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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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