Sunday, October 31, 2010

Some people can be so mean. Do you ever wonder why some people say the things they say? Or do the things they do? I don't know if I'm just really sensitive or if people are just extra mean to me, but sometimes I sit and wonder why the people of this world can be so cruel.

Lately I have been feeling extra hurt and I decided to read a book that has been collecting dust on my bookshelf. Anyway, I thought I'd share a short section from this awesome book, called Don't Be Sad.

How to deal with bitter criticism

"You will always have to face criticism, which in its onslaught is like an interminable war: it shows no sign of ending. As long as you shine, give, produce, and have an effect upon others, then disapproval and condemnation will be your lot in life. Until you escape from people by finding a tunnel in the ground or a ladder leading to the sky, they will not desist from censuring you, from finding fault in your character. For that reason, as long as you are from the denizens of earth, expect to be hurt, to be insulted, and to be criticized.

And here is something you should contemplate: a person who is sitting on the ground does not fall, and people do not kick a dead dog. Therefore their anger toward you can be attributed to you surpassing them in righteousness, knowledge, manners, or wealth. In their eyes you are a transgressor whose wrongs cannot be atoned for unless you abandon your talents and strip yourself of all praiseworthy qualities, so that you become stupid, worthless, and to them, innocuous. This result is exactly what they want for you.

So remain firm and patient when facing their insults and criticism. If you are wounded by their words and let them have an influence over you, you will have realized their hopes for them. Instead, forgive them by showing them the most beautiful of manners. Turn away from them and do not feel distressed by their schemes. Their disapproval of you only increases you in worth and merit.

Verily, you will not be able to silence them, but you will be able to bury their criticisms by turning away from them and dismissing what they have to say.

`Perish in your rage '. (Qur 'an 3: 119)

In fact, you will be able to increase them in their rage by increasing your merits and developing your talents.

If you desire to be accepted by all and loved by all, you desire the unattainable."

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Freshmen are Stupid

Student A: She seemed like a super enthusiastic student. She was on the wait list for my class in the beginning of the semester. I had already given 2 overrides. She said she really really wanted to study Arabic so I added her to my class. So the first week or two went well. She sat in the front of the class. Then she had a surgery and was off for a work. That's cool...us instructors are accommodating when it comes to these things.

She came to my office hours to get caught up on what she missed. I assigned her assignments and we scheduled meetings to finish all her make up work and quizzes. So that goes really well..

For like a day.

And then she disappears. Hasn't come to class a single day after that but is still registered.

I'm sorry but language course are intense; we meet 5 hours a week and there's no way you can miss class for a week or two and suddenly jump back.

Student B: She also seemed really enthusiastic and used to come to office hours all the time to ask questions and what not. Then all of the sudden she stopped coming to class. At first it was like one class of the three sessions a week. Then it went up to two. Its now at the point where I haven't seen the girl in two whole weeks...that's 10 hours of class!!

This is a top university and these students are lucky to even be here. And what are they doing? Wasting their money away by skipping classes and partying away. Guess who's paying for all the alcohol? That's right...mommy and daddy.

Freshmen undergrads are so stupid. Seriously. I get it. Once upon a time four years ago I was there too and sometimes I just didn't want to go to class. But I had to so I went.

Sometimes I just want to grab students and shake them by their shoulders... "MAN UP! These four years will fly by and you'll be thrown into the real world. What will you have to offer the world????"

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Ham burger please! Sorry, our menu is halal-only.


Wearing a veil in public places may be banned in France, however that didn't stop the second largest retailer in the country from starting a new line of 22 halal-only restaurants.

Halal Digest reports The Quick company, which owns 362 restaurants in France, can be compared to McDonald's going halal in the U.S.

Read more: http://www.ifanca.org/newsletter/2010_10.htm

Halal I'm lovin' it T-Shirt
http://www.redbubble.com/people/nuhsarche/t-shirts/1623478-4-halal-im-lovin-it

Journalist

Sunday, October 17, 2010

I love Fall. I love this weather. So. So. So. Much. I used to think it was because my birthday is in this month, but I just LOVE the leaves changing color. And the crunching of the leaves. And the wind. And pumpkin picking and cider mills, though I have never done either. Having a change of seasons is such a blessing. I moved down south, and we don't have fall or winter.

Its just the same weather every single day, all year around. Thats so boring. Change can be really nice. We need to see and feel different things. Although sometimes change sucks. The transition from Fall to Winter, for example. When its so sunny, yet so cold. Those are my least favorite days of the year.

A few weeks ago there was a bug in my apartment and I was terrified. But today, as I was visiting an old friend at the cemetery, a bug came out from the ground. It really got me thinking and kind of freaked me out. Not in the way the bug freaked me out in my apartment a few weeks ago, but in a different way.

It just felt so weird to see that this bug was coming from the dirt. We were made from dirt, and in the end, we become a part of the dirt once again. And seeing that bug just made me realize how everything on this earth has a purpose. The bug. The seasons. The dirt. And change.

I don't really know if this post made any sense. But it was a post nonetheless. Hope you are happy CC.

Friday, October 15, 2010

I'm so out of it

I'm back from India. I am such a FOB, a term many use to describe people from back home. Fresh Off the Boat.

Anyways, we got a van. And it's so...advanced for me. Like the key isn't really a key. The end is some plastic crap. And there's the two DVD players and IDK what else. Anyways, I didn't know wth to do with the dumb "key" and my mom's looking at me like she would a little fobby girl and she's all omg FU you don't know anything. aelkvglag.

And then I was driving of course, and OMG there's a camera that comes shows you the back of the car when you're in reverse.

I'm so slow. How long as this stuff been around?

Happy Friday.

ps - I am proud to be a FOB, btw :)

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Letter to a friend

And then do you remember when you used to get paranoid about the way you looked and I would always say, "YOU LOOK fineee!"

Or sometimes how you would catch me glancing at you and would fold your arms over or put on your jacket.

Or how me and "just do it!" and you would sit together and either we would be constantly laughing at each other or I would be reading something, you would be texting and "just do it!" would be sleeping....almost everytime.

Remember how one time me and "just do it!" got into a fight to sit in the front seat and my cousin had recorded us trying to shove each other out of the way, and trying to trip each other in the mall parking lot.

Do you remember how we all had a table in the library and for some reason people just knew it was our table? And we would all wait for each other and knew each other's schedule and would make trips through the art building to eat at that one arabic restaurant

Do you guys remember how she never studied in the library? How she would always carry that one orange looking box? How she would never get up to do anything? How she could never come to anything? How she could only come to things on campus? How those two would talk ghetto, and you would try and miserable fail? And how miss America went from being the 'lazy' one to the one that volunteered to do everytihing? How most of us were stuck without cars? How we had 'drama' at that table in the library, how the security guards would ask us to be quiet, and how they never really 'tasered' us?

Do you remember?

Do you remember that orange hoodie she always wore, and how she always would tell us to just do it, and would take forever just to put on her scarf after she made wudhu*? Or five minutes after making wudhu would make wudhu again?
And do you remember how she took the longest time getting a cell phone and a car? And then when she finally got a cellphone, she held on to it for centuries?
How she used to be a tomboy, then became one of the nicest dresser?

And how the birthday parties started and how we would get rooms in the library and how the birthday surprises were usually a fail? And how you all cried when she went to India?

Do you guys remember how you would talk about living on the same street as neighbors, and I would say 'That's not gonna happen' and everyone would yell at me and call me a pessimist.

Do you remember how I would yell at the two of you for playing "hot or not" in the library? Do you guys remember how you had stalkers and I was always the last to find out?

Do you remember when the the two of you made me a facebook account and I didn't understand what people were talking about me being on facebook?

Do you guys remember how I assigned each of you a disney princess and most of you didn't like your choice but I still forced it on you?
Do you remember Saltwater room? Do you remember Apologize?

Do you remember Delilah?


*wudhu-A muslim ritual of cleaning yourself before your 5 daily prayers.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God. ~Eleanor Powell



Journal Prompt: What is the best gift you have ever gotten? Who gave it to you?




Student Response: The best gift I have ever gotten is my family.

And God gave them to me.

THANK YOU GOD! I LOVE YOU!

:: throws up the "I love you" sign"::


Sunday, October 10, 2010

The Pregnancy Scare

The pregnancy scare...

Positive Pregnancy Test - Pregnancy

If you're married or sexually active you probably know what I mean.

I really hate dealing with it. So I had my period back in the end of August, right? Yea so granted I have a pretty regular cycle you would think I'd get it again at the end of September, correct? Wrong.

Guess how late I was.

Just guess.

2 WEEKS. That has never happened before. So after the first few days I'm thinking hey no big deal. Then the first week passes and I'm thinking "oh crap, what if I'm pregnant?" Even though I technically have a .001% chance of getting pregnant...

Babies are wonderful. Really, they are. But I have a work and school and other things to do right now let alone have a little child take over my existence. Sigh. I always pray to God, "Oh God, please don't grant me the blessing of a child just yet because I personally don't feel ready. But if you're going to grant it anyhow please please please make me content with it. Ameen."

Anyhow, I found my my mom and sister were all 2 weeks late too which made me feel a LOT better. Thank God I just got my period yesterday. Woo hoo!

In other news I finally started using tampons. A word of the wise to pad-users, tampons are so freaking amazing! Pads feel so uncomfortable and like diapers for reals. With tampons, you just put 'em in and move on with life. Its amazing!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Mrs. Cullen: The Pest

Dear Friends,

It's been a while. The reason I haven't posted is because I felt like I had nothing interesting to say. But then something interesting happened to me recently! Yay me. So, I moved to a far far away state a little over a month ago. I was sad, and still am. But thats not the interesting thing. I live all alone and if I'm not at school, then I'm at my apartment because I don't have a social life--by choice---and because school doesn't really allow for one.

Anyway, thank God for video chatting that has taken over the world; Skype, Oovoo, Gmail Video, etc. I've been able to see my friends and family almost every single day. Its really nice. No. Its amazing. Thank God. Anyway. The other day I was video chatting with Constructive Attitude and cleaning my apartment at the same time. I sat down on my futon for a minute and quickly noticed A HUGE BUG RIGHT NEXT TO ME. LITERALLY. IT WAS RIGHT THERE. On my futon. Oh man. I screamed and jumped and ran away. Then I just freaked out and started sweating and going crazy, promise. I just didn't know what to do.

The annoying thing was that the stupid bug was on the back resting part of the futon, so its not like I could have vacuumed it or thrown a book at it. Sigh. Not that I would have done that if it was on the floor. Sigh. Anyway. I just freaked out and started staring at it. CA gave me ideas on what to do. But I just couldn't. I was on the verge of tears. So, I called the one person I know in this huge city, told her to bring her husband and take care of this issue. So, as I waited half an hour for them to come, I just kept staring at the bug--making sure it wouldn't go behind the futon or fly or something. Because I think it had wings. And it was black. And it was fast. And ugly.

Sigh. They came and my friend's husband put a cup over the bug and let it free outside. And then we went for smoothies. The end.

Yours for the sake of Peace and Pesticide,
Mrs. Cullen

Monday, October 4, 2010

Conscious Culture

Sometimes I just don't feel like studying. I'll look at my notes and think to myself...yea yea I'll figure it out on the exam.

That worked real swell during undergrad.

Grad schools a whole different ball park. For reals. But even though I have an exam in two hours I choose to write a post instead! Lucky for you guys.

The Hubster and I went to Pittsburgh for a nice little weekend trip a few weeks ago. Let me tell you...it was one of the most amazing experiences ever. Seriously.

We met all these amazing Muslims from African American and Puerto Rican backgrounds... some converted to Islam. Pittsburgh actually has an extremely rich history of indigenous Muslims from hundreds of years ago.

History goes a little something like this... back when colonies were beginning in the US, there was a Spanish colony called Roanoke that ended up failing rather quickly. That colony had hundreds of Moriscos, free Muslim laborers, from Spain. After the collapse of the colony historians couldn't tell what happened to all the settlers. Apparently many Muslims in Pittsburgh have roots back to these Moriscos. What's even cooler is that first actual Masjid in the US is in Pittsburgh. What's interesting is that these Muslims were part of mainstream Orthodox Islam, not the Nation of Islam (a deviant sect of Islam). So there are actually many families in the Burgh that are African American and have been Muslim for generations upon generations.

This whole idea of African American Muslims who were originally Muslim is something new to the immigrant Muslim community that really tends to think as themselves as the "original" Muslims in the US whereas African Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Caucasians must all be converted to Islam. That however is not the case and its time we all look back at the history of Islam in the US because clearly it did not start with the wave of Arab and Southeast Asian Muslim immigrants in the 70's .

Meeting all these different types of people was really eye opening for me because I finally met people who had solid Muslim American identities, something that the immigrant community is struggling with greatly. The issue that first generation Muslims (from immigrant parents) are dealing with is this:

Their parents have their Islam and "back home" culture intertwined. Their kids however have an American culture that they're trying to reconcile with their heritage and their Islamic culture. What most people don't understand is that "Islamic" culture and American culture are NOT diametrically opposed.

Islam never came to eradicate culture, it came to beautify it. So in essence our Muslim American culture should something that is conscious culture which encompasses all that is good and leaves that which is not beneficial.

Here's an example. I have a friend who loves Hip Hop and thats a rooted part of his culture. Is there anything wrong with that? Absolutely not. His Islamic identity will affect his Hip Hop though by weeding out those lyrics that have negativity (drugs, alcohol, strippers, etc). So really this guy can practice his Islam to the fullest and use it to effect this love for Hip Hop and make it even better.

For more on the the history of Islam in Pittsburgh check this out..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4CG-U1-NwE

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Islam for Dummies: 20/20 Edition



ABC's 20/20, the news broadcaster, took the initiative and did a special on Islam and Muslims in America. An assorted group of Muslims, men, women, children, from just about everywhere answered questions posed from thousands of viewers worldwide, such as:

  • What is Islam?
  • Are Muslim women oppressed?
  • What does the Qu'ran really say about violence against non-believers?
  • Does Islam condone violence?
  • Is there such a thing as a moderate Muslim?
  • Where are all of the moderate Muslims?
  • Why aren't more Muslims speaking out against acts of hate?

If you didn't catch it last night, no worries, because you can catch it here:


(click on the picture to view the episode)

Obviously they weren't able to answer all the questions that were posed, in such a short period of time, as one hour. So from my understanding, they are planning to do another special of Islam: Questions and Answers.

Although, in my personal opinion, this should have been done years ago, kudos, again, to 20/20 for taking this course of action and trying to build bridges between the Muslims and non-Muslims in America. And hopefully the rest of the world.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Feet.

I don't have a computer.
It died about 3 weeks ago and now I need a new one.
So I have been MIA and my google reader's piled up with probably thousands and thousands of blog posts I have to read.

Anyways, I'm posted in surgery right now.

I almost blacked out on my first day.

Why? Because in the wards most cases there are post-operative. So we have to do antiseptic dressings of the wounds. One the first day we did rounds and the doctors checked out all the wounds and etc and make sure the patient was okay. The very last patient was a diabetic patient. He had gangrene of more than half his foot and some toes were missing.

I could handle everything else, but whenever I see a diabetic foot I get light headed. So naturally I almost blacked out.

It's so embarrassing:
Nurse: HURRY UP AND GET A BED READY!!
Ward boy: There's a patient coming in???
Nurse: NO, IT'S FOR THE DOCTOR.

And with all the patients watching. ha. hahahaha. No.

And hour later in the outpatient clinic the doctor told me to clean another diabetic foot. I told him there was a 97% chance I was going faint so he best be there.

If you don't control your blood sugar levels you can get gangrene and your toes might fall off. Yesterday there was a man with an ulcer so deep I could see his bones. People in India present very late to the hospital, thinking things will get better. The sad thing is, they present so late that a lot of cases don't get better.

Anyways, the point is if you are diabetic, and if you are fond of your feet and of walking and going to the bathroom by yourself and other such luxuries, then control your blood sugar levels. Oh and the sooner you see a doctor, the better.

But yayy for me, I can do dressings without wanting to faint or throw up.