It was another quiet Thursday evening as the graveyard shift for Tahir began. It wasn't raining, there was no England game on, there was no fuel tanker driver strike, but still the petrol station was unusually quiet.

Half awake half asleep, Tahir was startled when a bunch of keys was slammed down on the counter.

"Ha-ha - you should have seen the look on your face. You shat yourself." Maz couldn’t contain his laughter.

Tahir laughed too. Although his heart had almost jumped out of him, he still saw the funny side.

"You got me good Maz. But you shouldn't do that you know. You might frighten someone to death one day. How would you like it?" Tahir said, trying not show the shake in his voice too much.

On the weekend I went to help my African friend paint his flat before his wife moves in with him.

As soon as I mentioned it at home, my son wanted to come along and help.

So we got the spare paint from and rollers and brushes from the garage, and set off. I could tell my son was excited, he had a hint of a smile. He was trying not to show it, but I knew....

We got to the flat, had coffee, watched the back end of a Sunday morning show discussing assisted suicide, discussed the topic for a minute over a coffee and began working.

My friend covered the floor with dustsheets while me and my son put masking tape around the light switches, plug sockets, smoke alarm and entry phone.

Here are three questions that the audience were asked at the awesome event that i attended today. Think HARD and DEEP!

1) What are 'your' aspirations?

2) What is 'Akbar' in your life?

3) When you're six feet under the ground, what will 'you' have left behind?

Could eat fifty courgettes right now. So hungry.

This is what courgettes look like:

This is what courgettes look like in a salad:

Yummy courgette dish:

Don't know what this random collection of healthy looking items are but there are courgettes in there otherwise google images wouldn't have come up with the pic:

Courgettes in spaghetti:

im really confused. if i get a summer job. do i have to register or something? what abt if i tutor kids? is there a minimum i need to start earnign before i start paying or do i not pay coz im in full time education but now that ive finished what happens? do i still count as full time education coz im still waiting for my results?

• When you are hurt by the people who share blood relations with you, recall Yusuf [alayhi salaam] who was also betrayed by his brothers.

• When you find your parents opposing you (in deen) recall Ibraheem [alayhi salaam] who was made to jump into a blazing fire by his father.

• When you are mocked and abused by your own relatives just because you adopted deen over duniya, recall Rasul Allah [sallalhu alaihi wa sallam] who faced the same.

• When you are stuck into some problem and find no way out recall Yunus [alayhi salaam] who was stuck inside the belly of a whale.

In life, you have a variety of stages and different expectations and i think you should be able to adapt to new environments. For me, one big change in my life, will be the sixth form that i'll be studying my A-Levels at. Most of you have already passed this stage or are leaving this stage. For some of you it may have been the most grilling and stressful time of your life and for others it could have been the best time of your life, for whatever reasons, whether that means making life long friends, simply enjoying the college or sixth form that you studied at or knowing that these two years set the foundations for what you want to achieve in life.

A wise man once said to me:

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth,
so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.
To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again.
To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives."
 

So this got me thinking....

If I want my kids to be a certain way, I need to get them to think that that is the "norm"

Salaam guys!

Just wanted to raise awareness of the dire state of education in Pakistan. It is said that the cost of not educating Pakistan is equivalent of one flood per year. The Pakistani government currently spend a meagre 1.5% of their GDP on education.

Please take a look at the following websites for more information:

http://educationemergency.com.pk/

http://www.tcf-uk.org/

The Citizens Foundation exists to build and develop schools for Pakistan's most disadvantaged children. Their work is trully inspiring. They currently education 115,000 in 830 schools across Pakistan. Education really does save lives.

what do you do to calm down when you're stressed or when you're feeling down/like everything's getting too much?

when im at home, i like to brush my teeth when i feel like that.

how often do you feel like that? once a week? once a month? once a year? everyday?

how  come i need to have an infusion of camomile (amongst other plants) to calm down but the rest of the world (most of it) dont need to?