Now the religious trial will begin starting today saturday with Mina, Arafah, Muzdalefah, and Mecca again. A lot of people keep telling me to be physically and mentally prepared, I think I am mentally prepared, and physically I am rested so I am looking forward to it and thankful to be able to participate in this Haj. I know that a lot of people have it harder at different times for Haj, but the weather is cool which makes it easier on people during this Haj.

We tried a few times to pray in the Haram but mashalla there are so many people in Mecca you can barely make it to the outskirts even going an hour or two before the prayer. After prayer with the Hamlah there are these talks where they explain the reasons for certain actions and whats the next step which is good and useful. During those talks I ran into friends who I was even aware they were in Haj as well, let alone in the same Hamalah which is great. There is a good feeling between people and these sheikhs are very helpful are able to explain all our questions. I sometimes feel my questions are dumb but probably most people have the same question. And its good to discuss the next steps so that everything is clear, and I’m personally looking forward to Arafah.

It was a bit of an exhausting and very satisfying, we flew in early morning. Got to Mecca mid afternoon and we were planning to go to Oumra, but the Sheikhs of the Hamlah (Haj Group) recommended to go after Esha (Evening) prayer. Spoke to a few people and they went between 10 and 11pm. So I prayed and took a nap since I wasn’t able to sleep much the night before, woke up two hours later and so we headed out around 9:30 pm.

I have to say that it was a very happy experience, walking was no issue. What was amazing that we managed to get so close Kaaba during Haj. We were literally walking within a few meters during our tawaf (the path around the Kaaba). I didn’t have a chance to take pictures since I was wearing the Ehraam and reading passages of Quran and Dou’a during that time. Time went by very quickly and we honestly managed to go through all the steps and hamdilla we managed to pray behind Maqaam Ibhrahim. My last Pilgrimage was a long time ago, and to able to do all this during Haj time is nothing short of amazing and a blessing. After a while my feet was getting numb but I was still going good.

We managed to finish within two hours, we left the hotel at 9:45pm and we finished around 12:00 am then headed to Kudos for some decent junk food. After a nice shower my legs felt sort just above the knees and just waiting for fajer prayer before going to sleep. I just have that calm, serene and content feeling after finishing Umra.

It has been a few years since I have been thinking about Haj and recently things just came together perfectly and with the help of family. I have read a few books and sat down with some people have been through Haj to give me a briefing of what I should and shouldn’t do. I’m happy that I am not clueless but do I feel ready for it, no, but I am looking forward to this spiritual experience.

There a lot of things I have memorized over the past couple of weeks, but I had a million questions and I even wrote down a lot of things. I’m going with my cousins who have been to Haj a few times so I won’t be too lost and the Hamlah (Pilgrimage Group) has a good reputation. Its physically and mentally exhausting but very satisfying, a responsibility for each Muslim to complete. I have even brought my camera with me to take some photos, but I wasn’t sure in the beginning so I asked and I was encouraged to take it.

Link: Flickr

I have been eating almost nothing the past couple of days running around taking care of all the GulfRun. The one thing I have been trying to figure out is where to eat good salads. Sometimes you just want to order a good salad to enjoy it even though some of them might not be the healthiest but its still lighter then a normal meal. After trying a few places this is the list of places that I have come up with that have good salads.

• Tobika (Mozeralla Salads)
• Casper & Gambini (Greek Salad)
• Pizza Express (All Salads)
• Maki (Miso Soup & All Salads)
• Wasabi (All Salads)

These are the places that I have tried and I love the salads from Wasabi and Maki, they are light and very tasty. Pizza Express has a very nice selection of salads, and Tobika has a unique selection with their cheeses which tastes every good. Casper & Gambini have decent salads but are over priced.

Last week was an interesting diet of fish and sushi every other day, all bran for breakfast, and half a sandwich for dinner. It wasn’t a bad diet, I was honestly happy about this diet, I could try a few different things and I was really enjoying the sushi. After one week of this and working out only two days the past week I only lost 1 kg, and so the Doc said that carbohydrates have a dramatic affect on me so this week he gave me a severe diet which feels horrible compared to last week, and I am finding this be very funny.

• Breakfast: 2 Fruits
• Afternoon: 3 dates
• Lunch: Salad & Grilled Chicken every other day
• Dinner: Salad only

At this stage I have dropped a solid 8 Kgs which is great, but I think is pretty good and I have 17 Kgs to go. But another 10 Kgs and I think I will be doing pretty good. I have been working out the past couple of weeks but I think a little too much weights, but I tend to enjoy weight traing a lot more then cardio, I can feel the pain the next day, the good type of pain around the muscles.

I literally only have a few days left until the wheel starts for GulfRun and my car has been in the shop for three weeks and counting now. At first it went in for some repair and they replaced the parts, then I brought some parts to be installed and my ECU had to be sent out to the states, and I got it barely on Thursday and the garage only operates as a half day on Thursday. There are two things left and I have to get it done literally in 24 hours or I will be missing the carwash event which is a bummer! But still going to push for it and hopefully it will get done.

Items Left:

• Road Test with all new items installed and newly programmed ECU from the states.
• Weld work for the exhaust pipe to install the new pipe which eliminates the resonator.
• New body parts which will make the care lighter (ultimately cooler).

This honestly has been a hell of a lot of fun, I want to hear how the engine sounds like and how its going to move but I’m really cutting it close at this point and I have ordered the parts over months ago. I have learned a lot from this experience and now that I know I won’t repeat those mistakes. I especially want to try out the new big brake kit, they are huge so I’m hoping to able to stop on a dime at this point.

Link: GulfRun

I now get one day a week to really mess about, and last week I was pretty good to stick to the diet. So I keep thinking what is thing I want to eat the most, and after thinking the whole two days over it I decided on Johnny Rockets, I haven’t had that in a long time.

So we decided to order and I ordered for a few guys too:

• 2 x Chilli Bowls
• 2 x #12 Burgers
• 2 x Smoke House Burgers
• 4 x Chilli Cheese Fries
• 2 x Spicy Chicken Wings
• 2 x Onion Rings
• 4 x Apple pies with Vanilla ice cream

And this weeks diet is going to be a disaster, meaning I’m going to be hungry as hell.

I rarely find sunglasses that fit or the ones that I like, so I stick to the ones I have for years or until they get lost and I have to go for another search all over again. This time around I found these sunglasses as I was browsing through a store with the family, and to my surprise they fit, look good and they are really light. You can even change out the lenses to the reflective kind isntead of the tinted ones. When did Porsche Design go into the realm of sunglasses, I have started to like their expansion into different products.

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Another week has gone by and I have done pretty well for myself. I stuck out the whole diet except for one day. I might have a salad and a few shrimps, or taboulah with hummus to change all the damn salads I had for dinner all week look.

Saturday I felt like having Chinese again from Wok Master, and I ordered a nice combination of items and a few of my friends showed up. The best show to watch is honestly The Big Bang Theory, its just so damn funny. I proceed to place items on my plate, and I just kept eating. I was making up for the whole week of not eating much. After finishing I was so full I literally could not move, I was in a state of near explosion for a long period. We watched a movie and the pressure was slowly coming down. Overall I have been happy with the progress in one week with diet and exercise I managed to drop a solid 3 KGs, and in one sitting I think I ate it all back. I’m going to be hitting the gym a little harder this week.

I wake up really early these days and get a lot done throughout the day, that even includes waking up between 6 and 7 am on the weekends. I love having a full day and being out when the weather is this nice, I feel like I wasted the day if I sleep in but since I’m up I’m enjoying it even if I’m stuck working or running errands, but its nice being out.

The funny part is between 3 to 5 pm and I start to get drowsy but I keep myself up. If I am with the guys watching a movie then I automatically fall asleep and recently I have pretty much slept through every movie that we have played at night.