Here I go again on my own
 
All I can say is Alhamdulillah for good parents who teach you the right stuff and tell you the stuff you need to stay away from (not that I always listen but sometimes I convince myself). The riff raff I'm about to describe started at around 10:30pm today.

Basically we have these family friends (well dad's known 'em for like 30 odd years), who's son is Masha'Allah getting married. Actually I think he has gotten married, they just havent gotten the wife over from Pakistan yet (waiting for visas I think). Anyways, they had this thing at their place for women today. They had informed us a week ago and invited mom to come. They're like oh yeah its females only but bring Omar and Usman along. I'm like mom, I'll pass... my brother aint the type either so we ofcourse didnt go. It was all young females and uncles and what not.

Skip to 10:30 when I go to pick 'em up. I get there, door's open and some punjabi tunes blarin' out. I'm like uh ohhhh... I walk in and see like 3 guys (all kitted out ofcourse) standing in the hallway. Due salaams are exchanged and one of the guy realizes I'm not there for the occassion (i think the jeans, t-shirt and sandals gave it away). So the guy who's gotten married is called  (we'll call him A). A comes over and looks like he's just run 10 miles. He comes up and gives me a warm hug (which he's never done before) so i'm like oh ok yeah cool dude. Anyways, he's like come in have dinner etc etc, i'm like nah.. I'm juss here to pick up ma parents. (lets have a random new paragraph)

So he's like oh just wait my mom's dancin', when she finishes I'll call her over. I'm thinking, whass your mom dancin' got to do with you callin' mine (ok ok he meant I could say salaam to aunty). Anyways, I'm like cool, he walks in to the room again and the next thing I know he's bhangrain' away in between 5 females. I'm like oh gawd... So I walk out and I'm like well once he's done he'll call my parents or his parents or watever. So I say to myself, if i'm standing there like a goon, I'll get called over to dance. So I walk out and call a friend (who's place I was just coming from) and he's like uh ohh.. u calling so soon? whass wrong? I'm like nothing I'm just avoiding being pulled into a dance.. Problem is my mom is at the back of the room where all the dancing is going on and the enterance to the room is sorta like half-way with women blocking it.

So anyway, I'm talkin to this guy and its been 15 min... no sign of anyone coming out. Girls coming out and going in (dressed to their teeth ofcourse), guy's dancin' in the front entrance... and ofcourse me loosing my temper. I'm like what the .... Hasnt he told anyone I'm here yet... So I'm telling my friend whass going on and he's laffin his head off. 20 min and no friggin' sign of anyone I know coming out. I'm like dude this is draggin on and no one's coming. So after waiting 20 min (during which ofcourse I'm talkin to my friend) I'm like dude, I gotta get in there and get my parents out. (Did I mention I've never been too fond of these people to begin with... for reasons I wont go into here) I walk in and there are like 4 girls standing there. I'm like errr.. excuse me. They move like half a centimeter.. I'm thinking GAWD! I'm like I'm quite chubby.. need more space to get through (and then ofcourse realize I should've just asked for more space instead of a stupid remark). One sniggers and is like oh I'm sure you can get through.. Thankfully enough mom sees me in the hallway and comes over (how she saw me through a hugely crowded room full of females is beyond me, but i'm thankful for it). I'm like mom can we go, I've been waiting half an hour to get to you. She's like lemme go grab my stuff.

I venture out to find dad sitting in the backyard with some other old people types. So  I go, say salam and sit down for 5 min. All this while there are other guys there who are being pulled inside to go and dance. I manage to pull dad away from the political dicussion andget back to the hallway. A's mom comes out and she's like how long you been here. I'm thinking LONG ENOUGH! She's like oh have some dinner, I'm like no thanks I juss ate (just being 6 hours previously). She's like oh so you have some energy.. I'm like uh ohhh.. she's like come and dance then.. We'll put on some Abrar-ul-Haq songs for you (for those of you who dont know Abrar-ul-Haq, dont worry, you're not missing anything). I'm like naah.. Then she's like oh no beta you cant go without dancing...

Side note : those of you lovely people who have had the misfortune of coming to this blog long enough will remember I went to my couz's wedding in the U.S. last december. I didnt even friggin dance at her wedding even though she's the closest thing I've ever had to a sister.. I kept myself busy with all kinda stuff during the dances and all so I wouldnt be dragged into it.. even though everyone had expected me, being the older bro type figure to do the most dancing.

So, I'm thinking I never danced in my cousin's wedding and you expect me to do it here... PASS!!! Anyways, I manage to pry myself away. Yes people may think its rude or weird or both to not have done so.. but I'm that kinda person. Aside from the basic fact that its forbidden by religion to dance in front of, or indeed with women (especially one's you dont know), I'm just not that kinda guy. Despite outward appearances, I aint the boogie kinda guy.. people find that hard to understand for some reason. Anyways, we finally managed to come out. All I can say is Alhamdulillah for good parents.

On another note... (quite a few in this post huh?) I had my graduation ceremony for the masters yesterday. I got a ton of angry phone calls from my classmates for not showing up :)   Especially this one particular girl who was in our class.. Nice practicing girl Masha'Allah.. She goes oh I want you to meet my parents.. I'm like *alarm bells*... errr.. sorry.. I'm busy... Besides, I had a few friends over who's parents arent here... they were having a good home cooked meal for once... So I think I was better off not going. What do you guys think?

Center of my Heart

Yesterday started out just as any normal day would. Since I had finished getting ready for Juma and had a good half an hour to kill (an hour before khutbah, not the actual Namaz mind you) so I thought I'd log on and see who's around. So I'm around being bothered by an un-named blogistani when Gul logs on. Now before anyone starts going oooooh.. gul huh? who's she then etc... Gul was/is my baji from Cyprus. I got to know her early on in Cyprus and we were pretty cool friends. She always called me her bacha bhai (she learned a few urdu words from us).. Did i mention Gul is a cypriot. And I began calling her Abla (meanin elder sis in turkish) and later baji (as in the urdu word). So anyways, life went on, was very cool... got to know her whole family, relatives, fiance (who ofcourse is now her husband)... the whole 9 yards.

She got married in the last year of university (she was a year my senior). A year after I moved back Gul had a miscarriage and lost her baby. Poor thing was devastated. I cant begin to imagine how she must've felt.. and ofcourse good ol' Gullu loves babies like nobody's business. I felt soo bad for her, losing her own baby...

Anyways, then I moved back and we sorta drifted (as you do with distance). I think for the past year or so we virtually had one online conversation (different timings) and not a single phone call. Which is why I didnt know she had a daughter earlier this year. In May a friend went to Cyprus and later sent me piccies of him at Gul's place holding non other then Ece (pronouce ejay), gul's little one. I'm like who and when did this happen? So he told me, and surprisingly a few weeks later Gul sent me a few piccies of the little one. I was soo happy for her and ofcourse a bit upset I hadnt been told.

Now coming back to the story, Gul comes online and I'm like oh go on, say hello even if u are angry. So I do, and in conversation she goes, so whachu think of my little one. And ofcourse I reeled off a thousand Masha'Allahs. Then I'm like (being the drama queen I am) how come I didnt even get to konw about Ece from you and find out from someone else. She's like you never kept in touch. So a semi argument ensues (wont bore u any more with the details people), and she goes oh well you know now, isnt that wat counts? I'm like, yeah I suppose. Then I'm like so when exactly was good ol' Ece born. She goes you really wanna know.. I'm like YES.. why else would I ask. She's like ok.. 26th February. Ofcourse by the time I've read the date, my jaw has fallen to the floor and rolled down several feet (a'la cartoons). I'm like you're kidding me right. She's like nopes, then sends a scanned copy of the birth certificate. And I'm like WOW.. what're the odds of that.

She told me Ece was a week premature (that really cant be considered premature huh) but that doctors had said it was necessary to do a cesarian lest there may be problems in the birth. And ofcourse the decision by Gul and Zafer (her hubby) to have the cesarian was made on the 26th and little Ece officially entered the world.

Its incredible, when I started that conversation with Gul yesterday morning I was angry outta my head and in the ensuing 15 min, I completely forgot about it. She goes to me, now you know why I didnt even send you a birthday card or email on your birthday, I was giving birth to my own little one. What are the odds of that happenning? I juss went into awwww mode and have had this dorky grin on my face since then.

Funny how things work out huh? Goes to show, always be thankful for what you have and never take anything for granted Alhamdulillah. :)

Toot Toot Toot.. The person you are calling is not available!

Sunday morning blues.... bleu!

You say we're not responsible... WE ARE

The title for this post comes from one of the songs off the soundtrack for Spiderman2. It is an awesome song, not you're regular lovey dovey crap... which is why it sorta appealed to me. If nothing else, just find the lyrics to it... (i'm too lazy to go look for 'em right now). One thing that I have come to know is that the Soundtrack will apparently have a track from the Pakistani band Strings in it.. I mean come on.. Strings is like my favourite paki band if there ever was one... (junoon is crap for anyone who didnt know it already). And Strings on the spiderman 2 soundtrack.. how cool is that? Apparently the track is played during the movie a bit as well... The official launch date for the soundtrack was the 7th of July (yesterday/today cuz i still havent slept) but we've had the soundtrack at work since last week. But then I've never really looked at the track listing but I'll definitely be doing that tomorrow.. It would be cool if strings does have a track on there.. yeah as i said before, I'm easily amused.... And I blame a few random blogistanis for making me so easily amuseable (is that a word?)

It rained meows and bow wows all over London today man... (juss thought i'd share that cuz i couldnt think of what else to say!)

I'd like to think a few jaws (not the big fish) would hit the floor cuz I'm updating just after a day. But I dont they will.. Darnit.. oh well.. I'm going to bed.. g'nite folks.

9 to 5

Man people in blogistan really are pushy arent they? I mean come on, cant a guy ignore his blog in peace anymore?? tsk tsk.. whats this world coming to... Oh well.. since I am here I mite as well make the effort eh?

I watched the mummy returns the other day. Pretty cool movie. I still say brendan fraser is one of the most underrated actors around. I mean come on the guy and pull off gags like no other.. And ofcourse his guest appearances in scrubs had me in fits always.

Anyways (yup this is the part where I go ballistic on the movie). For anyone who's seen either of the movies, they will know that the arab guy is the coolest portrayal of an arab dude in ages. And ofcourse the strong silent type thing going on is soo awesome (as opposed to the usual 'death to all infidels' portrayal u usually see in movies). And its cool he actually speaks arabic in between too (if only one sentence at a time). Like when they're facing the evil dust made army of tall weirdos, the guy (Ardeth i think he was called) yells out "Allahu Ma'ana"... translated as "Allah is with us" but in the subtitles..it comes up as "God is with us". I mean come on.. lets get the subtitles right people! If i ever make a movie (which i wont) i'll get the subtitles right atleast!

Another cool thing (yes i know i'm easily amused) is when they're facing the even bigger evil dust made army of tall weirdos (i'm sure the director had that name in mind for the army but didnt use it for the sake of convenience), he looks at his army and goes "hat'tal maut".. and I was like yeah dude, you go get 'em. Oh that means "till death" in Arabic...I was like hell yeah! Ok so I find the little things amusing...

One thing I did notice, is in the beginnin at Brendan's house, when the sorta head henchman type bad dude is, as per the script, scaring brendan's movie wife and son, Ardeth walks in stage left. The sorta head henchman type bad dude looks at him and goes... Ardeth Bey... Now Bey can either be his surname.. (which i doubt) ... or otherwise it was used to address the dude as Mr. Ardeth... Bey is a Turkish word which means Mister. But that being the case... the turkish would mess with his arab persona... ok ok i'm picky.. sue me!

Anyways, you guys can wake up now... and if you're still bored.. have a look here... and then go on to the next pics...