May 22, 2012
The sun isn’t up yet but I’m up and out of the door…

and on my way to London to spend the day with an awesome person (hopefully two awesome people).

4:47am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyLwAqEU
  
Filed under: london travel friends love sunrise 
May 11, 2012
My idea of the perfect Friday night:

Dinner with good friends and then relaxing with a really good book.

April 28, 2012
How long have you known your closest friends?

Not family members, just friends. Tell me how long you’ve known the top three who are still in your life and you regard with lots of respect/love.

For me it’s… 9 years, 9 years, and 9 years! I met them at university. I didn’t say one because you might be friends from your first ever day at school or something and those are special circumstances. That’s why I said 3.

April 16, 2012
I started reading when I was pretty old

I think I was eighteen. I’d seen the trailer for the first Lord of the Rings film and remember the reference in that Friends episode where Ross and Chandler partied with Gandalf and my interest was piqued.

I remember picking it up and just being in awe of it. I remember reading through Middle Earth and following the journey of the characters and being mesmerised. Sam and Aragorn were my favourites. I blazed through it in a matter of days or weeks - next to no time.

It started a fire in my that was fed by more books. I read everything I could get my hands on. I got a membership to the library and took out armfuls of books at a time. I used to trawl through the bookshelves in the fiction section - always fiction - and read through every book of an author I clicked with. I paid so much in late charges.

I haven’t read as much recently but I still count it amongst one of my truest passions. I can pick up a book and be lost in a universe in a way that nothing but a good story can let me do. When I’m engrossed in a tale, the hours of the days vanish away. The characters become my best friends and my worst enemies.

I tried writing but it’s nowhere near up to scratch. It’s a fun process though. I think I’m going to dust off the old novel and go through it again. Maybe add a few more words…

Tonight I’m going to spend the night with Emily Bronte and, finally, finish Wuthering Heights.

March 29, 2012
Love

It’s so easy with the best of friends.

The last 24 hours have been amazing!

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Filed under: love friends 
March 20, 2012
I’m hoping to go to London this Sunday…

I can’t wait to see awesome people. It’s been too long.

9:35pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZVTONyIIpvKR
  
Filed under: london friends 
February 26, 2012
What values and attributes to you cherish the most in your closest friends?

February 25, 2012

Anonymous asked: i rly appreci8 u sayin i got ya back cos that kinda friendship i neva had not once in my whole life as a human bean u really awesome blighty chingy really good man honest and kind and apprec8 the little things in lyf. i want u to know that ur my good friend from now n i will eat pray and love for u every day god bless u u good person lucky to have friend lyk you i always got ur back feet head leg whateva u want just dont be too kinky but its alrite chingy i understand. u rock! paper scissor rock

Well, ManBoof, you’ve got it now! You’re even more awesome than I am! Thank you :) We’ll save the kinky stuff for when we know each other a little bit better, ManBoof. Maybe in another twenty or thirty years…

January 19, 2012
I should be studying…

but I can’t bring myself to start just yet.

I’ve been thinking a whole lot today. It’s strange because it’s like I have all these things and opinions within me but it seems like I need other people to bring them to the surface for me. I feel like I need people to help show me a path.

Anyway… I was made to think about the way I make friends with people - real and online. I’ve been made to think about this blog and the way I write about things. I was made to think about the person I am and the person I have it in me to be.

I think that the direction of this blog will change again over the next few weeks and months. I remember when it first started I’d write just one long post a day and it wouldn’t be all that personal. I’d write about stuff that was happening or my thoughts on one thing or another.

When I went home for the summer I started to write a lot more about my personal life. I started to write a lot more posts but shorter posts. You got more of my personality but less depth - less essence.

I put a lot of myself on this blog. I share a whole lot of my life but not all my life. There are so many topics that interest me that you would never realise from just looking at my blog. There are so many things in this world that fascinate me that you’ll never know by just reading this blog. I think I’m going to start writing about some of those things. I’m going to start writing about philosophy and art and music and literature and politics and sport and the news and academia and everything. I’m going to make this blog smarter. I’m going to put more thought in to the posts I write. I’m going to actually start editing posts instead of publishing them right away. I’m going to ponder and think and be more critical of the world I live in.

I want to be more creative. I want to be expressive.

I think all this will come at the cost of my personality being limited in expression but you’ll see other sides of me. I think it’ll be exciting. I’m smiling just thinking about it.

I was thinking of the kind of person I am to those of you who I’ve started to talk to through tumblr. I’ve made relationships that have changed my life. I’ve made relationships and friendships with some really interesting and fascinating people through tumblr and I’m so grateful for that. I don’t know how that’s going to change when I go home. I’m already finding it difficult to reply to people’s ask messages and emails. I feel like I’m a terrible friend but it all takes too much time. I have a feeling that part of me might be curtailed. I hope I’m still able to make time but I don’t know how it’ll be.

Regardless of how I want this blog to change and how it will change, I know that tumblr is a part of me. My blog is a part of me. Every post reflects my thoughts, my hopes, my feelings in one way or another. As long as I stay true to that spirit I feel like I’ll still enjoy writing here. I still feel like I’ll have something that you guys will enjoy reading.

I’m coming up to a pretty big milestone of followers for me. I never thought I’d reach it but you guys still keep following me and I’m so grateful for each and everyone of you - even if I don’t follow you back. I’m not going anywhere but I think I will be changing a little bit - hopefully for the better.

January 18, 2012
I’m letting myself think of England…

and the things that will need to be done when I get back. I’m thinking about the route my life will take. I’m thinking about my family. I’m thinking about my friends. I’m thinking about the person I need to be when I step off the plane.

When I stepped off the plane and landed in Saudi Arabia I made a few promises to myself and, alhamdulilah, I kept them.

I have promises in my mind right now that I want to make to myself when I walk in to the Heathrow terminal on that cold Thursday morning on March first. I want to promise myself that I’m going to be a certain version of myself, the best version of myself, from that day on.

I’ll have an idea what path it is that I’ll be walking when I step off that plane this time tomorrow. I’ll have an idea of what the future holds in store for me.

I’m regaining my optimism. I’m regaining my hope. I feel like my life has direction for the first time in month - maybe the first time ever.

It’s liberating.

It’s ironic that starting to walk a path that will bind me to it for the rest of my life is incredibly liberating.

December 29, 2011
Goodbye Saudi

The countdown has begun. 3 days of December left. 31 days of January. 28 days of February. The first day of March. 63 days exactly remaining and I’ll be home.

63 days is 9 weeks exactly.

The first of March and I’ll be home. The first of March and I’ll see my family and my loved ones and my friends. The first of March and I’ll leave this place behind. The first of March can’t come soon enough.

I’m feeling more ready to leave than I ever have before. Saying that, it’s still not 100% that I’m going… We’ll see.

November 29, 2011

The Beatles - With a Little Help From My Friends

My anthem right now :)

November 24, 2011
I’m not American but it’s Thanksgiving and I do have a lot to be thankful for…

and I’ve been thinking about that today.

I’m thankful I’m alive and have another day to worship Allah and try to improve as a person and a Muslim.

I’m thankful for having food, water, shelter, warmth, and all the necessities of life.

I’m thankful for my health and that I don’t have problems with it.

I’m thankful for my family, my friends, and the amazing people in my life - even if I don’t appreciate most of them as much as I should.

I’m thankful I have an excuse to reflect today.

I’m thankful that I can envisage a life for myself and work towards reaching my dreams.

September 16, 2011
Replies…

bermudianabroad said: Gattaca

Yeah, it’s one of my favourites. I really love that film.

bermudianabroad said: glad things are looking up :)

Seriously, standing in front of a group of kids and teaching them is so cool. I’m really loving my class at the moment. I’m sure it won’t last too long but it’s nice at the moment.

foudaism said: where did you used to teach in Saudi? :)

I teach in a university in Riyadh. I don’t really want to say which one. Sorry.

bermudianabroad said: Italy?

The roads in Italy are totally crazy but they don’t compare to Saudi. The cars here are huge and the guys take crazy risks with them. If you can drive here you can drive anywhere.

treenasworld replied to your post: I have this philosophy where…
It’s so good to be blessed with incredible people in your life. With everything that’s going on I’m glad you’ve got your housemate.

I honestly am blessed with some wonderful people. I have my house mate who is here in the most immediate sense but there are others who are just as amazing in my life. I’m so thankful to God.

foodpornet replied to your post: I have this philosophy where…
Omgeee well said! I’m totally in the same boat. It’s awesome to have a friend that you can trust with all your words. Thanks for sharing!

You know, I’m really lucky because I’m blessed with so many of these people in my life. There are some really incredible people around me.

bermudianabroad replied to your post: Reading books on paper…
it is all about the books on paper. welcome back to the light, brother…

Nah, yo. I don’t live here any more. I live in electronic-ville now and I’m just visiting paper-land (and enjoying my temporary stay).

September 9, 2011
College

So many people on my Tumblr are going back to university or college and it makes me miss it like crazy.

I miss the pace of life as a student. I miss how simple life was. I’m not saying it was easy, although it was at times, but it was certainly simple. I didn’t have many, if any, worries at all. I just had to get through one class at a time and I made a lot of time for my friends and cool people in my life.

Undergrad was weird for me. The first couple of years were really slow (but not bad, I made some AMAZING friends who I love to this day) but the last two years were really great fun. I met hundreds of people, did some really memorable things, and enjoyed myself a whole lot.

When I think of university I think of it as a combination of all of those things. I mix the academic and the social in my mind. I feel like it has to be appreciated as a whole. Undergrad was great.

Postgrad wasn’t so bad either. I certainly focused more on the academic than the social but there were more than a few highlights on the social side during my masters.

I miss learning in a formal environment. I miss meeting new people. I miss being challenged by everyone around me. I miss randomly entering intellectual conversations and making some brilliantly well-informed comment. I miss being in the loop of everything that is happening in the world (as a politics student I really had to be on top of it all!).

I feel like my brain has turned to mush in so many ways but there are still people in my life who challenge me in so many ways and they’re the ones who keep me sane in more ways than they realise.

There’s so much to miss.