The Spinster

A week or two ago, me and the crew were playing some basketball and one of my famous spin moves was caught on camera for all y'all to see...it's the shot after the layup that I miss...hey, no one's perfect...but, really, the spin move is pretty tight, especially against my slow-moving little brother...and AJ's commentary in the background adds the perfect exclamation point...

Enjoy!

Outlandish

Check it, some tight tracks by Outlandish...

Callin' U


Any Given Time


Sami Yusuf with Isam Bachiri, one of the singers from Outlandish

Victory!

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, I was fortunate enough to have the day off and spend it at home with my family, eating some great food...hmmmn...but the sweet dessert that was served on that day did not come in the form of ice cream. No, this delicious dish was a long overdue victory against my younger brother Imran, in Madden NFL 07.

Long, long, sooo freakin' long, have I endured the humiliation of loss and defeat. In our house, if you lose in Madden, you can challenge the winner at any time, but you have to set up the Xbox, including the controllers, hand it to the winner and set up the "winner's chair" a rocking video game chair that we have that is oh-so-comfortable (with built-in speakers). This ritual has become the equivalent of a public shaming in our household, a veritable scarlet letter.

For the last like 20 games, I have suffered loss after loss against my jubilant younger brother, whose delight in my having to set up the Xbox was only exceeded by his love of trash talking me throughout the games ("remember when this used to be fun for us?" "okay, do you want me to just let the computer do all the plays on this drive?" "should I fumble the ball so you can at least score once this quarter?").

Finally, redemption came Thursday night in an epic battle. I picked my favorite AFC team, the Colts, and Imran picked the Steelers. I found myself winning at the end of the first quarter after an interception resulted, later, in a touchdown. I was still winning at half-time, and I cried out excitedly, "Mom, I'm winning!" (our Mom happens to know how much these games mean to us) and she gave some words of encouragement from the kitchen, but sort of half-heartedly, as if to say, "son, you're only going to lose in the second half."

But not this day, no, on the day of thanks, it was Umar who would pull through. I maintained my lead, despite a strong comeback attempt, and capped off a 50 to 41 victory against Imran that felt so good my spleen was smiling...

...how sweet the taste...and next time, friends, it will not be me setting up the Xbox...boo ya!