Dreams

A post about dreams, not ambitions, not day dreams where you look at the girl in class and dream of asking her out, just dreams. The normal dreams I’m referring to are the ones that occur whilst you are asleep.

[A picture depicting an ocean of dreams]

Having studied psychology at university I was given the opportunity to learn the scholarly definitions and academic discussions of what dreams are. The name that every idiot throws around instantly is Freud. So Freud called dreams ‘the royal road to the unconscious’ and the gist of his theories on dreams was that they were an expression of impulses and images collected unconsciously throughout the course of ones day. Other theories have put forward on the purpose that dreams serve, such as clearing out the useless data that the brain no longer requires, or working out a problem that the conscious mind hasn’t been able to.  

Move aside from academia, I am a believer in many things outside of science. What if dreams are something more? Not saying that they are, but what if? Many cultures have often viewed dreams as being a way that messages are passed from beyond the physical world that we live in. In case you are wondering, I love a bit of supernatural and weirdness in my life. It’s interesting and how boring would life be if everything was quantifiable and proven?

I’m someone that has always had weird dreams, and in November 2011 I had one of significant weirdness due to its accuracy and vividness. I dreamt of a friend who I haven’t seen for at least 6 years, we are in touch through facebook and occasionally through BBM (the instant messaging service between blackberry’s). In this dream we were sat in a drama studio, we found some steps out the way and she started to talk to me. She was telling me of a death she had experience in her life in the last year, and within the last few months she had ended a relationship. There was a third point she made in the dream but I couldn’t remember when I woke up. I sent her a BBM message at 4am! By the time she’d woken up and I’d told her about my dream she was weirded out as there was no way I would have known that. I even went on facebook after this and looked through her wall just in case I had subconsciously picked the information up…nothing of the sort indicated on her facebook.

The psychology graduate in me just put forward many theories, but none of them made sense. Coincidence? That was the favourite explanation by everyone, who knows? It did get me thinking about theories of astral projection though.

[Astral Projection - detching ones soul from the body]

Astral projection is better interpreted as an out of body experience. What I love about the idea of astral projection is that it supposes the body to be a shell, and the soul to be something within it. I could transcend out of my body onto a plane where other souls from the past, present and future exists…(note I don’t believe in this stuff but I find it interesting). Stories and references to such occurrences have appeared in religious and cultural texts throughout the world. What if I had left my body and met my friend in some spirit plane and we’d conversed, and she had poured her heart out to me?

Other dreams I have had recently have been bizarre. I have no interest in Ireland, which is the island next door to mainland UK. But I had a dream as if I was looking at Google maps, and I zoomed in on an area that sits on the coast across from England. Next thing I knew I was there and there was the most beautiful colourful fields, with trees and there was a river flowing over rocks. In fact I can picture it right now very clearly. But there was nothing else in this dream! I was just there, this random beautiful place! Where was my future goldmine? My future wife? Was this dream a calling to go there or to stay away?

 In the same night I also dreamt of a future lottery taking place in China. The scene was very dark, there were fences and the people’s faces were covered with dirt. It seemed like a post apocalyptic movie scene, quite hard hitting. Hardly the prosperous country the economists are predicting it to become. However, the lottery was for the sum of $3 billion. Imagine how happy the winner will be huh!? I’m not even from the U.S. so why wasn't the currency in Pound Sterling?

[post apocolyptic scene]

I have an interest in money, and when I think about the Chinese people in my normal and rational ‘awake’ state, I agree in that they will be people from a very prosperous nation. So what was this dream? My brain subconsciously thinking there will be a lottery, an astral projection to the future where the masses will be desperate and poor, and one person will get given $3 billion to fix their problems?

I don’t know. But dreams are very interesting. As they remain one of those things that we will never know the truth about. Can they ever be quantified? Neuropsychologists have attempted to measure the brain activity in dreamers, but you cannot bring the image of my conscious to a screen.

Does reality have to be physical? Or can we live in another world, like a dream place? I can’t answer this question without sounding like a mad man, but two very interesting movies which I’ll palm you off onto are The Matrix, and Inception. Both explore a very crazy field of existence. What if? Dun dun duuuuun! (my attempt at replicating suspense music with words).

[The Matric coding]

Think Matrix, what if I am plugged into some machine that creates a reality in my skull, and the programme skipped by accident and I saw a glimpse into the future planned reality of China?

America - The Chartered Institute of Prejudice

Usually, I post things with a light-hearted spin. However this post will not be of such nature, I base it on history, this post is triggered by my first experience of going to the U.S. 

 [I'm pretty sure we believe in the same God...so they believe in not prejudging?]

Being a child of Britain I have grown up with many American exports influencing me from day one, I grew up watching Saved by the Bell, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, WCW and Hollywood has provided me a constant stream of movies. I have listened to R&B and Hip Hop/Rap music and I can cite some of my greatest influences for their words and achievements as being Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Will Smith and Stephen King…all Americans. The cars are iconic, as are the famous landmarks.  It was inevitable that one day I would want to go and see everything that I’d seen on TV, heard in music and read in books and magazines. 

So prior to me going to America, I have spent 23 years as a British child and I took my first breath in a town situated in the South East of England. I went to school, went to university and have worked since the age of 16 and always paid my taxes and bills. Not once have I had any criminal proceedings bought against me. 

It comes to the 13^th May 2011, having had a pleasant journey so far I land in Miami International Airport. Everyone is queuing with their passport and eventually it’s my turn. Everyone before me has scanned their hand, and then been given their passport back and told to follow the path round to the left to the baggage reclaim area. I get to the counter, the lady looks at my passport a bit longer than she did at the guy who went before me. She then doesn’t hand it back to me, but starts walking and says ‘follow me’ so I do to a counter which is along the way to the baggage reclaim and has a seating area next to it. I’m told to sit down, so now I get to watch the rest of the passengers getting off the same flight as me walk pass and through to baggage reclaim, my friend stops to ask why I’m sat there and he is told abruptly to keep going. Only 2 other people are sat by me, and I ask them their names and what I already know is confirmed…I’m being targeted for being a Muslim. 

The 2 people get escorted away, they had very blatant Muslim names, but are elderly so I’m partly furious at them being treated like this, they can hardly walk. Eventually once all the passengers have gone through to baggage reclaim I am taken by a member of security on a long walk through Miami International.

‘First time in Miami?’ she asks
‘First time in America’ I reply ‘do I go the normal way everyone else went when you’re done with whatever you need to do?’
She then gives me a look as if I’ve admitted to being a Soviet spy ‘thought you said it’s the first time you been here? So why do you know the normal way?’
I’m close to losing my rag as I know she’s trying to catch me out ‘I was sat on that chair for 40 minutes watching 200 people go down a hall, so obviously based on that, that’s the normal way to me…you agree?’ To which she shut up. 

Eventually we get to a part of the Airport which has a few more security staff, and there’s a group of them walking in front of me and to the left I see a room with a large glass window. I hear one of the security staff having a banter with his security friends ‘we’re sending the terrorists home’ and he points to that glass room whilst smiling like the dope he is, so I assume it’s the people being deported on arrival. Guess what I see when I look in that room? Families. Children. People who if you used common sense rather than a tick sheet, you’d know they couldn’t have come to the U.S. for any form of that agenda. I also notice beards and head scarves in that room. Obviously if these people had different names they wouldn’t have been sat in that very room right now. 

So I get led passed this room, and into another room which is full of people. Some of them aren’t Muslim as I start chatting to a few only to be told no talking in the ‘special room’ for suspects. Not talking doesn’t stop me from seeing symbols of Islam on some of the people in this room, the hats, the beards, and various other cultural signifiers of the religion. 

Now when I get to the counter for questioning, the guy tries catching me out numerous times. I had been to Pakistan to attend my sister’s wedding in 2007 for 2 weeks. The guy asked several questions, and then re-phrased the questions to see if I gave him the incorrect answer. Now I was as cool as a cucumber, I even had a plan that if I get told I’m not allowed in the country I’ll fly back to the UK and onto Dubai...where humans are treated as humans regardless of religion. I get told welcome to America, and then released from the room. 

 [Miami...it's a beautiful place full of beautiful people once you leave the people of the airport]

Now I arrive into the baggage reclaim area and see my friend who is not a Muslim, and therefore automatically exempt from the U.S. border controls questioning is waiting with our bags. We have one final passage to go through, the lady takes my customs card. One look at it and instead of go to the second queue on the left, it’s go to the first one. What’s the difference? Queue 2 puts your bag through a scanner, queue number 1 means more questioning and someone physically raiding a bag which has already gone through security scanning in London. She then sees my friend standing directly behind me and when she finds out he’s travelling with me, sends him into the same queue as me.  No more detail required…so eventually, a little over 2 hours later I step foot into Miami.

I enjoyed my time in Miami, and when I got back I spoke very fondly of the place. Speaking to other Muslims when I got back, they all have gone through the same thing only when visiting America. Now as I described before, I am British. I have Pakistani parents. I’ve been raised a Muslim, I am very proud of my cultural variance and my religion. My friends know me, and people on the street probably wouldn’t know I’m a Muslim just by looking at me. I dress and style myself as if I am British. I wouldn’t ever harm anyone because that is not in my nature and my religion teaches forgiveness, patience and peace. What was it that made me someone to suspect and question? My name.

So why have I based my one experience and made the statement that everyone knows but few would admit so openly?

Look through history. You see the USA has a habit of institutionally targeting a group of people different to themselves. The lyrics to the song may change, but it’s the same harmony (or lack of) playing away.

The Native Americans occupied the land for centuries. Through exploration a new nation was formed and this resulted in the Natives being forced onto reservations through mass killings. They were banned from practicing their culture in forms such as ‘the ghost dance’ and were given a part of America as Indian Territory. This government that preached equality and freedom for everyone slowly took this Indian Territory too, and demonstrated the beginnings of an ingrained need to belittle and persecute at least one group of people to strengthen its own premature identity. If you think I’m talking rubbish, go read a little about Psychological studies into group identity and try to understand how the above statement slots into an academic discipline.

Next we move onto Black history. I am going to assume here that everyone knows of the slave trade, the animalistic treatment and how prejudice against the Black people of America still exists. Even after the slave trade was abolished in the late 1800’s there was still a long way to go for Black people in America. I saw a documentary a long time ago about Jesse Owens going to the Berlin Olympics in 1936 and having to break racial stereotypes in both Nazi Germany and in the nation he was representing and winning 4 gold medals for. Yes! He was winning gold medals for America, and still being treated as a second class citizen by that very nation.

1965, Malcolm X assassinated, his crime…no longer preaching Black supremacy but now working to heighten the political consciousness of Black people. He also spoke negatively of prejudice and racism. 

1968, Martin Luther King assassinated, his crime…effectively campaigning for equal rights.  

The Civil Rights act of 1964, declared discrimination against women and Blacks to be outlawed yet we still can find news reports in the modern age, even today in 2011 which demonstrates this.

So we come to 2011, the latest group in the ever growing list of open prejudice by the government and media of the U.S.A. is Muslims. 

 [IRA - Belfast]

From 1970 to 2001 there have been attacks on the UK from a terrorist group called the IRA. I’m pretty sure that every Patrick and O’Sullivan wasn’t pulled over at the height of the IRA terrorist activity. They weren’t subject to 2 hours of questioning when going on a holiday. I’m pretty sure if a centre for Catholic studies was planned to be erected next to a former target site of the IRA there wouldn’t be a mass burning of the Bible.

Why is this? It’s easier to create the ‘us against them’ mentality when a large minority is obviously different to the group you’re trying to unite. 

State terrorism is another one of my gripes here, the U.S. Government is without a doubt the largest terrorist group known to man. Look at their history of commiting arocities and then their own definition of terrorism:

 .

'An individual who uses violence, terror, and intimidation to achieve a result.'

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.

.

Yes, you are reading a description from a US Department of Defence dictionary. Look at the atrocities commited by the American government over the years. Based on that argument does every American passport holder have to be screened intrusively? No. Hypocrisy of the world that we live in. 

No need for me to summarise and conclude this, if you have read this with an open mind then you will see the behaviour that the U.S. authorities employ is hypocritical, and if not that, then it is wrong. Until the latest in a string of prejudicial trends by the U.S. government stops, I hope that all nations treat U.S. Citizens suspiciously when they enter their country for a holiday due to the actions of their most recent terrorist leader George W. Bush. The less said about him the better, but if not a Terrorist, then he actioned an illegal war...call him a war criminal at best. In which case give him the same treatment as Saddam Hussein.

The Apprentice - Toughest Interview Process?

Interviews in the corporate world can be tough; by the turn of 2010 I had been to my fair share of these after graduating. The applications that I made range into the hundreds, the interview processes probably range up to 8.

For those unfamiliar with the recruitment process as a graduate, let me enlighten you. The recruiters stipulate that they want a graduate with a certain qualification level, normally a 2.1 grade as a minimum. You apply; if successful you carry out a numerical test and a verbal reasoning test online. A telephone interview can be conducted at this point too. Then you go to a group interview. This is normally a room of 30 people who have achieved the minimum grade, passed the online tests, passed the telephone interview and now you’re all going to compete to demonstrate who the loudest person is for the next 4-6 hours. Yes I said it, the loudest person. When I went to the processes as someone who was spot on and brilliant in my theory and conversation, I didn’t get far. When I observed the people who were successful at this stage, I quickly learned and adapted to be obnoxious. Guess what? They loved it!

On passing this stage, you are invited to a one-on-one interview with ‘the big cheese’ and now you have to tell them why you are great for the role. I got to this stage on 3 occasions. I didn’t get any of those roles but the fob-off excuse I got in my feedback telephone calls each time without fail was ‘You’re fantastic, but the market has changed with the recession mate. A, B and C have sales/marketing/financial experience which you don’t’ and this leaves you thinking surely you need to sack someone in your recruitment department as I have gone through all these stages for you to only pick that up now!

I didn’t get a treat for passing each round and getting a step closer to the prize, the job.

I didn’t get Myleene Klass playing the piano for me at a champagne brunch, or a day at a health spa, or a dancing lesson from the stars of some dancing show on the BBC as a result of getting a step closer each time.

 

[Lord Alan Sugar - The Apprentice]

I have the greatest respect for Lord Alan Sugar, and I place him as my favourite and most respected businessman in the UK. His show, The Apprentice, is dubbed as the toughest interview process in the land. No! These guys are being chauffeured everywhere they need to go, are being put up in a town house for their troubles, I’m sure they’re being paid by the beeb for their troubles of being at this interview. Then as they pass each week (rounds, it’s all the same) they have a treat such as those mentioned before. Some may argue that the treat is an added incentive of winning and making it to the following week, if the job itself (or the six figure salary/investment) isn’t incentive enough then these people shouldn’t have made it to the show in the first place. Another argument, the treats make good TV. They only broadcast like a two minute montage of the bloody treat! Two minutes of an hour is not going to be missed. The apprentice candidates will have also gained exposure as they have demonstrated their skills on TV, even if they didn’t get the job with Lord Sugar they will have an easier time finding a role elsewhere. Mass exposure, higher chance of interview, you do the math. Graduates, when unsuccessful are left on the heap.  

The reasoning behind the heap is that since the recession hit, I have found many jobs to be asking for experienced fresh graduates. Most people I came across at recruitment fairs only had retail experience, yet these recruiters are asking for the very few graduates who somehow have become venture capitalist entrepreneurs whilst simultaneously studying for three years. 

Further to this, they ask for what you do or did as an extra-curricular activity. Luckily I have a bit of a sporting background consisting of basketball, football and athletics during school, Karate and then boxing during university. I did dancing shows, singing and acting. So my CV wasn’t purely defined by my studies. 

This leaves me thinking, what happens to those very clever individuals who loved nothing more than the subject they studied and books?  Those people that could cite Acts of Law, political philosophy, construct arguments for and against various social concepts and systems. What happens to these people? Desperation in abandonment is what happens to these people. Some may have landed jobs in companies in various positions with a view to eventually move internally to what they want to pursue as a career (such as myself), others I met had been travelling from London to Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh just for interviews and still failing…based on experience. I read about others who have taken out billboards to place their CV at London Victoria station, to still not be any better off. 

[Kanye West openly and humorously discusses the pit-falls of graduate life in much of his work]

Business isn’t all about entrepreneurship, you need entrepreneurs but you also need practical individuals to do the day to day running of the business operationally. You need the analytical minds that aren’t proven to be analytical through playing rugby or setting up a festival empire on the side. 

 

Most Graduate roles are looking at the most ridiculous attributes right now. Why does nearly every job advert state that they want an entrepreneurial graduate for their role, an entrepreneur is not someone who picks up a pay packet from an employer! 

 

Back to The Apprentice, the show consisting of treats for effectively passing each round of an interview. They recieve exposure to the mass business arena, the chauffeur service to and from the all-expense paid town house, in comparison to the graduate interview process of horrid early morning train journeys, no extra prospect of employment gained and no treats…The Apprentice is not the toughest interview process by a mile. Everyone blames the government for this lack of graduate roles, but the blame surely lies with those doing the recruiting, for their ever-increasing list of skills and experience that they are demanding from the ‘lost generation’. The universities have to also take the blame for taking on more students with money bags in their eyes. Let’s face the truth, more students equals more money entering the establishment. As a result the market has become over-saturated with graduates, who were not informed of anything to do with work experience, but were drummed to just learn, analyse, argue and turn out another essay. As a result, it is those who thought that they were bettering themselves through a three year investment which during my time had increased to around £28,000 who are now facing the perils of no return on investment.

Already found her Romeo - inspired by my observations of a close friend

She stands at the balcony calling his name

Without sounds she wills me forward

And for a moment I’m feeling so sane

The silence is such a flawed password

I think I cracked it but she needs him

Leaves me so weak and confused

She’s already taken and it would be a sin

To pursue but love has left me bemused

I’m feeling used but I keep her company

She needs me for laughs but him for sleep

I’m left in sorrow my soul in a cemetery

others have their opinions I see them peep

I hear them talk and speak of ‘why does he

Seek Juliet when she has already found

Her Romeo?’ and I feel death to a part of me

It’s like she has me in her grip I’m spellbound  

I wish I could walk away but I hold on

In the hope that she leaves him tomorrow

I feel sadness and sorrow as I keep on

Living on emotions that I’ve borrowed

I see pictures of you both and I never cry

Everything stays bottles up inside so you can stay

And visit to show me affection with your eyes

I’ll compromise with your false public displays

…that’s all I need….

Cupid

Why does he seek Juliet when she has already found her Romeo?

The Shisha Series - Miami

This is my first post on Shisha, so what is this bong-like instrument that is often met with suspicious glances by those not in the know, I’ll tell you all about it. Shisha, also known as Hookah, Nargile or a Waterpipe, is used to smoke tobacco. Coals placed at the top heat the tobacco, the smoke is then drawn through the mouth pipe which is cooled and filtered through the water at the base and into your lungs. They are an age-old tradition.

This pipe smokes a type of tobacco called maassel, which is essentially tobacco mixed with molasses, it’s syrupy in texture and is flavoured as various things such as orange, mint, strawberry, etc. 

Now the real talk – people think you get high smoking shisha, not true. A first time smoker may feel light headed, but my guess is that they feel that way because they are inhaling a lung-full of smoke, one after the other…basically over-eager smoking. 

The reason I love shisha is that I can sit there and talk with whoever I’m with; it creates a relaxing atmosphere and allows the conversation to flow. Essentially it is a social habit, unlike in a bar where you’ll find it hard to speak with the noise, it allows you to meet people. I have had some of the most interesting conversations with friends and strangers alike when sitting back in a shisha lounge.

So shisha in Miami, they predominantly call it Hookah out there, and my word is it big! Nearly on every street I found a lounge. On my first night in Miami, I stumbled into a store which had shisha, cigars and cigarettes for sale, I sat down and ordered a guava flavoured shisha with my friend and we sat down to smoke. It was a very chilled out place, playing a western movie, and pretty soon we began conversing with a North African man that had been in Miami for a few years now, and some people visiting Miami from another part of the US. 

The next day we found Esno…

 

 

[The shisha set up of Esno - as impressive as it got]

The waiter recommended a flavour, bubble gum. Which would mean it’s the second time that I had ever had this flavour (1^st time was in Kingston upon Thames, and I will review my London places soon!), the shisha came out in a brilliant little cage set up, I liked the presentation. That was the best as it tasted rank, and I’ll never go back to Esno again….yes I said it! the waiter set the top too tight, so the smoke didn't flow, burnt the tobacco with incorrectly placed charcoal.

So we moved down 20 yards down the street from the worst experience of shisha that I have ever had, to D’vine lounge. I had read about D’vine lounge before I even landed in Miami and it had a lot to live up to with all its positive reviews. First of all, the hostess outside greeted us and sat us down. The waiter took the order from the large selection on offer, there were flavours such as pomegranate, papaya, mint and then there was the mixtures such as mojito, mountain fresh, the passion…these were like tobacco cocktails!

 

 

[mountain fresh of D'vine, mint leaves in Red Bull]

 

I ordered Mountain Fresh, the waiter advised that the base was red bull with mint leaves, and the tobacco was a mixture of citrus fruits. It is the best thing I have ever had, and has now become a hands down favourite, and I know there are some blends which you simply cannot recreate at home. The blends available in D’vine are simply unique, I tried The Boss, which no one told me what was in the tobacco mixture, this was a secret as the competitors could not get hold of some of the flavours available in-house. Even the hostess couldn’t even obtain the information when I told her this in a conversation. The base was made up of mango juice and apple juice, I got this out of the alchemist who worked behind the bar and had been busy creating Hookah-Magic every time I went to D’vine. 

 

Aside from the shisha, D’vine serves food and drinks, I never tried the food, but the level of service is the best that I have ever had. The staff regularly checked if everything was ok, rotated the charcoal frequently, and acknowledged that we had become regulars in my short stay in Miami. In fact…I’ll shamelessly advertise D’vine right now, make your way to their website!

 

 

Go visit if you can, you will not be disappointed… Miami gave me the best and the worst experience of Shisha I have ever had. But D’vine is the benchmark everyone should aspire to be…simply amazing and a well-deserved 10 out of 10.