My heartbeat...

There is a certain...Pulse to the city. Its in the bus driver's banter, in the drone of traffic, in the beats coming from that kids iPod headphones and the flickering of neon lights...In the rattle of the subways and in the shaking of the pick pocket at the subway station (yea...I remember you). Like a heart beat. Like a break beat. Like a meter...Keeping the city's time. Man I missed T.O. And yet...I've come to miss Edmonton as well. Alberta bashing aside, it really is a beautiful and serene place, despite the cold and the snow and the general lack of heat. And somehow, it lacks that pervasive beat (or perhaps my ears just weren't trained for it)...Which is a nice escape. Truly an excellent place for some reflection...Or a quiet rest...Or a vacation.

Still...Its the people there that really captured my heart. Alhumdulillah there is an excellent community and set of organizations down there...The beauty is its all integrated at the institutional, recreational and familial levels. Groups, organizations and events link high schools and families and universities and so on. And lets not forget Salwa, Muntaka, Shareef, Ibrahim, Fatima, Omar and the hundreds of others.

Anywho...What a week. Ended up making it down for Street Support on Friday after Juma'ah. It was an excellent session...Late and not as effective as it could have been...but still a blast. Ended up making hazing big Mike and kicking it with Chris. Thankfully, it wasn't too cold...but surprisingly, we didn't see too many of the regulars (which could be a good thing or a bad thing). The mission though, was packed...Pulsing to that same beat I mentioned in the beginning. Man...We are severely lacking funds...And manpower. Somehow, I think there's more I could be doing (there's always more I could be doing...Sigh). Still, we've got to start the movement somewhere. Might as well be at home.

Jaddi got in on Friday as well. It was a delight to see her after a long hard day and it felt like someone had been missing since she left. Now home feels...Like home. Well...Almost.

Also managed to run into Kareem after months and months. At a Popeye's no less. We just chilled out. Apparently he's been in Africa for some time doing work with various NGO's (see...Told you there was more I could be doing). Being Kareem, he managed to pick up some things while down there and treated me to an impromptu Piper demonstration with a broken piece of wood as we walked to his place. For those that don't know...Piper is a free-form style of knife-fighting from the Africas. Its used a lot by gangs but is developing a structured following...Its primarily rapid strikes and stabs and unlike any form of knife-fighting I've seen (as it evolved primarily from Zulu short-spear fighting...or so I'm told). It is also not a sport or an organized martial art. Heck...Its not even a martial art...Its more like a type of knife-fighting. Moreover, its a key to survival in the tougher neighborhoods. It, like most forms of geographically unique combat...Has its own rhythm (which is something I gotta talk about). Its very difficult to pick up (for me anyway). I'll say there's nothing beautiful about it...But its efficient. (Note to self...Must speak on convergence of styles...Fluidity...etc.)

Also manged to kick it with Qasir and Michelle at the theater...Saw V for Vendetta...More on that later...

Dang...Still got a mountain of work to finish (sigh)...and exams to study for (sigh)...and about a hundred other things. Still...I heard some good news. A certain set of somebodies may just come down for a visit.

Kareem, that's Piper?
You can't be serious man
Looks damn effective

P.S. Does that still count as a Haiku ? (Its still 5, 7, 5, but has grammar)...Well here's a throwaway one...

Creativity
Disappears into darkness
Like a fleeting thought

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TWS Out