Power Rankings of Friends: Ground Rules

Hey

Always looking to stir up some controversy, this potentially new perennial Power Rankings (PR) of Friends is being written for a couple reasons:

1. I once debated the idea of writing a PR for my friends’ wives when I was single. No, not based on looks, you dirty-minded fools, but based upon who I got along with the most. At the time, I considered Princess’, T-Wade’s, and AJ’s women until (a) my friends, especially T, told me it was going to be a really bad idea and create tears in the fabric of our community and (b) I realized that none of those wives particularly liked me or treated me too well due to their raging jealousy of the indisputable fact that their husbands prefer me over them. And so an otherwise brilliant idea was crushed.



2. I have no friends here in Danbury, so it makes me appreciate my friends even more, which of course means that I have to categorize them like it’s high school all over. You can't really appreciate anything or anyone unless you objectify them. Words to live by, folks...

For those that are already smitten with this idea, I am afraid to inform you that there are going to be some ground rules (GRs) established. Call it being-a-dad, but GRs are important even though, like any good rule, they can be broken when it's convenient (for me). I intend in this blog post to first establish the GRs and then subsequently issue the PRs for 2011.

And, now, the GRs...

Ground Rules for the Power Rankings of Friends:

A. The Bonds of Brotherhood Rule: I will not be including my brothers on the PR list because, while they are certainly my friends, they are my bros and no one can really be compared to them, Alhamdullilah. They stand tall in a league all to themselves. [1]

B. The AJ is My Homie and The Fourth Shakur Rule (aka The AJIMHATFS Rule): AJ, out of fairness to others, cannot be factored. Assume moving forward that he has secured the #1 spot, so truly, the #1 person you will see below will be #1* (note asterisk usage, which ties back to The AJIMHATFS Rule).

C. The BIL Rule: I am a happily married man, Alhamdullilah, and therefore including HP in the PR, as much as I want to, will not be allowed simply because I am not only afraid of my wife and potentially #whipped, but he just so happens to be the one and only mamujaan to my daughter, so I guess you can say that I am #doublewhipped. Besides, could you imagine my wife’s reaction when she sees HP at the bottom of the PR list EVERY year?! [2]

D. The HEEEEEeeeeeeeEEEEEeee Rule (aka The T Rule): NOTE: This rule is under review. T will not be included either. While this guy could’ve easily been a Fourth Shakur as well, he instead lives in perpetual fear of my family due to his belief that, to this day, they hate him. My Dear T, That was only fresh year, bro. OK, maybe junior year, too, when we dormed together, but still…get over it. Tragically, this rule, while currently in place due to a lot of history/bangin', is under review at this time because T has fallen victim to The OB (Oakbrook) lifestyle. Under this influence, I have seen more Facebook check-ins of T at fancy hibachi restaurants in Naperville and at his in-laws than check-ins with me. It’s traumatizing, but what can I do? Also, he happens to be the father of Lil RG, Alhamdullilah, so I cannot give him too much slack should I have hopes for the future of this relationship.

E. The Eswft Rule: NOTE: This rule is under review. As much as Erik has fallen off the map, it’s nonetheless Erik and what I have come to expect of him since our post-DePaul days so he is exempted from the PR, too. Given the amount of history/bangin' and the fact that when we see each other (rarely) it’s like we’re back at Seton Hall all over again, this rule remains in tact; however, I cannot in good conscience ignore the fact of his increasing lack of attention towards moi. Erik, step your game up in ’12, son!

F. The Panda Rule (aka The Love-Hate Relationship Rule): Note: This rule is being considered to being put under review. You know how you see those relationship statuses on social networking sites that say, “It’s complicated?” Well, the people who came up with that definitely had Panda and me in mind. Virtually speaking, Farooq definitely has grounds to be ineligible to have a GR for him as he enjoys being a jerk to me via email and text. But then he non-virtually does things that are amazing like surprise visits to Do-Me-Bury, random gifts like chocolate covered pomegranates, etc. (MBN to be me / ma sha Allah). So it’s mostly because of the “hate” periods of our relationship that this rule is being considered to be under review, but the “love” periods of our relationship block the immediate review.

There are definitely other GRs that I can establish here and justify. For example, I could create one for KR out of tariqa-based loyalties alone; or Zoobear because he’s just too freaking funny; or A2 for being an overall stallion of a guy. But then I’ll be traveling down a path of creating GRs for everyone with obvious exception to Princess Hassan. And, let me be clear about this, readers, there’s no way I can live with myself for having Princess be #1 in my PR of Friends [3].

Alright, folks. That concludes the officials GRs. I'll see you guys back here soon with the first ever PR.


Side Notes:
[1] Although why not create a PR system between them two? Normally I would say that the #1 spot in this Brothers PR List would be the bro that buys me stuff, but that’s too easy. So why not have it geared towards my daughter instead? The #1 spot would then be the brother who spoils her the most. If it just so happens that this would result in buying things for me, as I’m sure my daughter’s happiness is also rooted in part in my own, then so be it…
[2] Sorry, I could not resist getting in that last line…

[3] Yep, you guessed it. That entire paragraph was crafted as a loophole here with my friends to hopefully make them know that I heart them all. And to continuously point out my hatred for Princess.




cheers

Tabz Does Danbury & NYC: Recap

^ proof that Tabz still prayed even while his BIL, Sayeed, was in Pak

You have reached the voicemail of...

Ok, that has nothing to do with the recap, but I simply love the passion and intensity of which Tabz says that on his VM. Here goes the recap of Tabz’s visit to Do-me-bury last weekend:

Tabz had confirmed that he would be done with his meetings and available on Saturday around 1pm. So, in typical Pac fashion, I got there promptly at 2:15pm. In this case, however, I am totally going to leverage the I-brought-my-wife-and-kid card as the main reason for being late. TBHWU, I didn’t want to bring the wife and kid, but the day before I was out all day including the better part of the evening due to a work team building event, so I had a hard time telling my only friend in Danbury, my wife, that I was going to be gone for yet another entire day and, on top of that, to NYC – home of civilization as it relates to CT. Fortunately for me, our guest didn’t mind nor did he even give me a look of, Really, Pac? You’re bringing your wife and daughter to hang out with?! Ma sha Allah, Tabz is a nice guy.

Anyway, as you would expect, Tabz stayed in a baller Marriot hotel which was literally in the heart of Times Square. When I picked him up from the lobby, he greeted me with (1) his baller designer name brand two-piece luggage set both with an Admiral’s Club nameplates in black and gold (probably 24k gold) and (2) a box of sweets he picked up from his client, APPNA. I guess at this point, it’s fitting to point out Tabz’s APPNA experience...

“Very Paki” is what he initially told me about the organization. Immediately I thought to myself, Oh,that means there was probably complete segregation, lectures on the deen, and RGs everywhere. But, much to my (cough, cough) surprise, by “Paki” he meant “Hydro,” which meant that it was pretty liberal. For example, namaz was never on any agenda item; clothing was probably optional; and bhangra-ing was definitely mandatory (note: Arif Lahore – whom I’ve enjoyed since my childhood thanks to one of my uncles – was going to perform later that night and Tabz had two tickets! Man, why oh why did I bring my family?! #missedopportunity). Outside of his description of APPNA, which really wasn’t a surprise to me (unfortunately), Tabz kept pronouncing “Pakistan” like “Pack-is-tan” like he was a lifelong Texan governor running on the Republican ticket. In fact, my wife still can’t get over it. I avoided the temptation of asking Tabz to pronounce “Islam” and “Muslim” for fear that he’d say “Izlam” and “Moozlum.” Maybe it’s Tabz making up for his fobbiness? Maybe it’s the East Coast making people into ECJBs? Whatever it is, I pray it stops. It is an affront to me and my fellow Punjabi and new dance partner, Sami.

The initial plan was to take Tabz to “the usual” places with a stop in Brooklyn and particularly the DUMBO area with visits to Grimaldi’s pizza and a gorgeous view of DT Manhattan. Unfortunately, with the day being overcast, it started raining, so we decided to hit up Little Italy (i.e. NoLiTa) and try out another popular pizza joint very well known in NYC – Lombardi’s (supposedly the first pizzeria in Amreeka). Our overall verdict of Lomardi’s was that it was very legit, very good pizza. Everyone enjoyed it. But I have to ultimately agree with my wife and say that Grimaldi’s has a slight edge when it comes to both restaurants’ Neapolitan style pizza. Regardless, Lombardi’s is still a good place to throw back/fold up some NYC style pizza.

Soon after, we hit up Rice to Riches. This was a place that Tabz had been to before. It’s basically kheer gone crazy: just imagine kheer (rice pudding) but with a million different flavor selections like tiramisu, custard, caramel, rocky road, etc. On one hand, it might sound really bad, but on the other, especially for kheer enthusiasts, it sounds like a must-try. The three of us (four, if you include lil Suhaylie Pie) really enjoyed it. It’s small inside so we stood while eating and enjoyed the creative marketing slogans of the restaurant. Just check out these pics to know what I’m saying, in addition to some of my own:

Immediately after Rice to Riches, we passed by a Pinkberry (they’re adjacent to one another), so we were of course compelled to go. Tabz tried a sample or two whereas I hit up a small original with strawberries and chocolate crunch toppings (the chocolate crunch being Pinkberry’s primary attraction to both me and the wifey).

After that, Tabz, thinking that Sayeed was just around the corner, requested that we go hit up a masjid for Asr salat. MBN being RG in NYC whilst being an ECJB whilst also trying to DM. So we walked a few blocks to some random masjid (thank you, Zabihah.com iPhone app!) before we left the general SoHo/Nolita/Chinatown area. It’s nice that there are so many masjids/places to pray in the City – you could probably say it’s a 1:1 ratio of halal carts and masjids, which is saying a lot.

BTW, side note: I found out that Tabz knew a lot about NYC eating namely because he was out in NJ for a while about a year ago and in that time, he hung out a lot with his brother’s sister’s first cousin’s aunt’s neighbor’s babysitter’s friend’s cousin (OK, the chain was actually the bolded part of that description, but it felt like it took forever for Tabz to provide the chain of friendship). Anyway, his friend is a guy named Sameer. Sameer has a blog that I’ve actually come across in the past and probably many Muslims are aware of it, too – Sameer’s Eats. Pretty cool.

Ma sha Allah, Tabz’s connections run deep. As does his family (ma sha Allah, ma sha Allah). Another new thing I learned about him is that the guy has four sisters! I had NO idea! I always thought it was just three bros. I’m beginning to think with his connections, family secrets (OK, I guess it’s probably not a secret to his family that they have four girls, but you know what I mean), pronunciation of Pakistan, that there’s more than meets the eye with Tabz. That maybe he’s more than someone who likes to watch movies that don’t require thinking…

After our eating and praying escapades, we were planning to hit up 53rd and 6th for some combo platters to take back home, but before going, Tabz called an audible: “I’ve always wanted to see Imam Siraj Wahhaj’s masjid.” So we happily obliged our RG guest. Truthfully, I’m glad that he wanted to as not too long ago it just hit me that indeed Imam Siraj is from NYC and that I should check him out one of these days, so I was happy to oblige. Alhamdullilah, our Lord has His amazing ways. Oh, plus we needed to pray maghrib. Good thing to do.

I entered the address into my iPhone from the masjid’s (Masjid al Taqwa) website and off we went. Shortly before reaching our destination, Tabz commented that I was heading the wrong way. I looked at my phone. Nope, I was still on the purple line. I realized Tabz had an older iPhone so, in true Apple elitistry, I scoffed at him. But when we arrived to our destination, we were sitting in my car outside of an HSBC bank. We were confused. We saw an HSBC bank and a lot of white folk. You know that’s troubling because if you know about Imam Siraj Wahhaj, you know that his masjid and area aren’t in the best of locations. He mentions it in his talks, so it’s no secret. Tabz and I started to wonder what type of fundraising efforts does the Imam pull off?! MBN – the masjid is now a bank!

Ok, so what had happened was that the website’s address was missing a “1” in front of the address, which meant that Tabz had the right address he pulled from Google (Google knows your location better than your website does, I suppose) and so we had to travel an extra 20 minutes deep into the less desirable areas of Brooklyn. On the way, we were shocked to go through an area that was clearly dominated by Jewish folks. Like HC/HD ones, too. On either side of the street we were driving, you’d see men dressed in all black, with long beards, and wearing big black furry boxes (ok, hats) on their heads. It was a sight to see. I don’t even think you’d see that in predominantly Jewish areas back in Chicago. Soon enough, about 5 minutes driving though that area, we were in the land of halal chicken joints and so we stereotypically knew that we were on the right path.

Eventually we get to the masjid and, ma sha Allah, it was really nice. The immediate block within the masjid also looked much nicer and safer than the surrounding areas. You’d see fellow mumins, mostly Black, everywhere, and all very friendly and happy to greet you. We also noted that almost every shop on that block was an Islamic bookstore, a halal grocery, a halal restaurant, etc. Subhan Allah. Imam Siraj and his community are indeed impressive. Tabz told us he had heard that the surrounding area of the masjid was cleaned up, and so we witnessed that indeed it was. Unfortunately, we arrived a little late so we had apparently just missed Imam Siraj himself. I felt that this community was much more community-oriented and welcoming versus your typical desi suburban masjid. It’s more of a sad reality, but I felt it as did my wife. My wife came back from the sister’s side energetic and happy because she said every sister in the room greeted her very nicely and respectfully (would our desi sub-community do the same to someone outside of that sub-community in one of those suburban masjids? I hope so, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t the case). I also noticed a sign posted on bulletin boards throughout the masjid: SICK LIST. Impressive; the masjid provided a list of sick people and their contact info so that you could (1) make dua for them and (2) visit them to see if you could do anything. Blew. Me. Away. Alhamdullilah. In a poor community, you had the richest of hearts. We prayed and left a little after taking the area in. Right around that time the azan for Isha goes off. It’s actually being played outside of the masjid on loud speaker loud enough for people in the area to hear. WOW. Subhan Allah. So amazing. The beauty and impact of our faith, no doubt.

Afterwards, we hit up 53rd and 6th and also Magnolia Bakery as I learned that Tabz doesn’t like dessert too much, but does enjoy cupcakes. So it was probably my fault the next morning for breakfast when I asked my wife to make her awesome Nutella crepes. Tabz ate most of it but in the end he traded me – grade school style – his crepes for one of the plain crepes I was going to feed Suhaylie with for more egg. I guess we should’ve known that the Hydro Nawab only eats kichri keema and probably biryani in the mornings. Perhaps the entire “Pack-is-tan” thing threw us off and we thought he was a lil more white washed? Guess not? Then again, why did he refuse the homemade (by my in-laws) achar? This guy is an enigma!

All in all, it was a short trip (I didn’t even have time to give him a proper, traditional tour of Danbury since his flight out the next day didn’t give us much time after breakfast), but we made the most of it and we were truly honored to have a good friend and a good guest (despite him teaching Chinese, I mean, Hydro-style Urdu, to my daughter – I’ve never heard “nakko” so many times; I really thought that word was a joke and not something really used) come visit us. We thank him also for the wonderful gift he gave us – it’s a stand that holds the lil charcoal-like thingies to make your crib smell like an RG fob’s crib (I’m so good with describing things by their name, right?). But, tbhwu, I really love that stuff; no joke. It was perfect and much, much appreciated. Alhamdullilah, I am really happy to have had that time and moments with an awesome friend, ma sha Allah.

May Allah reward Tabz and his family, most especially his mother as well as his children, with the best in this life and the best in the Hereafter. May He (swt) shower them with His (swt) infinite mercy, forgiveness, and favor. Allah huma Salli Allah Muhammad. Aameen! Please remember him and again, especially his mom, in your duas.

JZK, Tabz!

Cheers

Yearning for The Prophet (sw)

Subhan Allah


I’ve had the good fortune to receive an email about the arrival of a sacred cup to Chechnya: the cup of The Prophet (sw).  I’ll copy and paste the brief article summarizing this event as well as the YouTube video clip documenting the auspicious, majestic occasion.  But first, some reflections after watching the clip:


I felt as if the entire city was at a standstill upon the arrival of the cup.  It was a scene you’d imagine or have witnessed only on TV: like the hero, or a savior, or an object of tremendous power being heralded about.  It’s powerful, moving.  The cup was being paraded around in a Bentley.  Initially, I think I both grimaced and almost chuckled when I saw the cup being transported via a Bentley thinking to myself, The Prophet (sw) was not about flashy cars!  But then I realized that if we lived in the time of The Prophet (sw), how would we greet him (sw)?  Would it not be with our best?  So a Bentley from that respect is perhaps but a good start.

What amazes me to the point of speechlessness is how we are so moved by the possessions of The Prophet (sw).  Just the possessions themselves hold so much value.  What, then, about the value of the one who possessed them (sw)?  Subhan Allah.  You cannot escape the thought of asking yourself, What if I was in his (sw) blessed presence?  I recall the words from the Urdu poem and naat that state:

Khuda ki azmatain kya hay, Muhammad Mustafa jaanay,

Maqaam-e-mustafa kya hay, Muhammad ka Khuda jaanay.

No wonder that even after The Prophet’s (sw) passing, our next most righteous people, the Sahaba, still emulated every physical motion of The Prophet (sw).  If memory serves me correctly, was it not Hazrat Umar (R) who would move his horse or walk the exact same steps of The Prophet (sw) even when it didn’t make “sense” to do so?  Hazrat Umar (R) was in the physical and spiritual presence of the Best of Creation and you could see how apparent his love of The Prophet (Sw) was with such a magnified sense of respect.  So perhaps the baraqa of these artifacts is that it brings us closer to the Beloved Prophet (sw).

Sacred artifacts of The Prophet (sw) should rightfully always deserve our attention, desire, and respect.  I’m reminded now about the tremendous honor my cousin here in CT has.  He was asked some time ago to keep a hair of The Prophet (sw) at his home by a family who had the hair in their family for generations.  My cousin then built and customized an entire room in his house for the purpose of being “good enough” to hold the hair of The Prophet (sw).  It is by far the best part of his house.  Peaceful and serene and surrounded by books of our faith.  Subhan Allah.  Maybe moving forward I should call it his Bentley Room?

You may begin to wonder if I’m overdoing it.  “It’s just a cup.”  But I cannot look it at that way.  Recently, I read one of the great scholars from Deoband, Hadrat Maulana Rashid Ahmed Gangohi (rh), say, “It is enough for us that this cloth felt the breeze of Madinah” in response to one of his students questioning the value of clothes from Madinah.  In this light, limiting the cup to just a cup would be disrespectful in my eyes.

We feel the closeness and are engulfed and consumed by it.  If this is not love, then I don’t know what is.  There is no one else that can bring about such a change in our hearts… be it a temporary feeling or something (insha Allah) that impacts us for a lifetime.  It is uniquely a power that belonged uniquely to The Prophet (sw).

Ya Allah. You honored us with The Prophet (sw).

Us, and we are but Your slaves who are most undeserving and sinful.

We beg for even a chance to get a glimpse of the path that He (sw) walked on; a path that leads to endless Bliss with You (Swt).

We beg for that comforting breeze of Madinah.

We beg for your pardon for we know that we are undeserving to even ask, but we are hopeful and in need, so we ask that through Thy Mercy you grant it to us nonetheless.

Ya Allah.  You have blessed us with knowledge of knowing who The Prophet (sw) is.  With love for The Prophet (sw), so we ask that we do not take that for granted.  Guide us on the right path, Ya Allah!

Ya Allah, how can we even begin to fathom Your Mercy upon us; You who sent The Mercy to All Worlds to us; You, Oh Creator of Our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (sw)!  Forgive us for our sins and open our hearts to be in unison with the heartbeat the of The Prophet (sw); to have each beat and every breath filled with Thy rememberance.  Aameen!

I’ll warn you now: you may need to watch the clip when you’re alone or not afraid to tear up.  The love of The Holy Prophet (sw) is tremendous and I can only hope I cried enough tears:

The Holy Prophet's Relic Brought To Chechnya

By
AFP

Published Thursday, September 22, 2011

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov (right) escorts the Prophet Muhammad's cup
and carpets in a Rolls Royce Car from an airport to Grozny central
mosque on Thursday (AFP)

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov broke into floods of tears as he unveiled
a purported relic of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) at a
ceremony, reports said on Thursday.
The government of the majority Muslim Russian Northern Caucasus region,
raised the 1,400-year-old cup which is believed to belonged to the
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The cup had earlier been flown into the Chechen capital Grozny from
London where it was kept by unnamed descendants of Prophet Muhammad's
(PBUH) cousin and fourth Caliph Ali Ibn Abi Talib.
Kadyrov triumphantly carried the boxed relic straight off the plane at
the airport to the ceremony on Wednesday.
The flag-waving delegation then arrived to Grozny's central Mosque
greeted by a crowd of singing and clapping people.
The Chechen leader then proceeded to take the jade-coloured bowl out of
bubble wrapping, and broke down in uncontrollable tears after kissing
the object, covering his reddening face and shaking violently.
The Chechen government said in a statement on its website that "the cup
was used by Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), passing to his cousin
Ali Ibn Abi Talib."
Anyone will be able to drink water from it on the day of Prophet
Muhammad's (PBUH) birthday, the Chechen government said.
Kadyrov, who has ruled the region since 2007 and was reappointed earlier
this year, has overseen several grandiose projects and events in Grozny.
He has also encouraged the revival of Islam in the region, inaugurating
in 2008 the "Heart of Chechnya" mosque, said to be the biggest in
Europe.

Here is the Video Clip of the Event
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZi8ZnGIcTo&feature=share

Allah huma Salli Allah Muhammad

The Path

While traveling the path, one can only hope to seek out the light.

Yet, it's important for the traveler to know that the light cannot be controlled. Its rays extend far and wide; into the deepest of paths penetrating the densest of jungles, but will only shine upon those whom it's Creator commands it.

So, have patience. Go forth and continue your drive towards seeking the light. For a traveler, even the reflection or glimpse of the light is strong enough to never stop trying.

May Allah grant us mercy and forgiveness and to always seek out His Light. Aameen.


salaam

Remembering Death: On the Passing of My Friend, Matt

A friend and colleague of mine, Matt, passed away this morning.

I will remember Matt for his incredible sense of humor and compassion towards others. He was a guy you could talk to about anything -- from the philosophical to the mundane. He was also competitive, ambitious, and someone who loved to horse around, but always in a way that you couldn’t help but to laugh even if you were the target of his jokes. He respected your beliefs and also stood by the principles of his beliefs, too.

I have known him for almost seven years now. Specifically, we knew each other through our work. In fact, we worked at two different companies together over almost a five year period (it was Matt who convinced me to leave one job for another one).

His sad departure, unfortunately, was imminent. He suffered from kidney cancer, which, after a couple years of battling it, took a bad turn. I tried to get in touch with him, but it was understandably difficult. He was trying to maximize his time with family and close friends. A few weeks ago he had updated his Facebook status to say that he was closing his fb account so he could focus more time with his family and less in virtual space. Actually, he mistyped and wrote that he needed to spend more time in the virtual world, so he immediately followed it up with another status to clarify, “Wait, non-virtual world. See, one more giggle.” Always joking (he later decided to keep his fb up because so many people were writing him well wishes). Of course, his status had me worried that his health was not improving. Shortly after, I received an email from an old co-worker that his time was coming. I emailed her to ask if they had any idea how long, but it was difficult to predict. I texted Matt the same day to see if I could speak to him. I didn’t hear from him until a few days later. His response:

Shak, so, so sorry for not getting back to you. Well, it’s time for me to go. At Peace with everything. Thanks for your friendship and all God’s Love and Blessings to you and your family. Love, xxx.
[Note: didn’t want to include his last name.]

I responded: I’m at a loss of words, xxx. I wish I could still meet with you. I will always admire your strength. I will miss your humor, courage, and most especially friendship. Xxxx [his wife] should know that me & my fam are at your family’s service for anything, anytime. – Shak.

I wasn’t sure what else I could say. I imagine that my response or even lack of response really didn’t concern Matt at that moment. His thoughtful response, which gave me more closure than it probably did for him, spoke to the caliber of his character, however. With what little, precious time he had, he made sure he got back to me. Not only get back to me, but also apologize that he hadn’t done so sooner. But that was just like him to care about others.

That text convo was about 1.5 weeks ago. Today, in another email from the same former co-worker, I was informed the following:

Matt xxxx passed away this morning at 10:40am, surrounded by his family. When I have more information about his funeral arrangements, I'll pass those along.

Strangely, earlier this morning, prior to receiving the email, I was thinking of Matt, wondering if he had passed. Since our text conversation, I would google his name to see if I could find anything. Nothing would turn up. So, in a sense, it was good to know that he has passed away, but I am undeniably sad to receive the news...

I thought about how difficult his last days must have been. How his wife and children were dealing with it. I felt from his text message that, due to his faith, they were able to deal with it in a positive way relative to their situation. I could imagine Matt, an extremely loving father, lovingly explain his inevitable departure to his kids with perhaps a promise that they'll see each other again. That he was off to a better place as so many people, from many different faiths, put it. I could see him telling his sons and one daughter that they should be happy for their dad because of where he is going. But then I think about what he's feeling on the inside: anguish and sadness on missing out on his children's future and well-being; pain to leave his long time love, since his college days, behind; pain to see his father and mother lose yet another son to cancer (one of his elder brothers passed away just a few years ago). You hope for the best for his family, though, and that they maintain a tight connection with one another. That they console each other when feeling vulnerable and especially reminiscent of Matt.

Death is scary. And unpredictable. It sends a cold shiver down the spine. But death can have the inverse effect it has on those who are fortunate to keep going. Meaning that you can also take away some perspective from death; a perspective that should make you live your days much more fully, much more vibrantly, and with much more determination to do more, love more, and count your blessings more.

For one, you hope that the same strength shown as well as the level of acceptance of death Matt had -- being at peace with death, as he told me -- is something that you can grasp and deal with. It then offers reflection as to how you're living your life and life's purpose. Are we maximizing it? How connected are we to the non-virtualness of it? The questions, and sometimes answers that we innately know or have been taught, but ignore, come like a gushing river.

Moreover, as a Muslim, we are encouraged to give dawah to non-Muslims. Essentially, to educate and call others to Islam and our way of life as it is a complete, beautiful, and special way of life. A way to draw near to God and gain His pleasure. From this perspective, I feel as though I failed Matt in this. Sure, we talked about our religious beliefs on occasion and he always appreciated and respected what I told him about our faith. But I can’t help to question if it was enough? Only Allah can change people’s hearts, but could I have been a vessel to carry this out?

Perhaps, at this point, it’s futile to ask with respect to Matt because Allah’s Will has already been carried out. Regardless, I can’t but help to feel this way. I am saddened by losing a friend and I am further saddened by losing out on opportunity. With that thought, I’d like to encourage other Muslims to keep this in mind. I am sure many of us have friends, even good friends, as I still do, who are non-Muslims. How have we tried encouraging or promoting such friends about Islam? How do we not know that even something minor we say to someone cannot impact them through Allah’s Infinite Mercy and turn their hearts to Islam? Will such friends call unto Allah and say that we (me, you, our ummah) didn’t warn them or try hard enough?

In anyone’s death, there should be remembrance of Allah, for we all return to Him (SWT). I pray for Allah’s Forgiveness and Guidance. I pray that He (SWT) allows us to die with strong iman That He (Swt) blesses us with the understanding of reflecting upon death, such that we maximize life. Aameen.


Duas

Overdue Post: Reflections from Pak

Salaam

I have a bad habit of procrastinating. That's putting it mildly. If you take a look at my Gmail Inbox, you'll see that I've saved emails from months -- even years -- ago in hopes that one magical day I will make time (i.e. stop being lazy) and follow-up with it.

This blog entry on my Reflections from Pakistan is much the same. I began writing this short blurb while I was actually in Pakistan. My plan was to do live blogging. Looking back, I think it would've made for a phenomenal recap of my adventure, good memories, good reading, and intrigue (at least for me). I regret not doing it, to be honest.

Anyway, this early afternoon I was cleaning out my Inbox and noticed this unfinished entry I had emailed myself. I like it enough to post it, even though it's incomplete and I will likely not ever complete my Reflections from Pak entry. A part of me still wants to, but, c'mon Part-of-me-that-still-wants-to, it's closing in on a year since that trip! At this point, cut your losses, delete that email that has been in your Inbox since 11/10/2010, post it here, and move on to the next great idea you're going to procrastinate:


Reflections from Pak:

The journey to Pakistan via PIA was a long one, but nothing stressful, Alhamdullilah. I'd never really hear too many positive things about traveling PIA so my perspective was, at best, pessimistic. From service to food, friends and family warned me about their bad quality. This was further reinforced when a few days before traveling, we watched news on Geo TV about how some PIA planes had a mouse problem. Great, I thought, now I'm going to have to put my feet up and sit Indian style for the entire flight so I don't cause an international incident by panicking (i.e. screaming) about feeling something furry on my feet which would likely cause unrest and uproar amongst the other passengers therefore resulting in the need for the pilot to make an emergency landing which further attracts worldwide media speculation since it's a flight filled with brown folk. (If you think I'm indulging, you haven't heard me yell now have you?). The PIA experience, however, was thankfully quite contrary. The flight attendants were decent (I wouldn't necessarily rave about them at the same time), but most importantly the food was good. And they fed you quite often, which, as a family, we thought was impressive considering the airline industry's relative cheapness these days. I also enjoyed the interface for selecting movies, TV shows, etc. And their selections saved me a few bucks by not having to rent Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe (a decent rental-worthy movie).

Anyway, after stops in Barcelona and Lahore we finally arrived in Karachi around 3:30am. The airport was understandably quiet. The initial feelings we had were, Wow, we're finally here after such a long time. Almost hard to believe. While our last visit to Pakistan was 25+ years ago, there are still certain things that take me back. And the first thing that took me back came while we were waiting at Immigration: I could smell Pakistan. There are many "smells" to Pak. Some good. Some bad. Some neither. Beyond that description, I'd be at a loss of words. That and my love for this country would prohibit me from describing the bad smells...

We were greeted by Ali's future in-laws who, mashaAllah, got up so early just to greet us. And our cousin who also got up early to pick us up.

The ride to our uncle's was one to remember. The first thing I noticed was that despite it being dark outside, people driving trucks, cars, motorcycles refused to turn on their headlights. Not all of them, but definitely enough. I was bewildered. Sure, I've heard of Pakistanis being lazy, but this? The next thing I noticed was that no one bothered with staying in your own lane. Umar put it nicely: in Pakistan, apparently the lines on the roads are more of a suggestion than a law. Should you choose to obey traffic laws, you'd stay in between the lines.
---


Sorry, folks, that's all I got to. Only the first few hours of a two-week trip. If you feel jipped, just imagine how my wife feels when I procrastinate on doing household chores...






Cheers

Panda’s Surprise Visit

Hi

Prior to this past Friday, my wife had been after me for the both of us to go out to NYC and hit up Cairo’s Steakhouse. In fact, she was really adamant about it. I thought it to be out of the blue at first, but then I factored in the oh-yeah-she’s-a-chick factor and realized that this out of the blue persistence was nothing unusual.

She brought it up in the middle of the day while I was at work, so her suggestion came via text. Initially, I replied back with, “Ok, let’s see.” My wife, however, knows me well and promptly realizes that I’m trying to be politely non-committal about it, so a half second later, my iPhone convo-style text shows her response of, “No, I really want steak. Let’s goooooo!” Deep breath on my part and then I reply with a simple, “Ok, let’s do it :)” [1]. Of course, she’s thoroughly delighted. The rest of the week she’d randomly insert a “I can’t wait for some steak on Friday night!” comment. Who does she think she is? Me? I couldn’t help but to think that. It was slightly threatening to who I am, to be frank. Usually I’m the one that’s willing to go out to eat - especially if it involves meat! And especially to get up on outta da hood (Danbury) and to some civilization (anywhere outside of the Danbury area). Regardless, I went with it.

Cairo’s Steakhouse, Friday night:

I dropped the wife off in front of Cairo’s so she could start ordering considering that we were both pretty hungry and parking wasn’t readily available. That was fine with us because the weather was perfect and we always enjoyed our post-dinner walks, especially since we hit up a local Red Mango on the way back to the car.

I parked a block away from our Red Mango and begin walking down about 6 blocks to the restaurant. It was a busy night on the streets of the Astoria/Queens area (still familiarizing myself with all of NYC's burroughs), as one would expect it to be for a nice Friday night. The area we were in was dominated primarily by Arabs (presumably Egyptians), but, as you will typically find in NYC, there was a noticeable mix of ethnicities sprinkled throughout. Definitely not like the way it is back home in Chicago. On the walk back, I speak to Samuel Huck who was busy cooking up some steak and ribs of his own. Shortly after speaking with him, he texted me a pic of the food he cooked up. Mmm. Looked good and in turn got me hungrier, but before I know it, I'm in the restaurant.

This time around, I went with the burger. The first and last time we were there was with a friend of mine and his wife. His wife ordered a burger, which looked thick enough to be the size of a calf. As such, this was what I naturally had to get. The wife mixed it up, too, and went with this chicken dish, very succulent, that had a nice pile of garlic mashed potatoes to compliment it. The best part of my burger was perhaps the caramelized onions, but beyond that, it was OK. Honestly, I probably would have had more satisfaction with an A&W burger. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t what I was expecting from Cairo’s. Lesson learned: stick with the steak next time (or even the succulent chicken).

Before I continue, there are a couple things to note: Prior to our eating, two random statements were made from my in-laws. The first was when we had FaceTime’d my in-laws earlier to say “Hi,” and show them our new place. When my mother-in-law saw me, the first thing she said, very enthusiastically, was, “Happy Birthday!” Happy Birthday? OK, I’ve been married to your daughter for almost three years now, had my grand ol’ 30th celebrated at your home, know full well how closely you keep track of family and in-laws sal giras, but you say to Happy Birthday to me now? In June? Was Heena going to get me a gift? Was it a new take on Christmas in July, but now the version of my December birthday in June? It was puzzling. Fortunately for my mother-in-law, I am used to completely random comments from them. Well, mostly my wife. And brother-in-law. And father-in-law, too. Hmm. Ok, upon further review, let’s group them all back in that saying-random-stuff-to-confuse-the-son/brother-in-law/husband category. But for real, I was confused. Fortunately my wife was able to laugh off her comment and attribute it to “Lakhani humor.” Folks, this is a type of humor I do not even wish for my enemies. You have to be resiliently strong and brave to endure Lakhani jokes, and I guess that’s what I’m getting at when I speak of the random comments. Outside of these jokes, we get along 110% (ma sha Allah). :) [2]

The second random statement came from after I texted HP, my bros, and SILs a couple pictures of the food from the restaurant. HP had replied with, “Nice. How was his surp?” My what? OK, I had no idea what he was talking about, but I dismissed it and assumed that it was an iPhone autocorrect issue [3].

The wife and I carry-on with our dinner. Everything was nice. The weather. The food. My wife. My daughter. The masjid across the street where I had prayed maghrib and also heard a hafiz (I assume he was) with a beautiful voice, ma sha Allah, teaching a circle of students the Quran. Actually, it was really awesome. He would recite into the microphone a short passage from a verse of the Holy Quran in a melodic, spiritual voice. The students, in unison, would recite that same passage. One of the students mentioned to me that they do this every Tuesday and Friday between al-maghrib and al-isha [4]. And that you feel like you’ve memorized the verse at the end of the night because of the Hafiz's approach on teaching it. So beautiful, Alhamdullilah.

But I digress. Like I said, it was a nice evening. Even the wife mentioned, “Isn’t this nice? Just you, me, and our daughter?” Of course I said, “Yes,” but I kinda wondered why she would say that. After all, it’s only been the three of us for the past 3 – 4 months now. So even if we eat out, it’s just the three of us. Then I realized that maybe she was slightly annoyed from the previous weekend where I had asked a friend of mine to hang out with us when we hit up a halal soul food joint. So, of course, I didn’t push the issue and just kept to my burger while playing with my daughter, who was busy pointing at every other person in the restaurant and then waving them to come sit with us. Adorable she is, ma sha Allah. I pick her up from her stroller and put her on my lap. My daughter and I were well immersed into our own little world when suddenly, I hear a, “What I heard is that steak here is amazing.” I turn around...

Lo and behold!

The great giant Panda himself. In the flesh.

I was shocked. Panda? Here? How can this be? I looked over to my wife who started laughing, “I’ve been waiting and waiting for this!” Yet here he was. Initially I thought it was a cool lil surprise, but I found it odd and convenient that Panda had to be here. I thought to myself, This guy is in town to either see another friend, attend a wedding, or likely for work. But then I received another surprise after an already pleasant one: The dude was in town to specifically see me. In fact, he was even going to stay at our place.

Let me write this again because it still kinda gives me goosebumps and is still kind surreal: The dude was in town to specifically see me. Allahu Akbar!

That bit of info was more of a welcomed surprise than his initial appearance. I guess I have to say that I found it to be very touching and quite, well, phenom on Farooq’s part to coordinate with my wife to pull this off. By the same token, I must also give credit to my wife who somehow managed to hide this from me and help pull of the surprise. Speaking of “surprise,” guess what HP’s comment of “surp” stood for? Guess why my mother-in-law had enthusiastically said, “Happy Birthday!” Granted, they could’ve blown it and it did make me think that something was amuck, but I eventually dismissed it all, which meant that the surprise worked.

Back to Panda: This guy is remarkable. He knows that before this past Friday, I was prepared to write him off. Because he has the need to shoulder the world's corporate work on his shoulders, he is absorbed into his own world filled with pie charts, stats, and pivot tables. As a result, he has cut out everything else that's superfluous (i.e. me). This blackhole in my life also meant that he was unable to call/text me back. So much so that I was going to remove him from my Favorites in my iPhone phonebook – a coveted spot anyone would normally vye for, of course. Thus enters the sheer brilliance of Panda. He knows that he’s broken the heart of someone and then he makes up for it by flying about a thousand miles over to hang out for not even a full 24 hours. Like one of my friends mentioned, everything from the past few months in now erased. It's like he's upgraded and rebooted an old computer (I wonder if that's really how he sees the world...probably).

Anyway, I now find myself thinking of raising his spot in my Favorites list instead of removing [5]. Dang you, Farooq, and you're loving ways!

MAD JZK goes out to my boy for flying in. It was a great weekend, though short, and I am fortunate to have you as my homie. And MAD JZK for my wife for helping to coordinate and keep this under wraps. Impressive, indeed. For that, you both get a Full JZK: Jazak Allah khair. May Allah reward you with the best in this world and in the Hereafter; May He (swt) provide you with the joyous happiness you folks provide me. Allah huma Sali Allah Muhammad. Aameen!


Side Notes:
[1] The use of expressions/emoticons in texting or emailing has always been an area of great internal conflict for me. If I’m happy or excited, and talking to my wife, I feel it’s OK to reply back with a “:).” But what if it’s one of the guys? Will they think I’m girly? Easily excitable? With guys, sometimes showing a certain level of emotion is downright scary. Like if I get a smiley face from, say, Taha, does it show that him and I are bonding about something? That we may just hug for an extra second longer the next time we see each other? I dunno. I do think that smiley faces and other emoticons can take you outside that certain level of emotion and can possibly make it awkward. Having said that, I still use it, but strategically; like when someone can’t pick up on the tone of a text message that might be sarcastic. Throw in a smiley face and instead of getting a, “You’re a d-bag” response, you’ll get, “LOL!” I think I could really post a separate entry on this fascinating and deeply deep topic.

[2] This use of a smiley face is definitely purposeful. It’s to indicate to my in-laws, should they be bored enough to read this, that I was just joking! (Yep, I’m trying to employ a little CYA right now! Clever me!)

[3] You must visit the website called damn you autocorrect (google it). Absolutely hysterical, but be forewarned that you might spend a lot time on it (and it also just might have inappropriate comments, too, so...umm...please share those ones with me).

[4] Please note the purposeful usage of "al-" in front of maghrib and isha. This was to copy the way the brother who I was referring to said it. I thought it was cool. Makes it sound even more powerful.

[5] I’m definitely cautious here as to mention who is on my Favorites list and who ranks where -- especially since one of my friends once saw it and commented, “Oh, wow. AJ is higher up on your favorites list than me. MBN.” Look, don’t call this catty or girl-like (my wife loves saying, “You and your friends are such girls” with all our excessive emailing, texting, appreciating each others attire, looks, etc.). This is a passionate brotherhood of exclusivity that I enjoy with all my boys!





Cheers

Danbury Update: 3-months, Part I

Salaam

Well, it's been three months since I've arrived to CT, Alhamdullilah. I wasn't really sure what to expect and in many ways I'm still not sure. Being here for a one year contract position was a difficult choice: leaving family and friends, SGP, my home (= TV & the iMac), and, generally speaking, my comfort zone for the majority of my life. But, the choice was made and as a Muslim we have faith that Allah is the Best of Planners. The reason for leaving was to broaden my professional context from a networking perspective as well as a risk-taking perspective (i.e. moving about 1k miles away for a contract position, but with the hopes of helping to lead this group and building upon my resume). That was the professional reason. The personal reason was to experience life outside of that comfort zone. Granted, it's not like I've moved to another country with a uniquely different culture, but, honestly, have you ever been to the East Coast? It may as well be...

The first few days of CT life started out with something I'm all too familiar with: lots of driving. Not only did I drive to CT from Chicago (a 15.5 hour journey that ended safely thanks to my wife staying on the phone with me for the last hour to keep me from dozing off), but the very next morning I drove from my cousin's place to Danbury (aka "Do-me-bury" courtesy of none other than Masood) for the next four days in a row in order to find an apartment. The distance from my cousin's place to Danbury is about 70 miles. So that's a lot of mileage I put on my bechara Corolla, ma sha Allah. Anyway, the apartment hunting took up the better part of those days and it's actually quite tiring. Two of those days were spent with a realtor my wife found. He was an older dude and knew Danbury and the surrounding areas extremely well. It was actually very useful to have him because I got a pretty good tour and feel of the area. He also pointed out specific attractions (yes, I'm taking the liberty of abusing that word) such as the awesomely cool Stew Leonard's (OK, it's a huge grocery/dairy store, but, I kid you not, it's worth checking out) [See Side Note #1 at the end] [Also See Side Note #2], one of the nation's smallest underpass bridges, and one pretty legit pizza place in Bethel, which he told me is the birthplace of PT Barnum (the circus dude). So, finally, by Sunday I settled on a nice looking apartment community that would allow me something I was not at all familiar with: a short commute from home to work. This place was all of 5 minutes and 33 seconds away from work.

...

Sorry, I needed a moment to take that in even after 3 months. A 5 minute commute? Me? After ten years of having loooong commutes [Side Note #3], Allah hooked me up most mercifully with a tremendous, tremendous blessing of experiencing a short commute. I look back at the past ten years and ask myself, "WTH was I thinking? And how come no one cared enough to provide an intervention for that?" To be honest, though, the one part of the long commute I do miss is using that time to catch up with friends, recite my wird when I was being a acha bacha, and listening to lots of talk radio, music, and/or miscellaneous stuff on CDs or my iPhone (i.e. lectures, Bollywood music, Amreekan music, Pakistani music, naats, qawallis, Quran, etc.). But, FTR, I do not miss it enough to where I'm asking for a long commute again! The fact that I come everyday for lunch is epic, a money saver, and phenomly phenom in that I get to spend time with my lil cutie pie, Suhaylah. Oops, let me revise that part for my continued posterity, "...and phenomly phenom in that I get to spend time with my amazing wife & my lil cutie pie, Suhaylah." (OK, since I pay her to read my blog, I do have to mention that she's been cooking like never before and doing a great job of spoiling me.) [Side Note #4].

OK, so now you're of course thinking, Wow, Pac Daddy, everything seems pretty legit. You're living life on the edge by having moved out to the East Coast and now you have a short commute, too. Can it get any better? Well, thanks for asking. Because while it can and does, Alhamdullilah, it definitely took an interesting turn on the way. You see, the apartment I selected was located essentially at a walk-out basement level. I thought this to be highly phenom as it allowed privacy (corner unit and the last building in the community), a nice yard in the back that my kid could play in, and a jungle (ok, woods, but relative to Chicago, the CT/New England area is a colossal jungle), which looked really beautiful & scenic. I began thinking to myself that this Danbury area could really work itself more positively than I imagined. Danbury was, relatively speaking, a sizeable city that had a uniqueness to it: a downtown area that had pockets of an old town feeling, some parts that are run-down, other areas could be best described as quaint (I wanted to say, "cute"), many other parts that were beautiful as everything here is hilly and located in the woods (this isn't an exaggeration, folks), one area that has CT's largest mall (Chicagoans, this isn't saying much, but the mall is def nice) with a Cheesecake Factory being built and, crucial to highlight, a Coldstone Creamery across the street from it, and many, many hole-in-the-wall/mom'n'pop shops like Double Twister (phenom homemade ice cream place). [Side Note #5]. And so to me that's something I looked (still do) forward to exploring.

Little did I know, however, that my own apartment was going to be an exploration, on many different levels, by itself...


To Be Continued... (= when I'm bored @ work again)

Side Notes:
#1. Yes, for those that are fans of Bill Simmons' Grantland project (great site), I am totally copying his footnotes style here bc it's really cool and, if I've learned anything in life, cool things are worth copying like the one time in kindergarten I ditched school because one of the troublemakers in our class did it and, well, it was obviously cool (just don't ask me about my mom's reaction that I still remember all these years later). Anyway, I need some nerd to show me the HTML tags to do the linking. Any takers?

#2. Is this what Danbury has lead me to? Convincing people that a huge grocery/dairy store is an attraction? If so, then so be it. And you will be forced to check it out if & when you visit me. Doh, maybe I shouldn't've wrote that because now I pretty much guaranteed you won't visit. :-/ But, really, I love Stew Leonard's.

#3. At one point, back in Chicago, my commute was so long that I was considered a traveller and could shorten my namaz at work. Of course, that translated into me staying late so I could do Isha as a traveller, too. Just kidding, please relax to any RG (religious guy) reading this. But my long commutes were also due to my desire of not wanting to leave the Southwest suburbs of Chicago, which I love dearly.

#4. I feel like I just sold out on my loyal blog readers, who I don't pay to read this, by having a shot out to my wife. I'm sorry, loyal readers, but if you're married and the only friend you have in Danbury is your wife, then you'll understand why these shotouts are necessary and could be a potential reoccuring theme for future blogs throughout my stay in Danbury. Wow, I think I need to internalize this for a second. My wife is my only friend out here. Wait a second. Will the wife read this Side Note? Crap. I'm doubley screwed now.

#5. So it seemed like Danbury encompassed everything any normal person would want: a dubious area to keep you on your toes, nature to keep on your toes due to the looming threat of wild deer and/or pheasants attacking you without warning alongside an army of insects the Midwest has never seen (and I pray never sees) and pollen the size of golf balls to ensure that even though you've been keeping yourself agile and alert by being on your toes, you won't be able to breathe so you'll just have to stay indoors assuming that the pollen, which has created a thick film on your car, hasn't travelled with you and that the deer and pheasants haven't devised a strategy to at least leverage their insect army to seek out, infiltrate, and destroy your apartment. Oh my God. I just had an ephiphany about this place. CT is like the body's immune system. It's a big ol' white blood cell that won't stop attacking foreign objects like myself and my family. Or maybe it's like Rambo. No matter what the age, it will infuse itself with steroids (= pollen) and keep on finding insane ways of killing you. Or maybe it's like my brother, Liam. It has a certain set of skills and will find you and kill you (see the movie Taken for background). Or maybe it's like...ok, ok. I'll stop. Honestly, it's not that bad, but it's fun to make fun of some of the things we've experienced. Overall, I'm truly grateful for what I have here no matter what it is. All Praise is Due to Allah.


More to come

Mad JZK, Fellas

Salaam

Well, my moment is here. Off to CT for a new chapter in life inshaAllah. So many emotions running through before I leave, it's hard to capture it all...

I wanted to predictably say, "MAD JZK" to all of you guys again for coming through on Friday night to DM one more time before I head out from Bufu, IL to Bufu, CT.

I especially would like to thank AJ for his coordination of the entire event. I'm taking the liberty to describe myself as a master planner of events, too, so I know something involving like 25 guys, ma sha Allah, is no easy task. And AJ did this, as always, effectively and beyond what I could ever ask for. The food set-up was amazing (and thanks to Sayeed for brining the rice from Usmania Chinese), the picture with everyone's messages was an amazing idea and took a lot of work to set-up. I was duly impressed and touched. Of course, in no small part was my guy Taha who was the gracious host (and I should mention Sana here, too). It was phenom of him to give up his place so willingly and help make sure the event was smooth. Him and AJ avoided any "mega" disasters. Taha's hosting coupled with his poker table management was great and much appreciated.

I enjoy writing highlights of any event, so without exception, here they are:

1. The "Good Luck, Pac" sign with everyone's (a) heart-felt and/or (b) hysterical messages
2. The speech(es). Courtesy of AJ, some of it has been captured and uploaded to YouTube (but YouTube / iPhone restricted the amount that was able to be uploaded): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKw6hX3pSgw
3. Memorable parts of the speeches:
4. From Aref desperately campaigning for control and acceptance of the DMC to AJ's hug-to-say-it-all.
5. From Aladdin's baseball bat story (true story) on how we met (and maintained our friendship) to Irfan's 10-min long speech, which, while started off slowly w/no material, ended very sincerely and phenomly.
6. From Samir's absolute molestation of me to Taha admitting that he wanted me gone so he could spark a new romance with AJ (this won't happen as [a] I will kill you or [b] I will kill you).
7. From Sayeed also admitting that he wanted to attend at least one party with me so he could see me go to my own brother Ali/Jake/Liam admitting he wanted to see me leave to gain more control over the house (I'm beginning to detect a pattern of you guys anxiously waiting for me to depart...).
8. From Fahad finally admitting he was turned on when he, well, got a piece of me sometime ago, to Badie asking me about my sister.
9. I can keep going on-and-on, but I hope you basically get the point that in fact this was something I really enjoyed and will cherish.
10. The un-RG discussion led by Aladdin (go figure) on how to have a boy. [RG = religious guy, for those who are somehow unaware]
11. The heart-felt speech Jake gave before I cut the cake
12. The food and dessert set-up. Even the cake that had a picture of a clown (perhaps representing how you all perceive me)
13. My realization that while playing poker, after winning a BIG hand and throwing in chips w/out regard, that there's probably a reason why Allah has not made me filthy rich
14. The stripping part of the night which caused all RGs (ok, just Sayeed; the lone RG) to look down to lower the gaze. Which probably was the smart thing to do.
15. Above everything else, all my homies who came through just to hang out and bang.

Alhamdullilah, Allah has blessed me with the best of brothers and friends. I am grateful. Please know that in CT, you all have a home. And I realize that CT itself is not anything particularly sexy, so keep in mind that NYC is only an hour or so away. Please keep me in your duas as I begin this new chapter in life; you are all in mine.

With much love,

Pac