Government touches everything and processes are very serial, hierarchial, heavily bureaucratic, and corrupt of course. The common distribution of wealth idea does not work based on the buddy systems I have seen – people revert to bribes and having good contacts to get things done and from what I have noticed, that makes lower class people even more disadvantaged. Socialism is hard to implement with even distribution and minimal defects.

On the bright side making sustenance Men, women, and children here have convinced me that the Vietnamese are people of strong will, hard work, and relentless determination. They will make the impossible happen; if you just watch people you can catch their energy in their hustle and flow. People in Southwern Vietnam are very business-minded always trying to make an extra buck or two. As soon as your pockets give, smiles dissolve and the predator’s eyes lock-and-load on the next target. These soldiers have the soujurn swagger of a famished fighter on a battlefield fighting for a pinch of life. The energy is infectious. A bit like the ambitious “can do” bug you get by visiting New York City and seeing small people in a big city get by.

Wheeling it to Danang to get a visa extension. There better not be rain there or I’m going to kick somebody fat and ugly. Come ye Sun!

Oh yeah, no more temples. What a scam. I feel like they’ve built all these temples in Southeast Asia to boost tourism and steal backpackers’ lunch money. Nobody’s even using them for religious purposes – common folks never visit them. They’re even reconstructed without regard to the original structures. I rather watch the Discovery channel for high quality footage than riding a boat and hiking for 3 hours each. There’s just way too many to see and not enough time!

By far, Mr. Hung’s foodstall (near the river) is the best place to eat hands down. You can enjoy the best food here in all of Vietnam.

This is the most touristy town yet. But it is a good touristy town because the shopping, food, and people were great. We got some fake Lacostes, mini North Face backpacks, and some perfectly cut tailored shirts and pants for $10 a pop and we’re talking fabric and service with high quality. The party’s at Phuong 1 on 7 Tran Phu street.

It’s been a lively stint but I think 2 days is enough damage because shopping is the biggest pull here. As Lonely Planet jabs, all of a sudden backpackers after Hoi An are looking spiffy with their collared shirts and custom-made trousers. Now I look less like Gandhi and more like a tourist again. Mom, you’d be proud of me if you saw me right now.

Nha Trang! On a 12 hour sleeper bus, here we come…

People are genuinely happy here. Just today we found throngs of people picnicing on the beach eating rice and chicken for 50 cents and poking jokes with friends laughing from the tonsols of their throats. Are they happy? These people have absolutely nothing – no iPods, no cars, and no fancy clothes. They’re just roughing it and it seems from their outlook on life, they’re living a “good” life with friends, work, and family.

In America, we want more, more, more. Here, they have less, less, less and it’s working for them. All I remember from America is stress from work, stress from bills at home, stress from traffic, and stress struggling against the wake of mainstream being a Muslim. For me it’s truly more relaxing living here in Southeast Asia where you can be yourself and live a simpler life within a more wholistic society that possesses a balanced and blended value system.

I will upload past journal entries since the beginning of January along with pictures as soon as I get proper www in this country. Facebook is banned in Vietnam by the Viet Kong. Yes, they still exist and they stole my lunch money! Just kidding man.

I am now slurping like a slob word-class glass noodles for under a buck – living like a king. These food stalls really work the magic into these simple epicurean creations. Women just love cooking here. It brings them joy to stir up a storm and feed you and just wait for your reaction. People don’t speak much here, but you can feel their passion and their love for others. And you can taste it in the cooking. It’s flame-broiled love straight from the grill to your belly.

I never knew the power of fried rice. It must be the MSG or something but the rice or garlic or ginger or something in these dishes are rocket-powered. just bursting with fountains of flavors I have never quite tasted. Packed into a simple grain of rice, the people of Laos are able to do wonders in the kitchen.

Amazing it is the more you remove from your life the more powerful you become.

Like soldiers these trees stand in attention by the thousands on these picture-perfect hills. Implanted on the banks of the river you can spot feather-fragile huts fringed on cheap wood and hope from above. Lower in the shallow waters men poach the gentle passing stream for the catch of the day. People have a strong connection with nature here in Laos and rely on God’s primitive resources to afford daily sustenance. It’s a humbling life whose reigns are never in your hands. When a farmer or fisherman realizes his fate is not exactly in his control, this is called subjugation to God; he attains a calm and balanced temperament- something burnt out in the hearts of citizens making a living in the big city.

When goods and services are sold for more than what consumers are willing to pay, the market adjusts itself to accommodate; in a nutshell, an economic devaluation occurs.

The parallel that I am drawing is when the world gets to be too much to bear and you are consistently giving it your best, you have to get away and control your worldly desires. Turn away from life’s demands to “collecting things” and society’s imposed fear of poverty and get back to the basics. You can enhance your spirit by traveling to achieve a holistic self again – your equilibrium must not be neglected. Enjoy the childish things in life and do what makes you feel special again, even if it is foolish. This is what I learned today.

The monks here remind me of the tenets of Islam that preach simplicity, humility, and living every day as if it were our last. Traveling is like death because you take barely anything with you when you move on.

Later in the day. On a motorbike on the bumpiest and curviest road straight out of hell with a beautiful view of heaven right outside the window. Just barely swerved past a cow on the road. OK, I’ll write later when it’s less life threatening!

At sunset we went biking through the rustic villages around the 25,000 populated small town. This was by far one of the best ways to reach into the countryside and see the way people were living in this albeit slightly tourist-infested heaven. Kids were smiling, cows were grazing, and dads were sipping tea of course while the women tilled away at the fields.

Main attractions here include kayaking and tubing during the day and biking & meeting crazy drunks and Bob Marley look-a-likes at night. We met this one dude from Sweden working as a bartender who had decided to start working at Sabaidee Restaurant because he had 2 weeks left in his vacation. Inspiring!

This is a place for stoned hippies and shirtless soul seekers walking barefoot around town. Everybody is so high here, it’s not even funny. It’s a town stuck in the 1960s with a great outdoor culture.

I think we’re going to move on tomorrow. Heading North, captain.

So you might ask why the hell are you doing all these Western things in the middle of the Orient?

I must admit – day 2 of the trip and I’m at a coffee shop watching TV and having greasy pizza. Yes, even backpackers miss home sometimes. Around travel days, your full day is shot being lazy and coping with being human. You have to rest to be energized for the rest of your travels.

Travel mix up. The reason for this rush is I told the lady at Air Asia to book me to Vietnam and she booked me to Vientiane, Laos! We changed our whole travel plans but I think our plan B is going to work; just a lot of rushing through the first sites because I’m on a visa pinch.

Ok, enough depressing news – here’s an unrelated picture riding around in the city. There are tons of motorbikes here!

People are very peaceful and surrendering, warm and welcoming, and speak in voices quieter than pin-drops. We had some good spring roles here, curries, and noodle soup. We’re taking a bus tomorrow to visit some interesting sites.

Highlights of the day:

• Witnessing animists worshiping ancestors
• Getting served by 6-year old waitresses
• Finding 75% of people on motorbikes women
• Seeing French influence on a Thai-like country
• Meeting the most peaceful kind of people on Earth!

The next generation of the Sync in-car entertainment and information system will use a USB mobile broadband modem to establish a secure wireless connection capable of supporting several devices simultaneously.

The system will be available next year on selected models — no word yet which ones — and you won’t need a subscription or hardware beyond the modem.

via Ford brings Wi-Fi to the highway – CNN.com.

For quality Middle Eastern clothing in Brunei Darussalam, you have to visit this shop in Bandar Seri Begawan Darussalam. We just got some headscarves and necklaces from my wife there for spledid prices. The shop is located at Seri Purnama Complex in Kiulap.

There you can find:

• Gamis, jubas, and abayas
• Belly dancing costumes
• Incense and bakhoor
• Islamic items

For Arabic food, conveniently right next to that shop is Sugar & Spice, a cafe & grill operated by my friend Radwan Sbeynati. There you can try the Arabic Starter Set for delicious hummus (chick pea dip), tasty baba ghannooj (eggplant dip), crunchy falafel, fresh pita bread, and oven-baked fatayir bi-sabanikh (spinach pastries).

For Mediterranean food products you can rely on Imad Jandali’s grocery store in Muara. He has everything you need from pickles to grape leaves. Very quality stuff. I tried the peppers and European chocolates and I’m glad I found this rare stuff here. I’m daydreaming of them as I type right now.

You won’t regret trying these places. It’s a must if you’re an Arab living in Brunei.

One love! This trip to Jamaica was one of the funnest events as a family that we have ever had. It was nice to eat and drink (pina colada virgin shakes!) at an all-inclusive resort. Even the sports facilities were amazing and very social indeeed.

Long before the Europeans arrived, Arab traders plied the coastlines of the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia, bringing with them the teachings of Islam.

The Arab District remains a Malay enclave held firmly together by strict observance of the tenets of Islam. At the heart of the community is the Sultan Mosque, a beautiful site.

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 08:35:13 -0700

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Finally posting my wedding photos for the first time. This is a traditional Syrian wedding that starts with a chant as the groom among a pack of men doing a sword dance has to ask for the bride’s hand from her home and take her to the wedding hall; the rest is typical dancing, food, and fun! (August 4, 2008)

Noura and I spent a fabulous Eid in this slice of heaven. KK is a short-stop before KL with a mild yet vivacious city climate and a silky serene island scene. We jettied our way to Manukan Island which is located just off the edge of earth between nowhere and no care. Shot great pics. Fabulous.

I am going to explain my very own “secret” methodology involved with managing a web design (or graphics design) project from concept to completion, given you have a customer, a project, and a deadline. I will describe the process from start to finish as if you were my client.

By the end of this tutorial, you will have a good grip on how web design projects should be conducted.

A glamorous design is only called a success if you meet scope expectations on time, within budget, and with allocated resources. Communication, creativity, and closure are the 3 C’s you need to keep in mind as the keys for your success as a web designer. If you master these concepts of project management for web & graphics design that I am about to explain, clients will keep coming back to you and referring you like a call girl diva in New York in the roaring 1920s.

With this knowledge of my very own web design methodology, you will have a firm handle on how to approach clients or design a website yourself if you are a new web designer; for other readers, you can know what to expect if you are about to engage with a web designer to do some work for you. Specific uses for this methodology:

• Explaining next steps to your client (enhancing sales)
• Organizing your design workload (effective planning)
• Creating discreet project milestones (contract closure)

Here’s the web design process I use for my clients. I will explain each step in the pages to come:

I will cover the whole web/graphics design project process in quite some detail starting with…

1. Analyzing Your Needs and Agreeing on a Proposal
2. Collecting Content & Getting Started with Wording
3. Building the Design Concept and Detailed Design
4. Reviewing, Testing, and Tweaking the Details
5. Publishing the Solution and Handing Over
6. Marketing, Support, Maintenance, Follow Up

This tutorial is quite long so sit back, grab some Doritos, and enjoy homeboy. Remember while reading, the term “you” refers to you as the client and “we” refers to us as the designer team…

If you need a new website or if it’s time to redesign your existing one, I’m always ready to help give some advice.

Reach out to me for a free consultation. I’m ready for hire.

Here’s a breakdown of my creative design services…

This includes re-designing your website, creating new websites that are…

• Easy to use and user-updatable, or for complex article management
• Video-based with a narrator walking around and talking like on TV
• Flash-animated or database-driven sites with custom requirements
• App-driven with calendars, news, blogs, contact forms, shopping carts
• The list goes on and on…if you’ve seen it done, I can do it

This includes pretty much anything that can be printed…

• Magazine ads, newspaper prints, billboards, event banners
• T-shirts, CD covers, jars, hats, mouse pads, vehicle graphics
• Business cards, brochures, flyers, door hangers, you name it!

OK, here’s what we can do as far as your logo…

• Create a new custom logo or revamp your existing logo
• Make your logo 3D, animated, with voiceovers and sound effects
• Re-draw your logo if it’s not fit for print (or if you lost the original)

Multimedia means any design that moves…

• Video production, TV ads, radio ads, voiceovers, sound effects
• Flash animations for whatever occasion – to grab attention
• 3D product renderings, layout maps, interactive diagrams

Nothing makes a design look better than great photos…

• Product galleries (for the things you want to advertise)
• People photos (for the team profiles section of your design)
• Location photos (of your building, office, studio, or equipment)
• Event photos (to post in your blog…for PR exposure reasons)

We have both online/offline marketing campaign approaches that include…

• Viral Youtube videos, Facebook groups, Myspace pages
• Interactive ads, annoying pop up ads, website banners
• Search engine optimization, newsletter management, etc.

Luckily the iPhone SoundClip Audio Booster directs sound from the built-in speaker on the iPhone toward you to increase the clarity and volume for movies and music. It also makes games easier to play without blocking your iPhone’s speaker. A tuned conical deflection chamber designed to make the audio from your iPhone clearer and also slightly louder. Sound waves are reflected toward you, instead of away, so you feel more involved in your game, movie, or music. SoundClip amplifies iPhone audio by 10dB between 6kH and 20kHz, resulting in a cleaner, more accurate response.

Introducing the world’s thinnest laptop by Dell. The Dell Adamo XPS you can check out here. Looks like computers are getting smaller and smaller. The thinner they make them, the more portable and fashionable they become.

I wonder what Apple is going to come up with next. We already heard about Apple’s 4G iPhone prospect. (That’s going to be crazy, especially since I just bought an iPhone 3GS.) How thin can they manufacture these beasts? It’s like a beauty contest and I love watching.

My top strengths include project management, systems integration, application development, and upstream oilfield management consulting. See resumé for more details…

Click here to download my resumé in PDF format.

After a quick bite, we experienced the Empire Country Club’s premiere cinema… and let me tell you it was a gorgeous venue to watch the movie 2012. The movie was horrible, but the cinema had the coolest electronic seat chooser ever!

We crashed at a horrible hotel, whose name I will spare. After a water pipe leak and no warm water in the showers (and non-noteworthy breakfast at the hotel), we hiked out and saved our morning by having a lovely traditional Malay breakfast with Roti.

We then made our way to Tutong Beach where we met about 50 zillion Serikandis which was, as always, a pleasant surprise. We ate some marvelous food and soaked in the generosity while having fun and talking about everything from “How to Make a Great Cappuccino” to moving to Bangkok and starting a new life…

So for the play-by-play, let’s go over what we did today at the beach:

• Ate a lot of food…grilled vegetables
• Skidded around in ATVs
• Played beach soccer…fun!
• Ate a lot of food…fried Jackfruit, yummy
• Prayed together
• Uppercut tall waves
• Ate a lot of food…sweet ayam
• Had fun & cracked jokes
• Ate a lot of food…top class lamb
• Snapped great photos…learned how to shoot manual

Speaking of which, Fadilah Ahmad Alhijazi (Señor Pablo) took some amazing pictures of us. It’s this man starting off the Youtube video here. Pablo is a philosopher, an artist, great baker, an adventurer, and a foreign diplomat. My wife and I agree he was the inspiration of the day. Take a hop over to Señor Pablo’s blog. Can’t wait to meet again.

It was loads of fun. I have to go to bed now because I’m dead tired.

Actually, we had no choice. I’ll tell you the story. The landlord “found out” he was not authorized to rent us the place because it was government property and all of a sudden my agency gives us short notice to move. We didn’t want to get into issues with the government because we had absolutely no time for hassle so we just bit the bullet and did the unusual.

Now it turned out to be quite refreshing. It’s wonderful how things you at first oppose can be blessings in disguise. A fresh new beginning before the end of the year when we have to move again…

It is cartoons, abstract art, and surrealist art that boost my thinking and squeeze my creative juices to the max. It also happens when I witness psychedelic art from the 60s or if I look into the stars, planets, or sci-fi lifeforms from outer space. These abstract art forms (like a funky screensaver) let my mind soar beyond the (t)reason of worldly constraint. When experiencing such art, for a moment I feel like I am upward-gravitating; in those very moments I have clarity and superhero vision! It’s a transcending inspiration. I see what’s right and what should be. It helps me isolate from this world and focus on my inner best intentions.

For me, it’s important to keep my mind active and critical of visually splendid things. It stimulates my senses and keeps my brain jogging full speed. It can even be small math puzzles, like Mad Minute. So when I wake up I tell myself this every day: “Think, count, process, and dream a world of your own rules, Basim! Don’t let yourself accept without appreciating the world around you for exactly what it is.”

Sometimes  I have to isolate myself and meditate to my own tune. Nobody seems to understand this, and it annoys me! They think I’m depressed or somethings wrong. I have to do this because of the influx of data processing happening in my brain – complex multi-threading creates massive overheat and I have to get away to keep the supercomputer in sound function and repair. We must get back to square 1, numero uno, the unit self.

The plot is pitted against the protaganist which makes you launch a personal character attack against the young boy as you’re watching the movie…you’re like no! I detest your cowardice, you little runt!

As the story progresses and time goes by, this now post-adolescent young man puts the past behind him by building a new life in America only to find his past haunting his conscience even as he rushes to beat fate by getting a degree and getting married.

Well, in the end…just kidding! I’m not going to ruin the movie for you. Let’s just leave it at that…he has to do something to “do good again” to regain his strength. This riveting tale is equally a great book in print and a successful motion picture that will keep you pent up in emotions and suspense…and compassion for a rich culture that America has completely missed in its unjustified war against a fledgling-poor nation like Afghanistan. The author shares a story we can all relate to and find wisdom in. You absolutely must read this book or at least watch the film!

As a Muslim Arab, it grieves my heart to learn of such horrid atrocities that happened recently in the past 70 years to our brethren People of the Book…in a century of understanding, industrial ingenuity, and modern civility.

Let it be known that Muslims cry over this genocide and we wish no heritage suffer such cultural upheaval and bitter torture. We will not tolerate injustice to anyone on earth, be it Muslim, Jew, Hindu, or otherwise. This is the way of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Gandhi, Jesus, and the great thinkers of our time.

Best known for speedily hunting down e-mail contacts and conversations in Microsoft Outlook, Xobni also has a social networking aspect. It includes photos courtesy of Facebook, phone numbers via Skype, Yahoo Mail, LinkedIn profile information, corporate information from Hoover’s, and now, a Twitter stream.

Can you believe it? This is an amazing statistic. What I found most interesting is the image of the “desert” Muslim makes up for less than 15% of Muslim population (Muslims living in Sub-saharan areas).

This speech was delivered at his funeral sermon. It is indeed hard to believe that a short man dressed only in a loin cloth could lead an entire nation to take on the mighty British Empire using non-violent means. Yet, that is what Mahatma Gandhi did. Most famous Gandhi quotes bear testament to the fact that this man was truly a Mahatma or Great Soul. More than half a century after his death, Gandhi continues to be an iconic figure.

Gandhi was a revolutionary hero and a “game changer” that introduced a new way of resisting oppression; this redefined war from its traditional terms of guile deception, elimination, and humility to transparency, benevolence, and a benign heartful humility. He showed us the meaning of self-sanctity and human respect through nonviolence. Innovative in his genius simplicity, he serves as a unique example for us on how to appeal to humanity and win hearts and minds of the masses with swift paradigm shift mechanics, leveraged by simple the ingenuity of passive resistance. My hero!

Honestly, I’ve never bought a brand new car in my life. It’s really high class and beats the hell out of buying an old car – I mean I know anyone can just say that but it’s a tipper when the decision is close. I was going to buy a Corolla, but we decided why the hell not…get something exciting!

And they were parading right down the area where I’m working! That says a lot. BSP is at the center of the universe with regards to applied oil and gas information technology. After all, BSP received the Shell technology partner of the year award and it has proved to be a successful grounds for digital oilfield world 1sts due to the Sultan’s funding, technology uptake, and because of people’s willingness to take innovative risks to drive business improvement.

Followed by a couple of keynote speeches televised by Radio Television Brunei, the sultan graced the halls as his hands landed on the lips of thousands of employees greeting him with utmost humility. I shook the hand of royalty and that was a nice moment for me. The sultan’s physique reflects peak fitness for a man in his sixties. It was striking in beauty to see a successful empire built on the principles of Islam, led by Muslims from the very top to the working class. I’m really glad to be a part of such a movement.

There was a big buffet of course, then we prayed Maghrib, we continued talking, then we prayed Isha. There were enough people to pray Taraweeh because of the sheer number of people we filled the dedicated room they set up as a masjid next to the dinner hall. We then cooled down to this surprisingly extra delightful chai that was mediocre enough to be fantastic with a nice nutty flavor twist.

You know, I came to this restaurant before and the funny thing is there was nobody eating there. Absolutely not a soul haunting this graveyard. I wondered how does this place make enough money to pay the rent and get way?

My reasoning was all wrong and out of locale. First of all, people don’t rent here, they own. And when they own, they own 100% and there are no extraordinary “holding fees” such as insurance, property tax, etc. like America. Second of all, when you have family…you don’t need outside business. Since the family gets along, they can afford to probably split the expenses and provide all the customers in return, so it’s a full circle of supply and demand.

This is the beauty of family in Islam, most beautifully demonstrated this evening. I am proud to be part Bruneian by geography. Islam is so right here. Simple and balanced in proportion. It fits so natural like eating grapes or drinking water. It’s nice to live in an Islamic state that does things right. This may be the old true Islamic empire left in the world. I’m glad to see the Prophet’s legacy duly appreciated and applied on this remote island. The truth will set you free!

With hope I write you and with a sigh of relief. When she tossed her head back in comical relief and laughed at the airport procedures, I felt a drainage pipe break through. It came gushing forth, all coming back to me. The whys and hows all came together like a symphony. Alhamdulillah, Allah has not forsaken me. I am whole again in love.

I have been recently peeping around the market for a solid phone that supports social network services in an integrated way (Facebook, Flickr, Twitter); this all in a phone that does the usual organizer management without toying around. I’m sick of Windows Mobile and its issues primarily because it’s interface is function-based and overly complicated. (I’m not doing File, Open, URL… to play music). On the other end, I am not too excited about Nokia’s interface, case-in-point the Nokia N97 and my wife’s XpressMusic 5800…

Enter HTC Hero. From the HTC Hero website, I quote… “HTC Hero is our first phone to embody HTC Sense™ – an intuitive, seamless experience built upon three fundamental principles – make it mine, stay close, and discover the unexpected.

Make it Mine: With HTC Hero, personalization reaches a level never before possible. Rather than burying important content under layers of menus, the HTC Hero lets you put it at glance view, with a selection of widgets that can be placed right on the home screen. The widgets themselves can be personalized with a variety of designs and sizes that best match your personality.

With Scenes, a new profile feature, HTC Hero becomes multiple phones in one. Create and switch between Scenes that reflect different moments in your life. Your Hero becomes a weekend phone that helps you relax with your choice of tunes, catch up with your favorite friends and capture some memories with HTC Footprints™. And when you go on a trip, your phone becomes your personal guide and gives you instant access to local time, weather and maps.

Stay Close: Today, staying in touch with the people in your life means managing a variety of communication channels and applications ranging from phone calls and emails to Facebook updates.

HTC Hero makes staying close as simple as turning to your friend and saying hello. When you view people, you see the different ways to get in touch, you also see all your interactions like emails sent to your personal and work accounts. You can even check for social network updates and event notices as well as see the latest pictures your friends uploaded to popular photo sharing sites.

Discover the Unexpected: Many of the most memorable moments in your life are experienced, not explained. Even basic functions like the dialer will pleasantly surprise you on the HTC Hero. You can find a person by dialing their phone number or simply by dialing the first few letters of their name. With HTC Hero, you can look at things through different perspectives. Your inbox is not just a list of emails, but a catalog of conversations, a collection of notes flagged as important, and a document library of all your emails with attachments. Your Album is the gateway to online collections of you and your friends on Facebook or Flickr.

Search just about anything, anywhere on your HTC Hero. The dedicated Search button combs through tweets in Twitter™, locates people in your contact list, finds emails in your inbox, searches through appointments in the calendar and very nearly finds needles in haystacks.”Yes

You can produce these high-contrast, nice color range, cartoon-like images with your Nikon D60! I’ll explain briefly the concept. My friend Asem actually showed me how to do this once. He does this at Little Woodrow’s bar where he is shoots low-light settings.

You set your camera’s image quality to RAW mode. Then you take a normal picture, a picture with low exposure (dark) and a picture with high exposure (light). Then you use a compositing software which I can give you that puts them together.

The effect is when you have low exposure (black looking), the white areas look more detailed. Likewise, when you have high exposure (white looking), the black areas look more detailed.

When you put it all together, you have a picture that has a nice color and contrast range.

He does this at the bar because there is poor lighting at night in certain areas but near the light or the window for example the lighting is better. This distributes things better.

Try it out. I’d love to see what fine things you come up with.

11:30pm decided to go with my Tunisian partner Riadh to supervise the pumping job on the rig in Seria (country of Brunei). Got in full armor PPE (personal protective equipment) and rode out into the night like a headless ghost on a horse charging through the unforgiving rain. Men in orange jumpsuits, like aliens from another planet…or janitors attending to work.

On the way in the blur of the globules of rain I squinted my eyes and saw I was dashing through Alief Clodine road in southwest Houston, Texas. There’s Elsik High School, there’s the church, and this is the narrow road humped with a ditch on both sides. It was the most credible deja vu I have ever slipped into. I was happy for a minute.

After passing the housing complex, the fire station, and the last touches of humanity, we came across a symphony of bright lights piercing the sky like a nebulous of stars in the distance. As we drove nearer, it become apparent it was like stumbling upon a great empire in the game Red Alert. A creation of man you feel threatened by its sheer imposing grandeur and visual complexities with silos here, compressors there, and processing plants there too impressive to be humble. It is a major refining terminal dressed from head to toe with infinite pipes and steel workings. It was SCOT: The Seria Crude Oil Terminal where all the oil coming out of the ground gets processed before distribution. Colossal oil silos scattered containing the precious keepsake farmed from the ground; you had kerosene, light crude, and mixed reformates, organized for export. These are storage tanks; gigantic white containers mushroomed around the facility.

Overlooking the munchkins was the lord of all, the king of the evil bunch, roaring with his Flames flaring heat like piping lava on a black canvas of the night. This is the natural gas excess which is burned off before being blown out in the atmosphere. The reason we have flaring in an oilfield is because we are pumping in the ground too much gas and the compressors that are compressing the gas to be injected subsurface cannot handle the overdealt quantities. Flaring is bad and it’s part of every Operation team’s KPIs (key performance indicators) to knock it out. That was a taste of Downstream which is the oil and gas sector that deals with refining, marketing, distribution, and logistics.

That being now in our rear view mirrors, all of a sudden we slow down and take a turn in the thief of the night to enter the forest. We turn left into nothingness but a dirt road newly forged and as we tread deeper, we are taking lefts and rights guided by our headlights shining through the debris. It’s like passing through a cemetery and the tombstones being the Christmas trees. (Christmas trees are oil wellheads sticking out of the ground with valves and controls. Ask wikipedia why the funky name.) Like ghostly spirits, the nodding donkeys ploughed the fields like pendulums in a hypnotic fix. Nodding donkeys are the names of the old oil pumps that go up and down literally pumping oil out of the ground. They’re called that because that’s what they look like, with its big “head” bobbing up and down.

At this point, my heart is pulsing like a drum undulating with every foot as we got closer to that big lighthouse in the distance. This was the creation of man to harness the crude creation of God. This was the cause of bloody warfare, the destruction of heritage in Iraq, the foreign policy of a failure Bush administration. This in my eyes like the mega sciences of space exploration; upon us was earth exploration and razing and drilling the earth with fierceness and every country with greed; one reservoir underneath your sultanate and you have airports, a military, and a GDP none to mess with unless you are the Middle East. How man has fought and elbowed and anchored his way so deep in the earth through research, engineering, and the application of chemical, mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering is a feat I am glad to be a part of in this century during my lifetime. It’s a tribute to the genius of mankind with dedication, patience and teamwork by the grace of God’s letting.

The real Ruler of the Universe in this land was high and mighty with his arms crossed breaking the calm horizon. The T-201 Deutag rig summoned slaves like us night and day to attend to its feet. Employing 95% of Brunei and a chunk of expats like ourselves, this was where all the drilling and well completion work came together. This is Upstream world, involving getting oil out of the ground.

We bowed into this facility by signing in to the safety booth giving up our wedding rings and other hazardous personal effects. Then we made our way into the portacabin blast-proof rig site office to check where we are on pumping. I’ll explain. My boots splashing into the cement, mud, or rain, we ushered through until we reached a Halliburton portacabin. There’s got to be a better name; instead it was like a steel heavy duty tank cabin. Deafened by the machinings overhead we entered the job control room to speak with the Operators.

Inside I learned we are performing a Gravel Pack sand control job. We were working on a well that was just freshly drilled and doing pre-completion work to set up the tubes and casing underneath the ground as part of the well’s structure. Sorry I cannot give you a visual aid here. The objective of this job is to prevent retrieving sand instead of oil when we turn the well on. The procedure is common and it is one that we pump brine and thick sand into the well casing after applying a sand screen. The sand that is pumped in stops at the filter of the ultra fine micro-porous sand screen. The brine water that is stewarded in courteously exits and is sucked back to the surface to be pumped out of the well.

Rest assured we were 60% done pumping brine and sand in the earth and we were happy with the progress of the job. We signed out and with the mark of putting on our wedding bands, we entered civilian life again. We headed back in the calm of the night each to our own to the treat of a warm shower. That’s a glimpse into my life. Now you can say you’ve been to an oilfield in Brunei.

The Prophet (PBUH) reminds us in one story “Irbut wa tawakkal” or in other words tie your camel and put your assurance in God; do what you have to and leave the rest to Allah. I also recall his saying (PBUH): “Istasheer oo istakheer” or in other words seek counsel (from others), as in ask around, and seek guidance (from God), as in make Duaa’ Al Istikharah preceded by 2 rak’aat of Salat Al Istikharah.

As for the proof for the permissibility of Istikharah, Imam al-Bukhari narrates in his Saheeh through various sources: ‘The Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) used to teach us al-Istikharah (seeking of guidance) in all of our affairs, like he would teach us a Soorah of the Qur’an saying:

“If any of you is concerned about an affair, then let him pray two rakahs other then the obligatory prayers after which he should supplicate: ‘O Allah, I seek Your counsel by Your knowledge and I seek Your assistance by Your Power and I ask You from Your immense favor, for verily you are able while I am not, and verily You know and I do not, and You are the knower of the unseen. O Allah if You know this affair is to be good for me in relation to my religion, my life and end (or he said my present and my future), then decree and facilitate it for me and bless me with it. And if You know this affair to be detrimental (harmful) for me concerning my religion, my life and end (or he said my present and my future), then remove it from me and remove me from it and decree for me what is good wherever it be and make me satisfied with it.’ And he mentions his need.”

The duaa’ transliteration is:
“Allaahumma inni astakheeruka bi ‘ilmika wa astaqdiruka bi qudratika wa as’aluka min fadlika, fa innaka taqdiru wa laa aqdir, wa ta’lamu wa laa a’lam, wa anta ‘allaam al-ghuyoob. Allaahumma fa in kunta ta’lamu haadha’l-amra (then the matter should be mentioned by name) khayran li fi ‘aajil amri wa aajilihi (or: fi deeni wa ma’aashi wa ‘aaqibati amri) faqdurhu li wa yassirhu li thumma baarik li fihi. Allaahumma wa in kunta ta’lamu annahu sharrun li fi deeni wa ma’aashi wa ‘aaqibati amri (or: fi ‘aajili amri wa aajilihi) fasrifni ‘anhu [wasrafhu 'anni] waqdur li al-khayr haythu kaana thumma radini bihi.”

The duaa’ translation is:
“O Allah if You know this affair to be good for me in relation to my religion, my life and end (or he said my present and my future), then decree and facilitate it for me and bless me with it. And if You know this affair to be detrimental for me concerning my religion, my life and end (or he said my present and my future), then remove it from me and remove me from it and decree for me what is good wherever it be and make me satisfied with it.”

Consequently, the stages of Istikharah are:

1. Being concerned about an affair
2. Making al-Istikharah and asking for advice
3. Reliance upon Allah
4. Then the one making al-Istikharah acting according to what he considers to be correct

May Allah accept your duaa’ and lighten your burden. Ameen.

Not enough web cred/exposure has been given to this little piece of earth so I’m going to spoil it for you. Actually, when I was moving to Brunei I searched Google, Facebook, Flickr, Youtube, and people’s blogs to get the scoop. I got noth. Nothing more than a miser few images of the big golden masjid.

The only thing the world knows about Brunei is from some overpopularized documentary by National Geographic on the sultan’s riches and opulent taste in gold and oil. Zero intel on the web other than that. What a great way to keep people away, ministry of tourism. They have however done a good job keeping people wildly enthused by the myth that the Sultan is the richest man in the world and that everyone here is filthy rich. Well, it’s all relatively true but not exactly.

Where I live, on the quiet Western side of the microscopic country in the District of Belait, you can spend frankly a year here like I did and never hear anything about Obama, the Middle East, or MTV. Completely removed. Suspended in motion. One hundred percent peace and the closest ever conservative social utopia. Politicaly, geographicaly, religiously, militarily, socially, and economically amputated from the rest of the world. For all intensive purposes, Brunei is like a small neighborhood within greater Malaysia on the Borneo Island, which is the third largest island in the world.

Brunei is rich, yes, but that’s purely relative to its economic scale and its local GDP. Brunei has a population of a handful 380,000 and the wealth is able to be spread quite thickly across this small nation. The insfrastructure is simple and easier to manage and the people enjoy luxuries that neighboring countries like Malaysia and Philippines do not, such as maids and grants from the government. Can you believe, once a married couple spend eight years together they are given a house by the Sultan? I asked and the equivalent is about a 3 bedroom house worth roughly $150,000USD. Not bad, American economy.

Altogether the cost of living is a small hike more expensive than Malaysia and the cost of groceries and clothes takes the biggest bites. Singapore is still a lot more pristine and expensive. This economic gap in a small area combined with an expat community creates an economic bubble very strong for price fixing/gouging where renting a house can easily cost you near $2,000 a month. Ouch! That’s what you get for not getting married and bringing your 3 kids here.

And that’s your secret to happiness here because this safe and green-laden rainforest land is made for families, or so I hear. Ok, let’s talk about the social elements of life here. It seems there is zero western influence here so no bars, no clubs, no chain fast food stores, and no malls save a few multi-story bazaar shops. You open a travel guidebook and it suggests you check out the wet market. So now you get my point. Really not much to do except visit the world-acclaimed 7-star resort in Bandar (The Empire) or trek the jungles and rainforests with consist of 75% of the country’s real estate.

I live on the beach of the South China Sea. It’s beautiful for sunsets but nothing more as its trodden with Jellyfish, crabs, sandflies, oil tankers, and it altogether possesses some eerie qualities not too appealing to swim in. But hey it’s a beach and just sitting at the peace watching the sky do amazing colors at sunset and hearing the crashing waves still does it for me. Now for me working here I have come to enjoy the expat lifestyle going to the social/recreation club and taking up sports I never tried more than casually before, including soccer and boxing.

For entrepreuners, the virgin economy is ripe for business venture in even simple service markets. And you can make a killing here if you set up shop.

Brunei is not a good place to visit for tourists at all. Don’t come by choice. But living here can be quite pleasing if you have a position here at an oil company. Actually, the lack of social structure here can be very peaceful for certain personality types and can harness some great creativity for maybe an author writing a book, a freedom seeker looking for asylum, or a thief looking for sanctuary where people wouldn’t bother looking for you or envy you for anything at all. Though infinitely boring, in Brunei I have found true peace and a people void of malconduct and bad intentions. Much like Oman, Brunei is in a world of its own.

It was gripping how the environment interacted with the main character and how he coped with his paradigm shift. The producer orchestrated a wonderful trip of the mind and the ride was a departure from the expected from safe to havoc to safe to havoc. Like waves my heart throbbed with suspense with every turn of the plot. A must see movie.

I liked Maverick’s personality and I was thinking gee you really have to be pretty ballsy to have a job like that. I don’t think I could be a jet pilot ever. I think maybe my brother could. Feras is crazy like that. It’s really refreshing to see a person do exactly what he wants to do, go against the crowd, and learn and make mistakes on their own. Maverick reminded me of my careless self growing up and making brash moves without regard to consequence. It’s part of being a freshman with loads of energy and zero direction.

I did enjoy the adrenaline-rushing action and love scenes. I forgot how frickin’ sweet those F-14 jets are! Whoosh! Makes me want to play Afterburner again like the old days. Screw the lines, the music and lyrics are really awesome:

Revvin’ up your engine
Listen to her howlin’ roar
Metal under tension
Beggin’ you to touch and go

Highway to the Danger Zone

By Kenny Loggins – Danger Zone Lyrics, Theme Song for Top Gun

Nobody. I’m leaving Syria right this minute and I’m not very happy. Things did not go as planned – at all. I’m not very settled in Syria even as a visitor and that’s the problem I am struggling with. American-Arab as I am, Arab-American I am no longer. I am more another culture, maybe more American-Arab than ever. Nothing is as it used to be. Yes, that’s my ill and I am trying to beat it out of myself; exorcism from a rooted inconsistency within self. Some foreign element I cannot come to terms with so it must exit now.

I share only a past and a heritage with my country. We unite on a common history and religion and that is all. Masjid Al Amawee and good old people that remind me of older times are my links in. I cannot cope with the duality of living abroad and maintaining my local identity in Syria. I am even a foreigner here. Really, I am not fully congruent with any one culture. I have to be of both.

This year things have changed here. Let’s explore what’s changed for me this year; maybe in these events I will find my new self and the reason for my sad parity, my momental loss of self.

One, I got married and tipped the boat proving my Syrian side is stronger than my American side. I made a firm statement by doing that. My wife is Syrian and I speak more Arabic at home now and so that’s good. One would think that helped me get closer to my country. I correct myself: I still love the people and the language. Still did not do it for me…

Two, I moved to Brunei for an opportunity for career growth…and I have on the way made big leaps in personal growth. A quiet place very different from the rest of the world, Brunei that is. Different value system and a different interpretation of life and time it is living in near-Chinese Asia. Exact opposite of the Arab world. This topic needs another stretch.

Three, I moved into a home away from family. I’ve set up much to my own liking. I have probably grown deeper into loving my ways. Some of which were balanced wobbly between two cultures. Coming to Syria I’m nobody with value in the public eye except in the eyes of friends and family. Streetwise, I’m a stripped cob of corn as new as I am old and worthless.

It’s now becoming apparent how much I’ve evolved into the earth I have traveled. From America, raised Syrian, Muslim altogether, add fitting into Brunei after Oman, then subtract how much Syria has changed from the good values I know in it. The sum is an explosive figure that is hard to appropriate, each element counteracting with the rest. I wonder when faced with a decision, do I act American, Syrian, Muslim, or Bruneian? I am not to be envied. Now I know why I am so very indecisive about everything, including picking something to eat on a restaurant menu every single time.

Aside from this all, Syria itself has changed. At the departure hall. She’s with routine disgust calling for passengers to board the plane over the PA, shouting their names as if shaking their babies to death and threatening their lives with a microphone knife. What’s with the bad attitude? What did they do to you in cell 54? Why take it so personal if you’re a bitch and no one cares? This is my last memory of Damascus.

I wonder if they will ever wake up to a new amplitude, a new rhythm sonorous with the way everyone else sees it outside these gates of hell. Wake up to common courtesy and civility. Don’t tell me we’re Greek and loud so it’s OK! People are telling me I’m not understanding them here when I confuse jokes for insults. Well maybe I don’t. No wonder taxi drivers are the swindling devils they are here: people respond to fury with fury. Fire begets fire and nothing good ensues.

Don’t believe the talk. Nothing has improved since last year. Except for the shaded bellies of good faith and reputable lineage of good people, my country is befalling moral debauchury and urban decay. Why would I want any piece of this? Someone please remind me…back to Brunei Darussalam: abode of peace…

The remains of John the Baptist, the Son of Hussain, Sayyida Ruqayya, and Salahulddin Al Ayyoubi are all within dear proximity of your sturdy stone walls. Oh how I wish the days of old were still here. Imbeciles like me don’t know how to appreciate your glory as we flick and frolic around your holy grounds balking at what is a masterpiece of God, a place where roamed the greatest figures in history. I am honored to be in the embrace of your holy shade.

It must be the stress of our times in the Middle East; I have it really easy in Brunei and in America. I bet I don’t understand the grievances of my people here. I am not sure if it is an Arab thing or if we wear on our shoulders a model brain designed to overheat and explode with minimal provocation. Something about us keeps us downtrodden and distrustful of progressive thinking and new common values. I am referring to ideals such as smart work not hard work and integration versus self-sustenance and pluralism versus secularism.

The world is embracing diversity seamlessly and the divide is widening because we are getting more distraught with our love of self versus and progressing ourselves versus standing in line and doing things the right way. Will we ever catch up? There are no shortcuts to success; we must accept honesty, fairness, and common civility. I am starting a revolution with myself.

Since I have moved to Brunei, the one thing that I can say is completely new in my life is boxing. Boxing all the way. I have learned to channel my boredom and restlessness into a high impact burst of energy sport brawling it out every Tuesday and Thursday in Omar’s gym in the cute and quaint little town of Kuala Belait, Brunei.

Not so cute: 15 minutes into training I am always out of air. Punching takes the life out of you. Every day it is a challenge to get through the hour with an empty windsack. Boxing really teaches you to ignore the coldness of your aching shoulders, the soreness of your overstretched arms, and the piercing pain shot from the arc of your feet to the circle of your hips as you stretch to get that extra inch. You’re tired? Ding, there goes the bell after 30 seconds of rest. Now get up and kick some ass. Thrilling sensation.

Since I have moved to Brunei, the one thing that I can say is complete',description:'

Since I have moved to Brunei, the one thing that I can say is complete'})">]]> http://www.basimmousilli.com/2009/07/boxing/feed/ 1 http://www.basimmousilli.com/2009/05/hitting-thailand-this-weekend/ http://www.basimmousilli.com/2009/05/hitting-thailand-this-weekend/#comments Thu, 28 May 2009 08:42:00 +0000 Basim Mousilli http://www.basimmousilli.com/2009/05/28/hitting-thailand-this-weekend/ We are leaving to Thailand tomorrow morning for a 4 day adventure. It will be exotic and filled with fun! Last time I went to Thailand, I had a blast and I expect the same this time. I am taking my travel guide book with me but I don’t think I will use it because things are so random and congested there. We’ll see what the future holds.

Nike air maxes, lotto’s, spiky hair, Nike bags, messenger bags with cell phone pouches, soft skin tones, low-rise socks, sandals, what looks like a highly-ornate Buddhist 15-foot totem pole, 3/4 capri pants, throngs of people…all converging, walking towards the immigration counter in Bangkok, Thailand, where I have just landed. And I could almost swear my $2.99 hairdresser is standing in front of me in line…

Basim: “No plans. Let’s just stay at home. Just chill. You know, it’s been a while since we’ve done that…”

Noura: “No way! Why don’t we go to Kuching?”

[24 hours later we’re on a plane eating peanuts...]

What a beautiful hidden city in Malaysia. It’s a perfect walking city and a great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of KL. Kuching was a pleasant surprise for me.

People are so nice and easy going here. The Sarawak people have this happiness and peacefulness about them. I’m glad I came.

Life in Syria revives my spirit and reaches my innermost feelings of belonging and patronage to a country I have learned to love. I may be going to Syria this summer!

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