Two Days!

Yes, that's right! Two days left. Then, summer vacation for two and a half months! I mean, there's not gonna be much to do, but no schoolwork. I haven't even taken my tests yet. I'm supposed to take them tomorrow. Today though, I'm going to Oakhurst to help out my brother's teacher with this sprinkler party. And maybe I'll get cool at the same time. It's just so hot. Nobody wants to really do anything BUT play in the water. That's why I cannot wait until Wednesday, because hopefully we'll be able to go to Boomerang Bay in Carowinds. There are all these crazy rides and things. I just hope that there aren't a lot of people there. That would be torture.
Sham is getting really fat. I mean really fat. She could have her kittens any day now, or so I think. It's been almost two months. I just hope that she doesn't have them while I'm in Radford. Then I don't get to see them being born.
Ugh. There's not much to write. It's so boring here. All summer I'll probably be playing on the computer. I think I need to get my lazy butt off of the chair in front of the computer and go play some basketball. And maybe go swim. Just do something outdoors. I would like to go visit my family up in Virginia. Moby is up there right now. I would've gone, but I've got stuff to do here.
I hate the heat. Unless I've got a hose or a sprinkler. Then, I love it. I just don't like it when I'm trying to play outside without sweating all the water in my body. Ugh. I went to this Dragon Boat Festival thing at Lake Norman, and I had to go inside an ambulance to get cooled off. I couldn't stand the heat. And no matter what my dad says, Africa heat and North Carolina heat are two totally different things. Way different.
Okay, I know this is short, but I'm wrapping up. This may be my very last post. I may end up having to start another blog sometime, but for now, I'll just say, bye. Thanks to my loyal readers. Oh, wait. There's only two. My dad and my mom. Nobody else reads something like this. So, it's time to go. And I hope that if this blog gets discovered by somebody, they'll tell their friends, because I wish all this writing was worth it. So, bye! TTFE!! Ta-ta for ever!!!

Dinner at My House

No, this is not MY plate. it's my dad's. He eats a lot. Then again, he is 6'6" and weighs 200 something pounds. But this is my absolute favorite dinner, besides fried burritos.
I love spaghetti with sauce, salad, cheese, and garlic bread. It just tastes so good. But if I get to choose what we eat for dinner, then I'll choose fried burritos. Tortillas stuffed with beans and cheese, wrapped up, and fried in oil. Then you stick a bunch of salsa and sour cream on them. Oh, it makes me hungry just thinking about it!
I can't decently cook anything but boxed mac n' cheese and Ramen Noodles. I could probably cook anything that needs to be boiled, but I'd have to do it a couple of times. I can also make scrambled eggs. I'm not that fond of any other kind. I mean, hard-boiled eggs are okay, but soft-boiled, eww. And sunny side up or down, I don't like the squishy yolk. So I'm good with scrambled.
I don't even want to imagine the day where I have to cook all my own meals. I will totally miss my mom cooking for me. Well, most of the time. I'll probably live on toaster waffles, mac n' cheese, Ramen Noodles, and ice cream. That'll be tiring, but what else am I supposed to do? I guess I need to start learning how to cook decently.
It is so hot here. It's supposed to be in the 90s for the next ten days! I really want to go to the Carowinds waterpark before all the crowds get there this weekend, because they will most definitely be there. That's a good thing about being homeschooled. Maybe we can go after the kids get home. Ugh. I really want to go before the summer crowd starts up. But we'll either be late, or people will be there. Argh.
I want to be done with this work, so that I can do my daily Sudoku and Crossword.
And slack off for the rest of the day. Maybe sleep a bit more.
You know what? I'm so happy that Obama got the nomination. This country is turning around. Now all we need is for him to be president, and then we will know that everybody wants to change the way Bush has led us. Who cares if Clinton doesn't get it? Just so long as the Democrats stay united, we'll be okay.
Time to go. Bye!

A Scenic Picture

Only it's not really meant to be scenic. I didn't really want to put in any closeups of people, but this is a picture of the area that the high ropes course was in at my Girl Scout camp. And yes, I went on it. It was extremely fun. But very scary.
Everybody is grouped over there either waiting to learn how to walk across the lines, or they're waiting to get up on the course. So I'll tell what we did.
First, since most of us had never been on a high ropes course before, we had to learn how the harnesses worked and stuff. So they had wires about a foot off the ground for us to practice on. It wasn't really that hard to figure out.
Next, we all had to take turns up on the course. It started out with a rope ladder. It was really unstable, so all the kids who were waiting had to grab one side of the ladder and hold it taut for the person going up. There weren't enough harnesses and helmets for everybody at once, so when somebody finished, they had to take theirs and give it to somebody who was waiting.
After the ladder, you had a wooden log to walk across, and you had to decide which way you wanted to go. There was a harder way, and an easier way. Everybody in my troop but me took the easy way. I wanted a challenge, even though I'd never been on a ropes course before. I'll tell about my way, because I don't really remember what the other way was.
So after you cross the log, you have to move your harness to another cable, and then there was the "Pirate's Cross." Imagine an X made out of ropes. Then imagine a rope going straight through the middle of that. That is the Pirate's Cross. And you have to cross that. Way up in the air. With only a harness. Scary, huh? Yeah. And it was wayyy harder than it looked.
Next, I transferred to another cable, and this time, you had to cross a cable stretching across a length of like 15 feet or so, and every 5 feet there were cables hanging down for you to grab onto. But they were really kind of spread apart a lot, so that you had to keep hold of the first one down to the very end of it, and still have to reach out a lot to grab the next one. I fell down twice on this part. It was really scary, but totally fun. Just hanging there in your harness.
After that, I transferred to another cable, and this one was two cable about 5 and 1/2 feet apart, and you just walked across one while holding onto the other, which was above your head. After this, I had to just hang in there (literally!!) while this other girl took her turn leaving the course, by riding down, what else?, a zipline! This was totally the scariest part. It's just so big of a drop and you're totally freaked out that your harness won't hold you. But it does. The easy and hard part both meet up here, so everybody has to do it. That was fun.
Everybody had fun. It was exciting, and a new experience, and even though I am so totally scared of heights, I couldn't think of anything else but how fun it was. Okay, there were moments when I was freaked out, but those were very little.
So yeah. It's time for me to go. But I loved that. And I cannot believe they're moving the camp. Sure, it'll be closer to Charlotte, but that spot, up in the mountains, was perfect. Even though it was freaking cold. No heated cabins for us. But still.
Okay. Bye!!

An Extremely Ghetto Camera

It is a very ghetto camera. I mean, sure it's got the flip lens, so that you can take pictures of yourself, but the video is only, like, 5 seconds, and it doesn't have a mic.
Yes, I know this is a very bad picture, and I know it was taken in a mirror, but I needed something, and I didn't feel like taking a new picture, finding the cord, plugging it in, uploading the picture, and everything else. So I just went through my pictures already on the computer, and found this one.
This camera is actually from my dad's work. Apparently nobody used it, so he took it until somebody called for it. And they haven't yet. We've had it for about 6 or 7 months. i just really wanted a camera that was mine, and this was the closest I could get. I pretty much gave up on using it, though. It can't hold more than like 40 pictures.
Yesterday, I did a whole bunch of a puzzle that I'd started. It's only 500 pieces, so it wasn't that hard, but I think it's some ancient building reflected in a lake at sunset. So I got the sky finished. It's all pink, and somehow, when it's all one color, I don't find it very hard to put together.
I always have this image in my head of a guy who has never put in the wrong piece in a puzzle. That'd be so weird. Nobody is that good. It'd be cool though. You could finish a huge puzzle in a short time.
I went to the puzzle store in Concord Mills with my grandpa, and I saw this giant puzzle in a glass case. It's the biggest puzzle ever built. 24,000 pieces, and it's huge! I can't remember how big, but it was like 300 dollars! I don't think anybody has ever finished it. If they had, they would have to be really, really, really good.
10 minutes left. What should I write about? Oh. Haha. Have you ever really wanted the next day to come, because you were so excited, and no matter how hard you tried, you just couldn't go to sleep? Or you kept on waking up? Well, that happened to me last night. Only I'm not really sure why. I didn't really have anything to be excited about. But I found that if I turned the fan off, because I was cold, and if I put my blanket on, I fell asleep. Sometimes all you need is a change in temperature.
Speaking of fans, I don't think I'll be able to get through this summer without them. It's going to be so hot, and I won't really have any need for a blanket. Just a sheet. But my problem is that whenever I have the fan on, I get really cold, and when I have a blanket on I get really hot, and my dad's motto is "One or the other!" Blanket/fan wise. And it's a lot easier when I have both. Then I'm not too hot, and not too cold. That's what I did in winters in Africa. It was really kind of warm in the winter too. Sometimes it got really cold, but not REALLY cold, you know? Like, it got pretty cold, but not so cold that you just couldn't stand it. I can always stand the cold anyway. I hate heat, and love cold. For some reason. Not to say that I'll go stand outside in the middle of winter wearing practically nothing. I'm not that stupid.
Time to go. I had fun. But I've got work to do. I wanna read my Little House book. I LOVE those books. We have a whole collection of them, except the first one, Little House in the Big Woods is missing. I don't know where it is. I think we left it in Africa. Oh well. Bye!

A Coffee Dispenser

Okay, this is the picture I was going to do on Friday but the computer was messed up. I'm using that computer, with many risks. If this blog didn't autosave, I'd be so dead. I'd be typing the same stuff over and over again. But anyway...
I hate coffee. I hate tea. I was never really fond of either. The only coffee I really like is that French Vanilla stuff. My dad drinks that. It's good. But normal coffee, ewww. And tea is bad too. I have absolutely no idea how people stand those things. I mean, I could drink them if I really wanted to, but I'm definitely not fond of them. I tried coffee once, and I found it very bitter. And tea was the exact opposite. Too sweet. If I had to choose, I'd probably pick the tea, because it's sweet, and there are a bunch of different types. Mint, chai, and more that I don't know. But I still don't like it very much.
Coffee isn't good for little girls. =)
I was in Africa, and one of the ladies there was Greek, and she thought she was short. She said it was because she drank a whole bunch of coffee when she was a kid. I thought that was kind of crazy, but oh well.
See!!!! There it went! The computer just randomly turned off when I went to get the packages at the door. Agh! Luckily there is an autosave.
My mom gets so cranky after she's finished working. I wish she wouldn't work all night. It's a struggle for all of us. And it's hard for her to sleep when I'd like to ask questions about stuff. Why won't she just split the work up into separate days? I mean, she may have a deadline, but I didn't know that adults procrastinated too. I just wish she would not work at night. It's horrible. Now I feel guilty for waking her up to ask if I could open the packages. They turned out to be test books anyway. There wasn't really a reason to ask. I would've needed them anyway. I was just waiting for something, so I was hoping that's what it was. Mom always gets mad if we open packages without asking. Ergh.
It is soo hot here. Last weekend, it was extremely hot. And on Saturday, I fell of the zipline and landed on the pavement on my back! I had to go to the ER, but there wasn't anything wrong. My back isn't even sore now! I feel bad for wasting 500 dollars for no problem. It was my mom's idea though. Before that, I'd scraped my leg against a tree when I was riding it, and I have a big purple bruise in that spot, and it hurts when pushed, obviously. Oh well. It's too bad we had to take down the zipline. My dad was so excited about it, making videos and lists and everything. And now we can't do it. I hope maybe we can convince my mom to let us build one again somehow. Maybe in the backyard.
I hate summer. It is so hot and you can't get away from it. I love winter. I love the cold. Cause you can get away from it. But it's so fun. I would really like to go to the Carowinds waterpark now. Wednesday is supposed to be 93 degrees! Maybe we can go then.
Time to go. Test books, and then the rest of the day to pass. Bye!

Idiotic Computer

Okay, truthfully, it's not my fault that I don't have a picture today. It's because the computer that my pictures are on has major issues. It started awhile ago, when the computer stopped charging. This was because the battery couldn't charge anymore, for some very strange reason. So every time we unplugged the computer, it just shut off for no apparent reason. But awhile later, the computer started randomly disconnecting from the power cord. It did it a lot. Then we got to the point where, no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't start the computer up. So my dad forced me to get on Dell Chat and talk to one of the people. So they sent us a box, and we sent them the computer, and then we got it back a week later, but we had gotten a call before that, asking if we'd ever spilt anything on the computer. I thought that was weird. So they sent it back, and everything was fine, for awhile. Now it's back to what it was doing before. We can start it up, but the slightest movement will disconnect the power cord and we have to start it up all over again. It's really annoying. So I'm probably gonna be forced to get on Dell Chat all over again. Ugh.
So that's my explanation. And it's all true. My mom just won't buy a new battery for the computer. It's not fun. It might not totally solve the problem, but at least the computer won't turn off as soon as it's unplugged. AGH!
My dad is so ungrateful about Lost. He's always thinking that everything has to be absolutely perfect for a TV show to be great. I think it's great even if it has flaws. Just so long as it's interesting and exciting, I couldn't be happier. Last night's episode was exciting, but extremely emotional. I was almost crying at one part. Well, two parts. One was a happy cry, and one was a sad cry. But there were a lot of deaths, and one of them was a major character. I just couldn't believe it. My dad always wonders why the show only focuses on certain people and not all the extras. And he thinks that they do some really stupid things. He's not looking hard enough. I wish I could tell what here, but I might spoil it. It's not like anybody is reading this anyway, though. Oh well. I just think that if he hates the show so much, he shouldn't watch it. Stop trying to force your dislike of the show onto me. Shows always get worse the longer they go for. But I like Lost. I probably always will, unless it gets totally horrible. But the writers always pay attention to the viewers' reactions. So I don't think it'll ever get that bad.
Today is Fridayyyyy. Yay!! The weekend is coming, and we will have so much fun! I mean, I'll probably be bored the whole time, but who cares? It's the weekend. No schoolwork to do. I'll find something to pass the time. It's almost June.
Time to go. Finish my work. Go play computer games. Maybe play guitar. Okay. Bye!

A Turtle

And no, it's not a baby. It is an adult turtle, it is just a very small one. At least, I think it is. We used to have three of these, but now we only have one. The other two died.
I think we have had turtles for about 6 months or so. The first one that died was the smallest. We all knew it was going to die. It died not long after we got it. Our friends got them at a flea market, but their mom didn't want the turtles, so we got them.
My mom looked the turtles up on the internet, and it said that they have a very high death rate. The second one of these died about a week ago. It was just floating there. It would've looked really cute too, if it hadn't been dead. So we buried it. And this one, it wasn't eating for awhile after that, which is probably because it was lonely. At least it is eating now. I think it may end up dying anyway.
These turtles carry salmonella, apparently. That's not good. But nobody except the older kids touches them anyway, and we always wash our hands after we're done.
We have placed the turtle in a 'potluck' bowl. I call it that because it's the kind of bowl we always take to potlucks. We put a couple rocks in there, and recently we placed it under a lamp, because the turtles seem to like the warmth. We have to clean the water everyday because it gets dirty from the algae and poop and dissolving food. Those little things eat these big green pellets. And they stink! I hate the smell! And leaving the rocks in this water doesn't really help. They get covered in green stuff. It's really kind of gross. At least it's not as bad as cleaning out a litter box.
Speaking of cats, Sham is getting really fat right now. Her nipples are fat and pink. I'll bet that she'll have her kittens while I'm at camp in Radford. I don't want her to, but she very well may. I wonder if she'll put it off till I get back. I guess she can't.
You know, it's really weird that I love animals when I'm allergic to them. I am totally allergic to fur, and I still love animals that have it. They're so fuzzy and soft.
I remember when I was little, there were these toys that everybody wanted called Furbies. But they were so annoying. You couldn't get them to shut up. I never had one, but everybody told me about them, and some of my friends said that they had like five, and they had to throw theirs in the closet until it ran out of batteries. I can't believe they make those things without on/off switches. That must be totally annoying.
Okay, tonight is going to be so hard to wait for. In exactly 10 hours and 38 minutes, I have to be in front of that TV watching Lost or I am going to freak out. I'm kinda busy today though. I've got an orthodontist appointment, ouch, and we're going shopping a bit. I think we'll be back though.
Time to wrap up. OOOOOOOOOHHH I can't wait!!! Must finish schoolwork. Must take shower. Must eat dinner. Must watch Lost!!! Okay. Bye!!!

Gatorade!!!

I love this stuff. It's really good, and sweet. And it may not be as healthy as water, although that's what the advertisements say, but it is still really good. It comes in all these crazy flavors. And all these different bottles. My favorite bottle is the tall one that has this weird pattern at the bottom and is a squirt bottle. Who doesn't like Gatorade?
I remember a long time ago, we used to have a whole bunch of boxes of Dr. Pepper under the sink. My dad was addicted to that stuff. I'm talking like 3 or 4 cans a day. Well, he's not drinking Dr. Pepper now. He's drinking Mountain Dew instead. He always likes some sort of soda. I think the only kind he doesn't like is that Baja Mountain Dew stuff. And who does? That stuff tastes like dish soap. Gross!
What's up with the Gatorade logo? Why is it an orange lightning bolt? Lightning is never orange. It's white and purple and blue and colors like that. I don't think I've ever seen it orange. But then, what do I know? I hate lightning. Why would I watch it?
Camps are only fun during the summer, when there's nothing else to do. It doesn't matter what kind of camp it is, but everyone hates them unless it's summer. I'm going to science camp this summer, so that should be fun. I like science sometimes. Every now and then.
What else to write about? Let's see...
Well, Lost is on tomorrow for two hours. I can't wait for it. Moby likes to tease me about it all the time. "I'll bet you can't wait until Thursday night!" is what he says. He's such a jerk. I need to find something to tease him about. Then I can get back at him.
I want a camcorder for my birthday. The quality of it will be so much better than those digital camera videos. And it's cool to walk around taping stuff. You could document your whole life that way. My mom said I can't get a camcorder though, because they're too much money. Wahhhh. Maybe I can convince her some way to let me get one. But I don't know which one I want more. A camcorder or a laptop. I'm getting a thousand dollars, and I don't know which one to get!
Time to wrap up so I can go. I have so much work to do! Bye!

Tuesday the 10th - The Last Day of School

Well, for CMS kids anyway. Hopefully it will be my last day too. But seeing as I haven't even taken my final tests yet, I can't really see that happening.
I love the week leading up to the last day. It's full of parties, fun, and no work. I love it. Every now and then you'll end up with a field trip on the last couple days.
I think my favorite last day was fifth grade. I mean, it was a bit painful because we were leaving behind this school that we had been going to for years, and all the awesome teachers, and our principal who was really nice, but we were heading to a bigger place. A middle school. A place we didn't at all know. And we were the youngest in the school, for the first time in 6 years. So I guess that was kind of a new thing for us. We all felt a bit intimidated by the 8th graders. And now we're the 8th graders. I wish I could be in a public school with my friends. I can't imagine what it's going to be like next year. We're even older, and only like 14 or 15. And the oldest people there are 18. This is going to be tough.
The first day of school is different. After your awesome summer, you feel refreshed and ready to start up again. You have your new stuff, and you hope that you'll make some new friends and such. The first day is fun. Most of the time, if you have decent teachers, you won't get much homework, unless it's that 'welcome to the new school year' stuff.
At least I'll finally have a social life next year. I'm sick of not having anybody to talk to but my old friends, and I barely get to see them anymore. I have to entertain myself, which isn't really that easy. It gets hard to do. Especially because I always end up finishing my schoolwork early, and then I don't have anything to do. It's wayy too hot to go outside. Maybe if it rained. Yeah. That'd be cool.
You know what would be awesome? If it was hot, but raining at the same time. Just drizzling. But then I could go to Carowinds, and ride all the water rides, and still not be cold. That would be sooo awesome. Then I could still be in the mood for water rides, but there wouldn't really be anybody there. I am never going on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday in the summer. Even in the school year, it is still really crowded there. So I'll go on Mondays. Or anyday during the week. It'll be better. And more fun. I really don't understand why people wait in 3 hour lines for a 1 and 1/2 minute ride. It makes no sense. Especially when you get bored.
Time to wrap up. I'll be back tomorrow though. Ugh. Okay now. Bye!

Today Will Be a Fun Day

Because today I'm going to my friend's house! It's her birthday party, and I'm gonna have so much fun, because I'll finally get to go to somebody else's house. And stay up late and play crazy games and talk about freaky stuff. I love doing that. Only I always do it at my house, which is no fun.
I cannot believe that Lost isn't on until next Thursday. It's just wrong! Why couldn't they do Grey's Anatomy next week instead? I'm so anxious to watch this finale! It's going to be so sad, but it'll be so awesome.
I hate suspense. Unfortunately, Lost is a show of suspense. The whole show depends on it. It's what keeps people tuned in. But I have a bad feeling that the finale will have a ginormous cliffhanger, and if that happens, I mean, two weeks is bad enough, but four months?!!! I won't be able to stand it!!
Today is such a nice day outside. But I don't really want to go outside, because yesterday, I was trying to swing on our rope swing, and both times, I got ticks on my clothes. Luckily, they didn't get on my skin. Ticks are so nasty. They stick their head into your skin so that it's hard to get out. I've never gotten bitten by one before, but my dad did. When we were at Radford, we went for a walk in these woods by a lake, and about two hours after we got back, my mom noticed a tick on his face. I thought that was just gross. On his face? Ewww.
If there were no insects at all, I'd love going outside. Especially barefoot. I love it anyway, but it'd be so much better if there were no bugs. That way, you can go outside and not have to worry about getting bitten or stung or stepping on a bug.
What else do I write about? It's not like there's anything interesting going on. I look around this room, and all I see is a bunch of books, a picture window, and- OH!
I was reading this article on BBC News today, about a tunnel that people built under the Earth's crust that stretches from New York City all the way to London, England. So you can see people on the other side of the ocean! That is so totally cool. I would so go to New York just for that. Or maybe London. But you can write messages to them on whiteboards and stuff. And wave. And you can see them. That is just so totally awesome.
My fingers still hurt when I play guitar. I wish they didn't. It'd make stuff a whole lot easier. I could play for a long time and not have to give my fingers a break.
I've said this a million times, but I'm really only writing in this blog because my parents want me too. I don't write about my life very much. It's so uninteresting. Who cares about my life? Nobody. That's who. Nobody. I'd like somebody to care. Then maybe this blog would actually be worth writing.
I should probably wrap up now. It's about time to go, finally. TGIF!!! Bye!

My Sisters

Think they can do whatever they want. Really. It's like, they think that they're older than I am, or at least that they're the same age. All the privileges that I get, they think that they should get them too. Like staying up late, getting small treats, talking on the phone, they think that they should have all of those and more. Just last night I was staying up watching a movie, and, as usual, after I went upstairs to get something, the light in my room was on, because Maryam, as usual, doesn't want to go to sleep. I'm not the one who has to get up early for school. And then if she comes down because she supposedly 'can't sleep,' and we're eating ice cream, she'll get all mad. And then, when I babysit, I'll ask her to do something nicely, a couple of times, and then, after she doesn't do it, I'll yell and tell her to do it, and then she gets MAD! That's just wrong. She knows that I asked nicely before, so she can't get mad if I need her to do something. And both of my parents side with her. I always always ALWAYS get yelled at for saying stuff meanly, even though SHE'S the one who wasn't listening. Do little kids never get in trouble for stuff?
Ah. Those were the days. In elementary school. The days where you never got in trouble for anything. Unless, of course, you were the oldest. Like me. But at least you didn't get in trouble for a bunch of stuff.
Sham is definitely pregnant. Her tummy is getting so fat, and her nipples are pink and big. I can't wait until we have pretty kittens. I love little baby animals. Like chicks. Chicks are awesome. They're small, fluffy, and yellow. And kittens are small, fluffy, and a bunch of different colors. I was watching this video on Myspace awhile ago, and it showed this 6 week old kitten playing with a toy, and he wouldn't give it up. He was growling, hissing and biting, but he wouldn't give the toy up. And no catnip was involved. That is one stubborn kitten.
That's what I love about cats. They're so fun to play with and pick up and chase. They love string, anything noisy, and they're just so darn cute. Until they grow up, that is. I wish kittens stayed kittens forever.
I can't wait till tomorrow. Not only is it Friday, but I get to go to my friend's house. Yippee...
I cannot believe Lost isn't coming on tonight. The stupid Grey's Anatomy finale is on. Why do all the finales have to be two hours? It's kind of stupid. Okay, with Lost, it isn't. And I guess finales are kind of the best episodes of the season, so it's cool that they're longer. And one of my friends likes Grey's Anatomy, but I don't really understand the show. What's it about?
Time to go. See ya tomorrow! Bye!

Controversial Stuff

Music is controversial. In Islam, I mean. Everyone who isn't Muslim pretty much listens to music a whole lot. But my problem is I'm not sure whether we're allowed to listen to music or not. My parents aren't stopping me, so I guess it's not, but there is a saying that we have.
One time, the Prophet SAS was walking down the road and a man was sitting outside playing a flute. The Prophet walked by, and he put his fingers in his ears, so he obviously didn't approve of it, but he didn't tell the man to stop playing, so it must not be forbidden.
When I was in Africa, one of the new girls there brought a radio and cards to the school. Well, once the 'principal' found out that she had those, he tore up each individual card, which was kind of funny, and I think he confiscated the radio. But of course, nobody would break it.
See, the thing about Islam is that there are several major things in this world that are forbidden, and one of them is gambling. I guess because you're not supposed to be able to get money without working, and also because it is addictive, and you will probably end up going broke. Anything bad for you, and some addictive things are forbidden, mainly alcohol.
I'm also unsure about cigarettes. I mean, it's not like I'm gonna go out and smoke or anything like that. I don't want cancer, and I don't want bad breath 24/7, but I see people outside the masjid smoking all the time. And I always wonder whether they're doing a forbidden thing. I don't think that anyone should smoke anyway because it is so bad for you. I just don't understand why people like stuff that is so bad for them. It may be addicting, but if you really wanted to stop, then you would try really hard. At least start decreasing your intake. It's not like I have any experience in stopping anything like that, but I know that's what I would do if I had a problem like that.
I think people in this world are weird. I'm absolutely sure that the people who own the beer and cigarette companies have every idea about how bad their products are for people. I'll even bet that they don't use their own products!! That's just stupid. All people care about these days is money money money. Even when they're unofficially killing thousands of people a year!!! Cancer, drunk driving accidents, second-hand smoking, etc. Where do people get the idea that all this is okay? Maybe all those founders and owners should go out and try their own products, and then see what happens. And why does nobody pay attention to the Surgeon Health Warnings on the boxes of cigarettes? I mean, really. People are so stubborn, and sometimes it's a good thing, but most of the time, it isn't.
I truly wish tobacco had never existed. Maybe God created it to test us with the temptation of a cigarette, and see what we would do. I'm not quite fond of the idea of black lungs. I definitely don't want tar in my lungs like a road. I'm not something to be driven on. Tar, ash, tobacco, smoke, nicotine, carbon monoxide. If you want carbon monoxide in your body, go stick your face in front of the exhaust pipe of a running car, just don't smoke this stuff. In all these densely populated countries, kids have to walk across crowded streets to get to school, and they unwillingly breathe in all this bad stuff every time. And you willingly take it in. WHY?!!! God, there's nothing I despise more than the smell of a cigarette. How do you breathe that stuff in without choking to death? It must taste horrible. Did you know that everyone in this world, even the non-smokers, has a bit of black in their lungs? Thanks to all those smokers.
Now, don't get me wrong. It's not like I totally despise smokers. A lot of really nice people smoke. I just think that they were led by their so-called friends to do something totally gross. I think they should've founded the DARE program a long time ago. It might've saved a lot of people from starting all this stuff.
Time to go. I hope at least somebody learned something from this post. Have fun today! Bye!

Argh. My Dad...

Is SO evil. He makes people feel guilty, and then they suffer for it. On Saturday night I was trying to tell him about how I hate having to do all this Qur'an stuff, and then he's all like "You don't spend a lot of time doing stuff." So I've decided, hey, maybe I will. So yesterday for about an hour, I tried to learn how to play this song by my favorite artist, and I made a bit of progress, but not much. So now I have stiff, peeling skin on my fingertips. I didn't want to, but I had to stop because my fingers hurt so much! I guess eventually my fingers will harden up enough so that I don't have to stop.
I also sort of got back to making stuff on my bead looms, although I only do that every once in awhile anyway, to make stuff for people. The whole problem I have is that I want everything to be easy. I don't want to do any of the work that makes stuff fun. If it requires set up, I don't like it. I mean, it may be stupid, and I'm really really trying to not be lazy, but sometimes I can't help it. It's like a second nature. This morning, I didn't at all want to get out of bed. I don't know why. I guess me being tired might have something to do with it. But I went to bed at 11:45. I shouldn't be tired. I always need a lot of sleep. Unless it's a sleepover, of course. Nobody can ever sleep then. You have too much fun.
Hey! I wonder why they call it a sleepover. Every single person I know does. Because, at sleepovers, you do basically everything BUT sleep. What is wrong with these people? Thinking up names that don't apply to the situation. At one sleepover I had, I think we stayed up until 5 in the morning, and then we slept until 9 am. It was crazy. I think the night after, I slept for a looooong time. But I do that every weekend. I go to bed at 2 and sleep until, like, 12. I always sleep until 10, at least. I used to be an early riser when I was little. I woke up at 7 or 8 every morning, no matter when I went to bed. But I usually went to bed at 9 anyway. But that's just growing up. Later bedtime, later 'awaketime'.
I can't believe summer is almost here! Just three weeks left. Usually I'd be looking forward to summer, but it just means more of this. Loneliness. I don't have anybody to spend the summer with. The only thing I'm looking forward to is Carowinds and Sham's kittens at the end of June. I can't wait to see a bunch of little tiny kittens. I hope nothing happens to any of them. Or Sham. Mom hates her, but she is just acting upon her nature. She doesn't really want to hurt anyone, unless she's being attacked. She just wants to play. It's the cat way. And sure, she may growl and hiss, but that's just like people yelling. "Leave me alone!!!" is what she's trying to say. Okay, so maybe I bother Sham the most. But she's so soft and cuddly. The only problem is that she has fleas. Every month. And then she gets the fleas all over the place. So now I have bites all over me. We need some new flea medicine. And she's long-haired, so that's a bit of a problem. Allergies.
Time to wrap up. I have to go. I've got a lot of test prep, even though public schools are going EOG right now. My sister has her's for the first time. They're relatively easy though. She shouldn't have a hard time.
Bye!!

No Time for a Picture Today...

I've got too much to write. I haven't done my blog for a week because all of last week I was in Radford, Virginia. At Radford University. My dad had a conference there, and Moby and I went with him. And you know, I had a whole lot more fun than I ever thought I would. The day was usually kind of boring, but at night, we NEVER got bored. We were always doing something.
Let's see... On Monday night we went bowling and played a bit of pool in the game room there, on Tuesday we did the same thing, and on Wednesday we watched 27 Dresses, and then played "Drawing Charades." And on Thursday we started out watching The Bucket List, but some of us went upstairs to the ground floor and played this game called Catch Phrase. It's a little handheld electronic unit that has a bunch of different catagories, and it is basically Charades with words, only that makes it a bit easier. Unfortunately, the words are harder. And later on that night, my dad said we're playing real Charades with that thing. You can imagine how hard that was. One guy got Private Jessica Lynch for his!!!
So I bought that game. I am going to take it with me to my friend's house this Friday. The problem with that game is that too be fun, you have to have a lot of people, which you don't get all the time.
We left Friday afternoon. I'll have to say that college is not anything that I expected. For one thing, the food is great. At Radford, they have an all-you-can-eat buffet which was nice, and the dorms were pretty cool. It was just like a small bedroom. There were two beds with drawers, a small dresser, a big dresser, two closets, two desks, and a bathroom with a shower. There are several buildings with dorms. We stayed in the Ingles dorm, which had a "movie theater" in the basement, which is just a living-room like thing. Couches, and a computer with a movie program enabled. There was also an overhead, which was perfect for Drawing Charades. Oh my gosh, we had so much fun that night. Even though I was around a bunch of older people, who were WAY older than me, I still laughed, and messed around; it was just like when I hang out with my friends.
That Thursday when we played Catch Phrase, I was actually considering watching Lost on the Internet the next day, but there is no way that I will willingly miss an episode of Lost if I have access to ABC. No way. One of the first things I did when I got to Radford was check and see if they had a TV. They have one in every dorm building.
Even though I'm going to school next year, I still want to go to that conference again. If I'm going to be doing all that stuff, why wouldn't I want to go? Radford is also having a summer program for rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors. I'm only a rising freshman, but apparantly my dad can pull a few strings. Hehe.
Time to go. Luckily this internet connection is working, otherwise I would've written all this and not been able to publish it. What a waste of time.

A Pretty Flower

Or, as Moby would call it, a purty fowzer. This is just one of a whole bunch of colorful hand sewn flowers on a giant quilt. Yeah, that's right. Hand sewn. The whole quilt. And it's a big one. Really big. I can't imagine anyone sewing a quilt that big. And there are all these different colors on it, and sewn in patterns. It's quite amazing.
I love colors. It makes everything so much more lively. What would this world be like without color? Probably like those black and white films that I hate. They're just so boring when there's no color in them. I can't believe that people actually used to watch those. And they used to watch movies without sound! I mean, no color isn't that bad, but no SOUND?! How do you watch those? I guess you could look at the facial expressions, but how in the world do you know what's going on? It's so weird.
I remember one day awhile ago, my brother and I were changing words around so they sounded funny. Like flower into fowzer and animal into aminal. And spaghetti into pasketti, but that's been around forever.
Yesterday's Lost was awesome! I was almost scared that they wouldn't show it because the Severe Weather channel was up, talking about the thunderstorms and tornado warnings. That was from 9 to 10, and that's when Grey's Anatomy was on, which I don't watch. So they said that that will be shown at 1 in the morning! Ouch. Then Lost came on, and I almost thought that that wasn't what it was, because it was like one of those old movies, but that's only because of the story. It was a crazy episode, but a really good one.
I cannot wait for this summer. I really can't. We may not be going anywhere, but I don't really want to anyway. I'll just go to the waterpark in Carowinds and I'll be good. Sure I'll be bored, but I hate car trips. They make me sick. I'll just have to find stuff to do.
Today is another sunny, hot and polleny day. I hate days like this. Especially hot ones. Then I can't do anything. Yesterday it was so hot I had to go wear a dress. I never wear dresses. It was just so extremely hot that I couldn't wear anything else.
Luckily today is Friday, so I can play on the computer all weekend. Okay, not all weekend, but some of it. The only problem is that I'll have to convince my siblings to get off of the computer when I want to use it. The computer that has my game on it also has everyone else's game on it too, so that is problematic.
I'm so tired. Yesterday after Lost was finished at 11, I stayed up watching half of "Into the Wild" with my mom. It's quite a long movie for such a short book. 2 hours and 20 minutes. So far it's been a good movie. I just don't want to see the part where the guy is found dead. That will probably be really nasty.
I think I'll just about wrap up. I want to sleep for like 20 minutes. It might help, and at least I don't have to do language arts because of the movie. Staying up late has it's benefits.
Time to sign off. I really do need this school to end. I wonder if I'll have 200 posts at the end. Oh well, the less, the better. To me, anyway. Bye!!!

My Notebook

Well, one of them. This one I decorated about two years ago. My mom gave it to me and I took my metallic markers to it, as you can see. Yeah. I had fun. In sixth grade, I was best friends with this redheaded girl, who was really nice, and her definition of spazzy was "very colorful" because she called herself spazzy and decorated EVERYTHING with these awesome permanent markers. Sharpies are the BEST kind of permanent markers. And at the time, Target and Walmart had these awesome colored and metallic Sharpies. So I bought both kinds, and I used them for school projects and randomly decorating stuff.
I love randomly decorating stuff. Drawing smiley faces, doodling, writing random sayings, I love doing that. It's just so much fun, especially when you're listening to a teacher drone on and on about stuff.
I decorated it during 9th block at school, which is basically our break time. And then throughout the rest of the day, I took it around to all my classes and got all my friends to sign it. Sort of like an early yearbook without the pictures. All the signatures are on the back.
As I was doing that, I started up a survey-like thing. I started writing down things that show you're growing up. And I got lots of other people to do it too. Most everybody had some reasons to write down. Some were psychological, some were physical, and some were kind of both. I got about three pages down. Just more memories. And now I wonder if any of those people who wrote that stuff down even care anymore. They're all off doing other stuff. It's not like any of them actually remember me.
I have around 10 notebooks, and most of them aren't even full. I plan on using them, but something else always comes around, or I just get bored. I wait until I have a need for the notebook, and then I go use it.
Yesterday I dyed my hair. It started out blonde, but then turned strawberry blonde. I used the dye box with my aunt on it. She is really pretty. She used to be a model, but now I think she's studying interior designing or something like that.
Everyone always says that if I wasn't Muslim, I should've been a model. Mostly because I'm tall, and kind of pretty. But I have horribly horrible stage fright. I can't do anything when crowds of people are watching me. It totally freaks me out.
Tonight is Lost!!! Yippee!!! I know, I say this every week, but I have to remind you, (even though the only people who read this stupid blog are my parents), just so that if you hate this show, and you haven't even seen it, you'll change your mind and maybe go watch the first episode, and then maybe change your mind. Trust me. You will. Although most people hate it because the episodes started getting worse. But I will stay a faithful viewer through and through.
Time to go. Tomorrow is Friday!! Yay!! Bye!!

A Watch

Simple as that. A watch. Hey! I didn't have any idea what to take a picture of, and I saw this and said to myself, "Gee, why not take a picture of it?" So it's not really my fault it's such a boring picture.
The time on this watch is 9:45:6. 9 hours, 45 minutes, and 6 seconds. I think that's what it is. I might be off by a bit.
I think I got this for 'Eid. It came in a plastic box-case. I don't wear watches very much, but sometimes I find that I just need one, so I wear it. I mean, when you're going to the airport or somewhere like that, where you're not sure if there's going to be a clock anywhere, and you don't feel like whipping out your cell phone all the time to check the time. That is when you need a watch. Otherwise, you don't. Unfortunately, most places don't have clocks on the wall, so you need a watch. I despise having things hanging from my arms. I hate bracelets, watches, rings, anything like that. I mean, I'll wear one if the time comes when I need it, but most of the time, I don't wear them. Especially when I have long sleeves on, which is pretty much always. But, like I said, I'll wear them if I need to, like at speeches or something.
My dad has a freaky clock in his office. It's numbers are reversed and in the wrong position. Like, the 1 is in the 11 position, and so on. It's so weird, I don't know how he did that. I have a strong suspicion that he opened the clock, took out the paper with the numbers on it and turned it around, but I'm not sure. The hands still point to the correct time too!! It's kind of like his gumball machine. He went into it, and messed with the gears so that if you turn the thing backwards, you get candy for free. It's a pity he did that. We could've gotten rich off of that thing. He sticks peanut M&Ms in it. He buys bags of them at a time.
Yesterday I found out that my capo for my guitar doesn't work. I clip it on, and it doesn't even push the strings down all the way. I don't know if that's what it's supposed to do, but I'm pretty sure. I heard a lot of buzzing when I tried to play certain chords. It's really annoying. I guess I'll try again later.
Today is going to drag on. I should probably get out my bead loom and make my friend's birthday present, but I don't want to. It's too much work. I'd much rather spend my time surfing the web or something. Not doing that. Unfortunately, my mom says no computer after school. It's not fair!! What else am I supposed to do? I guess I could go and get out some crafting stuff, but I really don't feel like doing it. I guess I should suck it up and do it anyway.
Why do we have synonyms? Why can't things just have different words? When we say "Watch" how do we know they don't mean 'look at the watch'? How do we know they mean 'look at me'? I guess because the latter is the only one we use in that context. But really. Why do we just not have different words for stuff like that? It's a mystery. I think the lazy word-inventor people just didn't feel like making up a bunch of new words. I guess that's our job. Like in the book Frindle. If you haven't read it, you should. It's really good.
Time to go. See ya'll later. I've got work to do. Bye!

Is it??? Is it??? Yes it is!!!

It's a Carowinds season pass!!! I'm a VIP!!! Well, there is a platinum one, but that was definitely too much money. We got one of these for everyone in my family. And it was a lot of money, but in about two months, we've gone to Carowinds about five times. At least, I have.
The only real difference between the VIP pass and the Platinum pass is that the Platinum gives you unlimited access to all Cedar Fair parks, which we don't need because we're not planning to go to those.
Season Pass benefits are: free parking, bring-a-friend-for-cheap on Mother's Day, Father's Day, Memorial Day, and 4th of July, get in the park 15 minutes early to get in line for your favorite ride, and a couple others that I can't remember. Oh yeah! You can get into Boomerang Bay, (the water park), for free.
I remember reading stories about carnivals a long time ago, when you had to pay separately for each ride. When I went to the theme park in Africa, that's what you had to do. Well, sort of. You basically buy this booklet of tickets, and each ride requires a certain number of tickets; the ones that are more fun require more tickets. There was this one awesome ride there that was a go-cart thing, but you could go extremely fast. It was so fun. But the sheikh wouldn't let me go really fast. =( My mom was probably freaked out too.
There was also this ride that spins around and then goes up in the air sideways, and then spins around that way, and it didn't have seatbelts! I'm honestly surprised that nobody gets hurt. While I was there, I went into a motion simulator for the first time. It was really cool. You actually felt like you were in the plane, or roller coaster, or whatever it was.
Time to go. I hope this post is longer than usual. Otherwise I'm dead. Only three weeks until school is over!!! Bye!

Cake!!!

I'm such a good daughter. I made my daddy his favorite cake. And it got kinda messed up, but there's nothing a little frosting can't cover up. I mean, sure, the whole top of the cake came off as I was flipping it from one pan to another, but who cares? Nobody except me knew. After I dabbed and spread frosting for about an hour, who noticed? And then I guess the cake split in half, but nobody noticed that either. So I think I did a good job. What about you?
My dad likes lemon cake with chocolate frosting, and I think it's okay, but I like chocolate cake with chocolate or vanilla frosting, I don't care which. I like making cakes too. I wish I could make one from scratch.
Yesterday I went to Carowinds again, and it wasn't so fun this time, because, oh, I don't know, there were lots of people and big long lines, unlike the last Sunday we went, where we could walk in and get on the rides. I don't know how people can stand waiting in horribly long lines just to get on a two minute ride that isn't even that fun. Crazy people. At least Daddy and I finally got to get on Borg. He loved it. And the line wasn't even that long. Well, until after we got on. Then the line got really long until about 3. That's about when we all started getting bored, and then we left.
What else do I write about? Truthfully, it's time for me to go, but I'm staying to do this just because I'm gonna get in trouble if the post is too short.
I'm going to high school next year. Yay! I hope I actually make decent friends there. Maybe some Muslim friends. And maybe I'll join the basketball team, although I don't want to go through the whole 'me wearing pants and them wearing shorts' thing. I'd much rather join the Muslim girls' basketball team. But I don't think I'm old enough.
Time to go. Tomorrow's post will probably be longer. Bye.

LOST

Was awesome! That's all I can say. It was sooooo awesome!!! There was a cliffhanger though. That's a problem. Claire left Aaron in the jungle and disappeared with an apparition of her dad somewhere. I hope she's not gone for good.
Moby is so mean. He stayed up after we prayed at 5:30 to do his schoolwork, and he didn't even tell me!!! So he's only got 2 hours of school left!!! And I've gotta work until 3!
This weekend is going to be hard. I wish somebody would invite me to their house. I'm tired of being cooped up in this house all day. With only my parents and siblings to talk too. That's really the only reason I want to go back to school. Because I'm tired of all this. Being stuck in the house, not getting to see any friends, not having any teachers teach me stuff. I liked going to school. It was fun. I like switching classes and taking notes and buying school supplies and having lockers. It's fun. Most people think I'm crazy for it, but I do. I'm one of those people who enjoys organizing stuff.
I only had one year of middle school. So I'm not really all experienced with switching classes and stuff. At least I'll have some friends. Or maybe everybody will hate me. I'm trying to decide whether I should go to school, have friends, and get a bad education, or stay home, have no friends, and get a good education.
Anybody got any suggestions on what to write about? I'm stuck. I hate writing this blog. There's nothing at all to write about in it. My life is boring; nobody wants to hear about that. I don't even think anybody, save my parents, actually reads this stupid blog. There's nothing interesting whatsoever about it.
Two minutes left. Luckily. And luckily it's Friday. So that I don't have to do this until next Monday. And then I only have to do it for four weeks more. Then I can disown this unsatisfying blog. And never come back to it. EVER.
Time to go. Bye. No, I'm not going to say bye enthusiastically. Just bye. Bye...

Nature

I love it. It's just so, well, natural. It's beautiful. I would love to spend all day in it. I just need a desk, laptop, and a deck. And maybe my guitar. I would spend the night under the stars if I could. But seeing as there are some blood-loving mosquitoes out there, I can't do that. Yesterday I spent awhile outside. At about 8:30, two mosquitoes bit me on my forehead. Or maybe it was one that bit twice. Either way, my head is now itchy, and it looks really bad.
That's why I like my uncle's house so much. And my grandma's house. There are large stretches of woods up there, and I love to run into the trees, and if I wasn't so scared, I'd probably climb them. I've had a bad experience with tree climbing though. We were playing hide-and-seek one time, and my brother thought it'd be cool to climb a tree where I couldn't get him, so he climbed one, and I found him, but I couldn't get him. So as he was getting down, he fell, hit his face against the tree, and I ran into the house screaming. (He says he got down a different way than usual, but I don't believe him.) One side of his head was clean, but the other side was all bloody. He was bleeding for awhile. I don't think we had to take him to the emergency room, luckily. So I've decided that I'm never climbing very high into a tree. Truthfully, I don't really know how either. I'm really scared of heights, unless I'm on a roller coaster.
Speaking of roller coasters, I want to go to Carowinds again. I want to go ride the Borg again. I hadn't been on in awhile, and when I went on a Monday with my friend, the line was so short that we got to go four whole times!!! I love the way that there's a corkscrew, and you look like you're about to fall into the water, but it pulls you up at the last second. My throat was really sore after that trip.
Why do people have to go and destroy nature just so that they can satisfy their needs? I never knew it before, and most people don't, but to get coal, you have to destroy mountains. So up in the Appalachians, they are blowing up mountains, and people live up there!! That's just sad to think that natural beauties are being destroyed just for coal. I mean, REALLY!
I wonder what the world would look like if all the buildings were knocked down, and trees were put in their place. This whole world would be full of trees. Then we can cut some of them down, and build log cabins, and everybody can live in those. And you have to light lanterns for light. And there was no TV, or Internet. Kind of like a 'Little House in the Big Woods' type world. We could all ride to each other's houses in horse-drawn carriages. That would be SO cool. Sure, we may not have all the electronic things that we do now, but we would have other stuff to do. Anybody who hasn't read 'Little House in the Big Woods', I highly suggest you do.
I really hope that one day the world realizes how bad things are getting. We all need to work together and to change the way this stuff works. We don't NEED all this stuff. We just want it. Why can't anybody see that? Funny though, how Charlotte didn't participate in the Lights-Out day about a month ago. And they wonder why we are ranked number 8 on the 'Worst Cities to Live in the U.S.' list.
Time to go!! Luckily, tonight is Lost, and tomorrow is Friday!!! Yay!!!

Music

Is probably one of the more soothing things in life. It helps me concentrate, although my mom thinks differently. She says that you can't concentrate with music playing. But I can. The only time I can't is when I'm reading, especially if it is a song that I like. Like right now. Luckily, I can write while I listen. It's just hard to sing along to a song and read words at the same time. Actually, I think it's impossible. Or maybe just extremely hard. But I like music. A lot. It's so wonderful to just sit around with your iPod and block out the world. Especially when you're depressed. I get like that a lot. And there's a little nook in the corner of my closet that I hide in. Way up high on the shelf. But I think I need to stop doing that, because I'm getting too heavy for that. I'm so scared that one day I'll fall off and break my neck or something.
Music is something that doesn't have a certain way that it has to be. It can be in so many different styles, and played on so many different instruments. I like pop and country. And I like guitars. They can be used to play a bunch of different styles of music. You just have to know how to do it.
You know what my favorite part about my family is? It's not that we all know how to yell, but the fact that we can sit down and watch a movie together, and it always seems like somebody is missing. I don't know why I like that, but I do. It's so funny how we're always trying to figure out who's missing, and we can never do it because everybody is there. It's a laughable situation.
On the other hand, I hate it when everyone always has to act like they hate each other. Like after some really tense moment, we all go and do our own thing and don't talk to each other until dinner. I mean, I know that I usually start whatever it was, but I don't honestly mean to get everyone mad at each other.
I also hate it when my parents embarrass me. They must enjoy doing it. Otherwise they wouldn't do it ALL THE TIME! And they're always trying to figure out what I'm doing. I'm not doing anything illegal!!! I don't like it when they always try to get into my business. Especially when they do it only because I wouldn't let my siblings see what I was doing. That's really annoying.
I want to go back and live in Charlottesville. Badly. I wanna live up in the mountains with my uncle or my grandma. There are big stretches of woods up there. I love nature. It's so beautiful, and I would give anything to be able to go spend a whole day sitting in the woods playing my guitar. And writing. I like it here too, but I wish we lived in a house with a gigantic backyard that had a million trees in it. That I could hide in whenever I felt moody and didn't want to talk to anybody.
Time to go. Wow. It's been 30 minutes? This went by fast. I guess when I'm actually writing about stuff that I like, the time goes by faster.
Bye!

Birthdays

Are quite annoying. Unless, of course, it's yours. But yesterday wasn't mine. It was Yaseen's. And I don't think anyone has ever gotten as spoiled as him. Yesterday he got FIVE presents. We are only supposed to get THREE!! And, although this is partly my fault, he got a homemade cake with icing words on it. I made it, but it's not my fault!! Icing tubes are so tempting. It's not my fault I had to go write in big letters "Happy Birthday Yaseen!" And then draw a little car next to it. Like I said, it's tempting.
On my birthday, I don't get much. Sure, I get the kind of cake that I want, but I don't get five presents. I guess it's kind of because I'm too old for toys. Everything that I want costs too much. For my 14th birthday, I want either a laptop, digital camera, or a nice dress. You know, one I can wear to parties and not feel all weirded out. But it doesn't help that I have four other siblings, so if I get any of those presents, it means it will be the only one that I get. Especially the laptop. Anyway.
Today is definitely not a good day for me to go outside. I can SEE the pollen flying around outside. And I am very, very allergic to pollen. So if I go outside, I will end up with itchy eyes, a stuffy nose, sneezing, and an itchy face. Yeah, I'm staying inside today, thank you.
At least it's sunny today. For the past three days all we've had are thunderstorms and rain. And cloudy skies. Today it's a pure blue sky. I really do want to go outside, but I don't want to have to bring an Advil with me, or tissues for that matter.
I don't know how people manage to decide what they want to be when they grow up. I guess they go with their interests. But I've changed my mind a million times, and I only have four years of school left before I have to decide what I'm going to study, or my parents will decide for me, and I definitely don't want that. I remember wanting to be a teacher for awhile. And then I wanted to be a writer, but I just feel like writing as a hobby. And then I wanted to be a doctor for awhile. Then, like almost every other girl, I wanted to be a singer. I mean, who doesn't? Singers live the total good life. Every girl, at some point in her life, wants to be a singer or an actress. Sometimes both. After all that, I went back to wanting to be a doctor. And I've wanted that for sometime. But now I'm stuck between doctoring and architecture. Agh!!!
Singing and writing are more like hobbies for me. I don't think I could ever actually get paid to do them. I need something more worthwhile. The only problem with doctoring is you have 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, and then a whole bunch of stuff after that. So, yeah, that's a problem. But I have to go now. So let me ponder this for another three years. If you stay tuned until then, I might have my decision.
Bye!

Still No Pictures...

I really don't feel like putting pictures up on here. There's nothing really to take a picture of, and then you have to find the cable to put the pictures on the computer if there is no memory card slot. And you have to name them, and put them in the right folder, and all that junk. So I've decided that the best way to avoid all that is to not bother taking pictures. Maybe I'll start up again next week. But this week I'll stop. I do realize that eventually I'll have to put pictures up again, because this blog is called "Pictures of my Life in America".
It's been raining for about 12 hours straight, and it was storming from 7 to about 10 or so last night. I don't like thunderstorms. They're freaky. Loud and bright and scary. And every now and then, if it is really hot outside, there is the chance of a tornado. :-\
Oh gosh. It's pouring outside. I don't know how people manage to drive in that kind of weather. Well, we do need the rain because of the drought. I wonder if it can be called 'Over' yet. I do know that they lifted some of the water restrictions. I remember when I went to Girl Scout Camp, we couldn't have our big campfire to make s'mores because of the burning ban. So instead we took graham crackers and covered them with chocolate and marshmallow flavored frosting. Some s'mores.
Today is YaSeen's birthday!!! He's turning 6, and he wants a Transformer more than anything. I'd hate to disappoint him, but my mom can't find them anywhere. I think I'll do him a favor and look on Target's website. I'm gonna make him a cake, and he wants white, but I want chocolate. I guess I can't argue with that, cause it's HIS birthday.
I can't believe that summer is almost here!!! Just one month and a couple days left!!! And then, say goodbye to school, and hello to summer. Unfortunately, it's not like I have anybody to spend it with. I don't have a lot of friends.
On Saturday I watched the Kite Runner with my mom and her friends. It was a sad movie. Now my mom is ordering the book. It was a very sad movie. Everyone says the book is sadder.
Gotta go now!!! See ya!!!

Life

...Is annoying. Well, it usually is. Last night sure wasn't, although they killed off one of my favorite characters on Lost. Sure she wasn't all important, but I'd hoped to learn more about her. And she had my name. It's not FAIR!!! Evil Keamy.
Sham is pregnant!!!!! She went into heat about three days ago, and she's been courting these two orange toms for awhile. So I guess we're guaranteed some orange kittens. One of the cats has a pudgy bulldog-like face. It's really crazy. I guess all tomcats look like that, but his was the biggest. I can't wait for the kittens. In June, not quite the heat of summer, but still hot, Sham will be a mommy pussycat.
Sham is still quite small. Apparently she got rejected by her mom, so we can see why. She was most likely the runt of the litter, and the runt usually dies, but somebody rescued her. So now she's a small adult cat, 9 months, give or take.
Luckily today is Friday. That means that as soon as I'm done with my work, I can go play Star Wars Battlefront. I finally beat the droids on Galactic Conquest. Moby was right. Clones suck against droids. But I conquered!!! Next it's stormtroopers against rebels.
This weekend we're cleaning my room. Not that I'm not happy about that. It's just that I don't want to do it. I want someone else to do it for me. I know, I'm lazy. It's just that it's not my fault that the room is dirty. But whenever the people who DID make the mess clean it up, it doesn't get clean AT ALL! *cough* Maryam. *cough* Iman.
My dad wants me to design a cargo container house. I have it all planned out, but now he wants me to put it into SketchUp, and I'm still not used to the program yet. I'll figure something out though.
*sniffle* I still can't believe they killed off Alex on Lost. My mom said she wasn't all that important, but I liked her. She was more like a plane person than an Other. She was so nice.
I wonder what it would be like to act in a TV show that you really liked, and then get a call saying that your character got killed off. That'd be heartbreaking, especially if you liked acting in it. But in Lost, at least you can come back for flashbacks and such.
Time to go. At 3:30, I'm done with my work. Yay!! Bye!

'Tis a Beautiful Day, Is It Not?

Well, it is here in Charlotte. The sky is bright blue, the sun is shining, and the cat Sam is basking in the sun coming in the window. I don't know where Sham is. She's probably out getting some tomcats. She's in heat now. Has been since yesterday. So maybe she'll come home and be pregnant and it'll be all over for two months. Then the kittens come. Cute, but nasty. Nasty only because they're probably gonna poop all over the place. Otherwise they'll be so cute. Too bad we can only keep one.
I think after I'm done with all of my work today, I'll take my guitar and go outside and play it. It's too nice outside not to be able to do that.
Now, what should I talk about? I'm stumped. ............
Oh! I know! Let's talk about how people grow up and get to the position they are in now. Well, it mostly all starts in childhood. Every kid has something they're interested in, whether it's helping people, messing with computers, doing crazy science experiments, or just reading, it always leads to them deciding what to do. My friend likes helping people with their problems. She wants to be a psychiatrist. Figures. I like helping sick people. I wanna be a doctor. And Moby loves playing with computers. He wants to be a video game designer. Maryam likes animals. She wants to be a vet. You see the pattern? Not to say we won't change our minds. If I can't be a doctor, I want to be an architect. Designing houses is fun. I just can't draw.
And all these professional singers. They were all singing when they were kids, maybe playing some instruments. And some of them decided to see if they had the capabilities to be a singer, so they went up on American Idol. Anybody can be a singer if they want to.
I wonder what my future will be like. What schools I'm going to go to. Where I'll live. I wanna live in some deserted state. Like Rhode Island. Yeah! That'll be cool!
Nah, I might live here or up in Charlottesville with the rest of my family. Those are the two places I love. I basically grew up in these cities. I've lived in Charlotte for 8 years, and I lived in Charlottesville for 2 of 3 years, and I visit it at least three times a year.
My interests are singing, guitar playing, and crafting. But I know I can't get a job with that stuff. Maybe just for extra change. When I'm fifteen I'll probably go work in a movie theater. And maybe get discounts. =)
I used to want to do computer stuff, but that kind of left my mind after watching my parents stress out over their jobs. Yeah, they stress out a lot.
Time to go. There wasn't much to write about today. All I've gotta say is LOST is tonight!!! Yippee!!! I cannot wait!!!

The World Today

I always wondered what the deal was with this world. Why do all the governments have to be so cruel and corrupt? After somebody gains power, they always have to keep it, even when the citizens don't want them to. I mean, look at this coming election. I'll bet that if Bush was allowed to run again, he would, and chances are that he'd probably win, even though all he's done for America is get us involved in a stupid war that killed thousands of innocent people and broke apart probably millions of families. I'm not anti-American or anything, but we all know it's true, so you can't really deny it. And after all that, America elected him again! Kerry probably wouldn't have been a whole lot better, but he'd be better than Bush.
So now we're stuck in a big, crazy post-election frenzy. Everybody knows that McCain is GOING TO LOSE no matter who ends up running against him. Nobody wants another Republican in the White House. Okay, maybe some people do, but that's because they are REPUBLICAN. And he's the only guy who even had a decent amount of support. But I, personally, am Democrat. And am for Obama. All the way. I have been since all this started. I'm not allowed to vote yet, but if I could, I'd be voting for Obama. I just don't trust Hillary. First of all, do you realize something? If Hillary was elected, there would be a pattern. Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton. And how do you know that in 8 years, there won't be another Bush running? Do you think that there's even the slightest chance that it might happen? If it did, they probably wouldn't be elected, but still!
I mean, Bush's regime was torture for everyone, but for the Muslims it was and is just bad. The Patriot Act was enough. Taking away all our rights, now it sure seems like it's not America anymore. And then there is all the stereotyping. Everyone who didn't grow up with a Muslim friend basically thinks that Muslims are terrorists, and IT'S NOT TRUE!! I specifically made this point in my last blog. Go look back there. Why does the whole world hate us? We never did anything. The idiots who flew into the towers were radicals who had no care for innocent people. It doesn't help anything. And then a ginormous war is declared on Iraq, all because they "supposedly" have nuclear weapons and are knowingly housing Osama Bin Laden.
I watched this film awhile ago called Control Room. It was about the popular Middle East TV station Al-Jazeera, and what stories they covered in the first year of the Iraq war. And now that I'm oldr, I kind of understand stuff like that a little more. And I realized from the movie, that the American TV stations show the invading Americans. The Middle East stations show all the blood, dead people, and Americans entering people's homes and assaulting them. Why does this world have to be so cruel. Nobody really knows what's going on over there. It's like Gaza and Israel. Nobody, save the Gazans, actually know what's going on in Gaza, because the Isrealis want to keep it a secret. They don't want the world to know that they are bombing and killing hundreds of people a day.
So for all of you people who go to work and come home everyday, taking all of this for granted, all these cars, electricity, even your children, it could be a whole lot worse. You could be stuck in a small home with no electricity, right next to a smelly sewer, wishing that your dead son would come home. Of course, I'm sure there are some people in this country who have dead sons that they wish would come home. Do you know any? If you do, go comfort them. Go realize that the world won't be this way forever. It's only a matter of time.
Vote Obama 2008!!!

World Issues

Well, another day, another blog. Normally I'll write about dumb stuff. Today I think I'll write about the world, and all the issues in it.
First, the Gaza-Israel conflict. I mean, I haven't read THAT much about it, and I don't know what caused it, although I have a good idea about it. The Israelis want Gaza. For their own. So for years now they have been bombing Gaza, hoping that there will be a surrender, and they'll get all the land for themselves. Well, I have opinions about this. And some people on the BBC probably agree with me. First, when there is a "mass" shootout at an Isreali school, (meaning 8 people are killed), it gets front page news and full coverage. But EVERY SINGLE DAY, hundreds of people are killed in Gaza, and where is that news? I sure can't find it anywhere. Tell me if you can.
Why is there such a big fight for land? Can't you just be satisfied with what you have? Or is this a fight about religion, Jews against Muslims? From what I've heard, the Muslims were in Palestine first, and the Jews came and took it from them. And it doesn't help that all the western countries, including the U.S., are pretty much in love with Israel. Does this killing really do anyone any good? Why do you have to block off people from food and water, and kill innocent men, women and children? They never did anything! You're the ones who did the bad stuff! The Gazans are just defending themselves! Will you NEVER be satisfied with what you have? After Gaza, what piece of land will be next? Saudi Arabia?
Next I shall cover global warming. Just last night I watched this documentary called "Kilowatt Ours". It was extremely educational. I never knew that people were blowing up mountains just to get coal. I love the mountains. They're so beautiful. I've been to the Rockies and the Appalachians. They're beautiful works of God. And in about a century, if we don't work hard to keep them alive, they'll be gone, reduced to piles of rubble. And the world won't be at all a happy place.
So maybe you're thinking, "I'm just one person! What can I do about this?" Well, yesterday I learned that the first thing you can do is switch to compact-fluorescent bulbs. You know, the spiral-shaped ones. If you switch all the bulbs in your house, it saves a couple pounds or tons of coal. And lowers your bill. Then you can seal air leaks in your house. And get a couple solar panels to heat your water and such. And it saves a lot of money. I would play some part in this, if I lived in my own house. But I cannot control what my parents do. My dad is looking for some good deals on solar panels.
If people would just get off of their lazy butts and walk somewhere, it would save a couple gallons of gas. God, no wonder 1/3 of the U.S. population is obese. What, with the fancy cars and cheap gas, it's no wonder nobody feels like walking anywhere. Europeans are paying 10 dollars a gallon for gas, so they have a good public transit system and small cars. They sure could teach a few lessons to some of us.
Now, if anybody here is actually reading this far, I think I will list a few differences between terrorists and Muslims. Because terrorists ARE NOT real Muslims.
-Muslims are NOT allowed to kill innocent people. Let me make this very clear. THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE!
-Muslims cannot fight in a war unless their homeland is being attacked or invaded. Or their religion is being persecuted.
-Islam is totally about peace. These terrorists are radicals, saying that they do things in the name of God, but truthfully, they don't. They've been mislead into thinking that if they kill innocent people, it will stop all the things the western countries are doing, but it won't. It only makes them fiercer and tougher. Example: 9/11 happens, then Americans invade Iraq.
Those aren't very many reasons, but it's all I need to make my point. So spread the word, and get some of these views out of people's heads. I hate going out into the street and having people ask strange questions about whether I like being Muslim. It is a beautiful religion! And we don't HAVE to cover up. We choose to. I don't want strange guys staring at me, so I cover up and they won't have a reason too. Not at all like those girls wearing skimpy clothes, extremely short skirts, midriff-exposing shirts, eeek. It freaks me out, the way some of those girls dress.
Time to go. I hope this blog has made a good point today. Spread the word. Tell the world. It just might make a difference.

Family Life...

Is not fun at all. What, with all the scolding, yelling, screaming, running around, and moody people, it's no wonder some people run away and go and live on their own like that kid in the book "Into the Wild," Chris McCandless. Then he died. That's just sad.
Right now I'm staring out our window hoping with all of my heart that there won't be a thunderstorm. I hate thunderstorms. They FREAK ME OUT!! Especially when a tornado watch comes along. I hate severe weather. If the weather was sunny everyday, that'd be enough for me. Or raining, but no thunderstorm. And in the winter, snow would be cool. But no thunderstorms!
Back to the whole family thing though. I think I should describe each member of my direct family in detail. Well, my brothers and sisters, anyway. Maybe not my parents. Cause they'll go and get all mad about it.
My youngest sibling, my brother YaSeen, is just a little mini terrorist. Well, he's just so bad that we call him one. One time we were in a Taco Bell parking lot, and we hadn't even gone inside and he came with a soda cup. Ewwwww! He'd picked it up off the ground! That's where he got his nickname Rat Boy. We have several nicknames for him. Terrorist, Stitch, Rat Boy, Seenie, and probably some more that I can't remember. Right now he's in kindergarten. His first week in school, he SPIT on somebody!! Boy, he never did that again after my mom punished him.
My youngest sister is Iman. She is a little girl who always thinks she's so funny. She'll go and say something random, and then laugh about it. And nobody else will laugh. And we'll all say "You're not funny!" and she'll say " I wasn't trying to be funny!" Psh. Yeah right. She's probably the most lovable in the family.
My other sister, Maryam, can sometimes be such a brat. She hogs the cats, and then gets mad when I take them, she thinks she knows more than I do, and sometimes, ooh, she makes me so mad! Yelling at me, screaming, throwing temper tantrums, sometimes it gets me soooooo angry! And she changes her mind a lot. A LOT!
My other brother, Mohammed/Moby, is annoying. When I was little I called him Be, and my dad's family called him Mo, so we put them together and got Moby. My mom decided to start calling him Mohammed, but I can't get used to it. It sounds so weird. Moby is a weirdo. He loves watching Happy Tree Friends, and making demented stick figure videos. He likes yelling at people and teasing them, specifically me.
All of them are lovable, and can be nice when they want to, but sometimes it's so hard to be anything but mad at them. Okay, how about you try sleeping in on a Saturday morning in this house!
Just yesterday I was looking with my dad at my first grade school picture. It's amazing what's happened to me since then. Or was it my kindergarten school picture? I can't remember. But it's still so weird how I've grown since then. I'm now 5'7" or something, and I am in 8th grade. I have medium length brown, highlighted hair, and back then it was straight, banged, short, and just brown.
Today my schedule is basically school, then religious stuff, then guitar, then free time the rest of the day. Too bad there's no computer on weekdays. I'll probably cross-stitch or something.
Time to go now! Maybe tomorrow I'll start up with pictures, but this strike hasn't really worked yet. I want to be able to put up pictures of my own free will. No pictures until then. Bye!