"Falling under your spell..."

First off, congrats to Frank Thomas for hitting Home Run #500. Too bad he decides to do it in Minnesota on a Thursday afternoon! Best Wishes nonetheless.

A tad of good news on my front - I get a 4 day weekend! Mind you, One of the 4 days will likely be spent at my religious communities annual convention, which is usually entertaining for one or two speeches, and then turns into a snore-fest. That's when I plan to drag Zan along for our annual trip to Square One, where we kill a few hours before going back to pick up dear mother. Excellent stuff, I know.

I've been getting into dance music a lot these days, thanks to the magic of Podcasts. Tiesto and David Guetta have some kick-arse weekly shows, and I'm actually considering making one of their Toronto shows my first "concert" experience (if you can call it that). Who knows, maybe I'll find a suitable Pakistani background girl :P

In referrence to the potential good news, it's kinda side-tracked. While not what I initially hoped, there's still a shadow of hope that I may well have some interesting news to report in the coming weeks, stay tuned...

Notes...

- Listening to Tiesto's podcast, I'm hearing this kick-ass track by Global Experience called Madras. It's dance music with Hindi vocals! And it really does sound good!

- Bhang = East Indian concoction composed of milk and marijuana extract. I discovered this while watching an Indian film, thinking the characters were drunk. I guess that's the Indian version of a milkshake!

- Jamie's birthday is today - Happy Birthday! I would have never thought I could become such good friends with a person who I just worked with at the Blue Jays. He's a great guy and as always, I hope the best for him. Here's to hoping he has some more fun tonight when we all meet up for a little shindig!

- I love facebook profile photos. The following one of Cedric is quite amusing...



...I propose from now on that we call him Cedric : The Booty Hunter!



- Do I have some weird universal friendship with summer babies? I haven't even begun counting, but I have at LEAST 4 friends who have birthdays in the coming 3 weeks, and it's getting a little crazy! I guess it makes October 28th all the more special!

- Pakistan has narrowed their coaching search down to three candidates - ALL Australians! The sad part is that they all were reluctant to even apply until it was proven that Bob Woolmer was NOT murdered but died of natural causes. We're like the Argentina of the cricket world - an everlasting non-stop abundance of raw talent, mercurial performance, and moments of lethargy. Oh yeah, and we have the biggest rivalry in all of sport, and nobody can convince me otherwise!

- Coke Zero and Diet Coke don't taste all that different. A colleague told me that Coke Zero was created solely to be marketed to guys who want to be health conscioius, but not considered soft for drinking a Diet Coke. I actually believe them because I find myself drinking a lot of Coke Zero's these days!

- I have the Oakley Gascan's in my hand right now! After much worries about the cost, I popped in and out of Sunglasses Hut and purchased them. And if Cedric wasn't too drunk, he just may have gotten the nice Irish girl's phone number :P

That's it for now, I'm off to do a quick round of groceries, then off to J-Fizzle's birthday bash. Let's hope he has a memorable evening!

Nothing new but nerves...

The title says it all.

No worries though, your boy is still at his humorous best. Though it is a bit tiresome trying to watch the Jays game after the 12th inning...

Hope you all are sending your good vibes my way. I could use them!

Who says Pakistanis can't flirt?

It's so corny I actually loved it!

It's been another mediocre week at the races. Nothing too much to boast or complain about at the moment, though there is the potential for some interesting new next week. Much like a potential no-hitter in baseball, I'm not going to jinx it by giving it away. Let's just hope things bode well for me (as I'm hoping you all do regardless!).

Song in my head at the moment? U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Sweatin' to the Oldies

Hey yaars,

I have the great fortune of having this weekend off from work and I can assure you all that I've spent the first half in a most worthy manner. Yes, I slept for the first 12 hours, and am now catching up on my podcasts. While bleating in this almost unbearable heat, I have now become a David Guetta fan. (*Humming Love is Gone*).

Being the ardent fan of Pakistan cricket that I am, I was mildly surprised to discover this morning that the PCB has publicly released their annual financial statement. Which is odd for a country that is hesitant on allowing media the freedom of press. Anyhow, the figure that boggled my mind was the income - 0r lack thereof - they received from the use of their logo/sponsorships. It was slightly over $1 million! It surprises me as I'm sure that if they ever got their act together, and started pro-actively marketing official merchandise, they could be RAKING it in. It's a sad state of affairs when it's easier to get knockoff goods than the real deal anywhere in that country - I should know, I've had relatives search Lahore and Karachi for items.

Off of the cricket tangent, and on to another usual one. I'm on non-speaking terms with the moms at the moment. Yes, it once again pertains to my arriving home late at night and not phoning home. But as my cousin has pointed out, it wouldn't matter if I phoned because I'd still find a way to get yelled at. Alas, c'est la vie and I'm just waiting until tomorrow where she'll HAVE to speak to me (father's day dinner that I'm paying for at her best friends' home). I hope this amuses you all ! :P

On to the randoms...

- A month or so ago, Jamie and I went to the Urban Outfitters on Yonge and I was very close to buying a keffiyah. For those of you who aren't familiar with the word, here's a picture :


And if you're still not sure of it's relevance, here's a political icon who made it internationally known as a symbol of his people :



No, I don't want to wrap it around my head, but I like the stylish look it has when wrapped around the neck, and what it represents. A struggle for freedom, not what some people have called "terror towels". Anyhow, I passed on it the first time holding off to buy it, only to discover that Urban Outfitters has pulled it at the behest of certain groups who opposed what it stood for. I can see where they're coming from, but should we also ban all military wear from stores too now?

- Big Z is back! Carlos Zambrano pitched another gem today, a no-no until the 8th, and a full complete game. Of course it was tarnished in the 9th by Russell Branyan, who hit a solo shot that went on to win the game. Oh the lovable losers...

- Bobby Brown is officially crazy. While getting my daily fix of BBC News on my iPod, I heard a quote from a recent interview he had where he claims that he's a targeted man. By whom you ask? Osama bin Laden. According to him, Osama has the hots for Whitney Houston and will do anything, including eliminating Bobby, to have her. Who would have thought Osama wanted to dance with someboooody!. (Believe it or not, this is actually true - look it up on Google news!)

- NEW RULE -

When driving, words that may be considered racist are acceptable under the following conditions:

a) you get cut off
b) you have someone going 10 km/h UNDER the limit
c) you have someone right on your rear tailing you
d) the car behind you has those ridiculously blinding bright lights on
e) it takes the whole world to clear for the car in front of you to make a turn
f) a car jumps in front of you so that he/she can be ahead of you at the oncoming red light!
g) tractor trailer in front which has pebbles smashing into your windshield.

- I like pastels, what's wrong with that?

- Gangsta song of the moment : Jay-Z - Dig a Hole from Kingdom Come


Alright folks, it's been a pleasure. Talk to you soon.

Hey yaars,

Things have been busy on the good ship Naveed over the past fortnight. If work wasn't stressful enough, I finally went through with it and chopped most of my glorious locks off last saturday. I knew about a month ago that my hair was long when I noticed how I could pull it down over my eyes. I really knew a cut was long overdue when I could get it to extend down to the tip of my nose! So with much worry, I asked a friend to help cut it with a subtle change from the trademark desi part. Off to House of Lord's I went, and out I came a punk rock star! OK, I'm no star, but the part is gone and it's a tad more disheveled than before.

On the social front, it seems like my friends have more and more difficulties in life these days. Every friend I talk to seems to be happy, yet disgruntled, while also carrying a large burden on their shoulders. I'm always open to listening and being a good friend, unfortunately the most I can do for them is pray that things get better for them. If only I had a magic genie who could help solve such problems, I'd be everyone's best friend!

Another one of my interesting habits I indulged in this weekend was the afternoon reflecting sessions I go through. I usually take 20 minutes to an hour thinking to myself on anything and everything, from the spiritual to the mundane day-to-day. And in a slight change from the norm, here are a few random musings that were rattling in my head that are a little less humorous than normal...

- is it acceptable to modify your ambitions if it's for the greater good of your family?
- can years of friendship be broken by a mistaken choice of words? and if so, what is needed to mend things?
- is it worthwhile to select a different path in life, not knowing whether the consequences will outweigh the benefits?
- Honouring the family - more important than honouring thyself?
- Am I ugly?

OK, so I admit there's always a BIT of self-deprecation in my quasi-meditating. Nonetheless the weekend relax time usually helps revive my spirits for the oncoming week.

And now of course to the random notes...

- Ottawa lost the cup
- Horray! The look on Jamie's face the next day when I ribbed him about it balanced out all of the Leaf bashing he's indulged in over the past year. And yes, I'm happy they didn't win because I didn't want to have to hear smack from Sens fans for the rest of my life

- Zambrano vs. Barrett :
Let's not get into this. They kissed and made up. They love each other. So we should let them move on!

- General Musharraf placing strict rules on the media, even going to the length of censoring some stations.
This always happens in that country - a seemingly righteous army general overthrows the corrupt, "democratically" elected leader, makes a few subtle changes, and then becomes as corrupt as his predecessor. Your government cannot be legitimate if the rule of law is suspended, which is exactly what happened when he suspended the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. As much as I liked his approach in the first few years of his tenure, I feel his days as leader are numbered.

- If you drive a chick magnet car, or a shitbox - you're a horrible driver! It seems I always get cut off or in close calls with either of these two and I've now come to the point where I make a stand and speed up to cut THEM off too now.

- Paris Hilton
As much as I shouldn't care either way, I do feel she's being treated a bit unfairly because of her celebrity status. She shouldn't be responsible for a sherriff's error. She was given permission to go and serve the remainder of her sentence under house arrest and the honus should be put on the authorities to explain why. At the same time, the images of her crying in the squad car were fascinating to see.

Alright, I'm tapped. In the next few hours I will be going out to see the film Knocked Up and hope it's as good as I expect. I have a tenner riding on it!

Later guys and dolls!