fo the word, relgious, better looking, richer, intelligent, etc etc but the important thing is to be happy with one self, i mean of course there are things we all want to change within each other but im really content and i guess because of this contentment i dont have the drive to do businesses i guess or like investments i dunno because at the moment im content regarding my life but i guess if I was like a new immigrant, like my father, or the his-spanic community in USA then inshallah (God willing) i would have that drive like the new immigrants have but because im 2nd generation i dont have anweay im off to magic mountain inshallah today! so will write soon!
Anyway a bit more about my trip, so i went to San Diego and its a really beautiful city, i was highly impressed it was very military centric as its right on the boarder but despite that or maybe because of it, its a really stunning place. LA on the other hand is like any other large city in that its got its nice neighbour hoods but generally its quite grimey...so not been hugley impressed! If i was to move i would either go for San Fran or San Diego as the other cities havent really done it for me!
Take care
Asif
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Successful...i think not..
Hey,
So i got some feedback from some important people in my life regarding the blog and how to improve it, and inshallah will try to make those improvements in the forthcoming blogs...i have felt myself that sometimes the blog can at times lack some quality (i know rare for someone with my attention to detail) and even quantity (i know rare for someone of my stature) but it has and that has to do with the time i was writing the blogs, as it usually was at the end of the day and my jet lag is still in effect. So i tend to sleep in the early evenings here and then be awake again by night, so its been quite difficult to write as im half dead during that time!
Anyway today we spent the day driving back to LA, where im currently writing this now, in the valley,which is like a suburb of Los Angles, but we just rented a ford mustang convertible for the rest of the week, as i wanted to do LA like in the movies, u know cruising blah blah, i know cheesy as hell and jus a tad cliche but for those who know me i can be pretty darn cheesy. Anyway so we are awaiting for some 5ft columbian friend, called Helmut, of my cousin/friend, called Obby, and will head down to mexico tonight so it should be intresting. LAst time i went out with these guys was in London in my first year of Uni, and its really weird as it seems like things have become fullcircle, in that back then i had a crush on a girl and then obviously over time it subsided and now that girl has gotten more into my life recently, nothing going on but and it just feels really weird, like im right back to 8 years ago...and its the same people in my life all over again, i dont know how to describe it, but i was hoping this trip would provide a welcome distraction anyway to my life and give me time to ponder my thoughts and next moves...
Often people say that you have the world at your feet, and often that person saying it is me, but when people say it to me, im not sure, as i know my weaknesses and frailties and am scared that i dont have what it takes to succeed, but then u can wonder whats the definition of success. A friend and kinda relative just had a second kid, aH, and hes 27, and im 27 in 2 weeks, and his FB status was like 27, married with 2 kids, like its his achievements and mashalllah (Thanks be to God) he has got alot to be proud of, but then u know i dont think hes like a banker or like driving a 6 series bmw or anything but he is settled and comfortable and has a strong deen (faith) in his relgion and so i would quantify him as being more succesful than most people i know. Then i look at myself, im say for arguments sake, 27, no wife, no gf, no kids (not that i know of :-p),not sure on future profession, no house (that i own myself), nothing have notable mention really, and i wonder how can people say i got the world at my feet or im successful when you look at things like that. I am not down, far from it, i am grateful to God for everything i do have and for everything that has happened, and i know he has blessed me so much with everything and im so fortunate to have what i have, but i do need to start making something of my life...
My current fb status is "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me". and its something i strongly believe in and i need to start doing it, and use it for the benefit of mankind, because i believe this is just the start of the journey and the work we put in here will only really gain the benefits later, thats not to say dont enjoy this life, on the contrary, i think if u do enjoy this life, it makes doing good things alot easier as you develop more happiness and love for this world and the people in it but its important to understand that this isnt the destination or end goal rather just the journey and theres no harm in enjoying the journey!
Anyway my journey will begin soon as the 5ft Columbian will be here so i better get ready...
inshallah will let you know what happens next time!
Take care
Asif
So i got some feedback from some important people in my life regarding the blog and how to improve it, and inshallah will try to make those improvements in the forthcoming blogs...i have felt myself that sometimes the blog can at times lack some quality (i know rare for someone with my attention to detail) and even quantity (i know rare for someone of my stature) but it has and that has to do with the time i was writing the blogs, as it usually was at the end of the day and my jet lag is still in effect. So i tend to sleep in the early evenings here and then be awake again by night, so its been quite difficult to write as im half dead during that time!
Anyway today we spent the day driving back to LA, where im currently writing this now, in the valley,which is like a suburb of Los Angles, but we just rented a ford mustang convertible for the rest of the week, as i wanted to do LA like in the movies, u know cruising blah blah, i know cheesy as hell and jus a tad cliche but for those who know me i can be pretty darn cheesy. Anyway so we are awaiting for some 5ft columbian friend, called Helmut, of my cousin/friend, called Obby, and will head down to mexico tonight so it should be intresting. LAst time i went out with these guys was in London in my first year of Uni, and its really weird as it seems like things have become fullcircle, in that back then i had a crush on a girl and then obviously over time it subsided and now that girl has gotten more into my life recently, nothing going on but and it just feels really weird, like im right back to 8 years ago...and its the same people in my life all over again, i dont know how to describe it, but i was hoping this trip would provide a welcome distraction anyway to my life and give me time to ponder my thoughts and next moves...
Often people say that you have the world at your feet, and often that person saying it is me, but when people say it to me, im not sure, as i know my weaknesses and frailties and am scared that i dont have what it takes to succeed, but then u can wonder whats the definition of success. A friend and kinda relative just had a second kid, aH, and hes 27, and im 27 in 2 weeks, and his FB status was like 27, married with 2 kids, like its his achievements and mashalllah (Thanks be to God) he has got alot to be proud of, but then u know i dont think hes like a banker or like driving a 6 series bmw or anything but he is settled and comfortable and has a strong deen (faith) in his relgion and so i would quantify him as being more succesful than most people i know. Then i look at myself, im say for arguments sake, 27, no wife, no gf, no kids (not that i know of :-p),not sure on future profession, no house (that i own myself), nothing have notable mention really, and i wonder how can people say i got the world at my feet or im successful when you look at things like that. I am not down, far from it, i am grateful to God for everything i do have and for everything that has happened, and i know he has blessed me so much with everything and im so fortunate to have what i have, but i do need to start making something of my life...
My current fb status is "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me". and its something i strongly believe in and i need to start doing it, and use it for the benefit of mankind, because i believe this is just the start of the journey and the work we put in here will only really gain the benefits later, thats not to say dont enjoy this life, on the contrary, i think if u do enjoy this life, it makes doing good things alot easier as you develop more happiness and love for this world and the people in it but its important to understand that this isnt the destination or end goal rather just the journey and theres no harm in enjoying the journey!
Anyway my journey will begin soon as the 5ft Columbian will be here so i better get ready...
inshallah will let you know what happens next time!
Take care
Asif
The Asian-Yank Dell Boy...
Hey,
So i spent the last 2 days in san fran, and i gota say i love the city! its by far been my favourite city in the usa...come to think of it im not the biggest fan of the cities in the usa to be honest, the people are quite friendly dont get me wrong but the cities arent the best for tourists and the tipping culture and the added tax in different states makes it feel like your getting ripped off time and time again...
The family im staying with here reminds me of a dell-boy style situation but much more sophisticated. Like he has all these routers and cables in his computer room, and i was told as he runs those calling cards thru his house, so u know when u buy calling cards to call a certain country well they are routed through people like his set ups, pretty random i know! Also he put solar panels on his roof, and he sells back electricty to the electrical grid, lol, its just shows how at every situation someone people see an opportunity!
It goes on to make me thing about the usa and the mentality of the people, how hard working they are and how they focus on the green, and not the kind u think im talking bout but the dollar green! They are really hardowrking and i guess doesnt surproise me how for so long that the japanese and the usa were the largest economies if there people are so hardworking and focused on earnin and living to work, rather than the enjoying life, or maybe thats their enjoyment, earning alot of money and buying materialistic things or saving it jus cause they can!
Aneway today i went to Alcatrez its more developed than robben island and it feels more like a prison where as robben island was different because of the racial elements to it if u know what i mean... and i went on a tour of the city and like i said the most beautiful city i been by far in the usa!
anyway i better go but will try to write again inshallah
take care
Stormy
So i spent the last 2 days in san fran, and i gota say i love the city! its by far been my favourite city in the usa...come to think of it im not the biggest fan of the cities in the usa to be honest, the people are quite friendly dont get me wrong but the cities arent the best for tourists and the tipping culture and the added tax in different states makes it feel like your getting ripped off time and time again...
The family im staying with here reminds me of a dell-boy style situation but much more sophisticated. Like he has all these routers and cables in his computer room, and i was told as he runs those calling cards thru his house, so u know when u buy calling cards to call a certain country well they are routed through people like his set ups, pretty random i know! Also he put solar panels on his roof, and he sells back electricty to the electrical grid, lol, its just shows how at every situation someone people see an opportunity!
It goes on to make me thing about the usa and the mentality of the people, how hard working they are and how they focus on the green, and not the kind u think im talking bout but the dollar green! They are really hardowrking and i guess doesnt surproise me how for so long that the japanese and the usa were the largest economies if there people are so hardworking and focused on earnin and living to work, rather than the enjoying life, or maybe thats their enjoyment, earning alot of money and buying materialistic things or saving it jus cause they can!
Aneway today i went to Alcatrez its more developed than robben island and it feels more like a prison where as robben island was different because of the racial elements to it if u know what i mean... and i went on a tour of the city and like i said the most beautiful city i been by far in the usa!
anyway i better go but will try to write again inshallah
take care
Stormy
Monday, October 04, 2010
Do I take door number 1, 2 or 3??
Hey
So I'm on my wAy to Frisco right now in a car with some distant relative kinda family friend, he really helped me out alot! aH
So now I been left with 3 options regarding what to do with my friend but I dont know which one to do!
1) my friends goes to the embassy on monday and sort it out asap and then come
either out here or if hes not got time then head to new york and il fly
out there and il meet him there.
2) i come to london via doha, this would be the earliest i would get
to u is wednesday and it will probably cost me around 700-800 pounds.
3) i come to london straight from here, i would get there for monday
night or tuesday morning probably, i probably would have to forsake my
ticket back to doha, and therefore would cost around 1000 pounds to
get back to doha at least...
as you can see, i have no clue what to do, and each element has its pros and cons, i was thinking of comin back to Europe but not anymore i am thinking of using the time and spend it here, for a few reasons mainly because its not like i have something to come back to England for, like apart from my family, if u know what i mean so i think i might as well make the most of it and spend time here unless things change i feel theres no purpose to go back jus yet...
Life is quite chilled in California definitely comparing to Texas and to my trip to the east coast! I don't like the whole taxation and the lack of community care and attitudes they got in the USA. also the lack of halal meat available is really difficult, I do get why so many yanks don't eat halal as it wud drive me nuts but maybe da r halal and I jus don't kno them or there in certain areas and it's the problem but like in sydeny for example u can get halal subway at the airport!
Well, i got a bit of time now to write, as its the evening now and we have driven to Frisco and are now at someones house i never met, my friend, his wife, his sister in law, their kids, and his mum all came with us and are staying at this familys house in the suburbs of San Fransisco in a place called heywood or something, aneway these trips remind me of the old days when i was growing up and we would go to like birmingham or London or somewhere and spend the weekend visiting another family and stay with them, eating proper indian/bengali food, and jus the way things are, kids running about, adults talking late in the night with the men in one room or side of the room and the women on the other, it brings back alot of memories these trips and though its a far cry from what i imagined this usa trip was going to be like i still think im seeing the usa in a way that i wouldnt have in the past, with the people who live here in the suburban environment. I still got to c the golden gate bridge and i am booked into alcateraz tour , so i think the main thing thats different from this trip than the one i wud havbe if i was on y own, is the nightlife, but i will come back and do the nightlife later on in the week!
ANYWAY i better go but inshallah will write soon!
So I'm on my wAy to Frisco right now in a car with some distant relative kinda family friend, he really helped me out alot! aH
So now I been left with 3 options regarding what to do with my friend but I dont know which one to do!
1) my friends goes to the embassy on monday and sort it out asap and then come
either out here or if hes not got time then head to new york and il fly
out there and il meet him there.
2) i come to london via doha, this would be the earliest i would get
to u is wednesday and it will probably cost me around 700-800 pounds.
3) i come to london straight from here, i would get there for monday
night or tuesday morning probably, i probably would have to forsake my
ticket back to doha, and therefore would cost around 1000 pounds to
get back to doha at least...
as you can see, i have no clue what to do, and each element has its pros and cons, i was thinking of comin back to Europe but not anymore i am thinking of using the time and spend it here, for a few reasons mainly because its not like i have something to come back to England for, like apart from my family, if u know what i mean so i think i might as well make the most of it and spend time here unless things change i feel theres no purpose to go back jus yet...
Life is quite chilled in California definitely comparing to Texas and to my trip to the east coast! I don't like the whole taxation and the lack of community care and attitudes they got in the USA. also the lack of halal meat available is really difficult, I do get why so many yanks don't eat halal as it wud drive me nuts but maybe da r halal and I jus don't kno them or there in certain areas and it's the problem but like in sydeny for example u can get halal subway at the airport!
Well, i got a bit of time now to write, as its the evening now and we have driven to Frisco and are now at someones house i never met, my friend, his wife, his sister in law, their kids, and his mum all came with us and are staying at this familys house in the suburbs of San Fransisco in a place called heywood or something, aneway these trips remind me of the old days when i was growing up and we would go to like birmingham or London or somewhere and spend the weekend visiting another family and stay with them, eating proper indian/bengali food, and jus the way things are, kids running about, adults talking late in the night with the men in one room or side of the room and the women on the other, it brings back alot of memories these trips and though its a far cry from what i imagined this usa trip was going to be like i still think im seeing the usa in a way that i wouldnt have in the past, with the people who live here in the suburban environment. I still got to c the golden gate bridge and i am booked into alcateraz tour , so i think the main thing thats different from this trip than the one i wud havbe if i was on y own, is the nightlife, but i will come back and do the nightlife later on in the week!
ANYWAY i better go but inshallah will write soon!
Saturday, October 02, 2010
Houston we have a problem...
ok so i been thinking for a while to try to write a bit more, again probably as more of an outlet to me thoughts, ideas and just to get things off my chest , regardless of how feverlious they are...
well im currently in H-town as the locals say, which is Houston for those not in the know.
You hear its a vast city, and it is but i guess as i havent got a car its hard to exactly gather just how large it is.....
i was ready to write a lengthy piece but just got told by my friend whos supposed to be coming out that he cant as homeland security wont let him, im not sure why, he claimed he got the visa and the pass and everything, so i do not know what happened or why there was a problem but im really upset there was, its lucky for him in a way as we made limited number of bookings so he hasnt lost much money, however he has my driving license and so it screws things up a bit...also the other thing is i budgeted in such a way that things would be shared so its jus foooked alot of stuff up tbh,but aH in all situations, i guess its for the best!
so now i need to decide what ill do, and how to do it, lol well will c how rthings plans out inshallah all will work out well!
not really in the mood to write much more inshallah i will feel better and more int he mood tomorrow!
well im currently in H-town as the locals say, which is Houston for those not in the know.
You hear its a vast city, and it is but i guess as i havent got a car its hard to exactly gather just how large it is.....
i was ready to write a lengthy piece but just got told by my friend whos supposed to be coming out that he cant as homeland security wont let him, im not sure why, he claimed he got the visa and the pass and everything, so i do not know what happened or why there was a problem but im really upset there was, its lucky for him in a way as we made limited number of bookings so he hasnt lost much money, however he has my driving license and so it screws things up a bit...also the other thing is i budgeted in such a way that things would be shared so its jus foooked alot of stuff up tbh,but aH in all situations, i guess its for the best!
so now i need to decide what ill do, and how to do it, lol well will c how rthings plans out inshallah all will work out well!
not really in the mood to write much more inshallah i will feel better and more int he mood tomorrow!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
UN United...
Hey,
So my days down under are coming to an end this week, i am writing this as i watch Man Utd press Fulham for a second goal, i havent spoken about football yet which must be a record for me. I guess its because I been away from the UN Knights and Man Utd a bit and been missing them both.
I been thinking of starting a UN Knights blog, and probably will do considering how the momentum for the team has grown considerably for UN Knights, we have our own kits now and have started to feel a real bond with each other, its a great spirit and season so far, we have had our tough times but we also had great times and that ended with us beating our rivals Bechtel (my employers 3-2).
Well United ended up winning 3-0 and the seasons final 8 games is going to be uber close, so i cant wait for how its going to go and with the champions league draw next week its going to hot up alot im so excited. The final this year is in madrid and i am very templed to head down there as i think i should be able to get the time off iA!
Talking about my work life balance, as usual i get so many comments about me traveling, never working etc but the thing is i do work and when i work i work hard and long hours, i have the mentality of a kinda play hard work hard but with a significant focus on effectivnesses... i think its so important to be efficent and effective and so i like to utalise my time as much as i can...
So i try to plan and see where and when i can do things and try to live to a certain order, that is why i can get leave and make it appear im away so frequent as i tey to remain as efficent as possible.
Anyway its proper late and im off the the set of Neighbours in the morning so will speak write more another time i guess.
Taje care
Stormy
So my days down under are coming to an end this week, i am writing this as i watch Man Utd press Fulham for a second goal, i havent spoken about football yet which must be a record for me. I guess its because I been away from the UN Knights and Man Utd a bit and been missing them both.
I been thinking of starting a UN Knights blog, and probably will do considering how the momentum for the team has grown considerably for UN Knights, we have our own kits now and have started to feel a real bond with each other, its a great spirit and season so far, we have had our tough times but we also had great times and that ended with us beating our rivals Bechtel (my employers 3-2).
Well United ended up winning 3-0 and the seasons final 8 games is going to be uber close, so i cant wait for how its going to go and with the champions league draw next week its going to hot up alot im so excited. The final this year is in madrid and i am very templed to head down there as i think i should be able to get the time off iA!
Talking about my work life balance, as usual i get so many comments about me traveling, never working etc but the thing is i do work and when i work i work hard and long hours, i have the mentality of a kinda play hard work hard but with a significant focus on effectivnesses... i think its so important to be efficent and effective and so i like to utalise my time as much as i can...
So i try to plan and see where and when i can do things and try to live to a certain order, that is why i can get leave and make it appear im away so frequent as i tey to remain as efficent as possible.
Anyway its proper late and im off the the set of Neighbours in the morning so will speak write more another time i guess.
Taje care
Stormy
Friday, March 12, 2010
Middle Class Lands...
Hey,
So after spending some time in both Australia and New Zealand, i haven't seen that much extragrent riches nor that much extreme poorness. Yep you have the homeless in both countries but thats not an indiciment of the countries wealth rather a few individuals who have fallen on hard times.
I was on a boat cruise in Sydney and the thing the tour person kept on pointing out was like well on the right you have like Russle Crowe's flat which cost like 10 million dollars, or here is Rupert Murdochs (owner of News International) or Nicole Kidman, basically every rich or famous Australian but if you look at the places i mean some are nice but there not like grand homes most of them,alot are penthouse apartments on the harbour front, anyway if you were walking by you wouldnt be able to tell its someone famous or rich really, like well off yes but not billionaire or anything standard which they are.
That may have to do with the culture of the aussies and new zealanders as they dont appear to be that ostentatious as i have only seen one ferrari whilst i have been out here, a friend told me that was due to the high foregin car taxes as alot of cars here are locally made and are therefore considerably cheaper.
At the other end of the scale there are people who dont have like amazing jobs but manage to live very comfortably, like for example a friends extended family work in a department store here like say Debenhams in the UK or like bloomindales or something in the US, anyway both parents worked in the store since they moved to Oz, and from working there they have a nice house in the suburbs, 2 cars, managed to send their 2 kids to University, all from that job, and i think there is few countries you could do that but because everyone is looked after for in the society with beneficial employment terms it means more people can live comfortably.
For me i think the relatively low crime rate is a result of this social balance that they try to achieve, if you manage to wipe out discontent/poverty then crime as a result will fall and that is what i have seen here, its not completely eradicated by any means but say walkiing around a big city at night, i feel alot safer in Sydney, Auckland or Melbourne than say i would in Paris, New York or London.
Anyway i will leave with with something quite cool i found about the society's mindset is that the money here is waterproof, its made of like plastic material and so if you get into the water it wont be damaged.
Thanks
Stormy
So after spending some time in both Australia and New Zealand, i haven't seen that much extragrent riches nor that much extreme poorness. Yep you have the homeless in both countries but thats not an indiciment of the countries wealth rather a few individuals who have fallen on hard times.
I was on a boat cruise in Sydney and the thing the tour person kept on pointing out was like well on the right you have like Russle Crowe's flat which cost like 10 million dollars, or here is Rupert Murdochs (owner of News International) or Nicole Kidman, basically every rich or famous Australian but if you look at the places i mean some are nice but there not like grand homes most of them,alot are penthouse apartments on the harbour front, anyway if you were walking by you wouldnt be able to tell its someone famous or rich really, like well off yes but not billionaire or anything standard which they are.
That may have to do with the culture of the aussies and new zealanders as they dont appear to be that ostentatious as i have only seen one ferrari whilst i have been out here, a friend told me that was due to the high foregin car taxes as alot of cars here are locally made and are therefore considerably cheaper.
At the other end of the scale there are people who dont have like amazing jobs but manage to live very comfortably, like for example a friends extended family work in a department store here like say Debenhams in the UK or like bloomindales or something in the US, anyway both parents worked in the store since they moved to Oz, and from working there they have a nice house in the suburbs, 2 cars, managed to send their 2 kids to University, all from that job, and i think there is few countries you could do that but because everyone is looked after for in the society with beneficial employment terms it means more people can live comfortably.
For me i think the relatively low crime rate is a result of this social balance that they try to achieve, if you manage to wipe out discontent/poverty then crime as a result will fall and that is what i have seen here, its not completely eradicated by any means but say walkiing around a big city at night, i feel alot safer in Sydney, Auckland or Melbourne than say i would in Paris, New York or London.
Anyway i will leave with with something quite cool i found about the society's mindset is that the money here is waterproof, its made of like plastic material and so if you get into the water it wont be damaged.
Thanks
Stormy
The Great Whiite Land of Oz
Hey,
So i am starting to getting back into my blog-mode ways and i may try to continue though will be a little hard when i am back in Doha as its usually the same routine, however will see how i feel when i get back to the gulf.
So last night i went to a Wu Tang concert of sorts where one old member, Raewokon (accuse the spelling) was performing, and what surprised me most was the demographic of the crowd, around 70 percent white, like 15 percent Oriental and 15% Indian or Black. If you were in the UK or USA i would be pretty much sure that it would be almost 100% in the latter category at least in the UK for sure.
Even Raewokan made a comment asking where all his 'niggars were at?' saying how he only sees like 6 black faces though there was maybe double that number (triple if you include his 'crew' in the crowd of around 150 and you could tell her was not used to performing to such a demographic. So where the heck are the black people in Oz?
Well when you walk around alot of Oz, I have been to Melbourne, Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sydney you will notice there are very few black people. The country is very white, though when you look into the society a bit more its not just white European, but like South Africans and Kiwis as well (though they are essentially originally white Europeans) and Middle Eastern, who with their skin complexion tend to look Mediterranean and so you cannot tell if there white European and pacific islanders who look a bit darker but nothing too different than an extremely tanned white European.
So there is a bit of diversity if you look into it and not to mention the LARGE number of Chinese and Indians there in Austraila and New Zeland for that matter. Its little wonder they have the largest populations in the world they seem to be everywhere.
But still why so few black people in Australia? I would have thought for Africans trying to escape persecution rather than seeking refugee status in Europe or USA it would make sense to go to Australia considering the climate and the easier immigration rules there than Europe. Its puzzling to me that it is this way though i think countries like Australia and Canada which have such low population density will in the future swell due to climate effect. Where populations in countries like Mauritius and Bangladesh will need to migrate due to the severe flooding in the land and there will be a need to relocate these people.
Anyway thats me for today...will hope to get another two out whilst im out here!
Take care
Stormy
So i am starting to getting back into my blog-mode ways and i may try to continue though will be a little hard when i am back in Doha as its usually the same routine, however will see how i feel when i get back to the gulf.
So last night i went to a Wu Tang concert of sorts where one old member, Raewokon (accuse the spelling) was performing, and what surprised me most was the demographic of the crowd, around 70 percent white, like 15 percent Oriental and 15% Indian or Black. If you were in the UK or USA i would be pretty much sure that it would be almost 100% in the latter category at least in the UK for sure.
Even Raewokan made a comment asking where all his 'niggars were at?' saying how he only sees like 6 black faces though there was maybe double that number (triple if you include his 'crew' in the crowd of around 150 and you could tell her was not used to performing to such a demographic. So where the heck are the black people in Oz?
Well when you walk around alot of Oz, I have been to Melbourne, Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sydney you will notice there are very few black people. The country is very white, though when you look into the society a bit more its not just white European, but like South Africans and Kiwis as well (though they are essentially originally white Europeans) and Middle Eastern, who with their skin complexion tend to look Mediterranean and so you cannot tell if there white European and pacific islanders who look a bit darker but nothing too different than an extremely tanned white European.
So there is a bit of diversity if you look into it and not to mention the LARGE number of Chinese and Indians there in Austraila and New Zeland for that matter. Its little wonder they have the largest populations in the world they seem to be everywhere.
But still why so few black people in Australia? I would have thought for Africans trying to escape persecution rather than seeking refugee status in Europe or USA it would make sense to go to Australia considering the climate and the easier immigration rules there than Europe. Its puzzling to me that it is this way though i think countries like Australia and Canada which have such low population density will in the future swell due to climate effect. Where populations in countries like Mauritius and Bangladesh will need to migrate due to the severe flooding in the land and there will be a need to relocate these people.
Anyway thats me for today...will hope to get another two out whilst im out here!
Take care
Stormy
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
A very random year passes by...
Hola all,
Its been close to a year since i last updated this, and i have had a lot go on..
I went traveling all over to such places as Japan, S.Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan,Philipines,Italy, Swiss,Greece,Turkey as well as UK and around the GCC as usual so i have done the enviorment no favours especially considering im traveling around Austraila and New Zealand.
People often are like WTF but im still relatively young and there is so much of this world that I want to travel and see, and now i have the physical health, the financial security and the desire to explore so for me its a perfect time. I have kinda got the travel bug quite badly, and have been trying something new during the second part of my trip,i been hosteling it, getting quite grimey.
For those that know me well will be shocked by that revelation, as i used to only stick to 5 star hotels, but despite the comforts and everything it sometimes felt a bit lonesome and odd whereas in a hostel your meeting new people all the time and your meeting people who have most likely been where u been or gone where your going and so can offer advice and share experiences, that human contact has been quite cool though i cant hostel it forever and would need to do it like off and on as i need my comforts.
Right now im writing this from Christchurch on the southern island of New Zealand. There is alot i want to see in New Zealand and it is an expensive things i want to do, so i need to save alot of money before my next visit here which God willing i will be able to do...
I have been amazed by some of the things i have seen whilst being out here and of my previous trips and in my next entry may compile a list of some of the most favourite or memorable things but for now will leave you with this place i went to see today which is just mindblowing...http://www.sanctuary.org.nz/
Anyway take care and will write soon!
Stormy
Its been close to a year since i last updated this, and i have had a lot go on..
I went traveling all over to such places as Japan, S.Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan,Philipines,Italy, Swiss,Greece,Turkey as well as UK and around the GCC as usual so i have done the enviorment no favours especially considering im traveling around Austraila and New Zealand.
People often are like WTF but im still relatively young and there is so much of this world that I want to travel and see, and now i have the physical health, the financial security and the desire to explore so for me its a perfect time. I have kinda got the travel bug quite badly, and have been trying something new during the second part of my trip,i been hosteling it, getting quite grimey.
For those that know me well will be shocked by that revelation, as i used to only stick to 5 star hotels, but despite the comforts and everything it sometimes felt a bit lonesome and odd whereas in a hostel your meeting new people all the time and your meeting people who have most likely been where u been or gone where your going and so can offer advice and share experiences, that human contact has been quite cool though i cant hostel it forever and would need to do it like off and on as i need my comforts.
Right now im writing this from Christchurch on the southern island of New Zealand. There is alot i want to see in New Zealand and it is an expensive things i want to do, so i need to save alot of money before my next visit here which God willing i will be able to do...
I have been amazed by some of the things i have seen whilst being out here and of my previous trips and in my next entry may compile a list of some of the most favourite or memorable things but for now will leave you with this place i went to see today which is just mindblowing...http://www.sanctuary.org.nz/
Anyway take care and will write soon!
Stormy
Thursday, April 02, 2009
G20- the Path to God
All,
So right now about 5000 miles away the world leaders are meeting to decide the future of billions of people in the world, its weird how essentially 20 people can really influence the lives of 6 billion people, some people say one man can make the difference (usually said in reference of Obama) however i think thats far too simplistic to state the world rests on his soldier, even saying it rests on 20 peoples shoulders is rather simplistic but its a good starting point for what I want to talk about..
Now i been watching alot of prision break and for those that watch know all about the 'company' those that dont it is about a 'company' that basically controls the world and does good and bad things in the world but from where i am in the series has the good intentions for the world even if it means people have to die on the way...
So where is the link with the 'company', the G20 , the UN, CIA etc ..... well the world we live in whatever polticial theory you follow esentially it is a group of people that controls the world, that pull its strings. When i start thinking of that i think what the freak is the point in making decisions if my opportunities are already determined ..then it came to me isnt this what i and many others feel when they think of God and the thought of pre-destination, and that is whats always at the back of my mind...
Howmuch of this life do we control and how much of this life is control, its a question i will never know the answer until possibly the day of judgement and even then i may never know, so im leaving these unaswered questions that used to bog me down all too frequently as i know my brain wil never be able to grasph the vastness of the answers. It is said that for those that believe in the big bang and the law that all of this came by chance, that takes as much belief as the belief in God and when im all alone thats who i turn to, my natural state is to turn to God so i believe thats the right state for me...If that means a few questions will go unasnwered then so be it!
Now about the G20 and the Company etc, well these guys think they are controlling things but they dont realise in that external source, the same source that brought about the economic crisis, the tsunami, etc is the force that dicates the world and not their money or political power. If history has taught has anything it is that something just cant be explained, like how did the Afganis beat the might soviet, yeh u might say US and the arabs helped the afgans but still for that country to win required somethign else, and im not jus saying it cuz there muslims, the same thing for the isrealis to beat the arabs in the 67 war (i think) it required something out of the ordinary to beat them, and i think God helped them. So to some its not making sense, now im saying the help the must have come from God and helped the JEws, but why does a muslim guy say this, well God rewards people and punishes others and in that instance i belive he was punishing the Muslims and rewarding the Jews after the tough times they occured in Europe in the 40's-50;s, God doesnt just help one relgion otherwise everyone would become that one fatih but instead tests us all, and it is up to us to decide which path we take to reach him...
So right now about 5000 miles away the world leaders are meeting to decide the future of billions of people in the world, its weird how essentially 20 people can really influence the lives of 6 billion people, some people say one man can make the difference (usually said in reference of Obama) however i think thats far too simplistic to state the world rests on his soldier, even saying it rests on 20 peoples shoulders is rather simplistic but its a good starting point for what I want to talk about..
Now i been watching alot of prision break and for those that watch know all about the 'company' those that dont it is about a 'company' that basically controls the world and does good and bad things in the world but from where i am in the series has the good intentions for the world even if it means people have to die on the way...
So where is the link with the 'company', the G20 , the UN, CIA etc ..... well the world we live in whatever polticial theory you follow esentially it is a group of people that controls the world, that pull its strings. When i start thinking of that i think what the freak is the point in making decisions if my opportunities are already determined ..then it came to me isnt this what i and many others feel when they think of God and the thought of pre-destination, and that is whats always at the back of my mind...
Howmuch of this life do we control and how much of this life is control, its a question i will never know the answer until possibly the day of judgement and even then i may never know, so im leaving these unaswered questions that used to bog me down all too frequently as i know my brain wil never be able to grasph the vastness of the answers. It is said that for those that believe in the big bang and the law that all of this came by chance, that takes as much belief as the belief in God and when im all alone thats who i turn to, my natural state is to turn to God so i believe thats the right state for me...If that means a few questions will go unasnwered then so be it!
Now about the G20 and the Company etc, well these guys think they are controlling things but they dont realise in that external source, the same source that brought about the economic crisis, the tsunami, etc is the force that dicates the world and not their money or political power. If history has taught has anything it is that something just cant be explained, like how did the Afganis beat the might soviet, yeh u might say US and the arabs helped the afgans but still for that country to win required somethign else, and im not jus saying it cuz there muslims, the same thing for the isrealis to beat the arabs in the 67 war (i think) it required something out of the ordinary to beat them, and i think God helped them. So to some its not making sense, now im saying the help the must have come from God and helped the JEws, but why does a muslim guy say this, well God rewards people and punishes others and in that instance i belive he was punishing the Muslims and rewarding the Jews after the tough times they occured in Europe in the 40's-50;s, God doesnt just help one relgion otherwise everyone would become that one fatih but instead tests us all, and it is up to us to decide which path we take to reach him...
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Stormy's Knights
Hey all,
Well its been a while, a number of times i have started writing and it
just ended pear shaped so this time im making a determined effort to
start it again...
So quite a bit has been going on in my life since my worldwind travel
tour, and I have not actually been away much since, only really a 11 day
trip to the uk so nothing really exciting to report on that front...
My football team UN Knights have had a mixed season, we havent got the
best record when you hear it you will be like WTF? Basically we played
13 games won 4 drawn 1 lost 8 which sounds quite poor but if you put it
into perspective this is our first season and its been tough getting a
team together which is essentially a group of strangers and getting them
to commit to a team and play week in and week out and dedicate a large
amount of their time to this team, a number of the players have
committed and become good friends of mine as I admire their desire and
commitment whilst others I have lost respect for because I have seen a
side of them that I don't like or don't respect. Football on the surface
is so superficial a group of guys kicking a ball about but its so much
more than that...What people don't see is the off the ball running,
making space for your team mates by making runs, covering for your
teammates if they make a mistake, building up your team mates morale
when it is down, there is a lot more to football than meets the eye and
when you get sucked in its so hard to pull out...
Man Utd are currently going thru a disastrous time in the league and
inshallah things will pick up but it's a truly testing time with our
arch-rivals Liverpool excelling its putting a lot of pressure on the
team and fans to excel, inshallah they will, but its really nervous
times ahead and im sure ill be commenting a lot more bout it inshallah
as the season reaches that infamous squeaky bum time~!
I also recently met someone that im getting to know and will see where
that leads but as usual with me there are a few complications but
masallah im really happy and she makes me really happy at least for the
time being...so will c how that goes...i will elaborate more again as
inshallah the blogs restart..
Aneway that's enough for now inshallah you will hear from me sooon...
Stormy
Well its been a while, a number of times i have started writing and it
just ended pear shaped so this time im making a determined effort to
start it again...
So quite a bit has been going on in my life since my worldwind travel
tour, and I have not actually been away much since, only really a 11 day
trip to the uk so nothing really exciting to report on that front...
My football team UN Knights have had a mixed season, we havent got the
best record when you hear it you will be like WTF? Basically we played
13 games won 4 drawn 1 lost 8 which sounds quite poor but if you put it
into perspective this is our first season and its been tough getting a
team together which is essentially a group of strangers and getting them
to commit to a team and play week in and week out and dedicate a large
amount of their time to this team, a number of the players have
committed and become good friends of mine as I admire their desire and
commitment whilst others I have lost respect for because I have seen a
side of them that I don't like or don't respect. Football on the surface
is so superficial a group of guys kicking a ball about but its so much
more than that...What people don't see is the off the ball running,
making space for your team mates by making runs, covering for your
teammates if they make a mistake, building up your team mates morale
when it is down, there is a lot more to football than meets the eye and
when you get sucked in its so hard to pull out...
Man Utd are currently going thru a disastrous time in the league and
inshallah things will pick up but it's a truly testing time with our
arch-rivals Liverpool excelling its putting a lot of pressure on the
team and fans to excel, inshallah they will, but its really nervous
times ahead and im sure ill be commenting a lot more bout it inshallah
as the season reaches that infamous squeaky bum time~!
I also recently met someone that im getting to know and will see where
that leads but as usual with me there are a few complications but
masallah im really happy and she makes me really happy at least for the
time being...so will c how that goes...i will elaborate more again as
inshallah the blogs restart..
Aneway that's enough for now inshallah you will hear from me sooon...
Stormy
Saturday, January 03, 2009
The Moment of Singapore
hey hey
im writing this at like 4am local time in singapore, i havent been sleeping at the conventional hours as i want to stick to doha time otherwise ill be screwed when i go back to work.
Im watching this show called 'the moment of truth' its the most immoral show i have ever seen, its some american show where this person answers 50 questions and is polygraphed to make sure their telling the truth, aneway they then are asked on tv 21 of those questions and could win 500,000 dollars. There really personal questions like one of the questions was 'have u ever thought about having sex with another man whilst u were married to ur husband' and she answered yes, man it prides its self on the potential to break up marriages, what the hell, i cant believe a show like that exists, i mean its fairly intresting but to break peoples lives like that is jus
disgusting!
Aneway so let me tell u about my expeiences in malaysia, well u know the saying 'Malaysia truly asia' in all those adverts, well it certainly is, its like a microcosm of asia, as u have the indians, the chinese, the arabs and the malay which pretty much sums up most of asian regions and it seems they all really get on quite well, though not sure if the arabs fit in but the rest of them proper do. I met
loads of indians who call themselves malaysian, and im like but u look indian and they say how their grandparents came here and so basically their 2nd generation and made me think would my children(iA) consider them brits as in proper and not asian-british i doubt it but u never know if the people of malaysia are to go by then i think britain could learn a thing or two about integration!
Im not sure if its jus me and the places i go to or the people i attract but it seems like everywhere i go the sleezy people follow, again taxi drivers trying to offer 'good time' lol its so weird though i think if they see a single guy whos from the west or think im some dirty arab coming for sleeze its jus really shocking for a muslim country to be like this, i met alot of good muslims so dont get me wrong about the malaysian muslims but im jus saying their is a lot of other schenigans going on! Oh this book story going on at the moment was on new years eve this sex party was busted at some hotel and their was loads of drugs and alcohol and crazy stuff going on, aneway 2 of those arrested were like famous one a tv presenter and one a movie star or something and so its made it in all the papers, and they have
a relgious/morale police in malaysia and they busted them, and it turned out the drug dealer was a 20 year old student lol some crazy stuff if u read up on it jus bizare and makes ur mind wonder there hell this world is headed!
So about singapore, well its tiny, i think it must like the size of qatar maybe even smaller but its got 4 million people so pretty dense(2nd most dense country in the world after monaco supposedly though i think gaza and westbank might be as well so not sure if they were counted in the magazine i was reading) and the flag of singapore has the cresent on it which is a common sign associated with Islam and
supposedly singapore has 64 mosques so it has a fair few muslims, but didnt think it was enough for a cresent to be on the flag but yet there is one! Also like in malaysia integration is quite strong in singapore, i went to a shisha bar and there was alot of groups of indo-chinese mix however what i noticed was that the indians would like speak more amongst each other and the same with the chinese people so though they might all be friends i dont think its as integrated as malaysia is probably because the majority of the population (75percent) are chinese where as the majority is less in malaysia.
Oh one thing im impressed so far with singapore, is that they have like sin tax, where alchol and cigs are taxed heavyily to try and discourage it, and it seems quite a moralistic society aH which is quite good in this day and age, i mean yeh u have debaunchery and other things going on but where dont u, but at least its trying to do something bout it which is admirable in todays immoral world!
Aneway its like 5am now so i best sleep but take care and will inshallah write again soon!
Stormy
im writing this at like 4am local time in singapore, i havent been sleeping at the conventional hours as i want to stick to doha time otherwise ill be screwed when i go back to work.
Im watching this show called 'the moment of truth' its the most immoral show i have ever seen, its some american show where this person answers 50 questions and is polygraphed to make sure their telling the truth, aneway they then are asked on tv 21 of those questions and could win 500,000 dollars. There really personal questions like one of the questions was 'have u ever thought about having sex with another man whilst u were married to ur husband' and she answered yes, man it prides its self on the potential to break up marriages, what the hell, i cant believe a show like that exists, i mean its fairly intresting but to break peoples lives like that is jus
disgusting!
Aneway so let me tell u about my expeiences in malaysia, well u know the saying 'Malaysia truly asia' in all those adverts, well it certainly is, its like a microcosm of asia, as u have the indians, the chinese, the arabs and the malay which pretty much sums up most of asian regions and it seems they all really get on quite well, though not sure if the arabs fit in but the rest of them proper do. I met
loads of indians who call themselves malaysian, and im like but u look indian and they say how their grandparents came here and so basically their 2nd generation and made me think would my children(iA) consider them brits as in proper and not asian-british i doubt it but u never know if the people of malaysia are to go by then i think britain could learn a thing or two about integration!
Im not sure if its jus me and the places i go to or the people i attract but it seems like everywhere i go the sleezy people follow, again taxi drivers trying to offer 'good time' lol its so weird though i think if they see a single guy whos from the west or think im some dirty arab coming for sleeze its jus really shocking for a muslim country to be like this, i met alot of good muslims so dont get me wrong about the malaysian muslims but im jus saying their is a lot of other schenigans going on! Oh this book story going on at the moment was on new years eve this sex party was busted at some hotel and their was loads of drugs and alcohol and crazy stuff going on, aneway 2 of those arrested were like famous one a tv presenter and one a movie star or something and so its made it in all the papers, and they have
a relgious/morale police in malaysia and they busted them, and it turned out the drug dealer was a 20 year old student lol some crazy stuff if u read up on it jus bizare and makes ur mind wonder there hell this world is headed!
So about singapore, well its tiny, i think it must like the size of qatar maybe even smaller but its got 4 million people so pretty dense(2nd most dense country in the world after monaco supposedly though i think gaza and westbank might be as well so not sure if they were counted in the magazine i was reading) and the flag of singapore has the cresent on it which is a common sign associated with Islam and
supposedly singapore has 64 mosques so it has a fair few muslims, but didnt think it was enough for a cresent to be on the flag but yet there is one! Also like in malaysia integration is quite strong in singapore, i went to a shisha bar and there was alot of groups of indo-chinese mix however what i noticed was that the indians would like speak more amongst each other and the same with the chinese people so though they might all be friends i dont think its as integrated as malaysia is probably because the majority of the population (75percent) are chinese where as the majority is less in malaysia.
Oh one thing im impressed so far with singapore, is that they have like sin tax, where alchol and cigs are taxed heavyily to try and discourage it, and it seems quite a moralistic society aH which is quite good in this day and age, i mean yeh u have debaunchery and other things going on but where dont u, but at least its trying to do something bout it which is admirable in todays immoral world!
Aneway its like 5am now so i best sleep but take care and will inshallah write again soon!
Stormy
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
New Year in KL
Hey to all and happy greogrian new year!
Man i witnessed the sickest firework show ever and if a muslim country puts on a firework show like that for a christian holiday then ill like to c wot the hell a proper christian country (uk doesnt count as its secular in reality!) would do it! IT was 5 solid minutes of the most brutally loud, most sparkling fireworks, and i had an amazing view from my hotel
i was thinking of watching it with the masses in KKLL park but thought i wouldnt slum it and jus be with the hotel guests by the swimming pool and watching it from there. I then walked around the city as the masses went bout celebrating/destroying the city,it was pandomium really, but was in good fun which was a nice change to the uk as i remeber there always used to be so much beef between people!
Aneway Malaysia is really techno advanced, clean, and quite modern in terms of society, like everyones pretty trendy, very cosmopolitan and in some ways alot more than the uk. Its weird as you see all these girls with the hijab and then in the same group of people there will be a girl with like a mini shirt and boobtube or something and ur like wot da hell, but its common here i suppose!
Also its like an arab playland i dont know if its like this always or just for new year but the number of arabs makes it feel like ur in the middle east in a way!
Anyway i best go as its late and im off to some mountain tomorrow so inshallah will write more tomrrow!
take care and welcome to 2009 which i dont think to be honest its that bad to celebrate it, i mean if ur not celebrating like 2009 years since crist but ur celebrating that u experienced another year on Gods earth and steped one step closer to life after death so its something to be happy bout i guess (though i get so scared thinking bout life after death and the thought of eternity but lets not get into that!)
aneway adios
Stormy
Man i witnessed the sickest firework show ever and if a muslim country puts on a firework show like that for a christian holiday then ill like to c wot the hell a proper christian country (uk doesnt count as its secular in reality!) would do it! IT was 5 solid minutes of the most brutally loud, most sparkling fireworks, and i had an amazing view from my hotel
i was thinking of watching it with the masses in KKLL park but thought i wouldnt slum it and jus be with the hotel guests by the swimming pool and watching it from there. I then walked around the city as the masses went bout celebrating/destroying the city,it was pandomium really, but was in good fun which was a nice change to the uk as i remeber there always used to be so much beef between people!
Aneway Malaysia is really techno advanced, clean, and quite modern in terms of society, like everyones pretty trendy, very cosmopolitan and in some ways alot more than the uk. Its weird as you see all these girls with the hijab and then in the same group of people there will be a girl with like a mini shirt and boobtube or something and ur like wot da hell, but its common here i suppose!
Also its like an arab playland i dont know if its like this always or just for new year but the number of arabs makes it feel like ur in the middle east in a way!
Anyway i best go as its late and im off to some mountain tomorrow so inshallah will write more tomrrow!
take care and welcome to 2009 which i dont think to be honest its that bad to celebrate it, i mean if ur not celebrating like 2009 years since crist but ur celebrating that u experienced another year on Gods earth and steped one step closer to life after death so its something to be happy bout i guess (though i get so scared thinking bout life after death and the thought of eternity but lets not get into that!)
aneway adios
Stormy
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Bye bye 2008 hey hey to 2009
Hey,
so this will most likely be my last post of the year as im off to kuala lumpar and singapore in a few hours , i used to be so nervous when i flew and now i couldnt be more chilled, i did my packing in like 15 mins after work, and then got food for the islamic talk at my house and then did the talk today on the topic "choices" within a islamic context, the reason i chose the topic was because for me the concept of choice is something that brought me back to Islam when i went astray, because i used to so much in my faith and i never understood so many aspects like why was i born a muslim and so and so wasnt, but its just a blessing from God, its like u find 1000000 pounds on the floor, your not going to question too much ur blessing ull jus accept it its like the same principle isnt it????
aneway as i previously said i got so many hopes for 2009 and aims, but thats on a personal level, but then there is other things that will happen on a global scale, such as peace between palestian and isreal, the future economy and stuff like that, in the Qu'ran there is something bout how the fturue society will regress and go back to like sword fighting and all this techno stuff will go back, and i think were seeing some of that with the economy becoming messed up and as a result i read the other day like iceland a country really affected by the credit crunch, is telling its citizens to go back to fishing and natural resources and stuff like that, and could be a sign of things to come where we dont have these high profile companies and jobs but fishing and farming become more prominent, then i think what the hell is the use of like working my ass off for a company if the economy will go pear shaped what good is my money?? aneway so i spoke bout my desire to learn arabic and thats something that will become a priority for me along with my wedding hunt, that is also become very important in my life!!
anyway i beta get going inshallah see you in the new year!!
Stormy
so this will most likely be my last post of the year as im off to kuala lumpar and singapore in a few hours , i used to be so nervous when i flew and now i couldnt be more chilled, i did my packing in like 15 mins after work, and then got food for the islamic talk at my house and then did the talk today on the topic "choices" within a islamic context, the reason i chose the topic was because for me the concept of choice is something that brought me back to Islam when i went astray, because i used to so much in my faith and i never understood so many aspects like why was i born a muslim and so and so wasnt, but its just a blessing from God, its like u find 1000000 pounds on the floor, your not going to question too much ur blessing ull jus accept it its like the same principle isnt it????
aneway as i previously said i got so many hopes for 2009 and aims, but thats on a personal level, but then there is other things that will happen on a global scale, such as peace between palestian and isreal, the future economy and stuff like that, in the Qu'ran there is something bout how the fturue society will regress and go back to like sword fighting and all this techno stuff will go back, and i think were seeing some of that with the economy becoming messed up and as a result i read the other day like iceland a country really affected by the credit crunch, is telling its citizens to go back to fishing and natural resources and stuff like that, and could be a sign of things to come where we dont have these high profile companies and jobs but fishing and farming become more prominent, then i think what the hell is the use of like working my ass off for a company if the economy will go pear shaped what good is my money?? aneway so i spoke bout my desire to learn arabic and thats something that will become a priority for me along with my wedding hunt, that is also become very important in my life!!
anyway i beta get going inshallah see you in the new year!!
Stormy
Stormys Guide to His Perfect Hunt
All,
Well after my post yesterday i thought i would follow it up with the most important thing in my life at the moment, my desire to be wed. I have been wanting to get married for a while now, and i have started to take some serious steps in finding a wife, and i have been looking at venues and dates etc lol! The concept i guess of finding a wife might seem quite alien to a number of you, i mean you dont just find a wife, you find a girl, you fall in love, you live together or at least get engaged and then you marry would be the status quo for many of you, however in my culture, its more like you decide its time to get married you either tell your parents or extended family and friends who will propose people for you to get married and then you meet these potentials and get to know them and if you hit it off, before you know it your surrounded by 500 of your closest friends and family and having random sweets stuffed in your mouth! Im taking that route as its alot quicker, more suited to my custom and less sinful in Islam that the other route i mentioned.
I think the other route is a valid route and might be better in the long run but to be honest theirs no saying in either route, you have unsuccesful marriages in both types of societies, and so i think all you can do is pray to God and try to be good people and hope that it works.
I suppose as I mention you need to be good people, it reminds me of one of my key criterias in finding a girl. I want her to have a good heart and good natured, as i want to respect the girl and inshallah her to be a good influence on my children. I need her to be chilled, which is actually quite an important requirement as i believe its something that i strive to be, and remain calm in all situations and so therefore would want my wife to try to be the same. I know people say opposites attract and i think they do to an extent so it causes the relationship to have a balance but i think its also important the relationship has many similar bonds and characteristics between the two people.
I obviously want someone im attracted to but their lies the problem attraction, when people ask me what I find attractive its hard to say theres no 1 set girl and i suppose when people try setting me up with people they find it hard as i cant give them a type, however inshallah ill find one soon where im attracted to, as so far thats been the biggest stumbling block!
I used to say I dont care about how relgious she is, or i even used to say i dont mind if shes not muslim, but i have started to change my mind on this purely on the fact that because i believe as a Muslim i would have a better chance of reaching heaven then say a non-muslim purely because a non-muslim wouldnt have been praying, paying zakat and stuff but that doesnt mean either of us are guranteed of our destinations and i could easily end up in hell and they could end up in heaven but aneway i digress what i am trying to say is that so if i believe i could enter heaven i would like to think i could enter it with my wife and children and so would always be worried about the outcome of my wife if she wasnt muslim as i would fear that she may end up in hell! lol i know a bit dramatic but i dont know its the way my thinking has been going recently...
aneway this year like i said i plan to marry iA and am taking some serious steps to it, and once i find someone who fits me and i see a future with, then i have this book that i brought in the usa like a q+a book that i will inshallah go thru with the prospective person and find out if we are truly compatible, the scariest thing i think for me is my past and the vices i have if the person accepts them, thats the thin g and i guess its the same the other way around but i dont care to be honest on most things and so hope that i can find someone with an equally flippant attitude!
The final thing im considering is the potential future, so i need to find someone who i think will make a good family with and be a good mother and share the same ideals and hopes i do, so for example ideally i want 6 children, 3 of my own and 3 adopted inshallah, i would also if i cant get 6 children like to do fostering, so things like that i would want my wife to be intrested in. Also i want to go and study Arabic at some point in the near future in an intensive way, where i live in a proper arabic and islamic enviorment, where i can also study Islam into much greater detail and i would like a wife who has that same passion, like i said she wouldnt need to be relgious but just have that desire to expand on her belief.
Anyway i best go take care
Stormy
Well after my post yesterday i thought i would follow it up with the most important thing in my life at the moment, my desire to be wed. I have been wanting to get married for a while now, and i have started to take some serious steps in finding a wife, and i have been looking at venues and dates etc lol! The concept i guess of finding a wife might seem quite alien to a number of you, i mean you dont just find a wife, you find a girl, you fall in love, you live together or at least get engaged and then you marry would be the status quo for many of you, however in my culture, its more like you decide its time to get married you either tell your parents or extended family and friends who will propose people for you to get married and then you meet these potentials and get to know them and if you hit it off, before you know it your surrounded by 500 of your closest friends and family and having random sweets stuffed in your mouth! Im taking that route as its alot quicker, more suited to my custom and less sinful in Islam that the other route i mentioned.
I think the other route is a valid route and might be better in the long run but to be honest theirs no saying in either route, you have unsuccesful marriages in both types of societies, and so i think all you can do is pray to God and try to be good people and hope that it works.
I suppose as I mention you need to be good people, it reminds me of one of my key criterias in finding a girl. I want her to have a good heart and good natured, as i want to respect the girl and inshallah her to be a good influence on my children. I need her to be chilled, which is actually quite an important requirement as i believe its something that i strive to be, and remain calm in all situations and so therefore would want my wife to try to be the same. I know people say opposites attract and i think they do to an extent so it causes the relationship to have a balance but i think its also important the relationship has many similar bonds and characteristics between the two people.
I obviously want someone im attracted to but their lies the problem attraction, when people ask me what I find attractive its hard to say theres no 1 set girl and i suppose when people try setting me up with people they find it hard as i cant give them a type, however inshallah ill find one soon where im attracted to, as so far thats been the biggest stumbling block!
I used to say I dont care about how relgious she is, or i even used to say i dont mind if shes not muslim, but i have started to change my mind on this purely on the fact that because i believe as a Muslim i would have a better chance of reaching heaven then say a non-muslim purely because a non-muslim wouldnt have been praying, paying zakat and stuff but that doesnt mean either of us are guranteed of our destinations and i could easily end up in hell and they could end up in heaven but aneway i digress what i am trying to say is that so if i believe i could enter heaven i would like to think i could enter it with my wife and children and so would always be worried about the outcome of my wife if she wasnt muslim as i would fear that she may end up in hell! lol i know a bit dramatic but i dont know its the way my thinking has been going recently...
aneway this year like i said i plan to marry iA and am taking some serious steps to it, and once i find someone who fits me and i see a future with, then i have this book that i brought in the usa like a q+a book that i will inshallah go thru with the prospective person and find out if we are truly compatible, the scariest thing i think for me is my past and the vices i have if the person accepts them, thats the thin g and i guess its the same the other way around but i dont care to be honest on most things and so hope that i can find someone with an equally flippant attitude!
The final thing im considering is the potential future, so i need to find someone who i think will make a good family with and be a good mother and share the same ideals and hopes i do, so for example ideally i want 6 children, 3 of my own and 3 adopted inshallah, i would also if i cant get 6 children like to do fostering, so things like that i would want my wife to be intrested in. Also i want to go and study Arabic at some point in the near future in an intensive way, where i live in a proper arabic and islamic enviorment, where i can also study Islam into much greater detail and i would like a wife who has that same passion, like i said she wouldnt need to be relgious but just have that desire to expand on her belief.
Anyway i best go take care
Stormy
Sunday, December 28, 2008
The Perpetual Motion of Hope....
Hey,
Well the end of 2008 has literally flown by, and im not sure where the year went, it seems like i was getting ready for new years eve in 2007 just yesterday and now im about to enter 2009 inshallah....
Well im going to do a 3 part eiditon of my blog , what i expected from 2008, what i actually got from 2008 and what im hopeing for in 2009..will be my first entry, and the second part will be a look at what im hoping for in marriage... and the final part will be similar to last years with something you never knew about me!
So this entry will start to deal with what i was expecting for 2008, well for a start i was expecting to have been married i guess, as i was hoping my parents would have come around to the idea of me and Shamina. I had also hoped to have started the process of getting into a MBA school or even be at one already, i guess they were the two big things i was expecting for 2008 and the two things that i failed miserably in. As me and Shamina ended right at the start of the year, and the MBA dream died shortly after the summer, where due to financial and desire (I didnt have any desire to do it after doing the GMAT, as i just felt it wasnt for me, all this studying again and for what...there was jus nothing for me and if i was to do it would be for my dad and not me and i cant do that as i would only let everyone down even more if i went down that path).
So 2008 was despite those two big failures an important and happy year mA for myself, i traveled all over the world, this was kinda spured on from the shamina situation if im to be honest, as I jus thought f' it, im off to c the world and do the stuff i wanted to do but never got the chance to, so in that way i was kinda liberated and so this year saw me for the first time in a long time lead my own life without any inhibition, it was almost like i was back at uni in my first year which was one of the best years i have had, expect this year i didnt fail Islamically and masallah actually grew in my relgion in most ways and feel myself finally starting to become more spirtitually involved in my relgion. So the countries i travelled this year, well I went to Spain- Barce, Madrid and Ibiza which was something i always wanted to do, i also went all around Levant -Lebonan (twice), Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Isreal, Egypt, India west cost, USA - east cost, Sri Lanka, Amsterdam, thru out the gulf and the UK so aH i got to c many things and more importantly see 3 wonders of the world! so only 3 more left which inshallah will be done next year.
I also got a niece from my younger sister, and aH she is very beautiful and has grown on my incredibly, I saw my relations with my mum become much stronger and kinda my sisters, which is a good thing iA though we still have many issues as does any family I feel were moving in the right direction.
I became unsettled in my job however i started to become more settled in my job as the year progressed and now aH quite settled and enjoying it.
My Islam as is expected waved throughout from some quite sincere and hardcore to fairly liberal at times and softcore, and i think that was me trying to find my own middle path, for Islam is meant to be the middle way, not the extreme but not the softcore either, and im trying to find whats good for me and where i find i fit within Islam and Islam fits for me, im starting to feel comfatable in my faith however and thats something i havent previously felt so thats a good thing.
Well the final part of what happened in 2008 and what will continue in 2009 is my consilidation of the people in my life, i used to ammas acquantinces without having many real friends, especially when u grow up in a place like manchester were everyone kinda knows or knows of everyone else, u tend to know alot of people but dont have that bond, and the same thing happens at uni, and then in doha again where i meet alot of people and will ahve dinners and stuff with them but not become like good friends, and so my facebook was starting to look like a yellow pages list with just a host of people who i knew but werent really 'friends' so i started to consilidate and delete alot of people and so from ghoing to near 800 im down to 600ish at the moment and hope to go to 500 in the new year. However networking is important and so cant jus delete everyone apart from my closest friends and we all need some acquaintainces however theres some people who i know i wont ever chat to or will be friends with so im allowing them and will be doing the same with people on my phonebook on my phone. Anyway what happened this year was i developed a really good set of friends in Doha and that helped ease the whole Shamina situation, the MBA thing, and wot on paper might have looked like a bad year these people made this year a good one, and they helped me Islamically grow by attending the Islamic halaqa classes that i have been trying to set up in doha and they started at the end of feb/start of march and been doing on every tuesday bar one, which is pretty impressive and wouldnt have been possible by these friends. Also my friends in manchester, london i have consilidated and now have good friends who i tend to hang out with when im back and so each of the cities im in i have good people to be with and its nice.
Bilal also came and stayed with my during his elective and so for the first time in 3-4 years i was living with someone and it felt werid as i guess i developed alot of selfish habits that i realised only when i started to live with someone else, and was a good experience and was nice having someone around and despite the beef and there was a considerable amount of beef i think it did help our friendship and though u may act a fool and write some gay comment to this post he will agree with what i said!
aneway for 2009 what do i hope well this year i am determined to be married, and this i will go into details in my next post, and i also hope to live in Qatar for the next year iA and continue to travel the world and see the wonders of the world before my marriage and to end the year as a Haji with my wife....inshallah
Stormy
Well the end of 2008 has literally flown by, and im not sure where the year went, it seems like i was getting ready for new years eve in 2007 just yesterday and now im about to enter 2009 inshallah....
Well im going to do a 3 part eiditon of my blog , what i expected from 2008, what i actually got from 2008 and what im hopeing for in 2009..will be my first entry, and the second part will be a look at what im hoping for in marriage... and the final part will be similar to last years with something you never knew about me!
So this entry will start to deal with what i was expecting for 2008, well for a start i was expecting to have been married i guess, as i was hoping my parents would have come around to the idea of me and Shamina. I had also hoped to have started the process of getting into a MBA school or even be at one already, i guess they were the two big things i was expecting for 2008 and the two things that i failed miserably in. As me and Shamina ended right at the start of the year, and the MBA dream died shortly after the summer, where due to financial and desire (I didnt have any desire to do it after doing the GMAT, as i just felt it wasnt for me, all this studying again and for what...there was jus nothing for me and if i was to do it would be for my dad and not me and i cant do that as i would only let everyone down even more if i went down that path).
So 2008 was despite those two big failures an important and happy year mA for myself, i traveled all over the world, this was kinda spured on from the shamina situation if im to be honest, as I jus thought f' it, im off to c the world and do the stuff i wanted to do but never got the chance to, so in that way i was kinda liberated and so this year saw me for the first time in a long time lead my own life without any inhibition, it was almost like i was back at uni in my first year which was one of the best years i have had, expect this year i didnt fail Islamically and masallah actually grew in my relgion in most ways and feel myself finally starting to become more spirtitually involved in my relgion. So the countries i travelled this year, well I went to Spain- Barce, Madrid and Ibiza which was something i always wanted to do, i also went all around Levant -Lebonan (twice), Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Isreal, Egypt, India west cost, USA - east cost, Sri Lanka, Amsterdam, thru out the gulf and the UK so aH i got to c many things and more importantly see 3 wonders of the world! so only 3 more left which inshallah will be done next year.
I also got a niece from my younger sister, and aH she is very beautiful and has grown on my incredibly, I saw my relations with my mum become much stronger and kinda my sisters, which is a good thing iA though we still have many issues as does any family I feel were moving in the right direction.
I became unsettled in my job however i started to become more settled in my job as the year progressed and now aH quite settled and enjoying it.
My Islam as is expected waved throughout from some quite sincere and hardcore to fairly liberal at times and softcore, and i think that was me trying to find my own middle path, for Islam is meant to be the middle way, not the extreme but not the softcore either, and im trying to find whats good for me and where i find i fit within Islam and Islam fits for me, im starting to feel comfatable in my faith however and thats something i havent previously felt so thats a good thing.
Well the final part of what happened in 2008 and what will continue in 2009 is my consilidation of the people in my life, i used to ammas acquantinces without having many real friends, especially when u grow up in a place like manchester were everyone kinda knows or knows of everyone else, u tend to know alot of people but dont have that bond, and the same thing happens at uni, and then in doha again where i meet alot of people and will ahve dinners and stuff with them but not become like good friends, and so my facebook was starting to look like a yellow pages list with just a host of people who i knew but werent really 'friends' so i started to consilidate and delete alot of people and so from ghoing to near 800 im down to 600ish at the moment and hope to go to 500 in the new year. However networking is important and so cant jus delete everyone apart from my closest friends and we all need some acquaintainces however theres some people who i know i wont ever chat to or will be friends with so im allowing them and will be doing the same with people on my phonebook on my phone. Anyway what happened this year was i developed a really good set of friends in Doha and that helped ease the whole Shamina situation, the MBA thing, and wot on paper might have looked like a bad year these people made this year a good one, and they helped me Islamically grow by attending the Islamic halaqa classes that i have been trying to set up in doha and they started at the end of feb/start of march and been doing on every tuesday bar one, which is pretty impressive and wouldnt have been possible by these friends. Also my friends in manchester, london i have consilidated and now have good friends who i tend to hang out with when im back and so each of the cities im in i have good people to be with and its nice.
Bilal also came and stayed with my during his elective and so for the first time in 3-4 years i was living with someone and it felt werid as i guess i developed alot of selfish habits that i realised only when i started to live with someone else, and was a good experience and was nice having someone around and despite the beef and there was a considerable amount of beef i think it did help our friendship and though u may act a fool and write some gay comment to this post he will agree with what i said!
aneway for 2009 what do i hope well this year i am determined to be married, and this i will go into details in my next post, and i also hope to live in Qatar for the next year iA and continue to travel the world and see the wonders of the world before my marriage and to end the year as a Haji with my wife....inshallah
Stormy
Friday, December 19, 2008
The one good time it is to be a Muslim...
HEy All,
So had a nice day in Sri Lanka, went to a beautiful beach at this place called Mount Laviorous or something like that, it was recommended to me by my 2 sri lankan friends, Sadia and Muhammad so thoght since it was recommended by 2 different people i should go check it out, and it was really cool. was super clean, the sand was so soft, and the waves were amazing i dont think i ever seen such big waves, i think the reason it was so big was that the hotel kinda like dug the beach so its much higher than the sea and when u go into the water its jus below where the actual beach is so ur kinda into the high water straight away!
I went to the mosque today for Jummah and encounted some problems where they didnt allow my camera inside, supposedly as sri lankans believe taking photos is wrong in Islam...ummm not too sure bout that just think people loving making issues, but the mosque which is the grand mosque of colombo was not the greatest of mosques, as it was marble floored so quite hard to pray on, and it was not very well maintainted at all, though it was fairly large and spread of 3 floors and had cool wudu facilities by having these little pools at the entrance that was open for all to wash themselves!
Ok so the subject of this entry, well in Sri Lanka more than any other country i have visited including palestine/isreal i have had to show my passport at checkpoints, anyway one incident they again took exception to my phototaking though this time i wasnt actually taking any photos jus in a tuk tuk with a camera around my neck and i was called in my the police and militry and normally flashing the brit passport would keep me sweet, however not this time, they were being proper problematic, and in the end being a muslim worked in my favour, as there not worried about muslims or terrorist in the common sense but if i were hindu or tamil man they would have kicked off, so its pretty good relief that for once it benefited me in terms of security.
But despite all this i have got to say that Sri Lanka is one of the most religiously diverse countries i have been to, i have seen so many churches, mosques, temples and Buddas all over the place some right next to each other and seems everyone is fairly ok with it, i spoke to a muslim taxi driver who said the problem is mainly between the hindus and the buddhists (which always surprises me as when i originally learnt about buddhism and i learnt to quite a large exten, i always thought they were the most passive guys and who the hell would they fight with cuz its so entrinched in their relgion the sancticty of life so thought man their countires much be so peaceful, however if u c thailand and sri lakna and burma then guess u got to think otherwise) aneway the driver goes christians and muslims are like brothers here and that was surprising to hear as i not heard anyone say that EVER, was kinda refreshing to hear muslims at peace with some people!
Oh and one other thing i may have spotted a trend which again is quite surprising how sleezy and like thrivin sex industry it is here in Sri Lanka, like every taxi driver asks me if i want sri lankan girl or a 'massage' with 'jiggy jiggy' apart from one who asked me if i wanted a massage and i naturally thought oh no not again but then he goes oh but not jiggy jiggy and i was like thank God and then went on a rant on how disgusting the people are here and how i never realised that its such a sex tourism market, and then i thought of how its like thailand but more undercover as people dont know it, but then i thought wow the 2 countires that i have seen first hand massive sex tourism are both Buddhist countires so again jus surprised me i dont think its correlated but just intresting! lol
So anyway im off tomorrow back to Doha and then my sister comes on sunday with my favourite and only nephew Rayan and his father, my brother in law, anyway so gota plan their trip and when they leave im off to malaysia and singapore for new years much to the annoyance of my manager so u probably wont hear from me until then inshallah!
aneway take care
Asif
So had a nice day in Sri Lanka, went to a beautiful beach at this place called Mount Laviorous or something like that, it was recommended to me by my 2 sri lankan friends, Sadia and Muhammad so thoght since it was recommended by 2 different people i should go check it out, and it was really cool. was super clean, the sand was so soft, and the waves were amazing i dont think i ever seen such big waves, i think the reason it was so big was that the hotel kinda like dug the beach so its much higher than the sea and when u go into the water its jus below where the actual beach is so ur kinda into the high water straight away!
I went to the mosque today for Jummah and encounted some problems where they didnt allow my camera inside, supposedly as sri lankans believe taking photos is wrong in Islam...ummm not too sure bout that just think people loving making issues, but the mosque which is the grand mosque of colombo was not the greatest of mosques, as it was marble floored so quite hard to pray on, and it was not very well maintainted at all, though it was fairly large and spread of 3 floors and had cool wudu facilities by having these little pools at the entrance that was open for all to wash themselves!
Ok so the subject of this entry, well in Sri Lanka more than any other country i have visited including palestine/isreal i have had to show my passport at checkpoints, anyway one incident they again took exception to my phototaking though this time i wasnt actually taking any photos jus in a tuk tuk with a camera around my neck and i was called in my the police and militry and normally flashing the brit passport would keep me sweet, however not this time, they were being proper problematic, and in the end being a muslim worked in my favour, as there not worried about muslims or terrorist in the common sense but if i were hindu or tamil man they would have kicked off, so its pretty good relief that for once it benefited me in terms of security.
But despite all this i have got to say that Sri Lanka is one of the most religiously diverse countries i have been to, i have seen so many churches, mosques, temples and Buddas all over the place some right next to each other and seems everyone is fairly ok with it, i spoke to a muslim taxi driver who said the problem is mainly between the hindus and the buddhists (which always surprises me as when i originally learnt about buddhism and i learnt to quite a large exten, i always thought they were the most passive guys and who the hell would they fight with cuz its so entrinched in their relgion the sancticty of life so thought man their countires much be so peaceful, however if u c thailand and sri lakna and burma then guess u got to think otherwise) aneway the driver goes christians and muslims are like brothers here and that was surprising to hear as i not heard anyone say that EVER, was kinda refreshing to hear muslims at peace with some people!
Oh and one other thing i may have spotted a trend which again is quite surprising how sleezy and like thrivin sex industry it is here in Sri Lanka, like every taxi driver asks me if i want sri lankan girl or a 'massage' with 'jiggy jiggy' apart from one who asked me if i wanted a massage and i naturally thought oh no not again but then he goes oh but not jiggy jiggy and i was like thank God and then went on a rant on how disgusting the people are here and how i never realised that its such a sex tourism market, and then i thought of how its like thailand but more undercover as people dont know it, but then i thought wow the 2 countires that i have seen first hand massive sex tourism are both Buddhist countires so again jus surprised me i dont think its correlated but just intresting! lol
So anyway im off tomorrow back to Doha and then my sister comes on sunday with my favourite and only nephew Rayan and his father, my brother in law, anyway so gota plan their trip and when they leave im off to malaysia and singapore for new years much to the annoyance of my manager so u probably wont hear from me until then inshallah!
aneway take care
Asif
Thursday, December 18, 2008
If you are to help the world...you must see the world!
Hey All,
Its been relatively a bit of a break from the number of posts i was doing whilst in the states!
Well my time in the USA was really good, one of my best hols in recent memory to be honest, though i wasnt the biggest fan of NYE as its quite similar to London in that its really congested and heaving. I mean there is some cool things such as the rockafeller building and M+M store, the brookyln bridge and the usual famous things like the sky scrappers, statue of liberty etc...But the thing is the people are generally stuck up and quite unfriendly, I thought getting the tube was dodge in london, its not a touch on NYE where like everyone is keeping their headtown and it is FULL of weirdos and so poorly maintained that the tube in lodnon looks like a business class/first class form of transport compared to NYC subway system!
It wasnt all bad, the shopping was really good at least in New Jersey, where all the clothes do not have a tax, oh thats something that pissed me off that in the USA they add tax when u go to the till, and each state is different, so like say something is 9.99 it will turn out to be like 10.48 after tax so what da hell is da point in pricing something nicely like 9.99 when u r going to add tax, and its hassles if u pay cash for things, which is probably why cards are so populour in the US i guess.
Anyway since the end of my US trip I went to the UK and spent Eid in manchester, which involved standard missions to wilmslow road. I ended up going to wilmslow road almost every night, i used to go alot but only really to eat one of the worlds best chicken burgers..Kansas! now however they have opened like prob close to 10 all together shisha places along wimmy road and the back streets so its become a much a much more of a chilling destination, so i really like it, its myfavourite probably pasttime, apart from playing footy lol and relgious activities...but im talking bout when socialising with friends rather than shopping, shooting pool, coffee, clubbing etc i jus love smoking up! lol
Every time i go back home to Cheshire/manchester my heart kinda longs to return as though i travel the world there is no city in the world apart from maybe Mecca/Medina and Doha is quite high up there possibly because i know it so well and because its similar to manchester where like people know each other, u can drive from one part of the city to the other in not too much trouble so the whole city is pretty well connected and doesnt inhibit going out, like for example say if ur in west london and theres a dinner in east london u would probably reconsider going, same with dubai, if somethings going on in say Dubai Marina and ur in old dubai, ull prob be like hell no, whereas doha or manchester thats not really an issue which i love! So i got some decisions to make in the future but i think ill want to settle down in one of those 2 citites!
Ok so then after Manchester I went to London for a night, which was good and action packed, met alot of old uni friends which was really good and why though im not the biggest fan of london i keep going back! One thing people sometimes say is when i live in/near Manchester which is a great city, why did i go to london for university, well i had jus spent 7 years in manchester studying at Manchester Grammar and in the last couple of years i might as well have been a uni student as i was going out like one, and i knew if i went to london i would come back regulary to manchester and so still experience it. Also being in london as a student is probably the best time to experience london, u get alot of discounts in london when ur a student and u have so many things to experience and u have alot more time than when you maybe working after u graduate so would recommend everyone to study in a big city and work say in the summer in a placement so u get to experience working life in the city and see if its for u, i would recoomend that way at least thank God it worked for me.
Anyway i went back to doha and work, and i was dredging it and it was everything i imagined on my first day back i got absolutley nailed and just brought back so many bad memories of last year when i was really depressed at work and wanted to leave, but inshallah i learnt last year u have ur bad dAYS and u just got to work urself thru it, its been a big learning curve and the thing is i dont know where its heading but inshallah will work out!
PEople have been going on about how much holiday i get and putting Nazzer or the Evil eye on me, and so now i know im going to get my holidays harder to approve at work, aneway its not that i get alot of holidays but any time off i do get i make the most of it and thats the different between myself and others and the fact i spend my money on my travel while others may spend their money on other things and then complain oh how u get the money to travel just really pisses me off, this is part of the reason for the discontent at work and the subject of the title of this blog entry as i want to see the world and see what else is out there and how other people live, eat and get by and learn things from other cultures and see how Islam is in other parts of the world things like that!
So right now im in Sri Lanka, in Colombo, which is supposedly according to Islam where Adam (the first person and prophet in Islam) (pbuh) first lived and there is a foot step of him, which is like a giant footstep in todays world, however this is like 4-5 hours from colombo so i dont think ill be able to check it out in the short space of time which sucks as i want to c it inshallah another time!
Colombo reminds me a bit of Goa and i was going to say more advanced but probably not as though Goa has more like shacks and dodgy roads i think that it wants to be like that and so decides to kinda be a hippy town whereas sri lanka i think kinda is forced to be slightly more advanced but still has much proverty and lack of drainage. I never realised the beef between india and sri lanka, i been reading the newspapers and theres some serious beef man! lol and i never realised how close sri lanka was with palestine which gave me bare cheapies! lol
Its quite a seady place and alot of pervs lol im sure some of u maybe thinking hey thats my kinda town, lol but nah im jus an innocent guy and shocked by how some of the people are here!
anyway i best go take care
Stormy
Its been relatively a bit of a break from the number of posts i was doing whilst in the states!
Well my time in the USA was really good, one of my best hols in recent memory to be honest, though i wasnt the biggest fan of NYE as its quite similar to London in that its really congested and heaving. I mean there is some cool things such as the rockafeller building and M+M store, the brookyln bridge and the usual famous things like the sky scrappers, statue of liberty etc...But the thing is the people are generally stuck up and quite unfriendly, I thought getting the tube was dodge in london, its not a touch on NYE where like everyone is keeping their headtown and it is FULL of weirdos and so poorly maintained that the tube in lodnon looks like a business class/first class form of transport compared to NYC subway system!
It wasnt all bad, the shopping was really good at least in New Jersey, where all the clothes do not have a tax, oh thats something that pissed me off that in the USA they add tax when u go to the till, and each state is different, so like say something is 9.99 it will turn out to be like 10.48 after tax so what da hell is da point in pricing something nicely like 9.99 when u r going to add tax, and its hassles if u pay cash for things, which is probably why cards are so populour in the US i guess.
Anyway since the end of my US trip I went to the UK and spent Eid in manchester, which involved standard missions to wilmslow road. I ended up going to wilmslow road almost every night, i used to go alot but only really to eat one of the worlds best chicken burgers..Kansas! now however they have opened like prob close to 10 all together shisha places along wimmy road and the back streets so its become a much a much more of a chilling destination, so i really like it, its myfavourite probably pasttime, apart from playing footy lol and relgious activities...but im talking bout when socialising with friends rather than shopping, shooting pool, coffee, clubbing etc i jus love smoking up! lol
Every time i go back home to Cheshire/manchester my heart kinda longs to return as though i travel the world there is no city in the world apart from maybe Mecca/Medina and Doha is quite high up there possibly because i know it so well and because its similar to manchester where like people know each other, u can drive from one part of the city to the other in not too much trouble so the whole city is pretty well connected and doesnt inhibit going out, like for example say if ur in west london and theres a dinner in east london u would probably reconsider going, same with dubai, if somethings going on in say Dubai Marina and ur in old dubai, ull prob be like hell no, whereas doha or manchester thats not really an issue which i love! So i got some decisions to make in the future but i think ill want to settle down in one of those 2 citites!
Ok so then after Manchester I went to London for a night, which was good and action packed, met alot of old uni friends which was really good and why though im not the biggest fan of london i keep going back! One thing people sometimes say is when i live in/near Manchester which is a great city, why did i go to london for university, well i had jus spent 7 years in manchester studying at Manchester Grammar and in the last couple of years i might as well have been a uni student as i was going out like one, and i knew if i went to london i would come back regulary to manchester and so still experience it. Also being in london as a student is probably the best time to experience london, u get alot of discounts in london when ur a student and u have so many things to experience and u have alot more time than when you maybe working after u graduate so would recommend everyone to study in a big city and work say in the summer in a placement so u get to experience working life in the city and see if its for u, i would recoomend that way at least thank God it worked for me.
Anyway i went back to doha and work, and i was dredging it and it was everything i imagined on my first day back i got absolutley nailed and just brought back so many bad memories of last year when i was really depressed at work and wanted to leave, but inshallah i learnt last year u have ur bad dAYS and u just got to work urself thru it, its been a big learning curve and the thing is i dont know where its heading but inshallah will work out!
PEople have been going on about how much holiday i get and putting Nazzer or the Evil eye on me, and so now i know im going to get my holidays harder to approve at work, aneway its not that i get alot of holidays but any time off i do get i make the most of it and thats the different between myself and others and the fact i spend my money on my travel while others may spend their money on other things and then complain oh how u get the money to travel just really pisses me off, this is part of the reason for the discontent at work and the subject of the title of this blog entry as i want to see the world and see what else is out there and how other people live, eat and get by and learn things from other cultures and see how Islam is in other parts of the world things like that!
So right now im in Sri Lanka, in Colombo, which is supposedly according to Islam where Adam (the first person and prophet in Islam) (pbuh) first lived and there is a foot step of him, which is like a giant footstep in todays world, however this is like 4-5 hours from colombo so i dont think ill be able to check it out in the short space of time which sucks as i want to c it inshallah another time!
Colombo reminds me a bit of Goa and i was going to say more advanced but probably not as though Goa has more like shacks and dodgy roads i think that it wants to be like that and so decides to kinda be a hippy town whereas sri lanka i think kinda is forced to be slightly more advanced but still has much proverty and lack of drainage. I never realised the beef between india and sri lanka, i been reading the newspapers and theres some serious beef man! lol and i never realised how close sri lanka was with palestine which gave me bare cheapies! lol
Its quite a seady place and alot of pervs lol im sure some of u maybe thinking hey thats my kinda town, lol but nah im jus an innocent guy and shocked by how some of the people are here!
anyway i best go take care
Stormy
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