But I Digress

I wondered if I'd feel different after turning 20. Maybe more confident, or perhaps better equipped to face the world. But I don't. Not really. I find myself repeating "I'm 20, I'm 20, I'm 20" every time I realize I'm doing something stupid (which is often). It's irritating. [Aside: Someone (ahem ahem) gave me a Spongebob bouncy ball for my birthday and said it was because it combined two important elements in my life. Go figure.]

Cookies

Basically, after the first few days of my break from school, I felt useless. So, I decided to volunteer at my old elementary school. This is my second week (it's an Islamic school, so their Christmas break doesn't really exist - they have a "Eid break" instead). I mostly work with grade 2. It's pretty fun being about in a school when you don't have to follow the rules and you get to discipline children. It is pretty frightening though to be working with some of my old teachers who have yet to retire. I'm still scared of some of them. Hehe, this picture reminds me of when I was in grade two: I made cookies with the kids today. Very fun, but everything in the class got smeared with cookie dough. Try to picture this: Kid: "Sister, can I eat some of the dough?" Me: "No." Kid: "Please, sister?" Me: "I said No!" Kid: "Please, Sister!" Me: "No, for the love of God! No!" But hey, the cookies tasted pretty good :) Kids eating the cookies: I realize that I don't hate teaching as much as I thought I did. I'm also working with a student who doesn't read that well and she's making progress, which makes me pretty happy, Alhamdulillah. The end.

un-watered

A statement that I hate very much: "You just wouldn't understand." Or any other form of the statement that means the same thing. People you love the most are always the ones who hurt you the most. Thought question: are shorter people smarter than taller people? I mean, with taller people, blood circulation needs to fulfill a greater area. So like, the brain doesn't get as much blood as it would in a shorter person. You see? So if you're tall, you may have very well-produced legs and arms, but a brain that isn't well watered. And is it really the most wonderful time of the year? Well, it must be, because I know that after today, Christmas music will begin to subside and regular elevator music will take its place. Also, tomorrow: cheap chocolate. In other news, actually, never mind. There was no newspaper today.

Best proposal scene ever

This is from Pride and Prejudice (the older version, not the one currently in theatres). The fact that Mr. Darcy gets rejected by Elizabeth after this proposal of his makes it all the better: "In vain I have struggled. It will not do! My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you. In declaring myself thus I'm aware that I will be going expressly against the wishes of my family, my friends, and, I hardly need add, my own better judgement. The relative situation of our families makes any alliance between us a reprehensible connection. As a rational man I cannot but regard it as such myself, but it cannot be helped. Almost from the earliest moments, I have come to feel for you...a passionate admiration and regard, which despite my struggles, has overcome every rational objection. I beg you, most fervently, to relieve my suffering and consent to be my wife." Mr. Darcy has to be the coolest. Stop trying to make a connection between this quote and myself and the objective of this blog. It's not going to work.

Hijab and Modesty: a Severed Connection?

I was reading Islamic Horizons magazine produced by ISNA, and I came across an amusing piece on fashion. Here's an excerpt... "Ambling through the Convention Centre this year, you might have mistaken the Hyatt's hallways for runways. Women with perfectly-coiffed manes and stylish blazers passed by ladies with ornate hijabs and manicured nails. Pointy-toed shoes clicked past colorful flip-flops in the bazaar. Traditional hijabs and jilbabs are seemingly harder to spot year after year, as unique interpretations of the season's latest fashions find their ways onto ISNA-goers. Case in point. Knee-length dresses were all the rage this year, but paired with pants or jeans for modesty's sake. Many girls wore embroidered tank tops or sleeveless blouses obscured beneath this season's hottest item, the shrug. Long layered gypsy skirts in vibrant colors were matched to hijabs and purses, and reds and lavenders proved to be the hottest hues of the Labor Day weekend... The hotel lobby glittered aplenty this year, since sequins formed the staple of virtually every ensemble. Belts, purses, peasant skirts, and shawls all shimmered in rich shades of emerald, turquoise, magenta, gold, and silver. From the sparkles adorning their clothes to the funky, jeweled accessories embellishing their outfits, 'bling-bling' was definitely at the forefront of the ISNA fashion scene this year..." There's not really much I can say to this. It struck me as just plain ridiculous. I'm all for Muslim women looking their best, but this is too much. The article wasn't limited to women - there was also a chunk about men's fashion at the conference, but I didn't find it quite as fascinating as the above selection. The point of wearing hijab is not to attract as much attention as is humanly possible. Quite the contrary. But I'm sure many people disagree with me. Oh well. I wonder if there will be a similar phenomenon at RIS. Those of you who attend can enlighten me.

Tale as old as time...

So, today we fished out Disney's Beauty and the Beast from our dusty video collection and decided to watch it. This is Beauty and the Beast, for all of you uncultured fools out there: I couldn't totally enjoy the movie though since I'd have to stop and point out all the ridiculous things. Like, why is Belle wearing the same dress to her wedding that she wore when she had her first date with Beast? And since he only goes by the name "Beast", what does Belle call him after he becomes human? These are pressing questions that need to be answered. There were also some outbursts from my sister in regards to the cute and playful dog/cushion: "Okay, it's a freakin cushion." Oh yeah, when the mob is going to the castle to kill the beast, they're singing this: We don't like What we don't understand In fact it scares us And this monster is mysterious at least Bring your guns Bring your knives Save your children and your wives We'll save our village and our lives We'll kill the Beast! Uh, right. I still enjoyed it though, it's a classic.

"Asmaa, you're like a cactus pear, you need to be handled with gloves."

Three cents

I was at the grocery store today and my little sister wanted to buy chips. So, I'm like okay, they're on sale for $2.47. Then, I look at the original price, and it's $2.50. And at the bottom of the price tag it says "save 3 cents". Wow, what a deal. My dad's like, 3 cents makes a difference, if you buy 300 packs, you'll save $3.00

The End and the Beginning

Thursday night, I descended into a state of euphoria. My last test of the semester, no more school work (or at least not as much) for the next four weeks. Thursday night, I had the most blissful sleep I have had for the past four months. The office where I go to do bookings for my MSA has these strange coloured walls - beige, but almost pink. Yes, that's it. Salmon pink. The faded landscape paintings on those walls will, for now, only be a dull memory. Ahh, how I look forward to the upcoming days...the irony of it all is that the first thing I did when I left my last class was go to the library and check out some non-school related books.

December

The long December and there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last... It hits with remarkable speed. November 1st rolls around then BAM, just like that, it's December. My birthday's at the end of December. It's funny because I imagine myself teasing my mom when I was in there. Like, I was totally going to be born the next year but then I just felt like surprising everyone. Okay, it's not that funny after all. I was thinking that technically, I'm already 20 seeing as how I was in my mom for 9 months. People just start counting your life only once you're born...but why? You're alive when you're in the womb too. I was telling my sister this and she said in that case, why don't we just start counting our age from when Allah (SWT) created us in the heavens and made us bear witness that he was the only God worthy of worship... So, I had to recall my previous argument. In other news, a button fell off my coat when I was at school and rolled onto the street. So as I was picking it up I was picturing this sign: Just pretend that the circle is a button. I was sewing it back on today and I made absolutely sure that I made the stitching tight so it wouldn't fall off again. Of course, it had to end up being misaligned with the rest of the buttons, so I'll look kind of like a moron. Oh well.

Hijabi Gangsta

So, talking to a friend on MSN, won't mention who. AHEM So she's telling me that she's all gangster-like. So I drew her this portrait of herself, which she loves and will hang on her wall. She was not completely satisfied, however, and insisted that I give her the genuine dollar-sign necklace: Ah, the musings of a female at 1:00am who should be writing an essay and is instead mulling over retarded drawings. Her: btw, my hijab is all messed up in the second one. Gotta keep da image, u know wha i'm sayin'

No Idea Why

I've decided to go into the movie poster designing field.