A single green light, minute and faraway...

And how do I choose and where do I draw the line

Between truth and necessary pain?

And how do I know and where do I get my belief

That things will be all right again?

Standing in the shadows

With my heart right in my hand,

Removed from all the people

Who could never understand.

I was a pilgrim for your love,

A pilgrim for your love.

It's like living in a nightmare,

Like looking in the blackest hole,

Like standing on the edge of nothing,

Completely out of control.

Now where have I been all these years

And how come I just couldn't see?

Like a blind man walking 'round in darkness,

I was a pilgrim for your love.

[Pilgrim - Eric Claption]

Was It Worth It?

Here's another big shout out to ya...
Seven days, filled with wonder,
And Abraham & Isaac are the angels come together,

Was it worth it?
To my father, my mother, and my brother,
Was it worth it?
The headaches, the worries, and the good days,
Was it worth it?

Was it worth it?
The lying, the crying, and the fighting,
Was it worth it?
The judgment, the time spent in denial,
Was it worth it?
To my father, my mother, and my brother,
Was it worth it?
The headaches, the worries, and the good days.

Track : Worth It - Skinny
Image: Sapuri*D

Happiness

Happiness, more or less,
It's just a change in me,
Something in my liberty,
Oh my my.

Happiness, coming and going,
I watch you look at me,
Watch my fever growing,
I know just where I am.

But how many corners do I have to turn?
How many times do I have to learn,
All the love I have is in my mind?

Well, I'm a lucky man,
With fire in my hands...

Happiness, something in my own place,
I'm standing naked,
Smiling, I feel no disgrace,
With who I am.

[Lucky Man - The Verve]

Imagine

Imagine there's no Heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people,
Living for today...

Imagine there are no countries,
It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
And no religion too,
Imagine all the people,
Living life in peace...

You may say that I'm a dreamer,
But I'm not the only one,
I hope someday you'll join us,
And the world will be as one.

Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people,
Sharing all the world...

You may say that I'm a dreamer,
But I'm not the only one,
I hope someday you'll join us,
And the world will be as one.

[Imagine - John Lennon]

Take From It What You Will

• Smart people know their strengths, but happy people are the ones who have accepted their flaws.  [Kimo]

• Sometimes pain becomes such a huge part of your life that you expect it to always be there, because you can’t remember a time in your life when it wasn’t. But then one day you feel something else. Something that feels wrong only because it’s so unfamiliar, and in that moment you realize you’re happy. [One Tree Hill]

• If a god is willing to prevent evil, but not able, then he is not omnipotent. If he is able, but not willing, then he must be malevolent. If he is neither able or willing then why call him a god? [Preest - Franklyn 2008]

• I've been walked on, used and forgotten and I don't regret one moment of it because in those moments, I've learned a lot. I've learned who I can trust and can't. I've learned the meaning of friendship. I've learned how to tell when people are lying and when they're sincere. I've learned how to be a teenager, and how to grow up when I need to. I've been to hell and back a few times, and I won't ever take what I have for granted. This is life, live it one day at a time. You never know how many days you've got left. [Unknown]

Did You Ever Wonder...

• Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard when he lives in the jungle? Does he have a razor?  
• Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the  batteries are flat? 
• Why do banks charge  a fee on 'insufficient funds' when they know there is not  enough?  
• Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets? 
• Why does someone  believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when  you say the paint is wet? 
• Whose idea was it to put an  'S' in the word 'lisp'? 
• Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up every two  hours?  
• How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage? 
• Why do people  pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at  things on the ground?
• Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze
  these pink dangly  things here, and drink whatever comes out"?
• Who was the first person to say, 'See that chicken there... I'm going to eat the thing that comes out from it's bum.' 
• If quizzes are  quizzical, what are tests? 
• Why is there a light in the  fridge and not in the freezer? 
• Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? Aren't they both dogs?
• If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from? 
• If electricity  comes from electrons, does morality come from morons? 
• Why do the Alphabet  song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune? 
• [Stop  singing and read on]
• Did you ever notice  that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?  
• Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?

via Unc SD

Woman

	Woman I can hardly express, My mixed emotion at my thoughtlessness, After all I'm forever in your debt, And woman I will try express, My inner feelings and thankfulness, For showing me the meaning of success.
	Woman I know you understand The little child inside the man, Please remember my life is in your hands, And woman hold me close to your heart, However distant, don't keep us apart, After all it is written in the stars.
	Woman please let me explain, I never meant to cause you sorrow or pain, So let me tell you again and again and again, I love you... now and forever. [Woman - John Lennon]

Stumbling onto the 11th Century

Awake! for morning in the bowl of night,
Has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight,
And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught,
The Sultan's turret in a noose of light.
---
Dreaming when dawn's left hand was in the sky,
I heard a voice within the tavern cry,
"Awake my little ones and fill the cup,
 Before life's liquor in its cup be dry."
---
How long, how long, in infinite pursuit,
Of this and that endeavor and dispute?
Better be merry with the fruitful Grape,
Than sadden after none, or bitter, fruit.

Omar Khayyam ; The gift of words

The Mountain

it doesn't look like much but you need all 4s and then some to scale it

Interview WTFs

Okay so i'll admit it, i've always had issues with job interviews.. something about the other person trying to prove how smart he is and some sort of performance anxiety on my part... but every once in a while you come across a class act who's memory you will always cherish. You'll even tell your kids about him. Don't you wish that sometimes you could say out loud what you're really thinking? Just for kicks?

2010 - Sezmi Corp.

• COO: If you were stranded on a desert island, could you make a computer with whatever you had available?
• Me: No. If you gave me 2 months to spare while living in civilization, a manual and all the parts, it's possible.
• My Head: If i was stranded on a desert island, building a computer would be the last of my worries. Which planet do you come from?
• COO: Well... i only asked because i can! Well, what can you do? Can you write a compiler?
• Me: You mean off the top of my head?
• COO: Yes
• Me: No.
• My Head: Wasn't this position for a JAVA engineer? Why don't you ask me something that would be relevant to what i would be doing everyday? I don't do 'tricks', you're wasting my time and being an asshole! Maybe if i stare at my watch long enough...
• COO: *after a minute or so of waiting* You know... we're looking for people with a lot of wide areas of expertise...
• Me: Like building computers on a desert island?
• My Head: Here's an idea, why don't you just put what you're looking for in the job description? That way i wouldn't have had to dodge work, drive all the way over here, wear a tie that suffocates me or dress pants that ride up my ass. Seriously man.. WTF!?!

        [Interview Over]

       In retrospect, i could have just gotten away with 'An Abacus is considered to be an early type of computer right? If i knew how it worked, i could probably throw a few twigs and pebbles together to make you happy'. 

2010 - Salesforce.com

• Interviewer: *picks up resume* So are you a Hindu Chaudhry or a Muslim Chaudhry?
• Me: Does it matter?
• Interviewer: Oh never mind... let's move on...
• My Head: WTF!?! Seriously? Is this your first interview? What planet are you from?

2002 - Some software house in Askari Villas, Cavalry , Lahore

... 30 minutes into a fairly disastrous interview; 3 minutes to company lunch time ...

• Interviewer: *looking at watch* Do you read Cosmopolitan?
• Me: *shocked..What plant am i on again? oh, Pakistan.. that's right! okay just nod and smile*
• My Head: He obviously thinks you're a dumb rich kid from LUMS; he's probably bored since he has no work to do and isn't very good at it either; doesn't look like he's learned or done anything new in years. I may not be at the top of my game yet, but he just looks like he's falling down a cliff. Okay play dumb and see where this goes...
• Interviewer: acha to aap ko kabhi piyar hoya hai?
• Me: *must resist... nod and smile*
• Interviewer: When you were at LUMS, did you do all your assignments yourself?
• Me: *getting up to leave* I think this interview is over
• Interviewer: Mind na karain... har kisi ka apna apna interview style hota hai...
• Me: Enjoy your lunch break uncle.
• My head: I hope you choke on it asshole!
• My Head: *as i walk to the car* I hope to God I'm not him in 15 years... that would really suck!

Something tells me that this isn't over quite yet... I'm going to be adding more amusing anecdotes to this post in the future.

Database Vs. Friend In Need

When a couple of dejected engineering
graduate students at USC get together
for a Friday night.

The beat in the background is him beat
boxing.

Sapuri*D - Nupac Sessions - Los Angeles, CA

www.StudioSapuri.com

اٹھ جوان

  

گھر دا سالن تے گھر دی روٹی 
Ghaar da saalan tay ghaar di roti,

وڈدے کاہون پھلو تے ہن مک گھی بوٹی               

Wadday khawan pehlon tay hun muk gaye boti,

وڈا آیہ سی چاچا ساڈے گھر مہمان

Wadda aaya si chacha saday ghar mehman,

ہولی کھا وے چچیا ہن تے ساڈی واری

Holi kha vay chachaya aasi vi bhukay,

لے اٹھ جوان

Lay uth jawan!

[Unclustered]

To The Moon & Back

She's taking her time making up the reasons,
To justify all the hurt inside,
Guess she knows from the smiles and the look in their eyes,
Everyone's got a theory about the bitter one,
They're saying, "Mum never loved her much,
and dad never keeps in touch...
that's why she shies away from human affection".

But somewhere in a private place,
She packs her bags for outer space,
And now she's waiting for the right kind of pilot to come,
And she'll say to him... 
"I would fly to the moon and back if you would be my baby.
I've got a ticket for a world where we belong,
so won't you be my baby?".

She can't remember a time when she felt needed,
if love was red then she was color blind.
All her friends, they've been trialed for treason
in crimes that were never defined. She's saying,
"Love is like a barren place and reaching out for human faith,
it's like a journey I just don't have a map for".
So she's gonna take a dive and push shift to overdrive,
Send a signal that she's hanging all her hopes on the stars...
What a pleasant dream!

[To The Moon & Back - Savage Garden]

An Obsolete Idea?

When i think about religion (any religion), i immediately become uncomfortable with the idea. I come from a conservative Islamic society where to question any of the scripture or established 'truths' means that you are questioning God himself. It also leads to charges of blasphemy that create a whole other set of problems for people with unsatisfied curiosity or those who just disagree with a particular distortion in that religion.

From whatever I've seen in my own life, read about past generations, cultures and civilizations, i have come to the following simpleton conclusions:

• Whatever man cannot explain due to a lack of an accumulated body of knowledge, he ascribes to a supernatural being (God). As time passes, that body of knowledge grows and is sometimes able to explain these occurrences. He then tries to reconcile those religious ideas with the new findings but it creates an even bigger mess than what we were dealing with earlier. We just can't seem to let go.

• Man uses religion as a convenience when thinking about the unknown or about stressful situations.

• Man seems to have created a theology in which he is the highest form of God's creation and other life forms should bend to his will. I see mankind as an evolutionary marvel albeit a parasite on Earth at the same time. If we think about how we have enslaved other life forms for our own use and amusement, continuously changed the environment to fulfill our immediate desires, it makes me think that mankind follows the distinctive features of a virus which spreads because of its resilience to natural stressors. Again, i cannot fathom a divine scripture that allows the needless enslavement of other life forms. The "take as much as you need and leave the rest" philosophy that the animal kingdom follows doesn't seem to apply to man which makes me believe that mankind has corrupted a sense of balance that nature strives to maintain.

• Countless bloody wars have been fought in the name of religion where the true issue was power, resources, respect or vengeance. To this day these wars continue because "god wills it". A religion that allows the idea of war in my eyes cannot be divine unless God is amused by the destruction of innocent life which He is not in my mind. War is the manifestation of the desires of groups of humans not some divine decree.

• Religion has been used as a form of social control for as long as we can trace human life. It has also been used to create a sense of kinship and a bond between people. I have problems with such type of control exerted in the name of a divine being but serving the privileged few instead. For example, any religion that puts one gender above another is completely distorted and perverted from it's true message. This is a classic case of social control on our part. There is absolutely no divinity in unfairness.

• The intolerance to other people's beliefs ascribed by the many interpretations of a particular religion and the people practicing it make me believe that if ever there was a pure religion, it has now been corrupted beyond repair and hence rendered obsolete. If my neighbor likes to plant daisies in his garden whereas i like to plant tulips, does this mean he is wrong and i am right? Should i shed his blood and destroy his garden because he likes or believes something different? How do his daises affect me?  What have we done with 'free will'? I think religion is the personification of a person's inner beliefs, upbringing and preferences and that these should remain personal. My relationship with God is very personal to me; one in which i will tolerate no outside interference.

I don't want to follow a particular ideology just because i am expected to or because i was raised in a particular environment. I want to come to terms with what makes sense to me and what doesn't. Blind faith is something i cannot come to terms with - so preachers... no one's home, and reciters...

لا شيء وقيان مطلق بالكولون ممكن

(Laa shay'a waqui'n moutlaq bale kouloun moumkine)

"Where other men blindly follow the truth; remember, nothing is true.

 Where other men are limited by morality or law;  remember, everything is permitted.

We work in the dark, to serve the light..."

-- Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad --

Boring Wishes

Typical, boring and uninspiring Eid wishes:  "Eid Mubarak and best wishes"  "Eid Mubarak to you and your family" Today i got the following text... "Wish you peace, love and health,   blah blah blah...  Fuck that shit! Wish you lots of sex,   the best babes, the finest alcohol,   the longest 'Cigars', strong orgasms   and hope you win the fuckin' lottery.   Happy Eid!" Now here's a friend who truly cares. God bless you :)

Banana Pancakes

Can't you see that it's just raining?
Ain't no need to go outside...
But baby, you hardly even notice,
When I try to show you,
This song is meant to keep ya,
From doing what you're supposed to,
Like waking up too early,
Maybe we can sleep in?
I'll make you banana pancakes,
Pretend like it's the weekend now.

And we could pretend it all the time,
Can't you see that it's just raining?
Ain't no need to go outside.

The telephone is singing ringing,
It's too early, don't pick it up,
We don't need to,
we got everything we need right here,
And everything we need is enough,
Just so easy...
When the whole world fits inside of your arms,
Don't really need to pay attention to the alarm,
Wake up slow, yeah wake up slow.

[Banana Pancakes - Jack Johnson]
[Chords & Tabs]

Hurt

I hurt myself today to see if I still feel,
I focus on the pain; the only thing that's real,
The needle tears a hole; the old familiar sting,
Try to kill it all away but I remember everything,

What have I become? My sweetest friend,
Everyone I know goes away in the end,
And you could have it all; my empire of dirt,

I will let you down,
I will make you hurt.

I wear this crown of thorns upon my liar's chair,
Full of broken thoughts; I cannot repair,
Beneath the stains of time; the feelings disappear,
You are someone else; I am still right here.

What have I become? My sweetest friend,
Everyone I know goes away in the end,
And you could have it all; my empire of dirt,

I will let you down,
I will make you hurt.

If I could start again,
A million miles away,
I would keep myself,
I would find a way.

[Hurt (NIN Cover) - Johnny Cash]

Erase / Rewind

Hey, what did you hear me say?
You know the difference it makes,
What did you hear me say?
Yes, I said it's fine before,
But I don't think so no more,
I said it's fine before,
I've changed my mind,
I take it back,

Erase and rewind,
'cause I've been changing my mind,                    
Erase and rewind
'cause I've been changing my mind,
I've changed my mind.

[Erase / Rewind - The Cardigans]

Hum Pehlay Hi Bahut Zakmi Hai

"A Pakistan police officer uses a baton to control flood victims looting donated food from a bus in Azakhel - Pakistan (Aug 8, 2010)"

Why do my people inflict violence upon each other? We all belong to the same land; we share the same traditions, customs and beliefs; we spring from the same soil and perish into the same dust... so why do my people hurt each other? 

Apno par haath uthana bhaut asaan ho giya hai humaray liay... kyu mairay bhaion? kyu aik dosray ko zakaam daytay ho? hum pehlay hi bahut zakmi hai :(

As The Rush Comes

Traveling somewhere; could be anywhere,
There's a coldness in the air but i don't care,
We drift deeper; life goes on,
We drift deeper into the sound,

Feeling strong...

So bring it on...

[As The Rush Comes (Gabriel & Dresden) - Motorcycle]