About me
Name::Ahmed Arshi
From::Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
A new filmmaker rising from the edge of the horizon.
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Thursday, June 30, 2005
People come, People leaveIt's funny how you meet someone, have so much fun with, travel around with, share some personal secrets with sometimes, and then you realize that this person might leave and you might not see him/her again. It's an endless circle.
I just got an email from our current MCP Roi talking about how this day is his last day for his team in office and that starting from tomorrow the new MC will take over. Most of the current MC members will be heading home, Jonathan to the West, Esther to Quebec, Lanchinie had left already to the Netherlands, Karolina will go back to Poland, Roi back to London for school!! lol
I worked very closely with them, and shared some intense moments with this amazing team, I really wish that our path with cross again, but I know that would take a while.
I get another phone call from a friend that I met in school 4 years ago and through out those years we became very close, studied together and helped each other move from place to place. We became like brothers. Today he calls me and tells me that he found a job in Australia and he leaving in 2 weeks. I was really happy for him but sad that I might not see him again. As an AIESECer as well, travelling is a big part of an AIESECer's life. Meeting people is the priority. Leaving them at the end is the concequence.
Maybe when I leave my friends here will be sad. Or they will through Glad-That-Ahmed-Left party after I am gone....Bastards!! :)
I've been spending too much time infront of the computer writing my thoughts and my notes for my book and the documentary and of course this blog. I'm sure you have realized that!!
But you know what? I'm lovin it!! I have to satisfy my readers you know, can't you tell from the amount of comments I have!! hahahahahah
Just thought of writing this, and no I was not bored!!! Just thought of this and wanted to share it with you guys!
Stay Black!
Keep it Fresh!
&
Make it Brown!!
1906 - Pure food and drug act and meat inspection act adopted
1914 - Mahatma Gandhi's first arrest, campaigning for Indian rights in South Africa
1923 - New Zealand claims Ross Dependency in Antarctica
1930 - First Round-the-World radio broadcast Schenectady, New York
1936 - "Gone with the wind" By Margaret Mitchell is published
1936 - Federal approves 40 hour work week law
1950 - President Truman orders United States troops into Korea
1951 - NAACP begins attack on school segregation and discrimination
1960 - Zaire gains independence from Belgium
1962 - Rwanda and Burundi become independent
1970 - Brazil wins the soccer's 9th world cup in Mexico City after defeating Italy 4-1 in the Final
1974 - Mother of Martin Luther King Jr was shot in church by a black man
Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the city where he now lives. His own life has in many ways been as varied and unusual as the protagonists of his internationally acclaimed novels. Like them, Paulo Coelho has followed a dream in a quest for fulfillment. His own dream, to be a writer, met with frustration throughout much of his early adult life, a time in which he worked at various professions, some of them meterially rewarding but spiritually unfulfilling. "I always knew" he says, "The my Personal Legend, to uae a term from alchemy, was to write." He was thirty-eight when he published his first book.
In 1970, after deciding that law school was not for him, he traveled through much of South America, North Africa, Mexico, and Europe. Returning to Brazil after two years, he began a successful career as popular songwriter. In 1974, he was imprisoned for a short time by the military dictatorship then ruling Brazil. In 1980, he experienced one of the defining moments of his life: he walked the five hundred-plus mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. On this ancient highway, used for centuries by pilgrims from France to get to the cathedral said to house the remains of St. James, he achieved a self-awareness and a spiritual awakwning that he later described in The Pilgrimage.
Paulo Coelho once said that following your dream is like learning a foreign language; you will make mistakes but you will get there in the end. In 1988, he published The Alchemist, a novel that explores this theme, and it launched him as an international bestselling author. Specifically, Paulo Coelho is recognized for his powerful storytelling technique and the profound spiritual insights he blends seamlessly into his parables. Since then, The Alchemist has sold more than twenty million copies worldwide and has been translated into some fifty-six languages. In addition to The Pilgrimage and The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho has written luminous novels about the different streams of our lives, including By the River Piedra I sat Down and Wept, The Valkyries, the Fifth Mountain, and Veronika Decides to Die. A winner of numerous literary prizes, Paulo Coelho is also a prominent speaker for humanitarian causes. In 1999, he received a Crystal Award for Artistic Achievement at the Davos Economic Forum Confrence.
Dreams, symbols, signs, and adventure follow the reader like echoes of ancient wise voices in "The Alchemist", a novel that combines an atmosphere of Medieval mysticism with the song of the desert. With this symbolic masterpiece Coelho states that we should not avoid our destinies, and urges people to follow their dreams, because to find our "Personal Myth" and our mission on Earth is the way to find "God", meaning happiness, fulfillment, and the ultimate purpose of creation. The novel tells the tale of Santiago, a boy who has a dream and the courage to follow it. After listening to "the signs" the boy ventures in his personal, Ulysses-like journey of exploration and self-discovery, symbolically searching for a hidden treasure located near the pyramids in Egypt.
"The Alchemist", is an exciting novel that bursts with optimism; it is the kind of novel that tells you that everything is possible as long as you really want it to happen. That may sound like an oversimplified version of new-age philosophy and mysticism, but as Coelho states "simple things are the most valuable and only wise people appreciate them".
As the alchemist himself says, when he appears to Santiago in the form of an old king "when you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true". This is the core of the novel's philosophy and a motif that echoes behind Coelho's writing all through "The Alchemist". And isn't it true that the whole of humankind desperately wants to believe the old king when he says that the greatest lie in the world is that at some point we lose the ability to control our lives, and become the pawns of fate. Perhaps this is the secret of Coelho's success: that he tells people what they want to hear, or rather that he tells them that what they wish for but never thought possible could even be probable.
Coelho also suggests that those who do not have the courage to follow their " Personal Myth", are doomed to a life of emptiness, misery, and unfulfillment. Fear of failure seems to be the greatest obstacle to happiness. As the old crystal-seller tragically confesses: " I am afraid that great disappointment awaits me, and so I prefer to dream". This is where Coelho really captures the drama of man, who sacrifices fulfillment to conformity, who knows he can achieve greatness but denies to do so, and ends up living a life of void. It is interesting to see that Coelho presents the person who denies to follow his dream as the person who denies to see God, and that "every happy person carries God within him". However, only few people choose to follow the road that has been made for them, and find God while searching for their destiny, and their mission on earth.
Consequently, is Coelho suggesting that the alchemists found God while searching for the elixir of life and the philosopher's stone? What is certain is that the symbolism of the text is a parallel to the symbolism and the symbolic language of alchemism, and similarly the symbolism of dreams is presented as " God's language". It is also symbolic that Santiago finds his soul-mate, and the secrets of wisdom in the wilderness of the desert. The "wilderness" is a symbol that has been used by many great writers e.g.. Austen in "Mansfield Park", and Shakespeare in "King Lear". In the desert, Santiago meets his "twin-soul" and discovers that love is the core of existence and creation. As Coelho explains, when we love, we always try to improve ourselves, and that's when everything is possible. The subject of love inspires a beautiful lyricism in Coelho's writing: " I love you because the whole universe conspired for me to come close to you."
"The Alchemist" is a novel that may appeal to everybody, because we can all identify with Santiago: all of us have dreams, and are dying for somebody to tell us that they may come true. The novel skillfully combines words of wisdom, philosophy, and simplicity of meaning and language, which makes it particularly readable and accounts for its bestselling status.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Work? What Work?So I finally had my 3 hours of sleep, I woke up very refreshed and ready for today! I go to have a shower and see that my roommate Mahesh is upset about something, I asked him what was going on and I found out that he locked himself out of his room. We tried unlocking his lock with a knife, fork, even tried a spoon!! Nothing worked. He gave me premission to break down his door, I tried but it was early in the morning and the rest of our roommates are asleep and I didn't want to make a loud fuss about it so I offered him a cup a coffee and we sat down thinking of how to get his door opened, he needs to be at work in an hour and everything is in there!!
I looked at his window from the outside and tried to pull it open and then....CRACK! I broke his window!!! He started jumping in joy and hopped through the window to his room like a monkey, I went to the washroom to clean my bleeding hand!!! At least we got that sorted out!! he can sort the broken window!!
I went to meet up with Alex to work on the Documentary and found out that there was a goodbye party happening soon to our Dean of the Business Major. Brian looks at me and told me that I have to be in that party cuz my name is in the guest list, I worked with the Dean very closely when I was in AIESEC that's why. I told Alex we will be there for just 5 minutes and then leave but when I heard that they will be serving free food I told him that we will stay there for an hour max!!!
After eating more than 4 plates of spring rolls and fried chicken strips, and Alex drinking 3 glasses of white wine we were there for more than an hour. It was 5 o'clock and the Dean is preparing for a presentation.....This is it, I thought. I grabbed Alex and alerted him that the Dean is going to give a speech, we grabbed what we can of food in our pockets and fled the scene!! How ghetto is that!!!
We went to the Quad, the school's park and chilled there and we decided to work on the Documentary. However, Alex was a little bit buzzed after those glasses of wine he had. Sara, a friend of Alex's showed up and her and Alex decided to play Chess on the grass field so Alex can sober up. I sat there reading my book (The Alchemist) while they are playing. Sara had to leave to meet up with her brother and Alex looked at me and asked me if I wanted to play a game of chess with him, I was like what the heck I'll play one game and then go to work. Alex was sobering up. Appearantly our game lasted 2 hours!!! I wipped his ass with a sweet checkmate after a long struggle from both sides, that was a nice game. It was 8 o'clock and Alex asked me if I wanted to go for another game. You know what? I think we ain't doing anything else so why not. I said!! Another hour and a half game of chess ended up with Alex wipping my ass with a classical checkmate. We are even!!
It was 10 o'clock and Alex was driving me home, I asked him if he wanted to do something like going get something to eat or something and he suggested to go to the movies. I'm up for that. Might as well, we have wasted our entire day why not watch a movie and complete the packege!
We went and watched (Madagascar) the animated movie with Ben Steller and Chris Rock. That was such a funny movie and the girls who were setting infront of us were really stoned, they were cracking up when there is nothing really that funny! Overall we enjoyed the movie!!
Alex dropped me home and said our salaams and Alex goes like "Yo man this was a good day" I look at him "We should do this more often" I replied.
"Work? What work?" We both chanted!!!
1913 - Beginning of the second Balkan War
1916 - Boeing aircraft flies for the first time
1923 - General JC Gomez, Venzuala's first Vice-President was assasinated
1939 - Dixie Clipper completes the first commercial plane flight to Europe
1940 - United States passes Alien Registration Act requiring aliens to register
1945 - Ruthenia, formerly in Czechoslovakia, becomes part of Ukrainian SSR
1946 - British Intelligance arrest 2700 Jews in Palestine as alleged terrorists
1949 - South Africa begins implementing apartheid, no mixed marriages
1949 - United States troops withdraw from Korea after World War II
1956 - Federal Interstate highway system act signed
1958 - Brazil wins the soccer's 6th world cup in Stockholm after defeating Sweeden 5-2 in the Final
1966 - United States bombs fuel storage facilities new Northern Vietnamese cities
1969 - First Jewish worship service at the White House
1970 - United States ends 2 months military offensive into Cambodia
1976 - Seychelles gains independence from Britain
1977 - Supreme Court ruled out death panelty for rapists of adults
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
InsomniaYou got that right!! I haven't slept for over 35 hours and the missed up part is that I'm not even tired! I went to the same doctor that diagnosed me five months ago with Insomnia and told me that I might have again. I wasn't really surprised or sad that I got it, it kinda felt cool!! You are sick with insomnia, how many people do you know that is suffering from that, not too many I believe.
He asked me if I have any thoughts that I would love to share with him, maybe that's why I'm lacking sleep. I told him that I work during the day with my documentary and during the night I work on my book. He inquired about both of them and when I told him he was impressed and asked me to calm down with my thoughts about how to finish both project cuz the brain can't handle too much pressure, screw that! My brain is mine and will do what I desire!!
Anyways, I just finished writing book one of my trilogy which will be under the name (Duel: The Enemy of Friendship) That is the first book of three and I just started working on the second one with the title (Duel: The Sum of all Revenge) I didn't know that I needed that much of research to write the second one, but it's going to be a bloody book. The first one made me swet from the amount of voilence I put into it, so if you have any heart conditions you should not read it!! The second and the third which I don't have a title for yet will be even bloodier, will make Lord of The Rings look like shit!!
Muhuhahahahahahah!!!
1914 - Assasination of the heir to the throne of Austria, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophia, in Sarajevo by a Serbian Nationalist, Gavrilo Princip. This incident precipitated a war with Serbia, eventually starting World War I.
1916 - First flight between Hawaiian Islands.
1922 - Tornado strikes Sandusky Ohio and Lorain Ohio, killing 93 people.
1945 - Polish provisional Government of National Unity set up by the Soviets.
1946 - Enrico De Nicola becomes the first President of Italy.
1950 - North Korean forces captures Soul, South Korea and call it city with ID# 01041951
1964 - Organization for the Afro-American Unity forms in New York by Malcolm X
1965 - First United States ground combat forces in Vietnam authorized by President Johnson
1914 - United States signs treaty of commerce with Ethiopia.
1929 - First Colour Television demo in New York City.
1934 - Federal savings and Load Association has been created.
1942 - FBI captures 8 Nazi saboteurs from a Sub off New York's Long Island.
1944 - Cherbourg, France has been re-captured by the Allies in World War II.
1950 - United Nation Security Council calls on members for troops to aid South Korea during the Korean conflict.
1950 - President Truman orders air force and navy into Korean conflict.
1954 - CIA-sponsored rebels overthrow elected government of Guatemala.
1955- First automobile seat belt legislation enacted in Illinois.
1957 - 390 die by Hurricane Audrey in Coastal of Los Angeles and Texas.
1960 - British Somaliland becomes part of Somalia.
1969 - Police raid the stonewall gay bar in Greenwich Village in New York, about 400 to 1000 patrons riot against the police, it lasted 3 days.
1974 - Earthquake kills 200 in Qeubrada Blanca Canyon, Columbia.
1975 - Rod Serling the Author of "The Twilight Zone" Dies at 60 years old.
1977 - Djibouti gains independence from France (National Day)
1990 - Salman Rushdie who is condemned to death by Iran, contributes $8600 to help their earthquake victims.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Quotes of the WeekAlright from now on I'll post Quotes that I read and I'll write down the ones that inspires me every Sunday by Category.....Today's Category is "Work"
"Get Happiness out of your work or you may never know what happiness is"
- Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)
"Getting fired is nature's way to telling you that you had the wrong job in the first place"
- Hal Lancaster in the wall street journal
"When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt"
- Henry J. Kaiser (1882-1967)
"Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work"
- Horace (65BC- 8BC)
"In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: They must be fit for it, they must not do too much of it, and they must have the sense of success in it"
- John Ruskin (1819-1900)
"The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work"
- Richard Bach
This might sound odd but Oleg and I were planning to go to Gay Pride Perade just to see what is it all about, I have never gone to see it before neither did Oleg so we assume it would be something interesting to experience and believe me it was!!
As usual we were late but it didn't really matter, we were only half hour late and people assured us that we didn't miss much! I saw Teddy earlier that morning on MSN and asked him if he wanted to join us, he refused saying that he might punch someone there and I know when Teddy says that he means business. Anyways, I met up with Oleg at Gould and Church and the roads were blocked so we knew that the perade was happening there and Oleg was excited because there were a number of toppless girls walking around, too bad they were lesbian Oleg!
The first thing I saw in the perade was the mayor of Toronto, David Miller. First I was surprised to see him. "Is he gay? I thought he was married?" I thought but then Oleg explained how he is the mayor and has to attend those kind of carnavals. Shitty job I thought!!!
We walked around for couple of hours watching the really interested perade, where men were half naked some of them were actually naked, being sprayed with water so many time from those water guns that those homos were carrying around! I was a very sunny and humid day made Oleg and I very tired half through the whole thing so we decided to get something to eat and then maybe relax somewhere where there is shade. We had Shawarma, that was good right beside big slice pizza on Gerrard and Yonge, the streets were closed by the cops so it was cool walking in the middle of the street like there was some sort of protest going on, only this time people were way happier!!
It was 6pm now and we have no idea what to do next, out next plan for the evening is to go watch Alex perform with his band at 9pm but we have 3 hours to kill. Oleg was too tired to walk around so we ended up chilling beside his parked car on the sidewalk and just talk about perade and what did we experience this night. Oleg told me that he is accepting the fact that there are gay people in the street and it doesn't shock him to see a gay person walking down the street anymore. "That's because you have been staring at gay people for the past 3 hours, give it a week and you will freak out again when you see one!!" I said. He agreed!!!
We went to Ryerson Campus although I don't want to walk through that campus again, there is no point to walk to school again after you graduate but had to use the washroom, actually he wanted to take a shower. A shower? Yeah, using tab water!! I'm telling you right now, this guy Oleg has some wierd ass skills when it comes to being ghetto!!!
It was 9pm already and we went to this lounge called Almacambo to Alex and his band perform. They really worked out the crowd pretty hype. Too bad it was shorter than I expected but I'm sure that those guys will go further than that if they keep their spirit on that level. It was almost 11pm and I was getting tired and eager to come back home to work on some stuff for my upcoming book and to write this blog as well so I split up from the group and headed back home and on my way home I was thinking of the main experience of this day and I guess it was this: For me to be happy in life in general is to live for this moment not for tomorrow.
Do you agree?
Sunday, June 26, 2005
A Hundred and One Days
In January 2003 Asne Seirstad entered Baghdad on a ten-day visa. She was to stay for over three months, reporting on the war and its aftermath. A Hundred and One Days is her compelling account of a city under siege, and fascinating insight into the life of a foreign correspondent.
An award-winning writer, Asne Seirstad brilliantly details the frustrations and dangers journalists face trying to uncover the truth behind the all-pervasive propaganda. She also offers a unique portrait of Baghdad and its people, trying to go about their daily business under the constant threat of attack. Her passionate and erudite book conveys both the drama and the tragedy of her hundred and one days in a city of war.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Land MarkToday started very slow for me but ended really wierd! I had my session with Alex as usual to work on the documentary and it went really good, we brainstormed the script and came up with really amazing ideas of how to start and end the film.
As we were splitting up after the session Alex asked me if I wanna join him to go to this confrence called Landmark which was about developing yourself to be a better person and all that, I like to those type of sessions cuz I use to give them when I was involved in AIESEC myself so I thought of giving it a try plus it was free so no there is no harm at all for not trying.
Lots of old people, the first I thought when I entered the hall. So many happy smiling people, is that a fake smile or that those people are so happy over something. The session starts with a long speech by the what they called him (The Leader) he talked about building yourself and that things around you has no reason unless you create a reason to it, thus making a decision!
I looked at Alex and asked him if this was a cult, he laughed at me and whispered at me to keep quiet for (The Leader) was still talking. I'm starting to have a bad feeling about this.
After the speech (The Leader) asked few people who went through his program to step up and talk about their achievements through his program to us the newbies or the potential new members. One after the other started talking about how their lives have changed and that they see it in a bigger picture and encouraging us to join. My doubts are fading and I'm actually considering joining this group and started writing down the dates they have displayed on the board on top of the stage when some really happy loud man approached Alex and I and greeted us and pointed as me and asked if I was going to join them, it was really obvious that I was a newbie because of the hello badge I was wearing, the old members had their own printed badges. The guy smacked me on my back and smiled at me and told me that this $500 I'm paying to join in is worth every penny and pointed to the ground and yelled out: "Do you see this carpet how tight it is? I'm tighter than that! You see those wall papers how tight they are? I'm even tighter than that!" I looked at him for a while without saying anything and finally those worlds came out of my mouth: "You just convinced me!" The guy smacked me on the back again and welcomed me to their group and walked away happily.
Alex looked at me and asked if that guy really convinced me to join in, I told him that this guy just convinced me NOT to join in! Later on they split us into groups to have some workshop session I was placed in a group of 5 including myself. The person who was facilitating this session was Angela who took this course 13 years ago and loved it and decided to be involved in it and now she is giving those sessions herself, asked us to talk about our problems and how do we think we can solve them. The first guy who was as old as I am talked about his problem with sleeping, he complained that he could sleep over 14 hours a day and still feel sleepy. Some middle aged man complained about his job, that he has to work over 10 hours a day 6 days a week and had no time to spend with his family. This really old woman who I assume she was at least 70 years old complained about her being so judgemental and doesn't take any orders for anybody and would not listen to any advice. The best one of them all, was the lady who was sitting right next to me, she was at least 7 ft in height I had to raise my head to look at her although she was just sitting beside me, she was tough looking like this wrestler (Chyna) from WWE, she complained about being divorced twice and having 5 children, no comment!!
Where the hell am I!! I felt I was in the twalight zone! Angela looked at me and asked me what is my problems, I didn't have anything to say so I basically stood up and walked away!! Looked for Alex and finally found him and got the hell out of there!! I couldn't believe that Alex actually took this course and paid $500 for the whole thing but then he explain that the only reason why he did it is because he knew he could get his money back anytime but at the end he got lazy and didn't do and was then forced to attend the sessions!!
I thought AIESEC was the top ten for organizations that looked like a cult, I guess I was wrong!!!
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Asne Seierstad
Asne Seierstad was born in 1970 and studied Russian, Spanish and the History of Philosophy at Oslo University. She worked as a correspondent in Russia between 1993 and 1996, and in China in 1997. Between 1998 and 2000 she reported on the war of Kosovo for Narwegian television, and in 2000she published With their Backs to the Wall: Portraits from Serbia. In autumn 2002 she spent three months in Afghanistan, reporting for a number of major scandinavian newspapers. In spring 2003 she reported on the war in Iraq from Baghdad.
Asne Seierstad has received numerous awards for her journalism. The Bookseller of Kabul is one of the bestselling Norwegian books of all time, and has been translated into many languages.
The bookseller of Kabul, written by journalist Asne Seierstad is one of the most colourful portrait of people struggling to survive in the most brutal circumstances non-fiction books ever. Again that's just my opinion.
The book talks about a family in Afghanistan after the fall of the Teliban under the American forces in 2002 and how life may have changed for some people and other may have still feel the fear of the Taliban regime although they are no longer in exsistence. Asne went to Afghanistan in 2002 after the fall of the Taliban and lived with a very traditional Afghani family where the man of that family (The Head Master) is a bookseller. She writes the everyday lifestyle of the family from the moment they wake up and go on with their regular chores till they all fall asleep.
Asne is Norwegian and the book was written in her mother tougue. The book was translated into more than 29 languages and is now one of the international bestseller of all time.
The book inspired me with the way it was written, the details of the surroundings, the emotions that the family members are going through, and of course the facts and research she conducted to understand the tradition behind the Afghani family's actions and decisions.
I recommend for this book to be read, if you appreciate life you will appreciate this book.