Thank you Aaliyyah, I needed something like this. He's funny too!

Hello Londoners I've moved to London a couple of months ago, but I haven't had the time to do anything yet. I still can't get my head around how crowded the place is, but it's really growing on me. I'll have free weekends in the new year and other than the typical touristy things like checking out museums/galleries I don't now what to do. I'm mostly interested in 'sunday market' style places, I've been to one called Spitalfields market in East London which was cool, they sell a lot of old/vintage stuff which is exactly what I'm after. So far I broke up a fight between a rasta and a white guy on a bus, heard the best phone conversations on the buses again, and discovered that the hottest girls are to be found in the underground. Oh, and I've had KFC for the first time ever. It didn't taste any better than the £1 red-bone chicken.

Remember that you will possibly work in a particular career for more than 30 years so don't let your parents pressure you too much. If you are serious about the spending time with kids, then the only 2 jobs I can think of is becoming a teacher or a pediatrician. If you are into the technical side of computers, then I second the Computer Sciences advice. I've been told that software development pays a lot of money, and although difficult at first, it can be fun. My colleague's brother works as a software developer, he creates Apple and Android apps amongst other things. You can earn up to £50k before reaching 30. And depending on the type of company you work for, you could be sent to work abroad for short term contracts. Finally and the most important point, consider your future family life and where you'd want to raise your kids. You might decide one day to go back home or live in a different Islamic country, so you'd need to have a qualification that can get you a job over there. Leave your writing as a hobby, there's nothing wrong with that, and find something in physics or medicine that you find interesting. I wish I had studied harder back in school and 6th Form, but instead I just drew all the time, and now that I want to return to the Middle East for good, my area of work doesn't exists over there yet. Just pray for guidance, Allah knows best!

Alhamdulillah alive and safe. Today was the worst day in our area so far, live bullets and tear gas were fired just 2 mins from our place. I went outside to see what was going on but I couldn't see clearly, the group of protesters were surrounded by plain clothes police officers and a few uniformed riot police. I didn't stay outside long enough since there was a warning that snipers would be called up, and to be honest you can't even trust the seemingly innocent bystanders anyway. An hour later I could see from our balcony a few army soldiers and plain clothes officers patrolling the streets with machine guns, and sure enough one of them was carrying a black sniper rifle. I can't confirm if any one died, I haven't even left the house since! All of this happened after the Friday prayer and last for about 3 hours. Last wednesday the internet and phone lines were cut off for half the day, it turns out they had a list of people who went out to protest, and plucked them out of their homes one by one. Apparently some secret agents take part in these protests and pretend to video record the action when really all they're doing is capturing the protesters' faces and later finding their names and addresses. A couple of days prior to that I was on my way to the city centre and our mini bus was stopped for a routine check by this man carrying a russian machine gun, he looked inside and only asked me for I.D after asking if I was Iraqi. Alhamdulillah on the particular day I was carrying my passport since I was going to Dahabshiil. I told him I was Somali and gave him my passport, he returned it without another word. I can't even imagine the crap I would've gone through to prove who I am if I didn't have it. So far the protests are breaking on Fridays only, I think we'll only leave if it becomes a daily thing. Wallahul Musta'an. Salams

I actually bought (by that i mean downloaded) a book for this 2 years ago, but I still haven't read half of it. Shame really, it has excellent reviews on amazon. This is in my blood.

People are still coming and going, it's not as bad as what the other countries are going through, and inshaallah it won't reach that state. Still, I wouldn't recommend you book that ticket just yet..

There is a clear picture of what I want to look like, but something in your statement made me think for a while, and I realized that I used to focus on the end result too much that I didn't notice the small changes, even when others did. I'll give strength training another chance and see how it goes for at least a year, this time I'll have to try harder to eat cleaner. Bring it!

I want to learn how to speak Arabic fluently again. That, and hooyo lives here.

Hey Adam (stop changing nicknames dude), I can't listen to music when I'm doing any work or training, makes it hard for me to concentrate. For me music is only for long walks or bus rides. As for the squat, 'stronglifts' is based on that exercise, 3 times a week to be precise, for 5 sets of 5 reps. You start with the empty olympic bar which is 20kg, and you progress by adding 2.5kg every workout. I eventually reached 97.5 kg on the squat and 120kg on the deadlift (only 1x5), but other than my thighs getting massive, I didn't notice that much difference in the rest of my body. I've stopped doing the squat now and trying to come up with a routine based on the deadlifts (it's my fav exercise), but specifically for muscle hypertrophy. I don't care much for the strength gains to be honest. How do you train? What's your routine like?

In Damascus again, this time for 8 months! I think i've captured the first ever protest on camera while shopping in Hamidiya, I was simply in the right place at the right time, or maybe wrong place, since all of them got arrested including some innocent people. It has been pointed out a few times how $tupid it was of me to follow them with a camera..! The way things are going these days though, I think im gonna stay the hell away from the crowds, don't really fancy getting shot any time soon. Pictures soon!

I haven't trained seriously for almost a year now, once stronglifts 5x5 got too difficult, I tried making my own program but still without the desired results. I only got stronger but my body remained almost the same. Getting the diet right is actually harder than the training itself.. any tips?

Great thread Chimera, I wanted to start a similar one for ages. 5, I can't believe you know Syd Mead! The man is a legend and has inspired most of my art heroes today. Daniel Simon (published an amazing book called Cosmic Motors, and designed the Tron mobile) Ryan Church (Star Wars concept artist amongst other things), Neville Page (one of the creature designers for Avatar) and Craig Mullins. James Paick is a fantastic environment artist, Sparth and Daniel Dociu are a couple of the leading video game concept artists. Chimera if you like fantasy art you shold check this website, fantasygallery.net

Wow, the last few years have been rough for me Life in the 20s isn't exactly how I imagined it as a teenager.

I have seen straight men acting camp (floppy wrist and all), including one that actually blushes when I jokingly tell him he looks dapper. So, easy with the name calling. I saw his videos before and I think he's alright, no more no less. Did he win?

Ciid Mubaarak