the truth about jelly beans.

Social Intelligence

2009-12-12T02:31:00.000-08:00

One of the most important forms of intelligence to me is social intelligence. People are academically intelligent, street-wise intelligent, but something that I’m beginning to see less and less of is people who are socially intelligent. This entails good manners, good speaking skills, being polite and civil, things like that.

I think social intelligence is a learned behavior, that’s why many people don’t have it. People who are uneducated, foreign, have never had a job, people like that and I’m not saying at all that they’re stupid, I’m just saying that fitting into our society might be more of a challenge for them than for most people.

I know someone very close to me who is the perfect example of this. He’s lived here for quite some times, but since he’s been on permanent disability for a long time now, he doesn’t work. He is incredibly awkward in social situations, doesn’t know what to say when door-to-door salespeople come to our house, hangs up on telemarketers before they even finish what they’re trying to say, and doesn’t like socializing that much. He’s such a great person, but it makes me sad to see the way he is when we go to parties, or social events. The problem is is that people don’t realize how important it is to be able to carry a conversation with people and be polite. It’s not just so people will like you, it’s to help you with job interviews, if you’re trying to sell something, if you’re trying to make a point in an argument, if you want to sound like an overall intelligent person.

My sister is probably the most socially intelligent person I know. She knows everything about everything and can talk about anything. She knows how to say “no thanks, we don’t want any” to a door-seller, she doesn’t just slam the door in their face. She doesn’t argue with a cashier if they won’t give her 50% for a missing button. But a lot of people I know DO in fact act like that. What I’m trying to say is that being socially smart is a lot more important than people realize.

It’s a matter of class and when you have class, people take you seriously and want to talk to you. They don’t make fun of you or get annoyed when they have to deal with you. They’re impressed by you and by being socially intelligent, you become a good leader because you know how to act in certain situations and people are so interested in what you have to say that they want to be like you. I saw this video and thought it was interesting. It’ll give you a clearer understanding of what I’m trying to say.

What we love

2009-12-10T23:49:00.001-08:00

First let me start off by saying how much I love the song “Fireflies” by Owl City. I love, love, LOVE it!

After laughter, music is the best medicine. When you’re down, or sad, and nothing can make you laugh, put on a good song, I promise you’ll feel better. Fireflies is a great one to listen to when you’re feeling down. So is Everbody Wants to Love by Ingrid Michaelson and I’m Yours by Jason Mraz. I am saying this because it works. I have felt nauseated and yucky and then I’ll play a great song on my ipod and I immediately start to feel better. Music is food for the soul. A healthy soul is a healthy person.

I just thought I’d share this with you.

Making life easy

2009-12-10T00:05:00.000-08:00

I don’t know about all of you, but one huge problem I have when it comes to my bed is folding the fitted sheet. I try EVERYTHING to make it flat and puff-free, but nothing works and it unnecessarily takes up space in our linen closet. No one ever taught me how to fold a fitted sheet and I’m assuming that most of us probably don’t know how to do it either, here ya go!

Thanks Jill Cooper!

Some of my favorite quotes

2009-12-09T02:15:00.001-08:00

I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. —Bill Cosby

This is really true. I think that in life, we often let ourselves down in hopes of impressing everyone but ourselves. It’s a sad, but true reality. When we come home with an F and our parents yell at us, the next time we study, it’s probably gonna be so our parents don’t yell at us again instead of feeling satisfied with ourselves, and then we end up failing. We need not forget that we exist too and we are important in too. Yes, it’s good to make people happy, but sometimes putting our own happiness before others is the best way to succeed. At work when I’m at the cash wrap, I’m ALWAYS trying to impress the managers. I’m really nice to the customers and I’m always productive during down time, but because I started over thinking so much about what others thought of, I forgot to focus on being myself and the consequence of this is that I am no longer a cashier. I made mistakes that I probably wouldn’t have had I thought about myself a little more than I actually did. I want anyone who is reading this to know how important it is to make yourself happy. The only person that can truly let you down is yourself.

Be yourself, everybody else is already taken-Oscar Wilde

No one could have said that better. This really puts things into perspective. You are you and you can’t change that. You can try to, but you can’t, so might as well embrace it and appreciate all the different people around you as well as yourself.

Women are like tea bags. You don’t know how strong they are until you put them in hot water.-Eleanore Roosevelt

Couldn’t agree more. Women are rocks.

You can never get enough of what you don’t really need.—Eric Hoffer

Why is this? After global warming, materialism is the next cause of the undoing of this planet.

There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem. —Harold Stephens

This is pretty self-explanatory, so I don’t think I need to go into great detail, but I think it’s important to know the difference.

Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment. —Barry LePatner

I am a really good judge of character now because of the experiences I had in elementary school and middle school with friends. My good judgment came from experience. My experience came from bad judgment. I made lousy friends and don’t plan on making that mistake again. Be open to life and to new experiences because that’s what makes you develop as a person and you mature through them. Yeah, you’ll have to stumble a little bit, but it really is worth it because it ultimately makes you a better human being.

Believe in your flyness, conquer your shyness-Kanye West

No matter who or what we are, we are all unique and beautiful people. And it’s sad that so many of us have no idea how amazing we really are. We need to believe in our worth and realize that everyone was put on this planet for a purpose and what would the point of 6 billion people be if we didn’t matter at all? Believe in how great you are and embrace it.

Winter Reading List

2009-12-08T00:19:00.001-08:00

So I’m assuming that most of you will be taking classes over the winter, but for those of your who will be stuck at home, I have a great list of books you can and should read to pass your time

1. Twilight saga, of course

2. To Kill a Mockingbird (not too high of a reading level, but a great book)

3. the Kite Runner (my favorite)

4. A Thousand Splendid Sons (same author as Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini. Also an amazing book)

5. the Giggler Treatment (VERY low reading level, but HILARIOUS!!)

6. Bergdorf Blondes (it’s the ultimate rich girl novel, but has some depth and is really good)

7. Veil of Roses (being a Muslim, I was a little upset with some of the things implied about Muslim girls, but it’s still pretty good)

8. London is the Best City in America (easy read, kinda slow, but cute. Great time pass!)

9. Princess Diaries series (always a fave!)

10. Catcher in the Rye (brilliant)

11. This I Believe (not a novel. it’s a compilation of some words of wisdom from famous celebrities, politicians, authors and artists. It’s a great, great book and really gets you thinking)

12. Night (I read this my sophomore year and cried pretty much throughout the whole thing. it’s interesting reading about the holocaust from someone who was actually there)

13. Pride and Prejudice (classic!)

14. Smothering (very cute and very relatable, especially for girls since we all know what it’s like to have an overbearing mother)

15. Daisy Miller (weird, but clever novel. REALLY short too, like 60 pages. It’s cute)

That’s it for now, I’ll add on when I think of more. I’ve read all of these and I can honestly say that each and every one of them are unique and just really good books. Not all of them have an amazing story, but they’re all enjoyable. Have a good break!

We can’t always get what we want

2009-12-02T00:39:00.001-08:00

Even peace may be purchased at too high a price. -Benjamin Franklin

Thanks, Ankur!

2009-11-30T21:21:00.001-08:00

what ever happened to religious equality?

LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE

2009-11-24T18:42:00.001-08:00

Ph. D. Paul E. McGhee said "your sense of humor is one of the most powerful tools you have so that your daily mood and emotional state support good health.” All of us love us an $8 pack of Advil to make our headache go away, but what we don't know is that the solution is actually free. We spend money like water on drugs like tylenol because it's the first outlet we turn to when we're feeling sick. We spend $24 billion a year on Tylenol, Advil, and all the rest, and yet chronic pain is on the rise. Not only does this tell us that we're literally throwing our money away, but these medicines aren't even working and are in fact, making us worse. 18.8 million Americans are diagnosed with depression and 4 million people consider themselves "unhappy." If they would realize that maybe a bit more laughter in their lives could be their answer, our yearly spending rate on meds would decrease dramatically. Humor and laughter strengthen your immune system, boost your energy, diminish pain, and protect you from the damaging effects of stress. Laughing does a lot more than just make us smile. The divorce rate in America is 50%. Psychologist John Gottman, found that for couples who stay married more than seven years, the absence of laughter predicts divorce far more consistently than the presence of outright animosity. Our relationships are only as good as our histories of laughter together. This proves that a lack of laughter was a cause of many divorce cases. Divorces are expensive and the stress caused by them makes couples spend money on stress medications to cope. And since most of these medications cause more stress, they spend even more money and it becomes a vicious cycle. Poor couples. All they needed was laughter. Happy people make happy marriages, happy marriages make a happy world.

Not only are we putting dents in our wallets, we're putting dents in our bodies. What we have yet to realize is that these meds can very well be the cause of our stress. According to the Journal of the American Medicine Association from March 11, 2009, " when given the approved daily dosage of acetaminophen – a substance present in almost all pain relievers – test subjects developed early signs of possible liver damage." The liver is very capable of regenerating itself, but its capacity to repair itself can be seriously impaired by repeated or extensive damage. Is it really worth getting rid of our headache, or our cough, or our allergies, if every other part of our bodies necessary to live is getting lethally damaged? Live. Love. Laugh. I don't think it's Live. Love. Medicate. Laughing is a crucial ingredient to our well being and without it, we might as well not exist. Sudafed, a common allergy medication contains the same ingredients as the ADHD medication, Adderal. ADHD is a disorder that requires strong medication, so what business do we have taking medicine like that for allergies? And it's not only the long term bodily effects that should convince you to stop depending on over the counter medicine and start laughing, it's side effects too. Many cough medicines stop the coughing, but make you tired, drowsy, restless and shaky.

Why are we spending so much money on medicine and why are we not reading the fine print after purchasing these meds? Blame the media. Yeah, but let's blame ourselves too. Drugs are being advertised around us constantly and unfortunately, we feed into these advertisements. We will listen to what they're saying about their products and we believe it. We get a horrible migraine and go to the pharmacy to pick up a pack of advil. Since we're in so much pain, we don't think twice about popping that pill. We take it immediately and wait for the relief to kick in. Once we feel better, that's all there is to it. This is why we spend so much money on over the counter drugs. They really do work and since we're impatient and want that immediate relief, we're willing to spend whatever amount we need to. Instead of making a cup of green tea, or taking a vitamin, or of course laughing it off, we spend. Just like spending ridiculous amounts of money for immediate relief, we act the same when it comes to our health. Because our cough can go away overnight, we forget about the long-term effects that the medicine can cause. We want a quick solution and once we get it, we don't care about the future. Drugs are harming us because we're forgetting that they are capable of doing so. They're harming us because we've grown too dependent on them and instead of taking them in moderation, we're taking 8 billion pills of Tylenol each year.

What to do about our spending. Here's the best solution. Stop going to the local cvs and buying a bottle of aspirin. Laugh, and laugh until your tummy hurts, until your mouth cramps, until you're crying. Laughing is free! We have nothing to lose when we laugh, but everything to gain. Laughter is truly the strongest medicine for the mind, body and soul. Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain, and conflict and nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hopes, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert. Until we stop laughing, we will always be happy and healthy. Gordon W. Allport said "So many tangles in life are ultimately hopeless that we have no appropriate sword other than laughter." With so much power to heal and renew, the ability to laugh easily and frequently is a great resource for our problems, enhancing our relationships, supporting both physical and emotional health, and of course, saving us a lot of money.

Laughing is the only drug we need because of the benefits it contributes to our health and well-being. Nothing on this earth can help us the way laughter does. It makes us happier people, it relieves stress, it helps us on a bad day, and it's free. Laughter relaxes the body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after. It boosts the immune system. It decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease. It also triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain. Laughter protects the heart and improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems. That's a mouth full. There are absolutely no negative affects to laughing. Laughing makes us happy and makes those around us happy as well.

No, laughter will not help the economy, but it helps ourselves and that's something we shouldn't forget. Laughter is the best medicine.

Truth be told

2009-11-22T22:51:00.001-08:00

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out. -Anton Chekhov

Kids these days...

2009-11-18T23:56:00.000-08:00

The embedding of this video was disabled, so I had to post the link instead. I found this video extremely fascinating and a bit disturbing. We watched it in my psychology class today. It really makes you think, weather it applies to you or not and shows that no one is exempt from prejudice, discrimination and hate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCjDxAwfXV0

Simply having a wonderful Christmas time

2009-11-17T23:25:00.001-08:00

I love the holiday season.

The happy-for-no-reason feel everywhere you go, the cold weather, thick coats and scarves, bright Christmas lights and decorations in every corner, shopping, packed shopping malls, trying to find parking for hours, warm smells of cinnamon and apple cider, holiday parties, sequins, glitter, bows, wrapping paper, and every other noun that falls under happy.

It’s the one time of year where it doesn’t matter what race we are, what our social status is, how much money we have, or who we are. Everyone is just happy in harmony and it’s beautiful to see. It’s fascinating how just a certain time of the year can turn billions of frowns upside down. Something just comes over us and we forget about all our troubles. People with no money to buy a Christmas trees or presents for the kids are just happy and constantly smiling, but it’s only during this time of year where people are like this. I wish it was always the holiday season.

I don’t have a point. I just want to say that seeing everyone so happy and coming together makes me happy. There’s just so much negativity around the world and it all just gets erased. I had tall, caramel apple cider from Starbucks the other day and I said it tasted like Christmas in a cup. If I was drinking that in July, I wouldn’t be saying that.

I truly believe with my entire heart that there is magic in the air during the holiday season. I don’t know where it comes from, but I know it’s there and it’s amazing.

The Power of the Situation

2009-11-16T19:39:00.001-08:00

Today in my psych class, we watched a video by Philip Zimbardo called “The Power of the Situation”. I’ve mentioned Zimbardo before in my blogs, so I think it’s clear that I find the guy extremely fascinating.

The video is about how certain situations control the way we behave. As a lot of you know already, Philip Zimbardo is the man who conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment in the 70’s. He wanted to see how obedience and conformity play a role in society. A group of college boys volunteered to participate in Zimbardo’s experiment. Half of the boys were prison guards, and half of the boys were prisoners. Most people would say that since it’s just an experiment, they’re not going to act like real prisoners and guards, but little did they know that eventually, this experiment would become a reality.

The guards began force the prisoners to do humiliating things and they would force them to do push ups. These were perfectly nice boys who volunteered to participate in a study, why would they act like that? It’s the power of the situation. When you put someone in a costume and give them a role, they will act that role as if it’s really them without even knowing it. In the beginning, the boys knew it was just a study, so they didn’t take anything to the extreme, but gradually they began to forget that it was just an experiment and started to act as if they really were prison guards.

This mock prison in the Stanford basement was supposed to be open for 2 weeks, but closed after only 6 days because mock inmates began to suffer from psychological problems. As I was watching this video, I really began to think. I was shocked to learn how evil a normal person is capable of being. We will do anything if an authoritative figure tells us to, regardless of whether it’s right or wrong. Take Stanley Milgram’s Electric Shock Experiment. He also wanted to see how obedience and conformity play a role in society. He took a group of people who were oblivious to what Milgram was doing and told them to give a person in another room a shock every time they answer a trivia question incorrectly. It doesn’t seem to bad, but the scary part is that with every wrong answer, the voltage of the shocks increased by about 100 watts. The highest voltage was 440 watts I believe, which is fatal and can cause death, but strangely enough, sinch Milgram, an authoritative figure, told the participants to continue with the voltage, they didn’t stop. The people being shocked would scream in pain, and the participant would still continue because Milgram said to do so. Of course they weren’t really being shocked, but the shockers didn’t know that.

It’s so interesting to hear about things like this because we’re always so shocked and say to ourselves “I would never do that! I would never be that dumb. I’d yell at Milgram and leave the room” that’s actually the exact opposite of what we’d do. For some reason, we put people in positions of authority on pedestals and assume that they know best. This is obedience at its worst. If I was an FBI agent interrogating a suspect, and my boss told me to slap the suspect every time I thought he was lying, I would probably do it because my boss told me to, even though it’s completely wrong.

The situations we get ourselves into have so much power of us we don’t even realize it. We behave differently in every situation we’re in. Whether it’s at school, at home, at the grocery store, or in court, we always act a certain way and it amazes me. We all have the capacity within ourselves to be evil, we just don’t see it until we’re in the situation.

The second point brought up in Zimbardo’s video was conformity. We do this on a day-to-day basis. I do it all the time in my classroom. When the professor asks “how many of you think gay marriage should be legalized?” a certain number will raise their hand, but I’ll keep my hand down until I see how many people raise their hand for the second part of the question, and THEN I’ll make my choice. It’s kind of embarrassing to be the only person raising your hand, but when 15 other people are raising their hands with you, you feel a lot more reassured and you feel confident and like you fit in. That’s why we conform. We don’t realize it, but we do.

I’m not writing this to give solutions on how to fix this, I just hope to enlighten you because it really is fascinating. Humans are so complex and have so many layers to them. We’re all born good, evil is a learned behavior and situations like these are when we’re tested on what we’ve learned. Sadly, most of us fail that test.

This is a test

2009-11-15T11:02:00.001-08:00

We finally got a new computer. yay! so i’m just testin the waters out to see if this computer is really as amazing as they say it is.

Eye candy

2009-11-13T23:39:00.001-08:00

not so intelligent design

2009-11-13T23:15:00.000-08:00

This is the way I see it.

Alright, so let's say we did in fact evolve from apes and we did not start from Adam and Eve. Well, who created those apes? Giraffes??

Come on...

God created those apes, so ultimately, God is the one who created us...which makes intelligent design completely irrelevant!

just for your amusement...

2009-11-13T23:13:00.000-08:00

boy, oh boy!

2009-11-11T23:19:00.001-08:00

I've never had a boyfriend. In fact, I haven't even had my "first kiss" yet. A lot of might be shocked to read this because by my age, most girls have already lost their virginity. But I am so lucky to be able to say that regardless of the status quo, I don't care. I don't care that I've never had a boyfriend or kissed a guy yet, I'm completely okay and I wish other girls had this mentality too.

The problem with girls these days have the distorted mentality that they need a boy to make them happy and it's ridiculous. It's sad and very wrong. There are thousands of other girls like me out there, but the difference with them is that they get depressed about it. They start thinking that something is wrong with them, they're just cursed, they'll never get a man, and most of all that they'll never be happy. None of that is true. When a girl can't seem to get a guy to like her, it's because there's something way better out there that God has planned for her. No you are not cursed because if God wanted to put a curse on you, he'd make it a lot worse than making you single for life. Yes you WILL get a man, or someone to love, you just need to be patient and remember that everyone has SOMEONE. How can a girl NEVER be happy if she doesn't have a soulmate? There are so many other things that creat happiness. Children, family, friends, playing a board game....we put a limit on happiness. We forget all the things besides being in love that make us happy.

I've had friends that get stuck in bad relationship after bad relationship and end up devoting their entire lives to trying to find the right guy and figuring out what's wrong with them and it's so unimportant. Girls don't need a man to make them happy and we need to realize that. There's nothing wrong with being single, and frankly speaking, it's insulting to ME when I hear girls say "god, I need a man" because I myself am single and am so utterly happy with that and then I see girls complaining about it without even trying to see that being single isn't that bad and we can feel complete and loved by doing and having other things in our lives. I'm not saying it's good to be single, everyone should be allowed to have someone and be married, we just don't need to make it a priority and be disappointed when we don't have a fling. Now, when you can't seem to find a guy to MARRY, that's a horse of a different color! Marriage is completely different than a boyfriend.

Not many people read this, other than my journalism professor, Toni, but I hope that one day girls my age realize the beauty in not having a man by their side or having their first kiss. It's not that bad, trust me, I've been in this spot since birth and I'm completely satisfied with having my close friends and my family in my life.

I'm morbidly obeise...so WHAT?!

2009-11-10T23:49:00.000-08:00

Does Tyra Banks promote being unhealthy? I kinda think so...

I think her whole "so what?" movement is appreciable, but I personally don't think EVERYONE should just love their body.

I don't want to make it seem like Tyra Banks doesn't have a good heart or anything, she really does and I think it's amazing that she so badly wants girls to have good self-esteem, it's just silly to me hearing her tell overweight girls on her show that their curves are "sexy" and they should love themselves and not worry about what other people think or say. And it's not just Tyra who's doing this, it's pretty much all of television. Cosmetic companies are starting to use large women in their television commercials to promote their products, and it's good to not discriminate, but when a regular heavy woman sees another heavy woman on tv, she begins to think that it's OKAY to be that heavy.

This to me is a problem. By telling women that all women are fine no matter their size and we need to love ourselves and not be obsessed with looking thin, overweight women start to think that it's okay to be overweight. The media has a lot of power and people don't even realize it. We will listen to ANYONE if they're famous. If Oprah says read a book, we're gonna go and read it because Oprah said so. If Ellen says donate money for breast cancer, we're gonna donate. Tyra says to love your body no matter what, we're gonna love our body no matter what and especially since she's black, which is a minority, overweight people, which are also considered a minority, will be more inclined to listening to her and take what she says too seriously.

Now, I know that Tyra doesn't go to bed thinking she wants to promote obesity and wants people to be unhealthy, of course she doesn't, but I think indirectly, that's what she's achieving. Instead of saying "so what?" she should be saying "be healthy" because that really is the only bodily concern women should have, being healthy. You can be curvy and be healthy and you can be stick thin and still be healthy. The goal should not be for all sizes to just live their lives and love themselves, the goal should be to maintain a healthy lifestyle and be the size they want, as long as their being it healthily (is that a word?)

There was a woman on they Tyra show, I think she was 800 pounds, maybe more...and she was so happy being that weight and was sad to learn that she had lost some weight. Now, if Tyra never started her "so what?" movement, that woman probably wouldn't have been so happy to be unbelievably obeise. I think the so what movement, although has such good intention, is really sending out the wrong message to girls. We should love ourselves, but when we know we're healthy, not when we're over or underweight, because that's wrong.

I keel you!

2009-10-31T16:59:00.001-07:00

just for laughs

2009-10-31T16:55:00.001-07:00

The perfect alternative

2009-10-31T16:44:00.001-07:00

Science's answer to blood diamonds. Why spend $10,000 on an engagement ring when you can spend $5000?

behind the scenes

2009-10-31T16:34:00.000-07:00

I know most of us have already seen this video several times, but I think it's important to remember what the majority of most women look like. I always watch this video to remind myself that even supermodels aren't perfect. What women look like in magazines is never what they really look like.

Zimbardo strikes again

2009-10-29T22:43:00.000-07:00

I found this video very interesting. After learning about Zimbardo's Standford Prison Experiment, I decided to do some research on him and I came across this video. He makes a lot of references to Abu Ghraib, Stanley Milgram's Electric Shock Experiment and even talks about the good side of people.

We'd be surprised if we knew what we were capable of. We'd all like to think that we're good people and will always be the best people we can be but one day we'll surprise ourselves when we're put into a situation where you can't help but be someone you don't want to be. I also wanted to comment on Abu Ghraib. This is another reason why I don't support our military. In this country, it's okay to say that all Muslim people are bad because a few Muslims made really bad decisions, so I think it's completely fair to say an entire military is bad even though only a few of the army members participated in the sick acts of Abu Ghraib.

Anyway, watch this video. It really is fascinating.

WATCH MY SISTER'S WEATHER REPORT EVERY THURSDAY!

2009-10-24T13:09:00.000-07:00

STEP 1: www.atvn.org

STEP 2: click on "thursday"

STEP 3: forward the video to the end. Maybe like 2-3 minutes before the end.

You will then see my sister reporting the weather for Annenberg TV News :)

I EXPECT THAT YOU'LL ENJOY IT.

penny for your thoughts

2009-10-24T13:06:00.000-07:00

If ignorance is bliss, then why do we seek knowledge?-Lara Dutta, Miss Universe 2000

we all hate scratched dvds...

2009-10-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

luckily, there's a solution

You don't wear the hijab, the hijab wears you.

2009-10-24T12:45:00.001-07:00

In the situation concerning the head scarf worn by women in Islam, this is absolutely true and sadly, more and more women who wear the hijab these days are forgetting that.

In Islam, a woman is supposed to cover her hair AND her body as a sign of modesty. They are also supposed to refrain from spending time with boys. It sounds weird, but they're not supposed to get too friendly with them. It's okay to be friends, but you can't "hook up" or have a boyfriend when you have a hijab. That stuff is prohibited in Islam anyway, but when you wear a hijab the rules apply to you even more, but over the years the hijab has turned into a fashion statement instead of a symbol of respect and understanding for the religion.

I have a friend who wears the hijab. I should put that in quotes. She wears the scarf like a bandana and pulls her bangs out. The point of a head scarf is so your HAIR is covered and her hair is not covered. She also shows here legs, chest and arms which are supposed to be covered when you wear a hijab because covering just your hair doesn't cut it. She has also had two boyfriends and hooked up with a few boys. This forces me to ask what the point of her wearing the hijab is. Why is she wearing it when she still shows her body and still does things that she's not supposed to? What does her hijab symbolize? The veil is supposed to let boys know that you're a conservative, muslim girl who takes her religion and who she is very seriously, but this friend of mine gives boys the complete opposite impression.

It disappoints me because my religion is something I respect so much and take very seriously and it makes me upset to see girls do things like this, because it's not okay. They need to remember that when you put that scarf on your head, you cannot pick and choose what you believe in, it just is what it is. The scarf is supposed to control you and make you remember who you are when you're about to do something you shouldn't be. It becomes the little voice inside your head. It's girls like these that make people say that "hijabi girls are the worst!" and I hate to admit it, but it's becoming more and more of a reality every day.

When you put the scarf on, you need to cover your entire body, not just your hair. Doesn't it defeat the purpose of a hijab when your body isn't covered? And covering your BODY seems way more important to me than covering your hair. It's like saying I can wear a bikini to the beach as long as my hair is covered. It makes absolutely no sense. The hijab means absolutely nothing when you're not doing everything that comes with it.

But of course, there are many other girls that wear the hijab and are absolutely amazing. They don't dress like nuns, but they keep their bodies covered, the have guy friends, but they never have boyfriends, they'll give a guy a friendly hug, but they won't makeout with them. It makes me proud when I see them.

you don't wear the hijab, the hijab wears you.

The S Word

2009-10-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

Sress.

Sometimes we take too much on ourselves. Usually more than we can handle. It's unfair, but stress is inevitable and if we didn't have it, our lives would be kinda boring. We need that element of drama.

Right now, I am stressed about work, an exam, a paper, and a speech, but if I didn't have any of those going for me right now, I'd be at home in front of the tv. It's kinda nice to be busy and have something to do. I know it's probably impossibly hard to do, but we should look at the brighter side of stress, because there is one.

I'm not saying it's fun or good to be stressed, I'm just saying it's better to have something to think about and have something to do instead of sitting around wasting time. Stress is also a good incentive for people to relax and take time off because that's really important and without stress, we wouldn't have a need or desire to do that.

I'm not write a whole lot about this cause there's not much to say...but it was just a thought I had to share with everyone before I forgot it :)

I LOVE ME

2009-10-18T23:57:00.000-07:00

BELIEVE IN YOUR FLYNESS...CONQUER YOUR SHYNESS.-kanye west

That's all I have to say.

Drinks on me!

2009-10-18T23:48:00.000-07:00

I think alcohol should be banned. It just should.

I'm not gonna go into detail about why I think it should be illegal, I just do! It's not just that fact that it makes you drunk which causes bad judgement, drunk driving, people (as well as yourself) dying, getting hurt, and many other things, but also because HELLO?!! it's bad for you! Have people forgotten that? Alcohol, even if drunk moderately, is not healthy and damages your brain, obviously, causes arthritis and gout (which my drinker uncle has), increased risk of cancer, heart disease, hyperglycermia, hypoglycemia, obesity, nervous disorders and so many more. I don't buy into any of that b.s. that says alcohol is good for you. It's not.

If alcohol becomes illegal, yeah a lot of underground stuff will happen, but at least people will be more inclined to not drink it because it's illegal and the underage drinking rate could very possible decrease dramatically. That'll be the day.

AND IT SMELLS BAD!

very useful

2009-10-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

I came across this video on youtube and thought I should share it with all of you. You could be missing out! enjoy :)

Support out troops??

2009-10-17T16:16:00.001-07:00

I think not.

I find it so fascinating when I see people with a sticker that says "support our troops" on their bumper and posters that say "bring 'em home" with a bunch of soliders on them. Yes, we should bring the soldiers home but not because it's sad what they are doing, but because war is wrong and it's not okay to take innocent lives because of a lost cause.

Why should we support our troops? They're killing innocent civilians and we haven't gained anything since this started 8 years ago. That's almost a decade. "Support the troops", "they work so hard!", "They're fighting for our country!", "They're risking their lives!" None of that matters when poor families are getting murdered and their homes are being destroyed. I don't see soldiers as "fighting for our country" I see them as voluntarily and proudly killing people who are absolutely helpless. Everyone knows that there is no military stronger than the US', so soldiers take advantage of that and step on everyone they can in order to achieve something that will never be achieved. It makes me so mad. I hate those yellow ribbons that say "support our troops" why should we support them?! They're not doing anything noble or kind. Yes, it takes a lot of courage to go and fight, but that doesn't make what they're doing okay...it takes even more bravery and courage to say "no...I don't need to be a part of this and I can't do it."

People so blindly "support our troops" and they don't even realize what exactly they're doing. Have they realized that we have literally gained NOTHING from this war and innocent people continue to die every day? Gas prices are still too high, (I'm embarrassed to mention his name because it's such old news, but...) Osama Bin Laden hasn't been, and will never be captured. This war started and will end in vain. People are sympathetic to the troops because a lot of the soldiers die, but they bring that upon themselves.

I strongly believe in karma. What goes around does indeed come around, but what's interesting with this situation is instead of caring about the poor, innocent, helpless families that are dying and putting an end to this problem, we're crying about some soldiers dying that are armed with advanced machinery and have strong demeanors and then we're saying we need to support them. Iraq needs support, Afghanistan needs support, Pakistan needs support.

I am aware that Obama is an advocate for stopping the war and it's something that makes me proud to say Barack Obama is my country's president. I love the guy and I appreciate every effort him and his administration have or are making to end this stupidity. But point blank, "our troops" do not deserve the type of recognition they receieve.

The G word

2009-10-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

Why are some people gay? What drives them to "swing in the other direction"? Is it genetic? Is it a personal choice? Or is it all just psychological?

For years I've wondered what makes people gay and what makes them like the same sex. I never had an answered and decided to just believe that it's a personal choice, but a while ago, all of this changed. Why is it that I'm not gay? My sister isn't, my best friends aren't, my neighbors aren't...why isn't the entire world just gay? Or at least a greater percentage of the world?

I have an answer now. Homosexuality is psychological. It's a mental thing. I think that if I one day saw a really pretty girl and said to myself "wow, she's so pretty" that wouldn't make me gay or have feelings for the girl, but if I kept reminding myself of how pretty she was, and then asking myself if I had feelings for her, and then start getting confused of why I'm asking myself that, I would eventually convince myself that I like girls because I am not letting myself let go of what I was thinking. When you constantly instill a belief in your own head, it becomes a reality.

If I cough once, i'll say to myself "omg, I'm getting sick. I'm gonna be sick! I coughed!!" and that idea stays in my brain for the rest of the day, I'm bound to "get sick"...not for real though, just sick in my brain. My illness is all in my head. I think that's how it is with homosexuality. A girl or guy notices something attractive about the same sex and they make a HUGE deal about it. They start questioning their sexuality and wondering why they're feeling like that when it's really not even a big deal. They can just forget about what they thought for 3 seconds and continue on with their lives. They end up convincing themselves that something is wrong and that they are gay, so of course they start to believe they are gay and subconsciously condition themselves to start liking people of the same sex.

It's not that hard to dismiss a funny feeling. I used to think my friend's ex boyfriend was cute, but then I told myself "this is my best friends boyfriend. What am I doing?" and I got over him within a day. It's easy. Just stop thinking about it. A lot of you might be saying "no, it's not that easy. It's very hard to just let go of a feeling like possibly being gay." And I understand why someone can think that, but if you pay attention to the example I mentioned, you'll realize that it is in fact very easy to let go of strange thoughts. The examples I used may not be about being gay, but it's the same exact situation. Trying to validate something and why validating it isn't necessary because gay isn't something that someone just IS. It's something we let happen to ourselves.

Another reason I believe that homosxuality is psychological is religion. I think homosexuality is restricted in every religion. Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Juadaism, Buddhism..everything. If God would make something a sin and so wrong, why would he make it a genetic problem? Having blue eyes, brown hair, and being tall are all genetic aspects of a human, that's why God didn't make it a sin to have any of those, becuase HE himself gave those to you. God wouldn't make us born with something or give us something that he said is a sin. Sins are the faults of the people who commit them. If being gay was genetic, then it's God's fault that you might go to hell? That makes absolutely no sense. I am hell-bent, no pun intended, on believing that homosexuality is the result of mental and psychological factors.

And that's really all I have to say.

Lollicup, lollicup, oh lolli lolli cup

2009-10-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

First, let me start of by saying how TIRED I am. I woke up at 7:45, came home at 2:30, ate, and now I have work in an hour from 5-10. FML.

So anyway...I love boba. I think most of us do. It's just yummy and the place that I trust and go to the most is Lollicup in Walnut across from Mt. Sac. Well, there's more than one boba place there, so I figured that it wouldn't hurt to switch things up a bit. All boba places taste the same right?...Wrong.

The place across from Lollicup is called "Upper House" and as mentioned before, I figured it'd be alright. As I was walking to Upper House, I noticed the health grade they received on their door. This is B grade place. IMMEDIATE turn off. But I thought...maybe they recieved that grade based on how ugly their place is and not on how good their boba tastes so I said who cares? I want boba. I walked into the strange smelling, ugly shade of pink place and ordered a taro milk tea with boba, something I get often at Lollicup and LOVE. I expected Upper House to have the same quality taro milk tea as lollicup...it's situations like these that have made me realize to never, ever have high expectations in life.

I received my taro milk tea, which is supposed to be lavendar colored, as most people would know taro is a purple fruit. This drink was beige?? Light beige. It looked like white milk with half a tea bag dipped in it. My mood went from anxious to angry in like 3 seconds. As I received my drink, I said in my head "WTH is this?" and I was scared to take the first sip, but with a prayer, I did. Eckkk....first of all, not only did it taste NOTHING like taro, the boba was like jelly, boba is better harder, and this drink was sooo sweet. I felt sick after the 4th sip. I was so mad. I had already wasted $5 on junk food at mt. sac that I didn't even end up finishing, and now I had just wasted another $3 on bad boba that doesn't even taste like it should.

Point blank, DON'T GO TO UPPER HOUSE. It's not just the fact that they are a B grade place that should make you not want to go, it's the atmosphere of the place and most importantly, their yucky boba drinks. I'm telling you...listen to me. There's a reason they got a B...and I think that was generous. Lollicup is a place you can trust and it's guaranteed to be good. And it smells fine.

Wow what a lame day. Bad weather, $2 on cookies I thought would be good, but were gross, $1.50 on water I haven't even opened yet and probably won't finish, $1 on hot cheetos that I thought I could finish, but didn't and $3 on Boba. LAME!!!!!!!!!!! What a waste of money and food and I feel fatter than ever with the amount of junk I consumed today. This is horrible. Early New Year's Resolution: Make better food choices!!

Upper House...more like Lower House to me!

happy working song

2009-10-08T15:35:00.000-07:00

It's actually miserable working song.

So my mom told me that this Saturday is my cousin's wedding and that I needed to take that day off of work. As most of you know, I am new at Forever 21 so taking time off right now is a big no-no, but I didn't really have a choice since it IS my cousin's wedding. So I asked for the day off and my mean boss said "this is going on your performance." I'm not sure what that means, but I know it's bad and I was really upset since I have an obligation and I'm not just taking time off for fun. But I got the day off and everything was fine. I went home and looked at the wedding invitation and I'm sure you can guess what happened next.

Yes, my mom told me the wrong date. The wedding is in fact next week and I took the wrong day off. So then I called my boss to let her know that I can still work, but she told me that my shift had already been replaced by someone else. GREAT. Now...not only am I getting this put on my "performance" when I don't even need the day off, but now I have to ask for ANOTHER adjustment to my schedule for next week...and I'm NEW. I can't be doing stuff like this and asking for days off and changes in the schedule. I'm so upset and confused and I have mid terms next week and my life is just miserable. For now anyway...

I've never been so stressed out before :(

“Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness” -Richard Carlson

this is for those days

You've got a friend in me

2009-10-06T23:17:00.000-07:00

I have no friends. :(

I mean...I do, just not at sac. They're all either still in high school, or in a different college. It's very hard.

I've been talking to some of my friends on the phone lately and after 5 minutes of conversation I hear "hey! I'm meeting someone, can I call you back later?" Why can't I ever be meeting someone?! :( They're always busy, or with someone else or "meeting someone". It's frustrating. They've all moved on and I can't blame them since it's only natural that that's gonna happen since we're all in different schools now, but I want to move on too! I want friends :(

It's not like I haven't been trying. I reallllly have. I tried talking to people in my soc class, but no one's nice and no one really talks to each other. I gave up on that. My psych class has some nice people but they party and they drink, so I know I can't spend time with them outside class since I don't do those things. My aerobics class is good, everyone's pretty nice, but they're all kinda shy and a lot of them speak Spanish most of the time. I don't speak Spanish. My speech class is the best. Everyone's amazing, I just don't know if I'll hang out with the kids in there outside class. I mean, I want to, but I don't know if they do. You see my problem? I'm stuck. I'm a loser.

My mom keeps telling me to "make some friends" cause I'm always home on the weekends studying or out with my sister. She says "make some friends" like I haven't been trying or like I don't want to make any. That's not the case at all. My best friend and I stopped talking in June and everything has gone downhill from there. Sometimes I feel like maybe I should've stayed friends with her so I could have someone with me, but then I'd be friends with her for the wrong reasons. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I'm a loner. It's horrible. Maybe when clubs start I'll make some friends? I hope so. My sister made so many great friends at Mt. Sac and she continues to make them even in university, she has so many it's not fair. Her guy friend told her that she has an "addictive personality" the other day. Why can't I have an addictive personality? I'm nice, I'm friendly, I'm fun...what's wrong with me? I dunno. I'm sad.

My old friends and I are drifting apart, so eventually I'm literally not going to have a single friend. I need backups! And the people at work are jerks...so they're not really an option. Oh gosh. I feel pathetic.

Excuse me while I scarf down a pint of ice cream...

Workin' in a coal mine

2009-10-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

So I got a job at Forever 21. I worked there in June/July and then had to quit since we went on vacation, but anyway, I'm back now and I'm a cashier!

Being a cashier is a lot of fun. I love ringing people up and talking to the customers. I especially like not having to walk around and ask people "are you finding everything okay?" and then cleaning up after them like I used to when I was a sales associate there. 'Twas very annoying. But now I don't have to worry about that anymore. I still have to work the floor, but at least I get to be a cashier as well.

I like my job, I really do. I like Forever 21 and I like cashiering, but the people there are just so not nice. Stuck up I guess. I'm a really nice person and I always make an effort to get to know people, but the workers are Forever 21 just don't reciprocate the niceness. They're all so close and they all joke and talk to each other, but no one talks to me :(. It's very sad. And when they do talk to me, they're just not nice like they are to the other workers. They only talk to me if they have to and they're just rude. Especially my boss, Julie. OMG she's the worst. I won't mention what race she is, but let's just say if you did know what race she was, you wouldn't be surprised that she's not nice. I have a mandatory event on Saturday so obviously I can't work, so Miss Julie said "it's going on your performance" WTF?!

Everyone likes her, or at least gets along with her and she's so nice to everyone EXCEPT ME. I swear. It's horrible. Maybe because I'm new?? I don't know, but that's still no excuse to be rude to me and act like I don't matter. She'll be laughing with someone then I'll say "julie.." and her ENTIRE expression will change from laughter to like, misery. It makes me so upset. I do whatever I can to make her happy and to be nice, but she just won't respond with the same treatment. It might be because her boss, Carla (who I love cause she's so nice and just the coolest person ever) is on maternity leave and she's just on a POWER TRIP.

Now, I don't want to be all bee-yatchy and start complaining about my whole life and my job. My job isn't horrible, just some of the people are. But some of the people are really sweet. Michelle, Sam, Priya, Ashley, Nicole...they're great! They've been really nice to "the new girl" and friendly, so I'm not gonna complain about them. But my boss and this guy Diego who told me I wouldn't get hired again (UHH HELLO??!!) and these other girls are just tragic.

Anyway, sorry to bore you with my "woe is me" nonsense, but you really need to observe the other Forever 21 employees and see how they treat me. The best word to describe the atmosphere when I'm around them is "awkward." That should paint the perfect picture for you.

I really am working in a coal mine, and I'm not findin' diamonds any time soon!

p.s. i get a WHOLE 10% discount. Awesome, yeah?!! that's tax.

Killing us softly 3

2009-09-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

Today in my sociology class we watched a video called "Killing Us Softly 3". It's a video by Jean Kilbourne about the way women, sex, and racism are portrayed in the media. This video is really sad.

I know that women are always shown as sex symbols and objects, but I've never seen it to this extent. Kilbourne showed magazine ads and tv commercials from way before I was born, as well as today. A few of these ads stood out to me:

1. A jeans advertisement with a woman wearing no jeans. Or underwear.
2. A man using a woman in a bra and a thong as a foot stool. I think they were trying to sell skateboards?
3. A man smoking a cigar with something along the lines of "it won't talk back, bother you, or nag you" written with a woman yelling in the background.
4. A woman getting beaten by her man who is wearing a leather jacket, but saying "he can do whatever he wants as long as he has his leather"
5. A woman's corpse with the line "good hair never dies"
6. A female mannequin's body in a body bag with blood coming out that reads "I'd kill for shoes" or something like that
7. Women getting hurt, beaten, yelled at, or strangled by men, but looking happy, excited, and aroused.
8. A woman's body as a beer bottle?

And this is list is nothing. There are several hundred more that I can't remember. The list goes on. It's sad, right?

-When there's a naked girl on a magazine ad, jeans are not what you're advertising.
-Why the woman is being used as a foot stool, I don't know, but it's sad. Why is she naked? I have no idea, but it's sick. What this has to do with skateboards...I don't know.
-Not all women are chatty and annoying and a lot of men happen to be like that too. They made it sound like women are dumb and pathetic and are only good for looking pretty.
-Beating a woman is not okay, even if you're wearing leather! These are some of the reasons that men find it okay to hit a woman and women stay with these men and forgive these men even after getting physically hurt.
-As if good hair is more important than a woman being dead. It's okay for a woman to DIE for good hair because in the long run, it's the hair that's gonna stay!
-It's one thing to just say "I'd kill for shoes", but to show a BLOODY mannequin in a body bag and then write that is just sick and twisted. First of all, women aren't that desperate for shoes and second of all when did it become okay to show something that gory in a display window?
-By creating these ads where women are getting beaten, but are feeling sexually aroused make it seem as though it's OKAY to do that a woman because she LIKES it. It is not okay.
-Why can't a beer bottle just be a beer bottle?

Why are printing agencies okay with this? And more importantly, why are we okay with this?

I don't have an answer to either of those questions, but something tells me that women have done this to themselves.

Since before I was born, women have posed in swimsuits, been expected to stay quiet, submissive and be housewives (and we've done a good job in living up to those expectations), competing in pageants (which is 97% based on your looks and body and 3% based on your brain), play seductresses (roger rabbit), and always emphasize the importance of "looking good".

When women voluntary do this to themselves, what else are we supposed to think of them? These beliefs have been instilled in our brains since we were born. We've seen it on tv and in magazines, so of course we're going to show them like that in ads because that's how we think women behave and this is what we know them as. Of course personally most women know that they are much more than that and are worth a great deal, but ask any men what the first thing that comes to his mind is when the word "woman" is mentioned. He'll probably say "sexy, a companion, sex, abuse, talks a lot, supermodels" or anything along those lines. People will almost never say "intelligent, kind, good mothers, supportive, superwoman" because they don't know that depiction of women, and advertisers aren't the only ones to blame.

Yes of course there are female activists and a lot of movies and ads portray women as strong and intelligent, but that's not the most common belief. It's not the norm. WOMEN are prostitutes, WOMEN are victoria's secret models, WOMEN get bagged on for being porn stars, WOMEN compete in pageants, WOMEN are willing to do anything to become a supermodel. Women are their own worst enemy.

It's really, really sad because I know that women aren't like this. I don't know any woman who is, especially mothers. They're the best. But I think before we start yelling and hating on advertisers, we should really think about the root of this problem and if people are smart enough, they'll realize that the root is not an advertising company.

"Women are like tea bags, you never know how strong they are 'til you put them in some hot water"-Eleanor Roosevelt.

Perception is our weapon

2009-09-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

I found this video very interesting. Take a look.

Clever right? And true. But I don't think that this video in any way is an indication of how dumb we are.

We watched this video in my psych class the other day and we got a good laugh, but we were a bit flabbergasted as well. A lot of us said "that bear wasn't there! rewind it!" but the bear was in fact there both times, we just didn't pay attention. Now, I think if we watched that video without it saying "how many passes does the white team make?", we'd probably notice the bear, but since we were told to focus on a specific aspect of the video, we ignored everything else that was happening and that's just human nature.

It's like our brains are being obedient and if they don't listen to what they're told to do, they're gonna get punished. It's interesting how we don't notice details like the moonwalking bear. We don't do this intentionally, it's just that when we're told focus on one thing, that's the only thing we're going to notice because there probably is some incentive involved for us to pay attention.

In this video, the incentive was the glory of figuring out how many passes the white team made when there's another team passing basketballs at the same time in a different color. It's confusing, so we pay extra attention because we think it's gonna be some huge deal that we noticed that they made 13 passes. And it's funny because the amount of passes wasn't even the important factor of the video. It's easy to miss things we're not looking for. Of course it is. When I'm looking really hard for a friend I'm supposed to meet, I'm probably not going to notice my other friend waving to me 6 feet away. And it's not that we're ignorant, or dumb, or lazy, it's just that there's only so much our brain can take at once. It's easy to be standing in a crowd of all sorts of people and notice the colors people are wearing, how many girls are wearing dresses, how many guys wear glasses, things like that, but when you're told to only find how many boys are wearing converse, your brain automatically goes into listening mode and your only desire is to focus on that one particular thing.

The brain is quite interesting. We really do miss the things we don't intend on noticing, just like I never "noticed" this fact until I saw the video.

p.s. that bear was SO not moonwalking.

papa will preach

2009-09-25T22:35:00.000-07:00

Desserts aside, I've been doing some thinking. I watched the movie "Surrogates" today (Bruce Willis) and started thinking about how the abuse of technology would affect our lives and gay marriage and abortion and the bush administration and every other flaw this country has to offer, to be frank.

I am an opinionated person and most of you who know me know this fact very well. I have strong beliefs on everything from gay marriage to not being able to use your employee discount on sale items, but one thing that perpetually haunts me is the subject of abortion. Yes abortion is completely irrelevant to me as a person, but being a girl and one who wants to have children someday, it's a topic that I take very seriously. Many people believe that you need to experience pregnancy first hand in order to have a legitimate opinion on abortion. I beg to differ. Even though I don't plan on having a child until I am fully capable of supporting one and married, my view on abortion is not only valid, but should be strongly considered by women who disagree.

Abortion is wrong. It just is. Why do most women...actually girls...get an abortion? Because they slept around and made a mistake and need someone to clean up their mess. They can't keep the baby because they have no money and their boyfriends left them. Then why sleep around in the first place?

In middle school, we were told about the issues that arise when girls and boys don't "wait." Pregnancy was a consequence that was repeatedly brought up and something that our life skills teachers constantly stressed to the girls, but we didn't listen. I don't know if it's the whole "want-what-you-can't-have" situation, but whatever it is we have no one to blame but ourselves.

It is so unfair to accidentally get pregnant (even though you knew the risk) and then make an unborn human pay for your mistakes. And then you do the same thing again, and take another life. It's horrible.

A girl I knew in high school told me about her summer and how she "did it" with a boy and a while later "did it" with her boyfriend and then got pregnant and never knew who the baby belonged to. This girl is 18. I don't know many 18 year olds that have such adventurous lives, but the way I was raised, we shouldn't be having them. Knowing this girl pretty well and knowing the type of girl she was in high school, my immediate thoughts were that "she had an abortion", but I didn't say anything. She then said "...but I really consider myself a slut" which made it sound like she was justifying what she did. It amazed me when she said that and made me think "then what really is the definition of a 'slut'?"

I think when a girl realizes that people think she's a "slut" she might be lucky enough to want to change herself, so what more do you have to do in order to realize that what you're doing is wrong? Do you need to think in your own heart that you are a slut? I am by no means calling girls who get pregnant "sluts", I just can't think of a better word :/ Why can't girls just realize that sleeping with guy after guy is wrong, without being labeled a "slut?" When did we become so STUPID?

She then told me that she did in fact have an abortion and it's not just the idea of killing a baby that hurt me, the fact that she was so nonchalant and casual about what she did made me sick to my stomach. I was angry. How can someone regret sleeping with two boys and be completely okay with killing a baby? And then not think she's high school's definition of a slut? But that's a different story.

When someone makes a mistake, there is a consequence. The bigger the mistake, the bigger the consequence. A girl sleeping with a guy who knows what can happen to her, who accidentally gets pregnant should have to suffer the consequences. These girls know very well what can happen when they sleep around, but they still do it and who pays for their stupidity? Unborn babies. It's not fair. The girl made the mistake, why shouldn't she be obligated to keep her child? Or at least let it live? They think they're doing the kid a favor, they're doing themselves a favor because they don't have to live with the guilt of what they did and they don't have to worry about feeding a baby that they (in a way) chose to have. Nothing makes sense. Bottom line, a girl should be held accountable for what she did.

A girl will sleep with a boy, then get pregnant, then get an abortion then feel like it's okay to sleep around again because the option of abortion is always going to be there?! It's sick. And there's psychological damage that girls go through after aborting a baby as well. It's a very tough situation and in some cases traumatic. Trauma and depression can lead to doing dumb things, like sleeping around more to fill a void, and the cycle continues.

I want girls to know that it doesn't hurt to wait. Most people are advocates of doing things safely, but I say just wait. You know what can happen if you sleep with your boyfriend when you're 16 and you know exactly where that boy is going to go once he finds out what's in your belly. You need to be prepared for what might happen after that one moment with a boy. Girls should be fully able to physically, mentally, financially and emotionally support their child and until they are, they should just wait.

Girls also forget that adoption is always an option. Don't kill the baby, give it to someone who can take care of them. What's wrong with that? I think we need to build up our reputations as females and make smarter decisions.

A lot of you may be thinking "what if the girl is raped?" and yes, this is something that I have thought about several times. I could only imagine how horrible being raped could be. To have to suffer such an ordeal is beyond my comprehension, but there can't be conditions. Abortion is either legal or it's not. I know that's a harsh opinion, but realistically speaking, we can only have it one way or the other.

I hope this topic didn't make anyone angry, I just wanted to express a very well thought-out opinion. It might not be favorable to a lot of girls my age, but I think if we really look deep into this, we'll realize that this is unjust and wrong.

Cookie Monster

2009-09-24T23:54:00.000-07:00

Desserts, desserts, desserts!! There really is no end to the creativity and amount of dessert places in LA.

One of my more recent discoveries is a cookie place. Not diddy riese type, but literally cookies. Fresh baked, thick, moist delicious cookies in SO MANY FLAVORS. It's like a Sprinkles, but for cookies.

This place is called Deluscious Cookies. Just the name makes your mouth water. Now, I've never been here, or tried any of their cookies, but it was featured on My L.A. a while ago and these cookies just looked delicious. Best description--gourmet cookies. I've seen pictures of them and the fact that they look so imperfect and breakable proves that not only are they totally fresh, but they're made with the best ingredients. Here's what their website has to say about themselves:

"At DeLuscious, our more than 24 enticing flavors will satisfy your desire for something extraordinary and keep you coming back for more. Made from scratch, our cookies are always baked fresh for each order. You won't find any fillers, hydrogenated oils or corn syrup in our cookies. We only use premium chocolates, Grade AA sweet cream butter and pure cane sugars."

How does that sound for home baked? I've never heard of a cookie shop. I mean, a cookie shop? Can you get any more clever than that? And just like any high-end bakery, everything is perfectly pretty and wrapped and there are a ton of flavors to choose from. Deluscious has 24 of them. I'm sorry if I sound dessertly-ignorant, but the only cookie flavors I know are chocolate chip, macadamia nut, oatmeal and chocolate. But not only does this place have the basics but when we get to their "couture cookies" (okay, the fact that they use the word 'couture' when referring to cookies says enough about this place) things get tricky. Their "couture" list includes: butterscotch walnut, chocolate bing cherry, reese's peanut butter chocolate, wild blueberry lemon white chocolate (?!?!?!), chocolate white chocolate raspberry, banana mango coconut, pumpkin spice, red velvet, apricot marzipan almond, and of course the list goes on! These are flavors I would've never thought of to put into cookies, or any baked good for that matter.

Is this not the most ridiculous list of flavors you've ever seen?! These are just cookies. Some brains these guys must have.

But this place is not, I repeat, not by any means cheap and their are quite a bit of flaws with their system. First of all, a basic dozen is $38.95 and their specialty dozen is $42.95. Quite expensive if you ask me and you must order your cookies. You can't buy them in store. I guess it's a freshness factor. You also must order at least a dozen. How annoying right?! So you're telling me I have to spend $40 every time I come in there when I don't even need 12 cookies? Yeah, that's the catch. No individual cookies. Lame, I know. But I guess once is no big deal just to try 'em out.

They deliver their cookies to your house and deliver milk as well. Yum. You can also pick them up in store and in-store pick up orders must be placed 2 hours in advance.

I'm so intrigued by this place and am definitely gonna go in the near future. These cookies sound delicious, or should I say deluscious. If you've got $40+ bucks to kill, 11 people with a sweet tooth and time to drive to LA, I highly suggest this place. If you get to go before me, please let me know if these cookies are everything they're cracked up to be. Testimonials are always welcome on my blog :D

HERE IS THEIR CONTACT INFO
Website:
www.delusciouscookies.com
Number:
(323) 460-6301
Address:
829 North Highland Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038

but oreos double stuf will always remain #1 ;)

My lips like suga

2009-09-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

So I'm sure most of you who are reading this have a major sweet tooth. Much like myself. And having a sweet tooth probably means you're in the constant search of new and yummy dessert places and always go to restaurants in hope of having "room for dessert" but of course, never really end up having any. So here goes. No, I do not have clever ways to be satisfied with a restaurant meal and still have room for dessert, though I wish I did, but what I do have is a really cool and clever dessert place located in Westwood, CA.

It's called Diddy Riese. It's like a klondike bar, but not packaged, and not frozen. It's a cookie sandwich! Two thick, and moist cookies with a giant slab of ice cream in the middle. DELICIOUS. Of course, you can make this at home, so it's not really anything special, but there's big fun in going out of the kitchen to get desserts.

My sister is the one who introduced me to this place and she described it as "really good, but nothing special" I still wanted to go, being a sugar connosieur and all. She said it's "really popular" and "the lines are always huge" so that made me even more excited! If it's famous, it must be good, so Kiran is probably just underestimating this place. I went for the first time with my sister and two of her friends, and of course the line was huge. This was around 11pm. The place is usually open til 12 or 1 depending on the day. This of course is another advantage because we all love getting sweet, midnight snacks and sometimes, denny's isn't our best option.

I ordered a chococlate chip, vanilla ice cream sandwich. Standard combo. But they have SO MANY FLAVORS! They have probably every cookie you can think and every ice cream flavor you can think of. It's brilliant. It's just a matter of putting the overwhelming amount of choices together because I'm sure not every combination turns out good, but mine did. Now, the place is VERY tiny. It can accomodate maybe...6 people without getting claustrophobic? So if you're turned off by tiny places and big crouds, this might not be the place for you, but I'm telling you you'll like it! It leaves you very satisfied.

I liked this place a lot more than my sister did. The cookies are fresh, and warm and go great with the cold ice cream. And the best part? This place is DIRT CHEAP! $1.50 for the giant ice cream sandwich you get! $1.50?! It costs more for a bucket of ice cream at Albertson's! And you can get 3, big, freshly baked cookies for just $1.00! ONE DOLLAR FOR THREE COOKIES! That's a godsend.

Point blank, go to Diddy Riese, it's yummy, fresh, the people are friendly and it's deliciously cheap.

HERE IS THEIR CONTACT INFO
Website:
www.diddyriese.com
Number:
310-208-0448
Address:
926 Broxton Avenue
Westwood, CA 90024

what wouldja do-oo-ooo for a klondike bar? I'm not gonna lie, those are pretty bomb too.

Chino Hills' answer to Sprinkles

2009-09-22T21:11:00.000-07:00

So I'm sure you're all aware of Sprinkles Cupcakes. Delicious, sweet, goodness. Over 23 flavors. Freshly baked. The "celebrity cupcake" and according to the Los Angeles Times, "the progenitor of the haute cupcake craze" I agree. Sprinkles are heaven. But what do you do when the nearest Sprinkles is in Newport Beach and Beverly Hills which are not even remotely "near."

I'll tell you what to do. You go to Dolcissimo. Chino Hills' answer to the exclusivity and demand for Sprinkles' Cupcakes. According to the Washington Post, "most cupcake bakeries take their inspiration from Sprinkles". This is absolutely true. Yeah, Dolcissimo is copycat. You are eating knockoff Sprinkles. But who cares?! The are DELICIOUS! And you're saving gas and money! Not only is it local, but their cupcakes are a bit cheaper too. No they don't have 23 flavors, but the flavors that they do carry are so yummy! Their red velvet is amazing and so is there madagascar bourbon. I strongly recommend this place to anyone who wants Sprinkles cupcakes so bad but just doesn't have the time to drive that far. Dolcissimo's cupcakes are no different from what you'll get at Sprinkles. Of course Sprinkles is the original cupcake princess and all others would just be imitations or attempts to create cupcakes of the same standard at Sprinkes, but to me, a cupcake is a cupcake and as long as it tastes incredible and leaves me satisfied, I'm good.

GO TO DOLCISSIMO, I AM TELLING YOU! So many people don't know about it because they think Sprinkles is the only fancy, yummy cupcake place to go to, but guess what, it's not!

This place also has cheesecake, cookies, pies and cannoli. I just found that out from their website. :)

They customize, and deliver, and cater so they're legit. Seriously people, go there. You won't regret. AND!!! they're receipts...ARE PINK! need I say more.

Here is their price list
http://www.dolcissimobakeshop.com/price_list.pdf

HERE IS THEIR CONTACT INFO:
Website:
www.dolcissimobakeshop.com
Number:
909-591-3646
Address:
3855 City Center dr. Chino Hills, CA 91709.

God bless locality.

Eid Mubarak!

2009-09-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

First off, my presentation went great! I was very nervous and apparently Joe was getting "nervous vibes" coming off of me, but anyway...I went up and gave my speech and I got quite a few laughs! I was very happy. But I skipped almost an entire section in my speech :( and it was a good one too! I was sad, but it's okay. At least I didn't stumble, yeah? And everyone seemed to like it, so I'm chipper.

Alright, so our fabulous weekend began with "chaand raat" which is the day before Eid where all the Muslim people go out and eat and shop for clothes and meet their friends. We went to a party that night and had a great time. Party number one. The next day (Sunday) was Eid. My favorite time of the year! We woke up at 6:30am and got dressed to go for prayer and meet all our friends and family at the Ontario Convention Center. Gosh, it was great this year. There were so many people! A lot more than usual. Probably because Pomona Mining Company didn't have it this year, so all the Arabs came to Ontario. It was great. Everyone looked gorgeous in their ethnic garb and it was nice seeing our friends after a long time. I'll try to post pictures up. After Ontario, there was a brunch at my house. Party number two. Mama cooked! In other words, the food was amazing. Everyone had a really good time. Later that evening, we went to ANOTHER party in corona at my mom's friend's house. It was fun. Party number three. We made some new friends. We were exhausted when we finally came home! AND I had a psych test the next day. Woop!

Eid this year was amazing. I've never had so much fun on this holiday before. And I got some cash. That's always great! Three parties in one night. That's the life.

'til then!

You're a mom n' pop, I'm a corporation, I'm the press conference, you a conversation.

Reunited and it feels so good...

2009-09-19T00:50:00.000-07:00

Big sis came home today! Wooooot! She surprised my mom and i while we were shopping. It was kinda creepy, i'm not gonna lie, but boy did i miss her! We're going to this beach clean-up thing tomorrow that she has to film for.

Tomorrow evening we have this day-before-eid party at my mom's friend's house. I'm not too sure how it's gonna turn out since we don't really know the people.

Sunday is EID!!! I am soooo excited. I'm more excited about my outfit though! ;)

I am dead tired and need to wake up at 4:40 to eat breakfast soo auf wiedersehen for now.

peace.

Beyonce had one of the best videos of the year...

2009-09-18T00:43:00.000-07:00

NOT!

So I finally watched the VMA's in its entirety yesterday. Oh the power of DVR. But anyway...gosh, kanye's such a butt head. I mean, I heard about and saw the clip on the news several times, but when you actually see it during the show, it leaves you with a bigger impression. What a jerk. But at least he sincerely apologized on Jay Leno, that was nice.

Alright, the last day of Ramadan is on Saturday and then Eid! I'm excited, holy cow! mmmk it's bedtime. nighty night!

p.s. GO TIGER UNICORNS!!!

1, 2 step

2009-09-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

Today was a hot day. As usual! But before we get to the good stuff can I just say that the people in my sociology class are so gosh darn stuck up and rude. No one is nice except this one girl maura she's she sweetest. I asked this one girl for a piece of paper and she ROLLED her eyes I kid you not! Rolled her eyes for a piece of paper! She's so serious too it's annoying. But anyway that class just gives me the creeps I swear I have never met such rude people.

Alright so today I had aerobics and you know it really hasn't been that bad it's been a workout but a fun one but today we did the stepper. I thought I was gonna die! I NEVER sweat on my chest, but I did today! I think that tells you something! It was toooo intense but hey! It's good for you, yeah? But I was so tired I didn't even change back when I got to the locker room, I stayed in my yucky sweats and went home.

Now i'm watching top model with my mama. But then again, this isn't twitter. :)

add this to your list of funniest things...

2009-09-15T19:20:00.000-07:00

Not to give you guys any less of a life than you already may have, but "Jake and Amir" is probably one of the funniest things I have ever seen. It's two boys in college who work for collegehumor.com and make 2-5 minute movies about their lives and their friendship. It really is hilarious. Here's one of their videos and also my personal favorite from the Jake and Amir collection. AAAHHH!!!

Back in Action

2009-09-15T16:31:00.001-07:00

Hello again! :)

Wow it's been a while. May 29th I think was the last time I blogged. I am very disappointed in myself. So how's life been? Pretty great. My summer was amazing. My family and I went to Singapore, Malaysia and Pakistan and I don't want to get into too much detail, but I can honestly tell you that all three were incredible. I always love going to Pakistan since we have so much family there. I also got a job at Forever 21 over the summer. But it was only for two weeks since I had to leave on a one-month vacation. And now...school...or college I should say.

College is great. It's a completely different type of environment from high school, which I love. No worrying about how you look or how many friends you have, we're all kind of equal. I really like it. I love my classes like my own child. I'm taking Soc, Psych, Aerobics, Speech, and Journalism 103 (hi toni!) my professors are great and everything is just really interesting. Everything is good, except this weather! Unbearable would be the best adjective. AND it's Ramadan, so I can't even drink water! It's terrible, but I think it's gonna get better in a week or so.

Ramadan is almost over and I'm kinda sad. I dunno why. Most people would be happy to be able to eat again, but I'm kinda ehhh. I don't know, maybe because I'm older and more mature now and I've learned to appreciate this month a lot more than I used to. I used to get annoyed from not eating, but I don't mind so much anymore. Saturday is our last day of fasting, then Sunday is Eid (the big holiday we have after Ramadan). I'm excited for that! We're having a party at our place. Feel free to come! :D Mama's cookin!

Sadly, after 3 and a half months, nothing is new in my life. But I gotta say I'm very mad at Kanye West, we all know what he did. Taylor Swift is so nice, there was no need to shoot her in the face like that. And besides, Beyonce's video wasn't even THAT good. I find Lady Gaga a bit too gaga for me. Her music is good, but she kinda creeps me out. Is she really a transvestite like people say she is?! She's always supporting gay people in an irregular way. It's okay to support them, she just seems a bit too preachy about it, but I dunno, I don't wanna sound mean or anything. She's just freaky. She wore a thong-leotard during her performance on Ellen and I was watching that with my mom! Who wears that?! And on day time tv?! She's so strange! Is she even human? But whatevs...to each his own I guess.

My sister rode the city bus today. Need I say more.

til then!

High School is over

2009-05-31T17:46:00.000-07:00

So my last day of high school was on May 29th, 2009. It was a really emotional day, i think i cried like 90% of the whole day. a lot of us did. it's so sad knowing that there are people at school that i'm literally never gonna see again. never. they're going to NYU, or Berkeley, or Arizona, it's really, really sad. i mean, you're happy that you're leaving high school and going off to college, but you're sad because there are so many things that you never got to say to people, and so many friends you had drama with and wish you could just make it all better. my sister told me that after everyone throws their caps and says goodbye to each other, that's it. it's over. there's no "let's hang out over break!" because you both know you're NOT gonna hang out becuase you never really knew each to begin with and that's the saddest part. we went through high school thinking that the next year and the year after that will be the year that we become friends with this one girl, but it NEVER happens and then finally when you're graduating, going off into the real world it hits you that you never did get to know her and all you're left with is regret because it's too late. would it really have taken so much out of you to just go and say hi? of course not, but we didn't. i feel more sad than happy about leaving high school and not just because of the people, but because i don't think i'm mentally prepared to go to college. i mean most of you who know me know that i'm pretty immature. i like to joke and fool around, so how am i supposed to fit in to college life? 2 months is nothing to prepare...4 years of high school was supposed to do that for me and it didn't because i'm the same exact person i was in elementary school. seriously, i am. high school didn't change me one bit. i have been told that several times and i know it myself. it's a really good feeling to know that high school didn't change me. this guy told me i still walk around school saying "hi everybody!!!" like i did in middle school but i bet that's completely forbidden at college. it's quiet time. but it's nice to know that people think i'm nice. my friend christine changed so much and i feel like she's one of the unlucky ones because i think high school changing usually has a negative connotation and i would never wanna negatively change myself. i guess it doesn't matter that i'm not prepared for college because i'm exactly the same as i was in elementary and middle school, and that girl was pretty darn great...so why change? why prepare when i'm already good?
anywayyyy high school is over. high school is over. high school is over. high school is over. i really needa let this sink in. all those key club hours, totally pointless, not being prom queen, pointless, not being french club president, pointless, not getting the graduation speech...well that won't be pointless until AFTER graduation day when i'm sitting there watching michelle and monica give the commencement speeches which were so rightfully supposed to be MINE. but whatever...it will all be useless after june 4th. and honestly...i CAN wait. i'm gonna miss high school.

Sometimes love knocks you down

2009-05-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

Goodness I haven't blogged in a while. So anyway, i'm sure you're all aware of a friend of mine. I don't wanna mention her name, but you know who i'm talking about. We became friends and she was such a good girl. great girl in fact. innocent and didn't care about what people thought and about doing bad stuff and she was a good muslim girl but everything has changed and i feel like it's my fault. not in the way that i "influenced" her because it's not like i've ever done any of the stuff that she has been doing lately. it's my fault that she's changed because before she became friends with me, literally no one knew who she was and her old best friend was so boring and kind of kept her sheltered so she wasn't really exposed to high school life. she didn't care about boys and drinking until she met me. not in a narcissistic way, but i'm pretty well-known at school. she liked my personality and met the people i knew and everything just changed. People started to notice how pretty she is and boys started to notice her and it really got to her head. she started dressing differently, wanting to be more free and eventually she started to go to parties every weekend and lie to me, her best friend, about them. it's hard when you feel like you know someone so well, but then you find out in the worst way possible that you really don't know them at all. we have literally nothing in common anymore. she likes to drink, go to parties, make out with random boys, go to parties, and go to parties and she says she does it to "experience" high school and she doesn't even realize how insignificant that stuff is afterwards and what it does to you. I don't care about any of that stuff so what how are we supposed to be friends? she's changed so much. she's a bad girl now. i know that sounds completely silly, but she is. even with the stuff she wears, being a muslim girl. it also hurts when i bring something up like this and she thinks i'm "judging her" and she gets SOOO defensive and so mean and starts yelling and all i'm trying to do is look out for her because she's my best friend and i care about her. I hate hearing people telling me Monday morning that she got really drunk over the weekend, it makes me worry and it makes me upset that SHE didn't tell me herself. i guess she doesn't wanna be cared for and maybe i should stop and let her learn the hard way what can happen to her. these people she's been spending time with are bad people and can do stuff to her, but she doesn't get it. she's turned into something completely different from what i knew before and i just don't know what to do. this girl's a slut now. i'm sorry to say, but she is. so you see how this is MY fault? if it weren't for me becoming friends with her, this would've never happened. whatevs though it's good to know i'm the good one.

these are probably the worst pies in London

2009-03-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

alright, so i'm assuming that you know this post has absolutely nothing to do with the worst pies in london, but it does have to do with the worst night of my life. last night, in fact.

I was watching the Tyra Banks show...like most girls my age and it was on gold-digging women. Nothing sexual in fact that show had nothing to do with sex whatsoever. NOTHING. It was simply about women who like rich men to buy them stuff. So as i was watching, my mother comes down and just happen to hear tyra ask one of the women if she has sex with the old men she uses. And the girl simply replied no. THAT WAS IT. literally. And then my mother, after watching it for 2 minutes BLOWS UP and tells me that I need to turn the show off because it's dirty and she doesn't understand why i'm interested in watching something like that. wow. for god's sake i'm 18 years old i'm not 5. She kept telling me to turn it off and that i can go and have sex for all she cares and the entire time i was trying to explain to her that the show had nothing to do with sex..she just came down at the wrong time and her one silly sentence with the word sex in it. So then she started to yell and things got physical. from her side at least. i won't specify any more. she yelled and yelled, then my sister started to yell at me, then my dad did and things got even more physical and i started crying hysterically because i was so bombarded by my three family members over a dumb tv show that was not even inappropriate. Then my mom pushed me on the stairs and yelled at me some more. and i'm talking like yelling at the top of her lungs. AND my dad was yelling AND my sister. So then i decided instead of arguing even more with her and making her even more mad, i'm just gonna go to bed and leave her alone. i'm over it. it's done. half an hour later as i'm about to fall asleep, my mom came back into my room turned the light on and started yelling like a crazy person again about how i was rude and i need to apologize. then she took my phone and broke it in half. yes in half. i swear. she broke my phone in half and threw it against my wall then yelled and hit me some more. then left and slammed my door. i began to cry again. hysterically. i couldn't breathe i was crying so hard and eventually i just cried myself to sleep. this is my mother, guys.

Can I just say...

2009-02-21T17:36:00.000-08:00

that I love ASB? And everyone in it?

i just thought i should make that clear. :)

Finally Legal!

2009-02-08T19:11:00.000-08:00

January 28th, 2009 i turned 18. WOW was that exciting! Late start breakfast at millie's with the BF's (Brian, Jaz, Alexis, and of course CHRISTINE!). They brought me balloons, and cake and cupcakes and brownies. Yum. Christine bought me a suuuuuuuuperrrr cute juicy necklace and a cute card. GREAT morning. I got to school, brian let my bday balloon from Jaz fly out of christine' sunroof. :) Eenell brought me a piece of cake and more balloons when we parked. Then as I walked to class I receieved a million happy birthday's. that was nice. late to second. oh darn. but danielle brought me cupcakes :) After second riya, alekhya, hishaam all came up to me at once. Riya made me cupcakes, hishaam brought me cheesecake. So far i had cookies from jaz, cupcakes from alexis, cake and cupcakes from christine, cupcakes from danielle, cupcakes from riya and cheesecake from hishaam. WOW. I felt loved. Then ASB (4th) muh girls daniya and jasmine got me BALLOONSSS!!!! awwwww i love you guys! My bouquet of balloons just increased. BEAUTIFUL. "all those in favor say..'happy birthday beena!'" yadda, yadda, yadda..."wow beena! who gave you all that food!?" "can i please have a cupcake?" "of course you can!!" "wow beena you're so freakin loved!" great day. great day. then i mc'ed for the WF court annoucements...seriously now! Could this day get ANY better?? I kicked butt. or at leas i'd like to think i did...but unfortunately i could not walk around at lunch with my balloons and food to show off the fact that it was my birthday :( but it's all good. the people that mattered knew it was. Sharing food, getting wished happy birthday....fast forward to 6th. 10 minutes into 6th period Lauren, Trisha, Hishaam and Danielle walk in my classroom with a cake and start singing happy birthday! AWWWW!!!!!!!! i LOVE you guys!!!! this really was an amazing. i can't even beging to say how tired i was of saying "thank you!!" that day! lol so many people said happy birthday it was the best birthday ever. I love my friends. :) Family got me a cake and we had a partayyy in the house that weekend. Mama daddy kinna got me a new camera (and cash)!! I guess they knew i've been wanting one (a camera lol) I love my family :) What a wonderful way to turn 18. I really had the best 18th birthday every. Thank you so much Christine, Brian, Alexis, Jaz, Eenell, Danielle, Riya, Hishaam, Daniya, Jasmine, ASB and of course my family. I'm 18 baby!!!!!!!

Hey hey! Ho ho! The occupations got to go!

2009-01-11T15:36:00.000-08:00

So yesterday my family and I went to a protest against the war in Gaza in Westwood, CA which took place in front of the Federal Building. I can honestly say that I have never had such an amazing experience in my life. I was skeptical to go at first but only because I was judging by all the previous protests i've seen in my life and on TV. 30 or something people picketing in front of grocery store or holding signs saying "yes on prop 8" on the streets of LA. But never in my life have I seen a protest this big. When we got there I couldn't believe what I was seeing and I couldn't wait to start protesting. We got our sings and began chanting "hey hey, ho ho, the occupations got to go!" and "1234, we don't want your racist war! 5678, stop the evil, stop the hate" and "Israel, don't you try! Palestine will never die!" Wow. It was incredible. We crossed the street back in forth with our signs and screamed at cars. One car drove by us several times with "Long Live Palestine" written on the back of their car in red, green and white. The care was decorated with all this red, green and white stuff and they were waving Palestinian flags. It was great. One care drove by waving two huge Israeli flags and 4 guys ran to the car on the street and attacked it. One woman had a sign that said "Christians for Israel!" and two men grabbed it and broke it in half. Serves her right.It was so chaotic but that's what made it beautiful. My sister saw some friends from school and the whole Gibani clan was there. That was cool. After about an hour of chanting and screaming, we started the march around the city of Westwood. More chanting, more screaming. I can't put a number on how many people were there...like 5000...no joke. maybe even more. Anyway, the march was awesome. There was this man hippie, Christian man in front of us with a Kaffaya (sp) on his head and a sign that pretty much said Israel is a terrorist country. (pics will be myspace'd soon) it was really great to see a non-Muslim supporting us. As we walked by appartment buildings, there were people taking birds-eye pictures of us protestors from their balconies, and this one black guy started dancing to our chants. SOOO FUNNY. And this group of black thugs were taking pictures of us from their balconies too...lol. Even though it was a protest, I had FUN. I had a lot of fun. I felt empowered and stronger and it was so nice to see so many Muslims come together. I think we really made a statement and that's what's important. I saw Farid Gibani, but decided to ignore him since I wasn't there to mingle, I was there for something important, but later on, my sister saw her friend Sumaya, and gave her a hug and then i saw a camera flash go off in my face and someone say "Beena!!" and I looked and it was Farid. HOW EMBARRRRASSSSING. He took this realllllly ugly picture of me and had the nerve to SHOW IT TO ME. he was laughing at that lame picture so hard i thought i was goona cry. It was a horrible picture...but you can't really expect a good picture when the victim ISN'T PAYING ATTENTION! and i asked him to delete it, but he kept laughing. BUTTHEAD! He still hasn't deleted it....(farid, if you're reading this, please delete that picture :[ ) Farid's dad made this fake baby from felt and put like, red marker on it to represent blood and he was putting it in the air and screaming. Pretty powerful stuff. Anyway, I don't think I've ever had such a great experience in my life and I can't wait til the next protest cause I am SO DOWN! We got our point across and it was great seeing so many people who didn't participate in the actual protest supporting us and honking their cars at us and putting thumbs up and stuff. I know that inshallah this war will end and Palestine will be free. It's so horrible that these people have to suffer so much for nothing and I wish there was more that we can do than just protest, but I know it will pay off, it's just a matter of time. I encourage everyone to participate in the next protest for Gaza because I cannot emphasize enough how important it is. There can never be too many people to support Palestine. Every person makes a huge difference and regardless of whether we win this fight or not, (which I know we will) at least it'll be known that there are a lot of people who care.

She put the lime in the coconut, she drink it all uppp.

2009-01-05T23:06:00.000-08:00

House and Cuddy BELONG together.
BE LONG TO GETH ER

OKAY?!?!

christmas blues

2008-12-20T23:30:00.001-08:00

i still don't know what to get my sister. O!M!G!

until then...merry christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!

christmas blues

2008-12-20T23:30:00.000-08:00

i still don't know what to get my sister. O!M!G!

until then...merry christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!

simply having a wonderful christmas time

2008-12-20T23:04:00.000-08:00

welll...christmas is here!! YAY!! goodness i love it. now, if you're a muslim and you're reading you're probably thinking that beena is an abomination to islam. well too bad.

i don't think i have a single christian friend who reads the Bible with their family on Christmas day and drinks a glass of wine and recites hymns about the Virgin Mary. ANYONE can celebrate Christmas. ANYONE because giving gifts to people and decorating your house is never wrong. It's really not a big deal. My other Muslim friends kinda look down on me cause my family celebrates it and it's surprising cause they're from the same generation as me so i'd expect them to understand, but they don't. It's not like my family goes to church and does anything related to Christianity we just like it because the decorations are so pretty and we love the smell of christmas trees and we love decorating them and we like giving gifts to each other. there's nothing wrong with that. it's a beautiful holiday, it really is. the packed shopping malls, the xmas lights, ornaments, happy christmas music, sparkly wrapping paper, egg nog..."christ" is just in its name. when we muslims celebrate it, we're not celebrating it FOR christ, we're celebrating it because it makes us feel good and it's fun to participate in it or else you look like a boring loser. My family has a tree set up and gifts underneath because it just looks so nice. that's all. i don't see how in any way we are disrespecting our own religion.

Tomorrow is my annual CHRISTMAS PARTAYYYY!!!! I'm excited, there's so much to do! baking, shopping, cleaning, calling. it's gonna be a busy sunday. but i'm excited. it's Christine's first time coming to one of my christmas parties so i'm veryyyyy anxious.

ASB delivered stockings stuffed with kettle corn, candy and starbucks to all the teachers. I had to deliver stockings in a t-shirt and vest in 50 degree rainy weather! DO YOU KNOW WHAT I WENT THROUGH?!! but i suppose i had fun along the way. i wanted to go to wendland and deshan but someone else covered their buildings.:( i was dressed up as a cute little elf. :) all red and green'd out. i love my asb family. i really do. i was the photographer of the day and took pictures of all the asb'ers during class. i sent em to steph, caused she asked me to, but she didn't even use them. i dont't think she likes me. she's kinda not nice to me...but it's okay. i'll still be nice to her. :) lunch took place in the asb room that day for it was freezing outside and christine, daniya and myself wanted to stay warm and dry. we had fun taking more pictures.

anyway, christmastime has been fun. it started off terribly but it's gotten a lot better. it actually feels like christmas now and i can't wait til December 25th to open up my gifts and drink egg nog!! Christine's birthday is also on monday! OOOOH I CAN'T WAIT!! i can't wait til she opens her gift!!! WOOOOTTT!!!! life's been swell...i gotta say.

until then...merry christmas everyone!

Is it too late to 'pologize?

2008-12-20T22:43:00.000-08:00

Alright, alright. So i know i said i'd post a new blog after i hung out with christine again...and i think it's safe to say that i HAVE hung out with her...several times in fact during the past month...what kind of best friend would i be if i didn't?? Back to the point...i didn't blog cause i guess life just got too busy after those fires. Not that they affected me or my family, but i'm just givin you a time frame type thing. It was after the fires when i got busy. Ya feel me?? I'm not exactly sure with what but with something. And christine and i hung out and i just forgot about my precious little blogger. But now i'm blogging so everything's cool, right??

annnnyyyywaaaayyyy. What did Christine and I do?? Saw V was it?? And other stuff, but i forget. :) Saw V was a disaster. Not scary at all, and i am PRONE to fear. I'm afraid of flies no joke. But i was laughing during half of that lame movie and forcing myself to stay awake during the other half. I guess that sums the movie up but then again, i suppose you need to have seen every single Saw movie in order to understand and in a way "appreciate" number 5. but still...i was disappointed. and the ending...can you say RETARDED?!! this guys gets smushed between two walls. come on now. hollywood can only do SO much. don't push it guys. Anyhow christine and i also went to the brea mall and had cpk with some friends. that was fun i guess. a little disappointing. not as fun as i expected it to be but whaddya do??

what else has been goin on in my life? My phone was taken away for 2 weeks...i told a lie. :( but it's back in action now. :) it really was a terrible two weeks, but i sucked it up. didn't complain once. refused to let my parents have the satisfaction of knowing that i was mad about my phone being taken away. ya feel? but i got it back. papa couldn't stand the inconvenience of not being able to get a hold of me at school. :) Anyway, things are up and peachy now. School's goin alright, french is a draaaaaaag...(that was an onomatopoeia!) everything else is fine. i miss mr. wendland's class. :( most of my really good high school memories took place in his classes. freshman year and SS. I don't think you've experienced high school unless you've had mr. wendland for a teacher lol his class was so much fun. everything is hilarious. good times...i really miss it but i go and visit from time to time. Graduating is gonna be hard. :(
well...winter's here. yuck. i hate rain and frizzy hair.

until then...

Burn! Baby, Burn!

2008-11-16T20:34:00.000-08:00

So of course as you all know, we've had these fires going on for quite some time now and even though my family and I are not victims of them, It's devastating. We went to denny's this morning and the place was packed...i mean literally PACKED with evacuees who spent the night there. My gosh, it was horrible and I can't even begin to say how grateful I am that, alhumdullilah, my family and I are okay and the fires didn't hit our area of Chino Hills. Chino Hills State Park is really close to where I live, but we didn't get any fire. No evacuees, nothing. I can only imagine what it would be like to have my house burned down. We saw homes on the news that were burnt to the ground and one even burned while the family was gone. It's just horrible and I can't stop thanking Allah that I am not in the position of those families and children. The CHSP fire has been blown out but ashes are everywhere, even where I live and the smell is horrible...but a bad smell is better than a burnt down house. My prayers go out to all those families who had to evacuate or lost someone and to those who were injured....

but on a positive note...
school is closed down! and it's not positive because I get to miss school, it's positive because our school is being used as a shelter for all the evacuees...as well as diamond bar and ayala high school. I think i'm gonna volunteer at Ayala.

Anyway...if you're reading this and had to evacuate, lost someone or were injured during these fires, my prayers and condolences go out to you. Stay positive. Everything, inshallah, will be okay.

back to life...back to reality...

2008-10-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

Because Ramadan is over, I can get back to doing my normal things again. Wearing skirts and dresses, hanging out with friends and waking up at a normal time. My days of melrose and movies are back in action and who knows?? I might even go to Knott's scawee fawm this yee-uh. But we'll see. Ooooooohhhhhh i can't wait. I haven't hung out with friends in a month...i feel like i don't have any!! :( i feel like CHARLES KURT! hahahahha sorry. anyway...until next time.

Beena.

p to the s.
i will write a new blog when i hang out with christine again. hopefully this weekend.

JUST A REMINDER:

HOMECOMING IS COMING UP IN 9 DAYS AND I HAVE NO ONE TO GO WITH.
This is not a cry for a date or a buddy...i'm just venting. i am expressing these fragile emotions to the world. i feel pathetic. i feel more like charles kurt than ever before. :( god help me.

Hai RAMAdan!

2008-09-29T16:53:00.001-07:00

alright, so today's the second to last day of ramadan and strange as it sounds, i'm kinda sad. I was getting so tired of the not eating and I would pray to get my you-know-what so I didn't have to fast. Sadly enough, I never got my you-know-what this month...so i had to fast EVERY DAY. But now that it's all about to end, I'm sad. I feel like it barely started. you really never know the value of something until it's gone. Ramadan really is a beautiful time of the year. It's like a 5th season. Winter is cold and dry, Spring is hot and green, Summer is hot and orange, Fall is brown and chilly, Ramadan is pure and calming and understanding and unifying. I know this sounds strange coming from someone who would complain about not eating everyday, but i mean it. It shouldn't be taken for granted and it really changes your perspective about things. I complained about not eating for 14 hours, but there are people in this world where it's Ramadan for them literally every day of their lives. They wake up for Fajr, eat and probably don't have another meal for the rest of the day. It's so sad and it's specifically during this time of the year where thanking God is absolutely necessary. Crucial, in fact.
Last night i was getting water from my fridge. You know how there's an ice part and a water part. I was getting water and didn't realize that I had taken too much so I threw the rest of it out. 2 minutes later i started thinking that I have an unlimited supply of water for me every single day. I can take as much as I want and throw away as much as I want because the water isn't going to run out. And then there are children and families who not only do not have water, but the water they do have is completely unsanitary. I felt so selfish for throwing away that water, I just sat down and literally thanked Allah. It's sad how we take these blessings for granted and think that it's okay to waste these things that to us, seem common when people out there don't even have the option of whether to throw that water away or not. We need to start realizing what we have and how lucky we are. Embrace each and every nook and cranny of what you have and I think when we begin doing so, that's when we realize the true meaning of Ramadan.

long time no blog

2008-09-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

Hi again.
Gosh its been a while since i've written in this, but i guess that's what happens with diary-type things. you get distracted in the process. schools kept me really busy but oy am i lovin it. love the classes and love the people that come with them even more. ASB is amazing and i'm very fortunate to be part of such an awesome group of people. ignore the cheesiness.

Francais 4 AP
Civics
Dance
A!S!B!
TA
AP English.

lovinitlovinitlovinit.

So anyway, like i said before school has been nothing but great. i guess you kinda get over the waking up early part when you hit pierre rd and see all the amazing people that many of us walnutters call a second home.

Jacquot is jacquot. Adorably evil
C is for cute. C is for calderon.
Tomlin's pretty crazy. but pretty funny. but pretty tough.
Schultz is schultz. i love schultz.
Juarez-Medina (or...according to christine "huarez-medina") teaches you about life. i suppose that's more important than english....
Holmes. 6+ feet of brilliance.

such a diverse group of people. but the only option you have is to love em.

Besides school, life's been pretty sad since my sister moved out. U!S!C! yeah. she got in! she's enjoying life in her tuscany apartment with her roommates and im here with mom and dad. i miss the spending sprees at nordstrom, pinkberry whelming, and late night chats. yeah it's sad. i feel like an only child, but it's okay cause i got ma christiiiiiiiiiiine!!!! and i love her like a sister. WORKITOUT!

i really hope this year is everything i expected it to be. financially it is...hahahahah....people wise....it's getting there...friends wise...couldn't be better....family wise....almost there...brain wise...been there since the womb.

it's S!E!N!I!O!R! YEAR!!! allah-miya! what am i WORRYING about? this year isn't gonna be anything but perfect.

summa and otha

2008-08-21T01:05:00.000-07:00

so summer is pretty much OVA. it's kinda depressing. Family came over from the motherland and i ta'ed for K-WED this summa...hahahahhaha is all i can say about that. i love you mr. johnny bravo! worked ASB registration. and when i say work...i mean it. ;0 The BF came over a few times to pay me little visit during summaskoool. Hung out with the chaaban's. pretty chill summer. didn't gain any weight...lost a few...feelin fat. as usual! is that totally I.E?!? I simply cannot stand the thought of going back to portables, incoming freshfish, curly headed guy (not chu brian), and textbooks that smell odd. and did i mention that i'm only on page 43 of Frankenstein!!!??????

i LOVE sleeping in and sleeping at 3:00 in the morning...at the earliest. but it's all about to end. with a roar. i have nothing to brag about this summer. just the shopping, but that's every summer. and i think that applies to everyone.

sia ahmadi is a LOSER.

but it's senior year, babay. can't complain about that. i mean, i can...takin a few AP's...but who doesn't?? if school started at 12:00 in the afternoon, i'd be much better off. OH GOD NO! school is starting? i don't think you've realized that. has it REALLY registered in that tiny little thing of yours that you call a brain that SCHOOL IS STARTING ON MONDAY??!! summer is over. it just ended. 6 weeks wasted being a TA. are you mofoin kiddin me?? i swear. i already bought the black nail polish i just need red lipstick, fishnets, a whip and i'm all set. Im so angry that summer is ending! im about to turn into a full-fledged rebel. with a cause. maybe without. i dunno. AND the sister is movin out??! LIKE HELLLLOO!!? does the world have no sympathy? im losing my best friend! to what? USC?!

laaaaaame. PROZAC! PROZAC! PROZAC!!!

and sia ahmadi is a LOSER.

no thanks. and no welcome.

Let's get down to business

2008-07-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

How many movies have i seen this summer??

1. Wanted

2. Hancock

3. Get Smart

4. Wall E.
....that's 4?? I DON'T HAVE A GOAL BUT IF I DID, IT'D MOSDEF BE MORE THAN THAT.

5. Dark Knight

6. Sisterhood of the travelling WHAT??!! 2

I feel like life is slipping out of my hands.

i waste so much time it's not even funny.

but anywayyyyyy so heres some random information about me [and some other things...;)] just for your enjoyment because i surreeeusly got nothin ta do.

my sister is in maryland right now for a scholar thing
i am 17, going on 18
tomato is a vegetable.
i do not drive. yet.
my bedroom is pink.
miley cyrus is a [soon-to-be] slut
Christine Chaaban is my best best bff best friend in the entire world.
....right aftuh the sistah.
i'm pretty sure i can live off of frozen yogurt.
i like jeans
i like tyra banks
oprah
and david beckham.
i wanna be a clinical psychologist.
i mean it this time. ;)
i like food
victoria's secret is owned by a man
i LOVE deodorant.
almond joy should be called coconut joy considering the majority of the chocolate is coconut.
Do I pod? no i do not.
Do I phone? yes i do.
Do I touch? yes.
Do I pod...nano? no i don't.
Do I 2009? EW.
interesting.
my cell phone is my child.
I TAed for wendland this summer, that was fun. I got an A+.
I am a fob at heart. i really do believe that.
Eat like you can neva get fat
My sister will be attending USC! in the fall. GO TROJANS!
She got a full scholarship. :)
I love my sister
and my momma
and my poppa
They be da best
Bend, girl! BEND!
LIMBO! LIMBO!
i also like victoria beckham
and aishwarya rai [bachchan]

i guess that's all for now.

Salvador Chavez

2008-07-02T22:50:00.000-07:00

'tis true i am dedicating an entire blog to sal, salvador, salmonella, El salvador (his favorite) chavez.

adorable
funny
innocent
naive
clever!
wendland-hater
el salvador
got whipped by his daddy
beena, can you tell me what time it is?
the clock is right in front you, sal
but i can't tell time
you're kidding?
no.
salvador.
please tell me.
10:32, sal.
i was just kidding, of course i can read time!
then tell me sal, if the big hand is on the 5, and the little one is on the 11, what time is it?
11:05?
SALVADOR!! oh my gosh.
hahahhaha...11:25!! just kidding.
HA!

diva
"don't start with me" (with the finger twisting)
"why?"
Gives "diva-tude" to wendland
wendland is mean to him
El Salvador is a true "diva" (lil john). ha!

i love you salvador!

just a day, just an ordinary day.

2008-07-02T22:38:00.000-07:00

just trying to get by.

in summer school, that is.

-Salvador diva
-alexis-axis
-christian tiffany
-tube top amandapanda
-tasha fish
-jackie...welll....
-DESTINEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hold that mouth!
-Jorge-Felipe-huhh??
-Sam fitty-nine
-Sam-thinks she's hot-rude to wendland-called him fat and ugly to his face-warped tour vents?- well, sor-ry!
-lil' john. cutie pie.
-Abdallah, do a somersault!
-You're a magazine!
-HAHAHAHAHHAHA!!
-Beena laughs at everything
-Wendland's class.

first year takin summer school and who mofo-in knew it'd be this much fun??! out salt in wendland's water today. twas jackie's way of getting back at him for all the hot messes he's given her. he was disappointed...i suppose i would be to if i was expecting some huge prank and it ended up to be salt in my water (???) but twas very funny. We all laughed super hard. Stomach cramps. WOWA. tomorrow is thank gosh my last day and after that, it's TA for wendland. 1st AND 2nd period! SICKKKNESSSS. Summer school is taking over my life, i swear.

anyone up fo chillin???

wait...

don't answer that.

My 6,205th day of this incredible journey called "Life"

2008-07-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

But day one of furreal furreal blogging.

I really do regret what I did. I regretted it since the day it was produced in my mind. I think what i did is proof that desperate times really do call for desperate measures. Please excuse my ambiguity in telling you exactly what it is that i did. I'm not trying to set you up for excitement or create thoughts in your head, but I honestly cannot tell you what happened. I guess i'm just writing to clear my mind, but not give away too much personal info. And hey! No one's forcing you to read this, right? I think if you compare everything bad thing i've done in my life, this is definitely to worst one. No it has no relevance to drugs, alcohol, a fight, or a boy...but it was still terrible. I feel so bad. I usually don't have a conscience about anything i do, but this time i did. I never slept because all i could think about was what will happen to me the next day. It's over now and i got what i expected. But i think if anyone were in my situation...as many times as i have been...they would have acted along the lines of how i did. I'm not a bad person, i just do things without thinking and never really think about what will happen to me in the future. I'm a live for today kinda girl. Because of what i did, i can't go to this concert that i've been DYING to go to since i found out about it last year and the sand of trust with my parents at the top of the hourglass is slowly falling down.

But it's okay, right?? I'm only human and how can i learn without making mistakes? I will never lie again. I can't and i refuse to. What's done is done. this dark past is the past and the only way to go now is ahead. The future is what awaits and i know it's gonna be bright. :)

-Beena