So i’ve finally slept off a bit of the jet lag from travelling, got back to my home in London. So was a bit of fun hanging out in the morning trying to get into my flat, after making a few calls managed to get in touch with the only flat mate left here and he kindly came home to let me in. To make things even better the boiler was broken so no hot water or heating, lucky for me I live right beside the club, I crashed hard and woke up just before midnight. Went for a bit of a walk and noticed there was a light on at Thuk’s restaurant, but for some reason I didn’t go in to say hi, I thought that maybe they were just cleaning up or something. So I carried onto the park where the fireworks were and made a few calls too on the way. Also I saw an omen on the way to the park and even was there on the way back.

I feel good, I stopped into say hi at Thuk’s restaurant today and had dinner there. She was so upset with me that I didn’t stop in to say hi last night I felt ashamed of myself. I really did, they were there till 4am last night and were even trying to call me to tell me about the party. I even had a suspicion there was something going on – but at that time just felt like walking alone for a bit. All the girls were there too today and it was so nice to see them again! she made me my favourite dish and brought me 3 different desserts after! we talked a lot and I really want to learn more Thai sometime I hear them talking and saying my name and giggling all the time! It’s so nice to feel the love and spend time with people that make me feel special. It was like that when I was home as well. So nice to be with my family, the nostalgia of walking through the woods, typical me as usual my head was in the clouds the whole time but who could blame me – she’s the type of woman that makes life worth living for. It was such a blissful night, the moon was full and the air was cold and crisp. We went to some place she knew of that was actually pretty far out from the city – spooky and magical at the same time. We walked and talked and all of a sudden we heard something in the distance, and it was just so amazing to hear it the wolves calling. They stopped after a few moments and we carried on our way, all of a sudden we heard the calling again – but this time it was so much more closer and there were 5 of them. We could even hear some rustling in the bushes, it was a bad situation we had to run for our lives firstly and secondly find out which way we were going, she had the idea of following the moon as it was in the direction where we parked so in a panic we did, and run we did the whole time we could feel them chasing us and getting closer and closer, we could see the road and quickly got into the car an irst time I could ever remember being hunted by wolves,and it was a big sigh or relief when we did. We pulled away slowly and down the path all we could see was glowing eyes. I took her to that spot after that adventure and it was just so nice laying there with her under the moon and stars at that place – one of the most amazing moments in my life.

On my last day at home, I spent the day with two of my best friends. We met in the afternoon for a delicious lunch at one of those trendy juice bars. Then it was to ACK Computers, where we spent some time, then over to Andreas’s pad where we chilled big time, played some kabuddie then listened to an audio CD – the power of now, did some yoga – chanting and meditation, chilled and enjoyed the last few moments together. The audio CD was actually pretty neat it started out as a background thing, but we were all pretty into it and very refreshing to have a discussion about it and get some thoughts and ideas flowing – the only time we ever have is right now!!!

Right now I feel so good, I spent some time meditating and thinking about things, what’s important to me, just enjoying the time here, fun things to do. I finished reading this book – tales of power, I always get to near the end of the book and I never want to finish, part of me is sad that the story is over but that’s just me. The predilection of a warrior.

So, yesterday something major kinda happened that shook everything up in my world, but maybe its the shake I needed, i’ll talk about that a little later. I just want to talk about my last Friday and how it made me realize something about the people here, everyone is so nice and willing to help its touching. I remember I was just on my way back to home but I realized that I lost my oyster card I just said I lost it to the tube chief and he just opened the door for me no questions asked I thanked him and carried on, so I actually met a kool person and ended up going on the tube with them which normally would have been fine but this time, time wasn’t on my side and the tubes were closed by the time I got to the other end, so we stayed out for a bit but I needed to find a way to get home now and I had no idea where I was, so I carried down the main road and first of all tried to get some food from a store but some argument happened or something and he called the police on me, so I started to walk away and asked a man for directions that was outside he was a taxi driver that had just pulled up, and I told him my tale, without thinking twice he offered me a ride and after he insisted I got him he wouldn’t even accept a penny from me! He took me to the bus stop but then we noticed that the bus was just in front of us so he did some fast driving to get a head of the bus and I was able to catch it! Like what a mission/night and I was just amazed that there are some truly amazing people out there.

So the thing that kinda shakes me up a bit, the beautiful woman that was at my side is gone now, its a bit of a shock still but somehow I know im gonna get through it this time, and also i’m moving! moving to West end of London RIGHT BESIDE MY SQUASH CLUB.
I couldnt be any happier about the location and everything, my only concern is the commute to work now is going to be 25minute tube ride, where I had a 13minute bike ride from here. But thats what its all about moving things, London is a city that never stops moving the pace here is furious and maybe part of me wanted to test that out if I had it in me to survive out here on my own., and i’ve done it. I found an excellent job one of the nicest areas of central London, I fell in love with the area soon as I had my interview and more importantly the people here were what made it even more amazing, right away I knew my manager and team lead were the ones. It was as if it was an omen, the area of London is called St. Pauls, and I made the connection with Paul my first mentor at BlackBerry. I’ve also got my squash club sorted and training partners and slowly extending my social circle with some amazing people that I meet here.
Moving is hard for me because i’m leaving such a wonderful family, they really took a liking to me and I was actually in tears at the dinner table the other night talking about it. The lady of the house took me as a son even though I was only a stranger to them, but I became part of their family and she cooked and cleaned for me and thought nothing of it, a truly amazing woman.

So I think everything is falling into place, I was pretty distraught with letting go of my love for her but I just have this feeling inside me that says everything is going to be aright. This is it, this is the warriors way.

So its been just about 3 week here, and I thought its about time to drop a little update on everything. Ive got a job as a service/infrastructure engineer for a mid size web technology company in the east/central area of London (EC4). Im living in a small flat in the Shoreditch area which is a pretty happening place actually, im part of a squash club/team on the west end (Paddington Squash Club) and made some good friends through the league there.

All in all everything is going so well, today was the first day I used my barclays bicycle membership for coming into work and its so good, I can get to work within 15minutes. It was raining today but I actually loved that, I cracked out my ArcTeryx pants and Merril shoes and was good to go, got to work with not a drop of water on me So in London they have a check in / check out service for these bicycles where you pick them up from a station you have 30min to use it and then drop it off at another station. So I was taking the bus for about 2 weeks here, fine but it takes me about 30minutes on the bus maybe more sometimes in the mornings, then I walked for about a week which was like 30minutes too, 22 was the record, but that adds up after a while. Now I have the bike which is amazing, its a nice casual ride in and the best part is I dont have to worry about where im going to lock it up or if its gonna get stolen!

Its been quite an adventure so far, I was living out of my suitcase for a while, about 1.5 weeks while I was trying to find a place, but it was actually a bit more stressful then I led on. Its just fitting that im staying with a very nice family actually and im even getting some home cooked meals to go with it! The sunday roast, beef stew, roast chicken! I’m spoiled I know! but maybe it was just how its meant to be

The thing I love about London is that there are so many activities and things todo its incredible, London is the center of the world, everything is literally going on here. Thats why I planned this exercise., I called it sharpening the sword. Where I wanted to hoan my skills and learn new ways. So far its been incredible, sometimes when im just walking around town I just start laughing when I think about all the fun im having and doing.

Well today was a pretty good day actually, I woke up around 14:35 and I was so happy when I saw the sun shine brightly today, I got out of bed and started to get ready as fast as I could, it feels as if I haven’t seen the sunshine for days, weeks even.

I made an omlet with mushrooms and peppers and had some grapefruit and yoghurt made it such a good start, I just felt the need to go back to that park and lay in the sun as long as I could. I left the house around 15:00 or so and jogged down to the park, Im still feeling a bit light headed recovering from this cold/flu whatever it is I had, but I feel like im functioning normally again now.

Just as I got to the park the sun was already on its way down, but there was a good few moments where it just shone on my face, i’ll really have to chase it next time. I made my way down to the far side of the park as I’ve never been there before and I saw someone doing some boxing shadow drills I was just thinking to myself I dont know what it is about this guy but something seems special, as I walked past he said hello and kindly introduced himself to me and told me some of his tale.

He was a former feather weight world champion boxer and was just keeping his game up in the park, so its very good for me to meet him as I just started my training at this park as well and he was very keen to do some work with me, he was actually pretty keen on introducing me to some boxing moves and training.

So we set the date of next Friday to meet here and we’ll get too it, hope its not so cold out there

So this morning was something magical to me, I’ve been at my cousins northeast coast of england, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. It started off wonderfully with seeing two of the most gorgeous girls in the world after 3 years! My two little neices, they’ve grown so much. My cousin here has the same bug I do, racquet sports and what is it we do when we get together ?? we made our way down to the table tennis club., squash in the evening.

My cousin and I played and played and it was so much fun. We’re pretty evenly matched so we had some amazing rallies and very close scoreline. There was a table beside us and two young lads were playing each other as well, and I even stopped a few times to watch their rallies. When during one of those moments one of the boys fathers asked me if I would hit with his son for a moment. I have never been so honoured in my life to step on court with someone. We started playing and it was such a joy for me to see someone so excited, and trying their best. There was a rally where he was stretching me side to side and I was hanging on by sheer luck alone, and I ended up losing it and he earned it. It made me feel so happy to see such a smile on his face, his parents faces .. It made me cry. That moment I just felt so thankful for everything in my life.

The two boys were both in wheelchairs, and it touched me so deeply to see how strong willed they were and continuing sport no matter what. Being part of that will for just a few moments was magical and reminds me that I am so lucky to be gifted such a beautiful body, health and to be loved. Sometimes even I take my health for granted and this reminder really humbles me within myself again.

Nothing can ever be taken for granted, for everything can turn to dust in an instant, appreciate everything for what it is in the moment because that is really all we have.

So this is a pretty interesting time in my life right now, I think thats what people call the cross roads. In my case its being in a position of having to redefine a lot of things that I have taken up for granted. My lifestyle has been so comfortable high paying pushy corporate job, living at home with my family which also includes no expenses at all, without even asking for things my parents do everything still, cook and clean I have a car whenever I need one. Close to work and my squash/tennis club, been fortunate enough to have travelled many places. Even more fortunate to have experienced love.

The start of it all was when she left, I never experienced anything like this before in my life. Ive had girls leave me before but I never really cared as much for anyone or anything. Its been just over a year now since it was over and I still remember her from time to time. To make things worse a couple of months after that my baby cousin had developed a serious case of pancreatic/liver cancer and left us within 3 weeks of being diagnosed she was gone. I felt myself being in a different world of thought. I spent many days in the forest at night especially by myself, maybe there was something about the natural beauty of nature, the way the moon shone over the water and the sound of the wind that blew through the trees that calmed me down.

Ive never felt any kind of pain before.

So it was an early start to the journey into Algoquin park this time, I can’t believe they actually got away with making me wakeup at 06:00 for leaving at 07:00 .. but in reality I don’t think we actually left till closer to 08:00 after all the dilly dallying. Anyways it was fun just getting together and goofing around. Another thing that made me happy was that I actually had to work last Saturday 9hours, and I used that time to take the Friday off so I didnt even have to use a vacation day!

By this time we get there, and I was horrified to find that my kyak is a piece of shit one. No rudder and no skirt., I did however manage to find matching pants to go with my ArcTeryx shell, so boy was I glad to have had them, kept me absolutely dry in there and I didnt mind having no skirt by the end of it I was still a little grumpy about the rudder and the kyak itself was heavier and shittier. After the first portage I decided to have some fun and play this game I invented called lets try to find them.
So I had no map or compass, but I knew where the lake was that we were gonna camp on., I kinda drifted to the back of the pack and just sat there alone for a good 20min just enjoying the scene its actually what motivated me to play this game and I slowly started gathering clues and trying to find the right lake we were planning on camping on.
So one thing I didnt take into account is that the lake was HUGE.. like a good 400-500m if not more to the other side, and it was WINDY as hell making it hard to paddle, I stuck mainly to the shore line at this point which was great for gathering clues, asking nearby campers if they had happen to hvae seen 4 canoes go by with a noisy bunch of boys. I eventually came into a new opening of the lake and my friends had actually put out a big bright jacket at the campsite which i recognized right away. What a fun game that was I must say, I even had to get serious at a point wondering what I would do if I dont find them, but that perhaps will be another adventure

So it actually all worked out according to my plan by the time I got there everything was already setup, the tents the benches, chairs, and tarps, all I had to do was get my gear ready and build a bucket system. So while the sun was still out I decided to get in the water right after I had setup the bucket , but there was just one problem in the midst I failed to notice that my bag of inrgediants for the vegetable stew wasn’t in anyones canoe! I thought I saw Gem put it in their canoe, but it was wrong =/ oddly enough Nick actually forgot a bag of food aswell. This year I brought some luxuary items with me snorkel and fins !! My god it was just incredible, I had no idea what to expect while snorkeling there however it was a whole new world to me. There was under ground trees, logs plantlife, blobs of a jelly fish like material algae, plankton, these white plants that could move and there was air bubbles coming out of them.
It was just fantastic, I actually even swam to the other side of the lake, the combination of my flippers and my sharkskin top made me float well, and I felt i could swim for ever! which I almost did on the far side it was ever more mysterious than before, the rocks over there were rugged and raw and there was so many interesting plants here too, I saw the odd fish or two but the plants are what really interested me. I had the feeling of being close to a ghost ship or something like that, It even looked like there was an underwater cave, I did dive down a bit from time to time and took a closer look at things also practicing mask clearing techniques I was so happy to have had my mask for this kinda stuff and my own equipment. I actually had to rent gear down in Florida keys a couple weeks back that it pissed me off abit about the dive, I think the mask is the most important part of it, cuz if you can’t see properly and comfortably down there whats the point, and no water gets in So did actually see a massive snapping turtle just by the shore of our camp site, which was awesome! but kinda scary at the same time, I wasnt in the water when I saw it but I wouldn’t wanna get bit by it anyways saw some youtube videos and they actually dont let go , in every case they have to use a special tool or pliers to pry their mouth open.

I was in and out of the water all the time, drying off by the fire going to club OK, and all the time the fire was burning really good, we had massive logs cooking all weekend and made a huge difference through the night. I was only in the water for about 30min at night cuz the moon was not out at all, it was tucked away behind lots of clouds so wasn’t that fun, it was still pretty nice though, but would have loved to have seen the stars and the moon as I did last year I remember just floating on my back looking up at them last year thinking.. man would it have been nice to have my flippers with me! I had my sharkskin so that made swimming all that more enjoyable.

I stayed up saturday night till the sun rose, most of my friends had passed out by now and it was just me and the fire in the woods, it was just nostalgic for some time just nice to forget the world forget everything and just be.

Wow, what an amazing trip., I didnt know what to expect really this time my last experience in Vancouver wasnt the greatest due to alot of stuff going on in my mind at the time but this was just great. I felt a bit like Paris Hilton actually being as it was my birthday when I hopped on the plane, and we stopped in Calgary for about an hour, and then onto Vancouver.. soooo that means I was partying in 3 time zones!!

But the tournament and partying was great, but even more fun for me was reconnecting with my good friend Sigrid, whom I met in Buenos Aeries , and whom so kindly invited me to her lovely house in North Vancouver. For me I was actually going through a lot of weird thoughts about this girl thats been in my life, and just talking to her about everything was so therapeutic for me it explains why im feeling so good right now looking back on it. But besides that, had WAY too much fun.

Theres a funny story too about my dress shoes, that I absolutely must share.. after the banquet i crashed over at some buddies place, and in the morning i got up and went back to my friends place eventually, and we actually planned to go out for dinner to a nice place so i thought what the heck might as well put on my dress shoes..and so we get there and sat at our table, and i crossed my legs for a minute, and looked at my shoes .. and i turned up to my friend and said .. these arent my shoes.

and that was just it, she actually lost it laughing so hard, and that was more than enough for me too I couldn’t control it either anymore everyone started turning their heads to see what was so funny, and we got a lot of interesting looks but as we all know that only makes it funnier !!! muah!!

SO btw, one thing I do have to talk about is the squash, I actually did the best I could at the time so im happy with it, unfortunatly I had an injury coming into the tournament but, I played great considering and rattled some cages and won a match too! BUT! my good good friend and ex training partner had a much better result, winning the WOMENS OPEN!!!! I couldnt even explain how happy it made me feel to see that, I was actually crying a bit when she did it! and it was an honour to be there.

So I’m still suffering from not carrying a pen. And have only been able to journal on bb or lappy, kinda lame but whatever.

So I’m on a bus to mendoza then to san juan, to have christmas with friends family!!! I just wanted to do this sooo bad, stayin with a family to me is like … The ultimate experience!! So there is also a magical place there called the valley of the moon and we are gonna go at night to it!

K so! Bus started backing up!!!! And no ones sitting beside me !! Ahhahahaha whattttt!!! Kinda fuckin awesome don’t ya think

Ok so btw travel tips for here, tip and tip well. I caught on in argentina when I got that feel of how similar it is to karachi, and a little more here goes along way. They are poor, and just seeing a smile that they get from something as so simple as money .. Makes me feel good, these are good people, really good people here.

So btw I got dropped after suring at the mall was plannin to go eat and then leave, but I decided togo back to hostel and omg am I ever glad I did. Really talked to tristan and more imprtantly carolina!! Omg she’s sooo pretty I wanna take her home with me

K so, I need to buy some nice things for the parents tried todo that at mall but fuck it was insane .. Literally and with suitcase and pack .. Hahaha kinda made up my mind on goin back to hostel. So gonna have to try to find a thing in mendoza.

This is pretty fun actually !! Woot bus is nice and comfy, I wish I woulda pushed for first class !! Didn’t even think about it till carolina asked me, but to be honest. They look about the same, and that remindsme of travel tip number 2 , pack a nice portable pillow !!!! Saved my life on the plane, and right now

Toon time! Ciaou ciou cioau

…Later that time trip…

Ok so yay! Made sucha good call on stayin in mendoz* for the early morning, wow these seats are so comfortable !!!!!!!!! K so on way to san juan now , caught the 1400 early actually so all good!

So yeah I got 4 gifts!!! Heheh just in time fuck u woulda been proud , saw exactly what to get and made the call right away no delay.

So sleepin from 9 to 1230 made all the difference in the world! Muah !!!!!!!

…even later on that trip…

Omg .. I honestly can’t believe that I’m actually here .. This is just something that I had dreamed of and its happening.

This house is just beautiful, I have a balcony with a view of mountains and wine fields, I can see all the stars in the universe soon, there’s hardly anything out here.

So things didnt go according to my plan today =/ I was supposed to go on a bike tour of the northern suburbs, and I even got up early! like 8:00 to be at the meeting place for 9:00, and the dood didnt show up, and i msged him like enough times, then still no reply! Piss me off! so I went back to apartment, and not sure what to do now, seems like a beautiful day, but ive been doing all the touristy things all week, so AHHHH!! bike tour woulda been perfect thats why i lanned it out for today! ahh well, i’ll figure something out, and tonite gonna goto Tango class hopefully get a chance to do some more tango,  like the rock was fun and all, but tango is tango, and 2morrow creamfields !!! so that’ll be full on,

OK, so Santiago actually came by 16:00ish and took me for a real tour in his car, showed me some amazing places, and the neighbourhoods and all that stuff, so maybe that wasnt sucha bad thing missing out on the bike tour!

So btw just got back from Salsa, Tango night, OMG I loved it, was sooo much fun! and met up with some couch surfers too!!! So first was the salsa dancing, and it was workin for me if i didnt think about it and just did it, but some of the girls i danced with were like pretty bad I thought. and I had the giggles, so like it was a great combo! but by the end of it, not that many girls wanted to dance with me cuz I kept laughing, and when everyone switched I was usually the odd one left out, kinda lame for me at the time but oh wellz

Tango was so much better I thought, I liked the more longer smooth strokes of Tango. and actually one of my partners spoke english!!! so I asked her to be my partner for the whole time, and we got good at it! So was an amazing night actually, and even met some couch surfers and *might* even plan out an adventure!! but we’ll see how it goes.

So im just kinda killing time now, staying up a little late tonite so 2morrow night i’ll be up all night! Creamfields in BA, can’t fucken wait, gonna be a ridiculous party, timo, hernan, satoshi,avb and theres a couple more but thats what really stuck to me. but stil havent decided what to wear!! ahhh, might go with my army camo shorts, or my black ones, black ones are lighter so thats where the points are going now. muah! will let ya know