All posts by yasmine

"Daniel…with an L"

Casa420 and Familia

A few evenings ago:

I have to go to the mechanic’s shop to drop off one of our cars. This means that we have to drive over in two cars, drop off one of them, and return home in the other. It’s about 10 p.m. already, and the mechanic’s shop is fifteen minutes away. Also, intriguing spy maneuvers are apparently involved, such as juggling the lock on the mechanic’s gate and then sliding open the gate in order to park the car inside. Finally, the mechanic’s shop is on some dark, narrow street filled with warehouses (aren’t they all?). The daddy-o is therefore quite reasonably – in his opinion – concerned for my safety.

He insists on going with me. I attempt to placate him by pointing out that the sister and I will be going together. He continues insisting.

“We’ll be fine,” I say.

My belief that the daddy-o is worrying far more than the situation calls for is demonstrated when he retorts emphatically:

“No! You haven’t had your karate lessons yet!”

(How could I argue with that? Mr. Miyagi ends up accompanying me.)

Addendum

Blogistan and the Wide World of Webs

As a closing commentary of sorts to previous post [which you should perhaps scroll down to read first], I should add that I got plenty of teasing from my buddy S about “blobs” and “blobbing” in the weeks following our hangingout session with Anjum.

It’s difficult to explain to those who neither blog themselves nor read weblogs (blog-lurkers, or blurkers) that I find blogging extremely fascinating and addicting, that it allows me to organize my thoughts, celebrate the mundane that makes up my life, hone my writing, and share my stories with an audience that probably doesn’t even know what I’m doing (or not doing) with the 80-90% of my life that I don’t even blog about – an audience that seems to appreciate my little stories nontheless, even if I don’t share anything of consequence most of the time.

Recently, I mentioned that I have been blogging for three years now, and, again, it would take too long to discuss why exactly I’ve kept at this when I’m usually so easily bored and distracted that I end most projects even before fully beginning them. Suffice it to say that I don’t maintain this weblog as some form of self-centered aggrandizing just because I have the power to click a button and suddenly “self-publish” my thoughts to the web – but, yes, sometimes I do think I have something amusing or pseudo-profound to share, and you crazy people out there actually take the time to respond to it.

Which is my point: For me, the weblog is all about the people it’s brought into my life. People like you, and you, and yeah, you over there in the corner who never comment but I know you lurk around here, yep. I’ve never met most of you, but that’s okay, although it does rock my world when I do meet some of you. The weblog’s brought a lot of sweetness, and countless beautiful people, into my life. I still haven’t forgotten the outpouring of comments and emails after this post, for example. Oh yeah, and the random little emails once in a while, too, for which I’m massively sorry if I still haven’t responded to yours. I’m getting to it. Like, a year late. Or something. And, sometimes, we catch each other on AIM or MSN or your instant messaging stalking devices of choice, and then I get fun opportunities to underscore why exactly my screenname is crackfiendserene.

I was thinking recently of all the people I’ve been privileged to meet in person, simply because I have a weblog. Anjum, of course, who is wonderful to hang out with, and I wish she lived in California all the time. HijabMan, who came all the way across the country simply because, and who leaves random songs on my voicemail. Through his vast network of friends, I’ve been blessed to meet other amazing people as well: D, my jummah buddy extraordinaire, who makes going to Oakland every Friday something to look forward to all week; SI, one of the sweetest and most genuine people I know, who sends me texts and emails exhorting me to come to DC for cherry blosson season; M, who appreciates headwraps like few others do.

There’s 2Scoops, one of the rare people I actually love talking to on the phone, even though it takes us weeks to get ahold of one another. Maria, who is beautiful and brilliant and yet so humble. Baji’s sister, LB, who laughed so much and was so easy to connect with that I told her it felt like I had known her for years. When my friend, the lovely L lady, went off to DC for a semester-long internship, I was quite comfortable sending her off with Baji’s contact info; that she returned to California with stories of hanging out with Baji and Najm and the rest of the East Coast crew just made me appreciate Blogistan even more.

And, of course, through the same sort of online presence, although it wasn’t through blogging, I also met my favorite “psychopathic maniac” SS, which, in turn, allowed me to eventually meet Mark, Dipti, Nipun, Viral, and Guri – people who are so beautifully inspiring on a daily basis that my words will never do them justice.

The “internets” have widened my world considerably, while simultaneously allowing me to realize what a small space the world really is.

The other day, I read something by Goethe that made me think of this weblog:

To know someone here or there
with whom you can feel there is understanding
in spite of distances
or thoughts expressed –
this can make life a garden.

I’m grateful for all of you. Here’s to gardening, kids.

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark

Links to love, Rhymes and unrhymed lines, Rockstar and Crescent

Sorry, my wannabe English/Comparative Literature-major tendencies wouldn’t let me bypass all this drama without making use of such an obvious pun. Apparently, I’m not the only one.

Truthfully though, I’m damn tired of the drama – of the emails, the articles, the conversations with friends regarding this mass chaos and fury all over the world. Also truthfully, I’m pissed off at Muslims who feel that engaging in such acts of violence (hurling gasoline bombs? smashing windshields? throwing missiles? Thanks, buddies, you’re really helping yourself and the rest of us look good) is justifiable. Calm the hell DOWN, people.

[For those of you who’ve been living under a rock lately, check this, there’s a wikipedia entry already, with a description of the cartoons in question here.]

So, not only because I’m tired of it all, but also because I’m not smart, analytical, and articulate enough to write up a real deal post on this topic, I’m sending you off with links yet again. Many of the weblogs I regularly frequent have already written about this, so go visit.

– Basit’s post is my favorite, because I’m feeling quite desensitized myself

– Yaser’s post is succint and to the point, something I always find admirable about him because I don’t have that quality, sadly

– Abhi at Sepia Mutiny: The Danish cartoon controversy: A contrast in protests

– Baraka at Truth&Beauty: Merry Go Round

– Safiyyah: Stupid Cartoons, Even Stupider Reaction

And for you slackers who are too lazy to click over to the weblogs I highlighted, here’s a beautifully apposite Rumi poem that Baraka appended to her abovementioned post:

When you see the face of anger
look behind it
and you will see the face of pride.
Bring anger and pride
under your feet, turn them into a ladder
and climb higher.
There is no peace until you become
their master.
Let go of anger, it may taste sweet
but it kills.
Don’t become its victim
you need humility to climb to freedom.

-Rumi

Off you go, children. Real post(s!) coming soon.

"Blogging is Haraam!"

Blogistan and the Wide World of Webs, Rockstar and Crescent

The title is meant to be ironic and tongue-in-cheek. So get off me. Via 2Scoops‘ contribution to the comments box for the last post, I present the following [click for larger image]:

I could write an entire post based around this – lots of deep analysis for why I have been blogging for three years now – but I won’t. Let’s just take the comic at face value and laugh, because it’s damn funny. “I am greatness personified.” That’s right!

Meanwhile, and in related news, I’ll soon turn my efforts towards reviewing Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World for all y’all. This is a movie that was, by the way, not really funny at all. And you know how easily amused I am, don’t you? I suppose I’ll just have to stick to comic strips.

Smile on your brother & sister

Links to love

Alright, so I know Eid ul Adha is long gone and that I’m addressing this disgustingly late (as usual), but I hope all y’all had a beautiful, blessed one inshaAllah.

Which reminds me, Zahir over at Fall of Icarus had a post highly pertinent to Eid, entitled “This may be blasphemous/haraam but….”

My favorite part:

Sometimes I wish Muslims would speak more anecdotally. Khateebs often need not to dig through books of hadith, tafseer or fiqh for material. Tell us something that moved you, that inspired you and speak with humility–chances are it will move us too.

And Basit had posted something weeks ago that I had meant to make you all read, an entry that made my breath stop – because it was so beautiful and true and well-written – but then I forgot to share, and so I had to dig through his archives to find it again. Go. And while you’re there, you should check out his archives, too, because if you’re not reading his weblog regularly, you’re seriously missing out.

One more! Sister Scorpion has a poignant entry on teaching her 6-year-old daughter about the significance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.