Why Guys Should Stop Dedicating Songs to Girls..

Disclaimer:  I have not attempted to generalize this statement towards all guys out there; ofcourse, there is a good and bad side to everything.  I might be outdated in writing this entry because I am sure by now the internet has become far advanced, for such incidents to take place in public.  This is all based on a true story, any resemblance to any characters living or dead is mere fictional; please do not hold anything against me, as I will sort of not care for it. 

1)      It is not a dedication if the girl is forced to hear it.  Allow me to elaborate: if a girl, by mistake and yes I mean by mistake, walks into a Desi store to get something; it does not mean the music should be played on high volume immediately.  Girls care far less for these pathetic and so called dedications. 

2)      If the forced dedication is not a torture, playing the infamous romantic Indian songs sure is.  If by the luck of draw, the song was actually the girl’s all time favorite; good job at forcing her to hate it. 

3)      If the favorite song point did not work in favor of the girl hating the song; the singing and staring sure will.  Even if you think you are the future Mohammad Rafi, there is a very high chance of the girl not agreeing to this blasphemy. 

4)      I have never heard of a girl say: “oh my God, once he started playing the song; I just fell for him right that instance” – so let me be very honest here, it does NOT work.  My humble advice would be to just stop watching too many movies. 

5)      If guys take it as not embarrassing, please keep in mind that it might be for the girls.  People all around sure notice this pathetic attempt of self ridicule. 

The song playing disease is not limited to Desi stores; it happens on streets, in front of girl’s houses, in colleges and even around the mall.  My appeal to guys who do this: Please find better ways to reach girls’ hearts, because this self pity display will not do the trick.  

Being a Hijabi Means....

Being a hijabi means to smile at the ignorance of people…

Being a hijabi means to spread the contagiousness of happiness all around you..

Being a hijabi means to always remember to walk around with confidence..

Being a hijabi means to remain calm in the toughest of situations..

Being a hijabi means to never let the arrogance of people bring you down…

Being a hijabi means to ignore the rude comments..

Being a hijabi means to overlook the disgusted eyes..

Being a hijabi means to abide by the principles of modesty..

Being a hijabi means to remind oneself to remain down to earth in every aspect of life..

Being a hijabi means to inspire others with the acts of generosity..

Being a hijabi means to live by the motto “patience is a virtue”..

Being a hijabi means to be faithful to your religion, above the cultural norms..

Being a hijabi means to represent a nation of sisterhood and unity..

Being a hijabi means to define oneself by breaking the artificial norms of freedom..

Being a hijabi means to readdress the notion of fashion and sense of style..

Being a hijabi means to live and let live..

Being a hijabi means to control ones judgment towards others..

Above all, being a hijabi means to remember that your acts and faithfulness is only for the purpose of pleasing your creator and nothing more.  

Let's make it Right...

We make our lives more complicated than they actually are.  More of us are concerned with proving ourselves than to worry about the rest of the world.  We are so determined to be right in everything that we step over and hurt all the people in our way, regardless of how much they mean to us.  Today I heard three lines, which made me realize how much simpler our life would be; if we were to follow these three basic rules:

“The Person Is More Important Than the Point”

                How many of us can think of a time when we were so indulged in making a point that we ignored how much we actually hurt a loved one.  All of us do this countless times in a day; whether we admit it or not.  As Isaac Newton once said “Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy."

“Being Kind Is More Important Than Being Right”

                Ever told a person they are right just to make them happy?  Not many of us do that.  You might actually make it right by simply being kind and leave an everlasting mark of kindness in that person’s heart towards you.  As the Hadith reassures us “He who is deprived of kindness and gentleness is, in fact, deprived of all good." (Muslim)

“Say What You Mean & Mean What You Say”

Usage of words is not a difficult thing, but meaning those words is.  Before advising unto others, consider if it really stands true to your own self.  As the Arabic proverb goes “A slip of the foot is safer than that of the tongue.”

Flowers Can Leave you Wondering too...

My love for flowers is as everlasting as the love of humanity, fading away little by little….Kidding! Let’s try that again, shall we?

My love for flowers is beyond the horizons of the skies and deeper than the layers within the earth.  I kid you not, there is very little exaggeration involved in the previous statement.  I believe even the people around me have started to get bored of this obsession and roll their eyes every time I get excited about a plant or a flower.  Will I ever change because the people around me have started to think that I have totally gone insane?

The answer is, absolutely not!  I dare not let anyone come in between my plants and myself; and if they shall try to barge into our secret lives, they will be burned to ashes and scattered around the planes of this earth (ok ok I got carried away a bit *blush*). 

I suppose I made the point clear enough; above picture is from the plants I had planted earlier this year.  I was amazed at the beauty of the flower; I for one had not seen a flower blooming on top of another flower.  The sight did cause me to say SubhanAllah and admire the beauty.  

Chicken Barley Soup (Inspired by Sister Amena from Pearl Daisy)

As I opened my YouTube app to see the new releases of videos, my face lit up with joy as the cooking video by sister Amena popped up in the list of new videos added. Honestly, it is simply awesome to watch her videos; regardless of the topic they portray.  I could just sit the whole day and watch her videos nonstop and no, this is no exaggeration!

Anywho (one of the words I picked up from her videos), the cooking video was about making barley soup.  The amazing thing is just a month back I was researching on the foods Prophet PBUH used to love and came across barley as one of his favorite foods.  Ever since then, I somehow wanted to incorporate barley into the foods I consume.  Sister Amena's video came just in time.

Although I have added my own touch to the recipe and Alhumdulillah did manage to complete the Sunnah.  All thanks to sister Amena for the amazing recipe and also my family for the immense support of bearing through my cooking experiments.

I have discovered my love for Barley and inshAllah will be able to incorporate it into my daily meals.  

It's Time to be Back ;)

Yes, I accept I have failed in completing my New Year's resolution of keeping up with the Project 365.  Believe me, I tried really hard; but please accept my excuse as: Life just moves too fast sometimes and the shocking pace leaves you confused, stranded, and lost.

Alright, I might be exaggerating a bit; but only a tiny bit.  Nonetheless, I am back! I left off nearly three months ago.  Now I will start again from the 13th, the same date my last post was published.

Although I have compiled up some pictures for the months of March and April, a few from May as well; I will be starting off from June first.  If I get some extra time, I will post up those pictures as well; but no promises.

Last but not least, it's good to be back :)

Project 365 - Essie (March 13, 2012)

I've been meaning to purchase a nail polish with glitter in it, but I just never got around to buying it.  Today, it finally happened; I finally own my first Essie nail polish and that too a glittery one.

Yes, getting an Essie nail polish is that huge of a deal; because I doubt I would splurge on a nail polish I will use less frequently (Unless I get very tempted, then it becomes a total different story).

Project 365 - Goodies (March 12, 2012)

The toughest part about being sick is laying in bed all day.  It's weird but whenever you are sick, you get sick of resting too.  Suddenly you feel the need to take a walk down the street or to go visit a park; or maybe it could just be me, whose this random.  

Anywho, One good thing about today was receiving my MyGlam bag.  It completely made my day.

Project 365 - Grape Tomato (March 11, 2012)

It wasn't until today that I have finally decided to include tomatoes on the list of fruits.  Even though it is classified as a fruit; I came to a conclusion that it was all dependent on the way you use it. For example, until now I've mostly consumed it through salads or everyday cooked meals; therefore, it was considered a vegetable for me.

Today I discovered the grape tomatoes; after being inspired by the Korean shows ofcourse.  Contrary to my initial thoughts, they are very delicious and healthy.

Project 365 - Favorites (March 10, 2012)

It was very difficult to choose the picture of the day for today; merely because there were more of the special things than what usually occur.  I suppose I can always write about them, instead of mentioning it.  But, I won't.  There should always be a curious side to a person; what's the fun in telling everything straight up anyway!

Aside from plants, Korean TV has sort of taken over my life.  I am as addicted to watching Korean dramas and movies, as I would be to eating.  Apart from wanting to learn the language, I want to learn their cuisine as well.  Also, Korea has been added to list of the top countries I would like to visit someday.

It is true that you start falling in love with something you see almost everyday.  It is human nature to be influenced by something that is in front of them most of the time.  Well you might say that one could also like something they don't see everyday; Ofcourse one could also love something based on their imagination as well; but it wouldn't be the love for the actual thing, it would be more like their love for their own imagination.  I am not sure if I make any sense out of it, but just a thought that crossed my mind.

So, all in all, eventhough I witness the culture, cuisine, and the language through TV; I would love to see it all in person someday and only then I can truly know how much I really like it.  I present to you, in the picture, my attempt at imitating Korean Cuisine; it turned out to be pretty well.  I wanted to make the egg rolls, but fell short of the time and energy.  Then again, some things should be left for later.

Project 365 - Predictable Actions (March 9, 2012)

And yet again I find myself standing by the aisles of seed bags.  I have seriously gone insane, even I have started doubting my sanity.

I had to hold myself back from buying all the seed bags; which was a very very tough decision indeed.  I only bought about four packs for this time around and convinced myself that I can always come back to get more, if needed.

Now, you can surely predict that one of the future posts is going to be about planting the seeds I purchased today.  I suppose I am becoming sort of predictable.

Project 365 - Ray of Happiness (March 8, 2012)

Today was an even better day.  Better because of the weather, but most of all because I was able to see the first blooming flowers.  You could only imagine my excitement when suddenly my eyes landed on these flowers.  I had to stop, take a picture and admire their beauty for a few moments.

I certainly do not give much thought to people passing by and giving me weird looks.  They must think I have never seen flowers in my life; but you know what I have learned that, seeing something that makes your heart really happy is a very rare opportunity.  All in all, my happiness certainly made the day enormously brighter.

Project 365 - Mister Softee (March 7, 2012)

Today was such a nice day, after so long.  The sun was out, the wind was blowing and the cold was gone.  Sitting under the sun felt so surreal.  It seemed as if everyone was outside enjoying the weather.  There were happy faces, happy people and weather.  Everything was just awesome.

Most of all, the most amazing thing was eating ice cream.  Soft cones by Mister Softee.  Carrying five cones in my hand for three blocks with my sister, just to enjoy it with everyone at home was priceless.

Project 365 - Post Office (March 6, 2012)

Post office is one of the places I really dread going to.  The customer service is super rude, the people are unhappy with the long lines.  The place is always understaffed, when clearly there are three other empty windows.  Also, it is such a small area that the line sometimes goes outside on the street.

So it was my time to be at the post office.  Everytime I have to go there, I always get a little afraid; thinking what sort of incident is going to happen today.  Today, ofcourse was no exception.  The line was the longest and there were only two staff people there; both happened to be very rude.  I actually had to stand in line twice because of not having the right certified mail receipt.  All the lady had to do was pick up another slip, which was right next to her, and write the zip code on it.  But why must they even make this little effort to make the customers happy?  Instead, she asked me to walk across the room; pick up the slip and stand back in the line.

Just after me was another person who faced the same problem; but unlike me, she was very outspoken about it.  She stood there demanding to be helped and not wanting to get back in line.  Well, what happens?  Just to get her to be quiet from screaming out all the curse words; they just do as she asks.  Yes, I was a little disappointed; but then, I know I would never have the courage to say even a word to them.  So, in the end, I quietly got my work done; with a bit of delay I suppose.

Project 365 - Joshanda (March 5, 2012)

You know when you feel very tired; so tired that suddenly your body just doesn't want to cooperate with you. You have no choice but to just lay down and stare at the ceiling.  Yes, my words are very dramatic and depressing; but sometimes we all feel that way, even if it is only for an instant.

Well, luck has it, I am very Desi.  When I suddenly feel like I am going to be sick soon, I warm up a cup of water and add a pack of Joshanda (herbal tea).  I love the smell of it and I love having it; I sometimes have it just for the sake of smelling it.  Yes, we all have those weird habits.

Well a warm cup of Joshanda and your warm bed is a perfect prescription for tiring days.

Project 365 - Spring Cleaning (March 4, 2012)

Cleaning out is definitely one of the chores I look forward to.  When it comes to organizing my closet, it is just the worst.  I put off organizing it for as long as I can, or until my mom accidentally sees it; then I have no choice but to finally clean everything out.

It literally took me about five hours to organize all the clothes, fold them up, and take out old seasons clothes.  I am also the sort of person who doesn't like to take things out or to throw them out; so I had to take out most of the outfits with a heavy heart.  Nonetheless, my closet is finally organized and hopefully it'll last me a season before any further deductions are needed.

Project 365 - Fried Fish (March 3, 2012)

I am not a fan of sea food.  The only exception I have made to eating fish is Tilapia.

Saturdays are all about eating comfort food and resting; Fried Tilapia is one of my favorites.

Project 365 - Gizmo (March 2, 2012)

Gizmo, the star of our house.  The one person who does as he pleases, is Gizmo.  Yes, meet my cute little bird Gizmo.

Ok technically my brother brought him in; but I end up taking care of him more than he does.  Today, I spent a good amount of time cleaning out his cage.  For a small bird, he sure likes to make a huge mess.  He always gets inside his food bowl and digs through the food; spreading all the food around his cage, and then later he circles around his cage to eat that food.

He sure has his weird habits, but then again he is a cutie.  He is very particular about his things and doesn't like it when we move things around his cage.  By things I mean his toys; if one of them is moved around, he wouldn't even play with it and sit quietly in a corner until we move it back.

He sat on my shoulder as I cleaned his cage, as if overseeing the whole process to make sure I don't mess anything up.  If I took him off my shoulders, he would fly back in 5 seconds and wouldn't stop; so I had to give in.  Later on the day, he followed me everywhere and would bite anyone else who tried picking him up.  According to my sister, he fell in love with me since I cleaned his cage properly.  He is still following me around every time he gets out of the cage; he sure knows how to be lovely.

Project 365 - Turkish Food (March 1, 2012)

I am very seriously considering changing my Project 365's name to "Project about food and plants."  I suppose these are a few of my interests, so it shouldn't be a surprise to see myself indulged in such habits.

Anyhow, today's Turkish food day.  I haven't had much Turkish food over the years, so today was one of those rare moments.  Although the food might be very similar to other Arab dishes, but it sure has its distinctive flavoring.  I would definitely recommend Turkish Cafe on E 16th street in Brooklyn.  The Tavuk Kababs with rice and Shepard salad were amazing.  

Project 365 - LUSH (February 28, 2012)

My visits to the city used to be all about platters.  Don’t get me wrong, they still pretty much are; but now, another obsession has taken over my life.  I proudly introduce to you my latest obsession, LUSH products! 

Lush carries organic products with no chemical added and they are very skin friendly.  I have to admit that this obsession started off from YouTube videos; but once I tried out their products, I was convinced within the first try.  Ofcourse some credit is due to the convincing Sales people at the store; but mainly it is due to the quality of the products. 

Slowly but surely, all of my favorite cosmetics brands are starting to be replaced by LUSH products.