And we all went to heaven in a little rowboat

Carefree at the fake beach in Emeryville
Carefree at the fake beach in Emeryville, originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.

and i wonder if everything i do
i do instead
of something i want to do more
the question fills my head
i know that there’s no grand plan here
this is just the way it goes
and when everything else seems unclear
i guess at least i know

i do it for the joy it brings…
– Joyful Girl (Ani DiFranco)

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Last Friday through Sunday, I did the following (in no particular order):

1. Made new friends to love

2. Tried to calmly answer some rude man’s antagonistic question wherein he asked me for “statistics regarding Muslim women who are subjugated” while I was innocuously standing in line to order a grilled cheese sandwich with a side of french fries. One of the new friends asked me later, “Do you get that a lot?”

3. Went to Baker Beach with the new friends, and walked in the waves and the sand

4. Realized that one end of Baker Beach has nudists – and not just any end, but the end closest to the most gorgeous views of the Golden Gate bridge, dammit!

5. Remembered that this is the year I was supposed to learn how to swim. (There are still a few months left to summer! I can do it!)

6. Moderated the opening plenary at a conference in San Francisco, and realized how much I missed the work I used to do (although not the workplace itself)

7. Magically, did not trip in my high heels at said conference

8. Unleashed The Yasmine vocabulary (“Stalking, stabbing, & crack”) on a few unsuspecting conference-goers

9. Referenced biking-related videos in conversation, and made folks laugh: 123

10. Took photos of San Francisco’s gorgeous St. Ignatius Church. Then, my camera battery suddenly died on me, and I decided it was a sign to sit down and meditate and converse with God for a bit

Arches (ii)

Saint Ignatius Church - San Francisco

Dome

11. Scraped a few layers of skin off the sides of my thumbs, and now I can’t bend them enough to text-message properly. This is blasphemy.

12. Listened to the rockstar T tease me about my lack of timeliness in replying to emails, and laughed when he added, “If I had sent a text message, you probably would have replied immediately!”

13. Explained approximately 4,975,332 times how I do the headwrap

14. Realized while looking in the mirror that I inadvertently give the wrong answer when asked about the length of my hair. It’s not almost to my elbows; it’s actually just past my shoulders.

15. Watched one of my new friends shuffle through the CDs in my car and pronounce them quite an eclectic mix

16. Had gelato in Berkeley with My Favorite & Most Rockstarish Married Couple ever, Ayesha and Faraz (okay, actually, they totally tie with Baji and TP), and discovered my new favorite flavor: Lemon Creme. And my other new favorite flavor: Milk & Honey. (“Look, Ayesha!” I crowed. “We can get a free preview of heaven!”) The latter flavor is in honor of the upcoming San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

17. Reunited with several friends; one of them, much to my amusement, acted as “my one-man cheering squad” whenever I walked into a room – “Yaz-MEEEEEEEN!” – which totally made me feel like a rockstar. (I have a feeling we need to work on his pronunciation, though.)

18. Took photos at a tiny beach I randomly stumbled upon in Emeryville:

Slanted shards

Stabbing weapons at the beach!

Kryptonite

19. Also unleashed my fake Desi [South Asian] accent on unsuspecting non-Desi folks who weren’t sure quite what hit ’em – and who then asked me to explain the intricacies of Desi accents and give a few examples (which I did later in the afternoon when one man mentioned he’d be flying back out of the Bay that evening for work, and I queried, “Vat is dis vork of vich you esspeak?! Ve are ROCKSTARS!”, resulting in much laughter from the rest of the group)

20. Smiled when a friend slung his arm across my shoulders and said to me, “I am so glad that you’re here.”

21. Highfived a rabbi

18 thoughts on “And we all went to heaven in a little rowboat

  1. Always wanted to visit a nudist beach! Apparently theres one in italy which is open only to females,Men r free to watch from a distance though!

  2. re: #2…the nerve on him! How dare he ask you such a thing…when you are ordering a *grilled cheese*?? HAS HE NO DECENCY? Grilled cheeses are sacred!

    Also, I have never high-fived a rabbi, but now I totally feel the need to do so. :)

    p.s. I don’t know how to swim, either.

  3. lol – i will say the same thing i said in Toronto – don’t you people ever have to WORK?? sheeeesh.

    That said, i am majorly jealous of everthing you listed, even #2. :) you have such a rockstar life, bringing people together, meeting new people, breaking stereotypes, inculcating people into the Yasmine vocabulary… i LAU it.

  4. oye! i have easy access to my very own gelato maker now! still, i’ll let ayesha and faraz maintain their status on the west coast so long as we have the undisputed title on the east coast. the end.

  5. Now, if you constructed an entire post with just your vocabulary, Crack, stab, and stalk, someone would identify you as the missing Zodiac killer.

  6. I can’t believe i didn’t this post earlier, especially when you have mentioned us as … WHAT? Most Rocktsarish Married Couple!
    Dude..thats way too much love and i can’t handle it. I have no idea what we did which made you say so. But I am humbled by your words..

    Seriousness aside, Look what you did.. you have almost started a east side-west side couples rivalry! hahahah

    Baji, yo! you are still number 1 in “couples with kids” category and Oh…. “Do write for children!” ;)

    PS: yeah.. how did you handle situation# 2
    PPS: i have been planning to learn how to swim since… forever. BE MY INSPIRATION!

  7. *snaps fingers* “when you’re a jet, you’re a jet all the way, from your first cigarette, to your last dying dayyyyy POW!”

  8. Salaam Dearest Sister :)

    What a treat you are, and what a great list :) Especially loved no 1 and 21 :) And the church photos were beautiful :)

    Please come to NYC and liven it up a bit too :)

    Ya Haqq!

  9. wow.. just stumbled upon your blog from hijabman.. gonna add it to my bloglist if thats ok :) love that you highfived a rabbi and I love the last set of pictures you took.. masha’allah :)

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