Blogging is Cheaper Than Therapy

As Winter extends its last reach to inhume us all in its powdery white overlay, I am reflecting on this year's blistery season. I must be clear that I do not consider Winter's start date as the day of the Equinox but rather when the weather starts to truly be cold (sub 40°). The cold and I had a falling out many a year and we do not intend to reconcile at any point in the near future. Living in the D.C. suburbs of northern Virginia, our Autumns last about two weeks. Sadly, the changing of the season is all-too-brief. A few days ago, we received our first (and most likely only) snow storm of the season. Here in Virginia, we received about 2 1/2 inches which is borderline menial. My view is that if the weather is cold, it may as well snow! Do you know what is the worst? Cold rain. It's painful. When the Autumnal foliage sets upon the east coast and the world is decorated in hues of gold, orange, red, and maroon, so sets in a different version of myself; one more...

          I'm thankful and appreciative to anybody who is taking time out of their day to read my blog. This post is for those who are at a cross-roads, be it physically or spiritually. I have been thinking a lot about individuals who have given up or don't take their religious beliefs into consideration when doing things. There is a significant amount of people who are indulging in activities explicitly forbidden in Islam. Now, we are also at a time where people are highly practicing and on a fantastic path so this entry may not pertain to them.           People are judged now more than ever. The pious tend to be so proud of themselves for following what they follow and they feel that it gives them the right to tell others where their faults lie; I will admit that I have done this to others on more than one occasion. I am not anywhere near where I should be with my own level of practice and following of Islam but there have certainly...

It's been quite some time since I've posted in this so hopefully this post will be the first of my return to this mental outlet. This post has much to do with the fact that I had much more caffeine today than usual and my mind is moving at a mile a minute. I have had the pleasure and privilege of growing up in a culture far different than many of those I have met. I am of Pakistani descent (by way of India and Afghanistan). I grew up in a very privileged culture of predominantly upper-middle class Caucasian Americans. To me, that's what I consider the norm and probably the group I identify most as "my people". I am a devout Muslim who also feels at home when I am among my Muslim brothers and sisters. Overall, if I had to choose who I felt more comfortable with, I would say my non-Muslim friends. There are a few reasons for this: 1) Most of them have seen my changes through my life from a blonde-haired prep to a wannabe Indie Rocker to what many like to label me a...

Please be advised, the following is from my own analysis, personal experiences and insight. Everything I am saying could be completely wrong. It’s funny to me how much the word "love" is thrown around. It’s such a powerful expression that I dislike using casually. I’ve been told by a good amount of people that they “love” me but what does that really mean? I don’t think any affinity they may have for me is not at the level of love. I don’t think there is one way to define love but there are certainly action that correspond with the feeling. Obviously in life, certain people will love you for the sake of having to but it is very rare to meet somebody outside of familial or obligatory relationships that feels such a way. “It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”, this is bogus. Love is unbreakable, Love is not a finite thing. I do not believe that you can  fall out of love … If there was somebody in your life that you truly love(d), you wo...

I feel bad that it has taken this long for me to write in my blog here. The last few weeks have been so hazy and have been a long blur, it's surreal. I cannot believe it has been nearly three weeks since my father passed away. I remember three weeks ago this day I selfishly decided to stay out late because coming home was so hard; it was so hard to see my father in the state he was in. I came home at 12:45 that night and sat next to my dad and talked to him until I was consumed by my sleepiness. He was in his medicine-induced incoherent state and was seeing things that were not really there. I talked to him as best as I could in a way where he could easily understand what I was saying to him. With tears in my eyes, I told him how proud I was of him. Alhamdulillah, I got to tell him all of the things I felt about him and didn't want to lose him without him knowing how much I loved him. Abu, my dad.. my best friend, my protector, my confidante, my coach, my teacher, the person...

My thoughts on doctors is probably very inconsistent with that with the rest of society. Now, please keep in mind that my current viewpoints are stemming from that which I have been surrounded with and that is a large group of people from an Indian and Pakistani background; those are two countries where being a doctor is revered as something on par with being with a saint. I get such a kick out of people introducing them self as "Dr. so and so", as if that title is supposed to carry some weight with it. Every time I meet a young man (I don't know too many female medical students) who tell me that they are in med school, in residency or are practicing doctors, I will always ask them "What made you decide to practice Medicine?" I choose the words I speak very carefully, I ask them why they decided to "practice medicine" rather than asking them why they want to be a doctor. Doctors practice medicine, it's not a be-all-end-all title. People usually...

Let me start this off by saying that I am not a masochist. I do not enjoy pain nor do I encourage the administering of pain on to others. How can a person feel pain? There is obviously physical pain. Discomfort can strengthen our threshold but physical injury rarely has positive effects. Everybody feels this pain at some point in their life, as it is an almost inevitable occurrence  This is not the beautiful sort of pain that I am speaking about. Pain inflicted within the mind, past the flesh of the brain deep into our souls, this is the beautiful kind of pain. Psychological/emotional torture hurts, I mean, it really hurts. I once had a discussion with my friend about how painful certain situations can be, "I would much rather have a bone broken or be in a car accident, I would much rather feel an extreme amount of physical pain than feel what I'm feeling right now.", I said. "That is because physical pain eventually heals.", he retorted. I knew he could real...

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, Happy December to all. I am in the midst of sipping a fresh cup of coffee, listening to The Killers's new Christmas song 'I Feel It In My Bones' and enjoying a mellow evening in my homestead. My brother and I had a conversation earlier this week which is something I try not to think about too deeply because of how frightening the single thought tends to be; the thought of forever. As a Muslim, I try my best to live my life conscious of the effects of my actions and ultimately whether I am doing something good or something bad. I don't want to die with a large accumulation of bad deeds which will result in an eternity of suffering in Hell's roaring blaze. But then there is the opposite, an eternity of true bliss in Heaven. Both thoughts manage to terrify me. "Why does an eternity of Paradise scare you, is it that you think you will get tired of it?" Him and I were sitting in a donut shop, "Think of it this way, today...

The service is shut off as of 2:00 am this morning. This may come as a shock to many people, maybe? My bill was $59.97/month with Dish Network.. not a tough pill to swallow at all. The thing that was bothering me was, am I really getting the worth of those (near) $60 every month, or any month? I don't think so. I paid for the service in my home as a courtesy for my family but even as a family of six, we are not getting the value out of it. Let's break this down, $60/month covered HD channels, 200 channels, local channels, my DVR service and a protection plan. Another option for watching television (if you want new episodes) is using your Playstation 3, XBox, Hulu Plus, Roku, Apple TV and countless other websites and services that deliver next-day programming in high definition for $2/episode. If each episode is worth $2, that is about 30 hours of television per month that would be watched for $60, there is no way my family is watching that much television. For me, I watch mayb...

Greetings all! We have arrived at the start of another wonderful summer (hopefully). Summer has always been my favorite season (not because my birthday just so happens to fall smack dab in the center of it) but because of the freedom most people tend to have during the season. Every Summer that I can remember, I remember vividly; the smells, the music, the friends and the amount of joy that I have felt with each Summer's past have been unforgettable for me. My first experience thus far this Summer season was going to Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. I love live music and the lineup was phenomenal, how could I say no? From start to finish, this was an amazing journey. I found my way from Washington, D.C. to Tennessee with two very nice women I met online from Zimride.com. I am one to trust the kindness of strangers, as it has never gotten me in to any trouble so I wasn't worried about what could have happened. I was surprised by how open, friendly...

Good morning, all!           I awoke this morning shortly before my Fajr alarm went off and realized that it was the first of the month. Oh, July; you used to be my favaorite month out of the year, I now despise you. Especially this July, it's going to be a rough one. The weather this morning is gorgeous, the birds are calm, nobody seems to be moving about outside, which is pleasant.         I have been coming to terms with phase two of being an abstergent person. Last year, I went through my entire room and donated, sold or threw away things which once meant something to me. I got rid of many sentimental possessions in the hopes of replacing them with new and better things which would mean even more than those belongings. I was always a pretty sentimental guy, a trait I don't share with many of my male friends. On the other hand, many of my female friends were borderline pack rats so I figured why not go somewhere in the middle? I enjoy a l...

Franklin Farm is what I call home How many people know their neighbors? I have lived at the same house for over twenty years. I have had the same next-door neighbors, the same neighbors directly across the street, the same neighbors diagonal  and three other families that live in a pipestem across the street from me the whole time I've lived at my house. I know my neighbors across the street pretty well. The mom used to get mad at me because I would ride my bike around the neighborhood and cross the street without looking both ways; her sons,  who are much older than me, used to play basketball with me every so often. My neighbors next door have never really gotten along with me because I used to hit their house (accidentally) with soccer balls, baseballs, lacrosse balls and so on. My parents sometimes talk to the neighbors diagonal from us when they see each other. I know one of the families that lives in the pipestem because one daughter and I are the same age and I...

The definition of being a "man" has changed through the time and is different throughout various cultures. When you look back at the beginning of mankind with Adam and Eve, they were created equal. Adam and Eve were man and woman, both living an equal life; neither had any power over the other. Throughout the period when men and women were separated into tribes, the men hunted and provided meat and food while the women gathered and tended to their camps (of course this is surely exaggerated as there were more tasks and responsibilities that went into their every day living). When looking through history, men have always have more rights and control than women. Somewhere in time, the natural traits that most men possess became the way to judge a person's value. Men are naturally stronger, more muscular and taller than women. Are these ways to judge a person's worth or value? Certainly not. God has created us equal, in His eyes but assigned us different characteris...

A few weeks ago, I had a young relative over. I knew he would be bored so I allowed him to play my PlayStation 3, under my supervision. While he was playing, he was being quite wild with the controller and would keep on sticking his head in front of me to look at my laptop screen to view my Facebook page and whatnot. I gave him several warnings to stop doing that and to listen to me, as I am older and he was intentionally being bothersome. I was typing something in and he messed with my keyboard a little bit and said "I'm going to hit enter" and I said to him very sternly, "Do not hit enter, if you do, then you will be in trouble."; well, he hit enter so I got up and turned the PlayStation off and told him that he could not play at all for the rest of the time he was at my house. He began asking me incessantly to allow him to play but I said "no" multiple times. I then asked him if he thought asking me over and over again was helping him or if he tho...

One of my long-terms goals is to build a masjid. Growing up in Northern Virginia and living in Southern California for a few years, I have seen some nice mosques. I admire the fairly efficient system in place with two in particular that I've been a member of the community of. All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Sterling, Virginia and the Islamic Society of Orange County. A.D.A.M.S. has amazing connections and a great relationship with the government, seeing as how it is a stone's throw from Washington, D.C. Usually when there is a conflict affecting American Muslims, our own Imam Mohammed Magid will be interviewed on CNN or other shaikhs from neighboring mosques. Islamic Society of Orange County has a very impressive facility. There is ample space for people to set their shoes down and socialize outside of the musullah area, the bathrooms are luxurious, there is an accredited school, a large bookstore and even an area for one to cleanse the body of a deceased loved one before bur...