Departures

Departures.  The television show that I am using as one of my many mediums for inspiration for my backpacking trip next year.  Essentially what is is two friends, Scott and Justin who travel all over the world for one whole year.

This show is absolutely amazing.  First off, it’s filmed in high quality HD.  The production of this show is stellar.  The music, the picture quality, the editing is all probably some of the best on Canadian television right now.  But more importantly than that, the concept of the show is superb.  It’s not just a show about two people who go to obscure and beautiful places.  Departures really captures the essence of their friendship in the context of travel.  These two friends, while being around each other almost 24/7, get to share some life changing experiences together.  Scott and Justin were best friends before they embarked on this year long experience. But by virtue of them experiencing these different countries together, their friendship has formed a new bond that very few people in this world ever get to experience.  And you get to view that in the show.

The best part about the show is that it has been able to capture the intrinsic value of their travels.  You literally see Justin and Scott appreciate this world and come to these amazing realisations about where they are at that particular point in time.  Literally, their eyes and their minds open and expand right before your eyes.  That is probably the best part of the show in my opinion.

On their one year long journey they travelled to Jordan, India, Ascension Island, Japan, Cook Islands, New Zeland, Thailand, Cambodia, and rediscovered their very own Canada from ocean to ocean to ocean.  The travel bug has bit these two friends pretty hard because season two of this show is set to air on January 25, 2010 where they will have travelled to Morroco, Lybia, Brazil, Cuba, Mongolia, Iceland, Zambia, Madagascar, Chile and Antarctica.

Amazing, isn’t it?

Every time I watch this show it gives me drive and motivation to make this trip a reality.  I realize that I too can experince with my friends what these two are experiencing on this television show.

The website for the show is here and their youtube channel is here.

My heart calls out for Southeast Asia.  All I need is a bit of patience and discipline.

Heal The World

The one Michael Jackson song that especially stands out for me.

When I was a kid, there was this community event happening in a hall downtown.  I can`t remember why but one of the Aunties wanted a whole bunch of us to sing a song together in front of everyone.  So every weekend for I forget how many weekends, we went to her house and rehearsed this song.  These rehearsals I still remember to this day.  All my friends, ones I still talk to, ones I used to talk to and ones I wonder about all used to come and sing.  We used to have so much fun during these rehearsals that it became something that will forever be embedded in my mind.

We presented and sung the song and everyone loved it.  I can’t remember if we were good or not.  All I remember is it lifted the spirits of everyone who was in the audience and set the tone and mood for the rest of the night.

Just a few weeks ago I remember I was in an HMV during one of my out of town trips and I came across this greatest hits album of Michael Jackson.  I looked at it and for some odd reason, I just had to have it.  For some reason I was drawn to it and knew that I had to buy it.  Later that night, as my friends and I were driving home, we put the CD on and begun to listen.  This urge to buy the CD was so great that I didn’t even check the back to see what songs there were.  And while I was driving, this song, Heal The World, came into my head.  I asked my friend if the album had the song and sure enough it did.

As the song played, all these memories flooded my mind of the rehearsals that one summer and how joyful a time it was.  The song itself is so beautifully written that it warms the heart when one listens to it.  I have never felt happiness to that degree  in such a while as I did that midnight driving home on the highway while that song played.

Heal The World by Michael Jackson will forever have a place in my heart as being that one inspirational song that literally shaped and defined that one summer when I was once a child.  If this song was not written, that particular summer would have just been another one lost in memory.

May Allah grant you Jannat.

An Intoxicating Idea…

This is the last week of school.  Classes will be over next week.  And after exams, literally all my friends are leaving.  Most are going to Europe, some are going to the Mideast for backpacking trips.  I am the only one that is going to spend the rest of the summer here at home.  I could have gone but because of my financial situation at the moment, travelling is totally out of the question.

This became a real depressing thought for me.  I really feel like I need to get away for a while.  But then, this crazy idea came to mind and I have been intoxicated with it for the last two days straight.

I have made up my mind that exactly one year from now, I am going to embark on a backpacking trip for 32 days across six countries in Southeast Asia.   I don’t know how I am going to do it, but some way, some how I will do it.  The picture shown above is going to be my escape.

A friend of mine a couple of nights ago sat me down and went over his entire trip that he has planned on for the Middle East.  Like I said above, my biggest factor is cost.  I was actually shocked at how cheap it is to travel to some of the most beautiful and intriguing places in the entire world.  One can literally spend $20 dollars a day and be fully fed, relaxed in a decent place to sleep and experience this world that we live in…for $20 dollars a day.

So one year from now, I plan on going to Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and The Philippines.  These locations contain among the most breath taking places in the entire world and it is quickly dawning on me that these places are not at all out of my reach.  All I need is a bit of strong dedication, will power and patience.  I am increasingly beginning to believe that this world is meant to be scene.  I want to see it, desperately.  And given the fact that I may be married in a couple of years from now with a job (Inshallah), it may not be possible to undertake such a trip at that point in my life.

The morning I came to this realisation, I immediately sat down and began to hash out a rough plan as to how I can make this Southeast Asia trip come to fruition.  After doing some rough calculations I figured that if I can somehow save $4000 dollars, I can make this new dream a reality.  I broke it down even further.  $4000 dollars over one year roughly translates into $333 dollars per month that I am going to have to put aside for 12 months.  I broke it down even further.  If I can put aside $11 dollars everyday for 365 days, I can literally be on the other side of the planet in one year.  Not bad…

The numbers seem small, and indeed they are.  But I am going to have to cut down on a lot of my spending from hereon in.  Ever since that day, thinking has already begun to change.  That Tim Horton’s large steep tea that I have on more than one occasion per day, can literally be my three meals for one day in Cambodia.  I am starting to realize that cutting down on these small things will literally make the difference between going and not going.

I wish I had come to this realisation a but later on because all my time is being spent on just the mere thought of actually being in the locations these pictures have been taken at.  Not good considering I have a presentation due in two days which I haven’t begun on doing.  Not good either because my exams are next week.

But I can’t help but be intoxicated with this idea, this very real notion that I could be backpacking in a far off land watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean, watching the colour of the water change with every degree the sun moves where it finally dips below the edge of the Earth.  I am literally getting a rush of excitement in my stomach as I type this.

Please God…Please let it be.

Please let me be this very person with his feet in the water watching your sun set over your ocean…

Valentines Wishes for Special People

So given that its Valentines Day today and seeing as how I don’t have a girlfriend and haven’t had one like ever, I thought I would dedicate this post to a group of my university friends.

I have known this group of people for quite a while but its not until during the whole Gaza conflict that we started to actually talk.  And now, as the semester goes along, I find myself hanging out with this group of people more and more.

I am the type of person that gets blown away from nice people.  If a person is genuinely nice to me, it literally makes my week.  I get so happy thinking about how nice this person was and I always wish them the best.  Since Ive met this group of people that’s exactly how I think and feel every time we get together.

Something as small as a hello wave down the hall between classes, a smile as we pass by, a little message on my facebook wall or something as big as coming to me for advice, asking me for my opinion, inviting me to go out with them, it all literally melts my heart.  Why? Simply because they are so genuinely nice.  Nice in ever essence of the word.

I can probably praise these bunch of people forever.  But the point here is that this group of people are truly very special.  It’s almost as if they are all blessed in their own respect.  And I am truly blessed for having known these people because it is very rare that people come across such a heart warming group of talented and intelligent individuals.

I consider myself very lucky to have met these people and I pray that all the happiness in the world comes to them.  I pray all their dreams and wishes come true and I pray that I am able to partake in their happiness.

Amen.

Happy Valentines Day guys!

Reading Week

Its about that time of year.  A week off school to do whatever your heart desires.  Reading Week, also known as Spring Break in the US, is less than a week away!

I don’t really know the history of Reading Week.  Rumour has it that universities were forced to give students some time off because they found that too many of them were committing suicide due to all the stress they were experiencing.  Who knows of this is true or not.  Although if it was, it certainly is very interesting.

What do I have planned for this time off?  Absolutely nothing.

I had made plans to visit a friend in another city.  Unfortunately my mother ended up in the hospital last week (an ordeal that I shall delve into at a later time) and she got home today.  So most likely, I will have to get up early and be at work most of the day so my dad can help take care of her (we run a family business).

So I don’t have any major plans.  I do however intend to catch up on some reading, watching a lot of television and movies.  Oh, and I will also have to study for a midterm that will fall the week after.  Damn you profs for forcing us to write midterms after Reading Week!!!

Typically tradition calls on students to book flights to Cancun where they party hard.  In fact there have been many booths set up around campus where travel agencies advertise their spring break specials.  If any of you are able to do that, I suggest you do it.  As a fellow traveller said to Ashoke on the train in The Namesake, “…pack a pillow and a blanket and see as much of the world as you can. You will not regret it. One day it will be too late.”

For those that will be staying at home like myself, I wish you very tranquil time off.  I hope you make the most of every blessed second of this prescious time off.

Fun Semester

This has probably been one of the most fun semesters I have had since first year.  Not only am I doing well in my classes, I am managing to get my work done and I have a fully engaged social life.  My extracurricular activities are going well.  Ive met some new people and I am starting to try new things as well.  This is despite all the problems that I am still dealing with at the moment. 

I feel this sense of ease.  I am not stressed out or anything either.  Its not that bad kind of eerie lack of stress either…like I know I should be stressed but Im not.  Its actually the good kind. 

This is going to end up being one of those semesters that I will remember for a very long time.  I can just picture myself ten, twenty years from now sitting in a chair, sipping on some chai looking back at this time and just smiling.  Rarely are many people able to do that.

I hope this continues into next semester.

The First Few Days of Fall

Well its that time of year again.  The leaves are beginning to change colour and fall off their branches.  The temperature is starting to crawl down to the single digits and the sky is frequently overcast with clouds.  Its autumn.  And this is perhaps one of the most ambiguous periods in the fall semester. 

Its ambigious for one reason really…midterms.  Midterms usually begin sometime between the first week of October to the third week in October in some cases.  Theoretically as students, we should always be studying for our classes and reading our textbooks…theoretically.  In reality however, its much more complicated than that.  Its one of those times were it still kind of feels like that school has just begun (even though its the third week of classes already).  So its kind of early to study for midterms.  And if you have a paper that is due, its normally not due until late November or early December.  So what is a student to do?

My suggestion is to hang out with friends.  Right now is prime time to conduct as much socializing as possible.  Why?  Because every ones schedule is so light.  People can afford to waste time and procrastinate, even miss a class here and there.  As long as you keep up with your readings and stuff (which in reality is not all that hard) socialize away! Do it now because once midterms hit, everyone is going to be a stranger and nobody is going to have time to hang out and chill…unless they have a sever case of procrastination.  If that is the case well then…I have no advice for you.

So waste as much time as you can now because you can comfortably afford to do so.  Go out with friends, stay out late and be merry because as soon as midterms hit, surely you are going to regret not getting it out of your system.

In Solidarity With Dave Cournoyer

 I feel obligated to come to the defence of a fellow political science student who is being bullied by the premier of his province of Alberta.  Premier Ed Stelmach is suing a U of A poli student Dave Cournoyer because he failed to register his domain name on the Internet.  Seeing that it was available, Cournoyer decided to purchase the domain for 14 dollars.  Steady Eddie finally decided to catch up to the times and create a website dedicated to all the failures of his government and chronicle the decline of the Conservative dynasty in Alberta when, to his surprise, edstalmach was already purchased!  Now, the honourable member for Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville is suing the U of A student to try and get the domain back.

To Ed, I say pick on a guy your own age.  There are plenty of other ways to resolve conflicts with people but hurling lawyers at students is not one of them.  Plus its not very good PR.  Frankly speaking, if you waited this long to register your domain, you really don’t have a case.  I mean, you were first elected in what, 93?  Ok so the Internet wasn’t all that big back then.  But in 1997 you entered into the cabinet as Minister for Agriculture.  Alright fine, I’ll admit, even in 97 the Internet was still relatively a new phenomena and people didn’t really understand the full potential of the net; certainly not politicians.  But come on, by the year 2000, everyone knew what the Internet was and people were fully aware of the potential of it.  OK but even then, lets just say you were naive and still didn’t realize what the net could do for you.  By 2004 you had become the Minister for Intergovernmental affairs.  SURELY you would have realized what the Internet was by then.  But I guess you didn’t and now you are suing a student because you didn’t know what the hell the Internet was.  Like really, do you not feel that this is in some way your fault? Or at the very least the fault of your staff for not having the brains to take up your domain.  Nowadays people register their domain even before they think of running for nomination.  You got elected in 93, became premier in 06 and you are just now thinking of having your site up?

Before this whole fiasco came about, Cournoyer blogged on Daveberta under the auspices of the edstelmach.ca (via redirection) domain.  The blog was used as a means of legitimate political descent against the Stelmach/tory government.  There are some Canadian experts in the field of E-Commerce that argue that by virtue of Cournoyer using the domain for means of political discourse, it is rightfully his. Also, there are some that argue that Stelmach isn’t even popular enough to lay claim that his name a legitimate trademark (I’ll spare the jokes for you guys). 

Typical of the Conservative attitude in the province, there are some that claim this is the workings of the Alberta Liberal Party because Cournoyer was a paid employee for ALP.  Here’s a good example of the typical rant and cry by the right wing Alberta conservative.  Note the infuriatingly flawed logic that’s inherent in the article. 

So in Liberal logic it’s Internet open season on anyone who doesn’t own all the domain names that are slightly connected to them.

So yea, like its that black and white. Mind you, the above article is from the Sun, a newspaper that uses a grade 5 reading level, pictures of semi-nude women, advertisements for call girls, strip clubs and escort agencies to attract readers. So really, I don’t expect any type of sophisticated logic to come out of that paper. But I think you guys get my point. It seems that any type of descent that the Conservatives face is always some sort of ploy by the leftists to gain political points. I am sure that suing a 24 year old university student is perfectly honourable.

If Dave was legitimately slandering Eddie’s name then I would agree that Stelmach has a case against Cournoyer. But because his criticism is of a political nature, there it cannot be considered as being that at all. In fact, I would argue that Cournoyer is being censored by the Premier. I am sure that if Cournoyer were praising Stelmach, calling him God of all of Canada, Eddie would be tipping his cowboy hat at him, at the very least; patting him on he back. I can’t remember them off the top of my head but there were a few federal MPs that found that their domains were taken by special interest groups (I think they were pro same sex marriage when the MPs were anti same sex) and there was really nothing they could do about it. It wasn’t until after the whole same sex marriage was declared legal in Canada that they got their domains “back.”

I got the perfect solution for Stelmach. Go to Register.com and type in your domain. Near the top of the page will be a set of options for you. Choose C, make an offer. If you really care about your name, don’t tarnish it by using bullying tactics. Use the good old free market approach to settle your dispute. The good thing about this solution is that:

1. You won’t make yourself look like a crying baby
2. You’ll spare yourself the criticism of picking on students
3. If you offer enough money, you’ll help out a fellow highly indebted student who lives in the only debt free jurisdiction in the western hemisphere, just in time for the start of the winter semester
4. You’ll be helping out the Alberta economy.

Its a win-win situation.  You’ll get your domain and he’ll won’t have to pay tuition for a semester.  Or at the very least, he won’t have to reach into his own pocket for text books.  Law suits are for weaklings.  This is the real Conservative way of doing things. 

Good luck with your battle Mr. Cournoyer.  Your fellow students are with you.

Felicity

No, this is not my current state of being.  Rather, I am in a state of felicity while watching felicity.  This is my latest obsession while on winter break.  When this show came out, I was probably in grade 6 or 7 when this first came to air.  I could see that it was a good show but I never really watched it because frankly I was far too young and would not have understood any of it.  At that time, we had a family friend that was staying with us who was attending university and he was heavy into this show.  And literally, almost a decade later, I can clearly see why.  Felicity is a really good show.  If you haven’t heard of it or if you haven’t watched it, I am afraid I won’t be telling you much about it.  You have to check it out for yourself.  I just finished the first season last night.

At first I thought Felicity was just a tad bit crazy with her following Ben to New York and when she dropped out of pre-med.  But it all comes back to the title of the show, Felicity.  Although I am only beginning the second season, I can already see how its all about a person’s desire to find and attain happiness, no matter how crazy that pursuit really is.  Every character in the show is trying to attain the ultimate state of felicity.  It also shows how difficult attaining that state really is.  I mean, everyone can attain one degree or another of felicity, but to achieve the ultimate state of felicity is something that is probably one of the most difficult things in the entire world.  And the thing is, very few people actually get to reach that state.  There are the obvious themes in the show, like love, friendship, self discovery, creativity.  Some people may argue that these are cliches but I would argue that these are all things that are inherent in life and in human nature.  These themes need to be addressed in order to attain a state of felicity.  I sure know that my life involves pretty much all these themes. 

The writing is phenomenal.  And the setting is by far the best;  New York city and a university campus…it honestly can’t get any better than that.  For university students especially, I would highly recommend watching this show.  Its very addictive so don’t let it interfere with your school work.  Its too bad that the show got cancelled in only its fourth season.  It seems like there are so many good shows that get cancelled early.  That’s the nature of television I guess.  I know the Canadians are going to be mad at me when I say this but God bless American Television.

I Wish I Could Go Back In Time

Lately I have had trouble sleeping.  Its these thoughts…these vicious thoughts that hit you like a brick wall. Literally…the type of thoughts that will wake you up just like that…as if a there was a loud sound or noise that just wakes you up.  These thoughts have robbed me of my sleep.  And its one of the sickest feelings in the world.

During these sleepless nights, I have come to this harsh realization.  I truly lack discipline.  I am completely void of any discipline in my life, especially my school life.  And this got me thinking.  How and why did I lose this discipline? Because I did have it once.  I had it all throughout Junior high.  For three years, I excelled in almost every class I had took.  But then high school came around and I guess that’s where it withered away.  By the time University came around, I had pretty much lost all of it.  And each and every semester its gets more and more ridiculous. 

As bad as it was, I wish I could go back to high school and start all over again.  I wish I could go back and develop proper study habits and actually learn how to study properly.  Then that way, I wouldn’t have had to go through the hell that I had to to get into University.  I wouldn’t have had to go through all that depression that I had suffered through.  I would have been happy in University. I would have had good, proper, efficient study habits and discipline…which would have given me motivation and determination to do what I had to do to get a good GPA so that I wouldn’t lay in bed awake, terrified at what my future will hold for me.  I wish I had taken opportunities and more chances.  I wish I lived in a dorm, by myself.  I wish I could have taken a semester abroad.  I wish I could have met a girl.  Life could be so much more easier if I could just go back in time.  They say that your teens and your 20s are the best years of your life so you should enjoy them because they are not coming back.  Do you know how scary that phrase is? Just say it back in your head…”those days are never coming back…” You have no idea how scared that phrase made me a few nights ago. The more I thought about it, the more panicked I got.  My stomach began to feel sick, my legs got numb.  These days that go by me everyday are never coming back.  As much as I may have accomplished throughout the years, I really feel that the majority of the days that have passed me have been a waste to one extent or the other. 

The sad thing is, I don’t know what to do…