Partner in Crime

On July 30, 1948 (exactly 60 years ago) professional wrestling premiers on prime-time network TV.

My nana (maternal grandfather) loved watching professional wrestling. It was always funny to watch him watch it. Imagine a 70+ man getting worked up over wrestling. And then imagine him doing these weird hand gestures while watching it and laughing a toothless laugh. Hilarious time. Whenever we used to take the remote from him and change the channel, he would tell us to put it back and invite us to watch it with him. Sometimes we did. (We meaning his grandkids).

Sadly he passed away four months ago. We lost him to cancer. Saddest day of my life. My nana was one of those people that you never thought would die. Not that I thought he was immortal, but he was just one of those people that I thought would be around forever.

I'm not writing this post to talk about the sad times though. Nor do I want to be morbid in any way, shape, or form. I'm not thinking about the should'ves, woud'ves, or could'ves. I was just thinking about him and the happy and fun times shared with him and the professional wrestling thing made me think of him. Yes I miss him, but I dont think he would have wanted any of us to be sorrowful and miserable without him here. I think about him frequently and pray for him.And that's what my family and I try to do. We try to cope as best as we could and send our prayers upon and to him. I've found that my siblings and I talk about him on a daily basis. He used to do the funniest and most outrageous things. He asked me what kind of guy I wanted to marry. I told him, "I want a guy who will let me kick my feet up and do all of the housework for me." As old as he was, he was never the type of man who was stuck on traditional values (You know the ones that claim that women should cook and clean, and stay at home. Lots of older generation people think like this. Not all, but quite a few.) When he heard my response, he couldnt stop laughing, and told me that he would start looking right away. He wanted the best for his grandchildren. He always asked about my schooling and work. He encouraged all of the women in our family to continue our education for as long as we wanted. During the hot summer days, he never wanted to stay inside the house where the air conditioner was. He liked sitting in the sun and sweating. One time he was walking around my neighborhood and these two adoloscent boys were riding their bikes and made a rude comment. He picked up rocks from the ground and started throwing it at them. He used to always give the Adhaan (call to prayer) in our house. Actually he used to do it in any house he was staying at. When it was time for Fajr (1st prayer of the five daily prayers that Muslims observe, usually prayed at the beginning of dawn), he would be the first one awake. He would yell at all of us that were still sleeping and wouldn't stop yelling until we were awake. He had a keen interest in meeting all of my friends. And once he did meet them at my brother's wedding, he asked about them all the time.

He used to break out in random songs and sometimes even start dancing. He was a hilarious and wonderful man. My true partner in crime. May God give him peace in the hereafter and grant him Heaven. Ameen.

Mrs. Cullen: The Thankful Emo Kid

Dear Friends,

I'm all talk. Sometimes I really feel like I am just all talk. I always talk about making my life stress-free and becoming a better person and doing little things to make me happy and improve my life in general [see previous posts for example]. But then I feel like I try for a sec and thats all. And then I remember and try again and then I give up and it goes on and on. I feel so pathetic. I don't know what it is. I feel so emo sometimes. I hate that word. So lame. I hate when people take pictures on facebook and they write emo or something. I dunno-- I just think its lame. I also hate birthdays. So much. I used to think they were so important and its like your day. Yay. No. Its not. Its just another day in life and you're just a year older and God just gave you another day to live [ok the latter is a big deal but then every day should be special]. Anyways, I'm just annoyed right now. I really hate birthdays and they make me mad. People should not have the right to feel extra special or be treated extra special just because its your birthday. Don't hate me, yo. This is just how I feel. Last year I was so upset with my closest cousin and friend because she forgot to call me on my birthday. I was so sad. I was like "I'm not gonna pick up when she does remember!" And thats exactly what I did. I didn't pick up. Then I listened to the voice mail of her saying sorry she forgot to call, blah blah blah. I was still upset. I'm so pathetic. Eleven days later she passed away. Then I was so mad at myself and felt like such a freaking idiot. And still do. Birthdays are so dumb. Ok not just birthdays but everything---everything that is materialistic or just stupid and makes you upset at people for no reason. Fights are dumb and so are grudges and boys and anything that gets in the way of friendship is just dumb. And I'm dumb too. I'm dumb because I read Wuthering Heights just because my husband [Oh! You didn't know I was married?? Why do you think I'm Mrs. Cullen?? Idiot] talked about it in Twilight. It was such a stupid book. About love and how two people love each other so much and when they die they are still together. I was so stupid to read it just because my fictional husband talked about it in a fictional story. Anyways. I guess this post needs a purpose. It has one, I promise! It is just hard to explain. I wish I had motivation to do all the things I want to do. I wish I wasn't so lazy. My mom let me get a fridge in my room just so I don't have to walk downstairs if I wanna get water or ice cream. I need help. I really need motivation to do something--anything. I am a very lazy person and its not good. Its sad because I am lazy when it comes to health and school but when it comes to movies and fun I become so opposite-of-lazy.

You know whats really bothering me? Of course you don't because I didn't tell you yet. I just wish we didn't take things for granted. I know we hear that all the time but I truly believe no one can possibly understand what that means until they lose something. For example. I eat over five meals a day. There are people starving in this world. I am so thankful for what I have but its kinda hard to understand that I am so lucky to have all this. Its hard because I have it and I don't know what it is like to not have it. I don't know what it is like to starve or be homeless or unhealthy, Alhumdulillah [All praise is due to Allah aka Halelu Yah]. I spent my whole first paragraph complaining and putting myself down but I don't even realize how lucky I am and how good I have it all. Yes its true that we should continue to improve ourselves and become better people and aim for stress-free lives, but we also need to relax and be grateful for what we have. Even if we are stressed out and feel overwhelmed; we have it better than so many others. So, for awhile [a little while] I will stop the complaining and start the thanking.

Alhumdulillah [All praise is due to Allah] for: Food. Parents. Siblings. Education. Some What Clear Skin. A Job. Tv. Hijab. My Cat. Religion. Home. Back Home. Relatives. Love. Friends. Trust. No Thyroid Cancer. Books. Walking. Talking. Hearing. Thinking. Eating. AC. Heat. Eating. Heated Mattress. J.K. Rowling. Stephenie Meyer. George Orwell. Nice Teeth. Etc.


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

Barbarically Civilized??

I'm not big on music..I know the songs, but I have no idea who the "artists" are and don't care. I put that in quotes for a reason. I usually tune it out because I have ADD and can't listen to stuff for that long but once in a while the lyrics, good and bad, catch my eye..or is it ear?? I am soooo disgusted with the lyrics. What have humans reduced themselves to?? {BTW, the following is me generally speaking. I know not everyone is like this, you can't define and characterize a specific group because everyone is different. I speak of the mass as a whole and how they seem to represent themselves and come off to others as.}

One song was about having sex a club and "I don't care who's watching..." wth??
That's the most recent example but I remember being disgusted by many. But like I said, I don't know artists and song names so I can't recall any more. But I'm sure you can think of quite a few yourself.
Oh and where did the clothes go in the movies and music videos? Somebody forgot something somewhere...

I know I sound very "motherly" but who cares.

I know that sex, drugs, violence and prostitution/porn have always been around. Since forever. It isn't new. Arright, fine. What's appalling is that it's now being accepted {publicly}. It sickens me that people are now seeing this as the norm.

People used to do all this in private, maybe because there was a sense of shame then? Because they knew it wasn't right. There was that fear and embarrassment that goes with being caught. But now people proudly openly admit to doing things. {I remember in high school this kid in my who proudly announced to the the class that he masturbated in his church parking lot..yuck}. These days many openly talk about doing stuff with girl/guy-of-the-week and don't spare anyone details {the girl who sat behind me in English, anyone?} Sing about it like it's normal, do everything on film for money. It's not "art". It's disgusting.

I feel like dogs are more concerned about privacy than some people today. Maybe we have lost our sense of shame. We're getting desensitized to un-civilization, if that's a word. Yeah we are developing more and more in technology and education and other things, but what about as humans? We are regressing as humans. We have been given the sense of right and wrong. We have the ability to feel shame, guilt and other emotions as well as to make decisions and to think. That's what separates us from the animals. But I feel like we're getting down to the animal level in some aspects.

I don't know where I'm going with this. I can rant forever but will stop here.

Your thoughts..?

Random Moment

I know that I should be writing about the news (which I will :P) but I had just had an important conversation that I wanted to share. I attended an Al Maghrib (an Islamic institution) class a year and a few months ago and had never really thought about it since then until last night when it was brought up by my brother and sister. The class was called Love Notes, and it was about marriage and the Islamic way of going about it. I had gone with my mother and I distinctly remember the intense feeling of wanting to get married when the seminar ended and of course the first thing I did was to call my brother and tell him how amazing this seminar was and how I wanted to get married and everything- he of course told me I was being impulsive :).

Which I was, but I took that in a totally different way then the way that he had meant it and kind of just put aside the idea of marriage. I started to think, you know what I am too young, I should focus on school, I have too many things I have to do with my life before I should even start thinking about marriage. I was of course totally disregarding the Sunnah (the example of Prophet Muhammad), where the Prophet says that (paraphrasing), get married young in order to protect yourselves and to start your lives. And being Muslim, that hadith (saying of the Prophet) should have been enough motivation for me to set an intention to Allah asking for Allah to allow me to get married as soon as possible so as to better follow the Sunnah of the Prophet.

But instead I chose to believe that this hadith didn't apply to me and that I was under different circumstances, but have we not been told again and again that the surest way to Heaven was through the Quran and the example set by the Prophet? I feel like I do this more often than not, but getting back to my story, so last night after we had gotten back from X Files (horrid movie by the way), we just got into it and I said that I wanted to accomplish a few things before I would reach a comfort level to be able to get married, i.e. financial independence. But my brother then said something that I didn't really think about, setting an intention doesn't mean that you won't accomplish everything you want to before marriage, and even if you didn't so what? Marriage means that you ARE dependent on the person you share your life with and that they are dependent on you. And Allah would never put you in a situation where you are miserable by following the Sunnah if you go to Allah with the right intentions.

SO in conclusion, I think that life really is allot simpler than I make it out to be if I just put life into perspective. I know that for me, I have to sit down and re-evaluate my life and the purpose of it here in this world. I mean why are we here? I can tell you one thing, the only thing guaranteed in this life is death and not one of us will be able to take their flashy new iphones to the next life (me included!)

-Peace and Blessings

We come and go just like ripples in a stream...

We come and go just like ripples in a stream..., originally uploaded by Rabujee.

So its finals time for me and of course I'm sitting here doing everything under the sun... except study. I'll get back to it soon enough, God-willing (Insha'Allah).
I just don't want to think about circuits, who wants to think about circuits anyways? *Sigh*
Ok so here's something I actually saved a few days ago to share on this blog, cause I liked it a lot. Its like your general reminder about life being short and keeping your eyes on the BIGGEST picture (returning back to your Creator one day). But usually these things are written very dramatically (not saying that it shouldn't be thought of in a dramatic way because yes of course its very important) and what I found here was so different. Enough with the intro, just read it here:

The Great Journey TICKET: One-way (return ticket not available) COST: absolutely free RESERVATION: confirmed ELIGIBILITY: Tickets will be issued to the following: NAME: Child of Adam IDENTIFICATION: piece of clay ADDRESS: Surface of the Earth DETAILS OF JOURNEY:

* Departure Point: Anywhere on Earth
* Destination: Second World
* Hotel to be temporarily accommodated!: two meters space
* Duration: few seconds or few minutes
* Time of Departure: Time of Death

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS:

* All passengers are requested to keep in mind that the tickets are non-negotiable and non-transferable. Therefore everyone must be ready and keep an eye out for the pilot of the plane -HAZRAT IZRAFIL- THE ANGEL OF DEATH.

* For more information, read instructions..... to be found in the Holy Quran and the Sunnah (the practices of the last prophet Muhammad, Peace be Upon Him). You can also consult the learned Ulama (scholars).

* IT IS IMPORTANT this is done as soon as possible. You are reminded that no oxygen mask will be given as it is not required, in fact your respiratory system will be closed down before the journey begins.

LUGGAGE:

Even though each plane carries only one passenger, restrictions are imposed on the luggage that can be taken with you. You are allowed to carry 5 meters of white clothes and a small amount of cotton. The real luggage must be good deeds, good conduct, time spent in inviting mankind to good deeds and prohibiting evil, Ilm obtained and used properly, children raised and educated to be good Muslims.

Apart from these and luggage of these types, other luggage will be at your own risk.There is no need for any boarding pass, passport or other travel documents, just get ready. To get ready.... attendance of the 5 daily prayers in the Masjid (Mosque) or with Jamaat (congregation) is highly recommended.Study the Quran and Sunnah and put them into practice.

This ticket may be called in at any time so prepare now!'The pleasures of this life will end with this life. Whereas your good deeds will bring YOU eternal happiness.'

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O and everyone, will you please repeat after me: "Please Allah, make R.M. successful in her exams so that she never ever has to look at this subject, ever again. Ameen."

Thank you! =D

Recipes: Chocolate Trifle

I know I'm not supposed to be posting recipes but sharing is caring. :D I made this dessert a few weeks ago and since everyone loved it, I thought I'd post it up here. It's really easy to make and tastes ah-maaazing! It has a 5/5 star rating, but personally, I'd give it a 10/5. It is a little heavy so this isn't something for a fat-free weekend. ;) The link to the trifle recipe on www.allrecipes.com is provided above in the title. Users on the site provided good tips on making it less fattening, or how to perfect the recipe even more. Nutritional information is also provided. In my opinion, I don't think it needs any tweaking in terms of taste, but there are helpful hints there nonetheless. In case you're too lazy to go to the site, here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS
1 (19.8 ounce) package brownie mix
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 cup water
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (1.5 ounce) bar chocolate candy

DIRECTIONS
{1} Prepare brownie mix according to package directions and cool completely. Cut into 1 inch squares.
{2} In a large bowl, combine pudding mix, water and sweetened condensed milk. Mix until smooth, then fold in 8 ounces whipped topping until no streaks remain.
{3} In a trifle bowl or glass serving dish, place half of the brownies, half of the pudding mixture and half of the 12 ounce container of whipped topping. Repeat layers. Shave chocolate onto top layer for garnish. Refrigerate 8 hours before serving.

Besides putting the trifle together in a traditional trifle bowl, you can use glasses or something else. Using fresh fruit like strawberries and raspberries adds some color and a fresh/fruity taste and you might not die of chocolate overload. ;)

♥The Sweetheart♥

♥The Sweetheart♥, originally uploaded by Rabujee.

This was taken at a friends wedding last weekend. This girl was just so adorable. I stalked her all night long. She would not stay still, just gave me a mischievous smile and ran away each time. Finally, I got her =D.

Not many thoughts on this, kids are just the best. So carefree. And then they grow up and become these lost and infinitely confused souls, like you and me.

When I was that age, I just wanted to grow up already. I was sick of being the youngest and the tag-along to my sisters. And even though I'll never admit it, they claim that I copied EVERYTHING they did. I think they're delusional. =P.

I miss my childhood.

News Update

A prisoner swap took place between Israel and Hezbollah, where Hezbollah returned the bodies of 2 captured soldiers in return for the release of high profile Hezbollah prisoners.

Gore challenges the America to stop using fossil fuels by 2018, having 100% of electricity through renewable sources.

Sen. Obama raised $52 million in the month of June compared to Sen. McCain's $22 million, McCain has more cash on hand $96 million compared to Obama, $94 million, due to the Republican Party.

Starbucks is to close 600 of it's stores due to losing competition with Jamba Juice. (p.s. I tried Starbucks's new "smoothie" the orange, mango and banana and I almost threw up.)

The DNC (democratic national committee) is kicking off more than 1000 meetings to hear from voters across the country to come up with the party platform: What should Democrats stand for - and against?

U.S. obesity epidemic grows, despite efforts to encourage Americans to lose weight. The number of U.S. adults who are overweight, increased by 2% from 2005 and 2007.

Former Attorney General testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee on the "torture memos" today and defended the waterboarding technique: "The reports that I have heard, and I have no reason to disbelieve them, indicate that they (usage of waterboarding) were very valuable."