the masjid. part 2

OK!

so i was able to squeeze out from work and attend jummah. that means i gotta catch up on paperwork tomorrow which means im out of the office at 10:15pm. gross. ALSO, im waayyy behind on paperwork too, so im expected back for sunday. IF im lucky im out by 5pm, otherwise 6pm is still an option.

*sigh*

when a idiot like me has 2 credit cards to handle AND a stupid phone bill....i cannot complain.

I attended jummah today. We walked in, and i sat in the lower ladies prayer area, due to some 'womanly issues" lol. I've never had to attend the jummah prayer while sitting in that area before. There was this rather confused lady sitting there too. She had with her 2 other girls, who looked equally confused. All 3 of them were wearing their shoes. I kindly asked them to take their shoes off. It came to my attention that one of these girls was to take shahada after the prayer. They asked me to assist them in doing this. I had to explain to them that it had to be done in the witness of the Sheik.

The Khutbah begins.

As im sitting there, and woman in her late 40's walks in. She has a look of disgust on her face and she looks highly annoyed. Curious, little me, remains seated and silently watched her. She walks around for a bit and finally puts her handbag down. She then walks toward a corner near the door she had just entered from.

To my shock and horror, she flips the lights off. Yes, i sat there with my mouth open, furious and annoyed. Yet i cant get up to turn the lights back on. This woman looked pretty mean already. It was like, asking for a beating from a young grandma. Young grandma's can be scary, they have all that strength and energy in them, waiting to finally beat someone.

I was very pissed off actually. So as soon as the prayer had ended and that woman was gone, i flipped the lights back on.

the rest of the jummah wasnt very eventful. I didnt know that my 2 slices of pizza costed $10. WHAT A RIPOFF!

tales from the masjid, to be continued.

-taibah out.

open them blinds darling...

Thankfully, I dont need to take the bus to work today.

I have to be at work for 1 o'clock in the afternoon. I'm rather excited for today. I hope nothing comes up unexpected in the way which will restrict me.

I set my alarm for 8 o'clock in the morning. I hit the 'off' button rather then the 'snooze' button and so I fell back asleep and awoke about an hour later. By the time i was able to physically sit up in bed, it was around 9:25ish. I didnt want to leave my bed today, I was much too comfortable.

I sat in bed, with my blanket wrapped around me, and wished it would be a quiet morning. But Mom was watching Nadia Khan Show and she turned it up really loud. Although the sound of Nadia Khan's voice was muffled, thanks to having my room at the very end of the hall, and for the fact my bedroom door was shut, I could still hear it.

I finally dragged myself out of bed. It was cold. Shivering in my pj's i went off to meet Mom and then started my usual morning routine.

Im still shivering and still in my pj's.

-taibah out.

the masjid.

I love going to the masjid. On Friday nights, whenever we're done praying maghrib salat, theres just this calming feeling I get. I just want to sit there and not move. Its so relaxing SubhanAllah.

Sometimes when im at my masjid, certain things happen which i dont exactly agree with.

Our masjid was built not too long ago, its very nice on the inside. The setup is pretty nice and i like some of the washrooms. The kitchen is still undergoing renovations, but the gym is nicely coming along. Recently they just installed basketball nets, even tho im not that great at basketball, im still rather excited to try out these new nets. I have yet to try playing badminton at the masjid, i sometimes attend volleyball too. I hope the masjid creates a tennis court, that would be AWESOME!

my eye is twitching so ima go wash that out.

-taibah out

when to cry?

while im in the washroom brushing my teeth, i love starring into the mirror. normally i just stare at myself and think of random things. for some reason i was thinking of fountains today.

I rinse my mouth and begin cleaning my nosering. I do this every night to avoid infections, even tho i do use a gold nosering and infections normally dont happen with gold, i still avoid the risks.

i got my nose pierced in September 2007. It was during the early days of Ramadan too. I remember coming home from school that day and breaking my fast. I remember agreeing to the idea and within an hour we (me and my sister) we're sitting inside Urban Graffiti filling out forms to get our nose piercings done.

My sister had gotten a nose piercing before, but hers had closed so she was getting hers done a second time. She wasn't scared at all.

I was FREAKED OUT!

While paying my $40 fee, i still didnt change my mind to simply walkout on the idea. But i stuck through with it.

We get led into a room down a small hallway and she to us "who wants to go first?". i opened my great mouth and said "i do!"

she makes me sit on this bed thing (the thing doctors have in their offices) and lean my head against this hard cushioned area. she begins the procedure right away. im trying hard not to jump.

she starts off by cleaning my nose with alcohol and makes the "hole-mark" with her pen. I didnt like where she had placed it, so i choose the spot. She didnt like where i chose, but she went ahead with it anyways. The room i was in had tons of mirrors.

She then asks me to pick which type of nosering id like, hoop or stud. I decide to go with Stud and she gets out the hook'd surgical steel ones. apparently, it was best for me.

anyways, so she pulls out this 5 inch long needle and a slanted cork. i says to her "soo you basically stab me?" and i was NOT ready to hear her say "why yes, thats exactly it".

i am seriously trying hard to not move.

she moves the slanted cork into my nose, "aisha, give me your hands" i say.

i close my eyes.

she says "take a strong deep breath and inhale"

STAB!

ohhhhhhhh the pain :(

i swore. i cried. aisha complained saying i was hurting her. i felt pain. i felt the blood. i keep crying.

After she cleans me up, i realize the intense pain only lasted 20 seconds and there was a sharp yet able to tolerate type of pain in my nose. It bled for afew hours, but i celebrated my piercing with a Jones Soda.

-taibah out.

when we drive...in your car...

Back in the day, the school year 2000-2001 and like most people when they hit grade 7, they’re in junior high. Basically, I was simply introduced to the other side of Darwin School. The Industrial Arts and Home Economics region in the school was like another world to me, along with several other things.

Junior high felt like such dirty years for me. Terrible memories indeed.

However, theres one thing that I did in grade 7 that I wont ever forget. And that was in my English Language Arts class with my homeroom teacher Ms.Howie.

Ms. Howie was the cool, hip, new teacher at our school, she was in her second year of teaching and was very young. She had a great way to connect to her students and was very unpredicatable. She also taught me Art and Science. We shared some good laughs in her class, she was very unique and creative. Currently shes now married and moved to Toronto.

During the second week of school, she walks into the classroom with a large box. Inside this large box are medium sized notebooks she had picked up from a local dollarstore. She gave each of us one notebook. We called these books our “Writing Journals”.

Now that im out of grade school, and in a career-based program with nothing to read or write but boring textbooks and financial statements, I truly begin to really miss all those writing assignments from high school and junior high English class.

Ive began helping some high schoolers with their English homework. Just within the past year, Ive found that writing is a hidden passion ive never discovered inside me.

(wow, I sound sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo retarded saying this)

But it is the truth. I love writing, and expressing myself. I wrote a 12 page memoir and have yet to type it up and add it to this blog, keep a lookout for that this summer iA.

I think ima take a trip to Dollarama, and buy a normal notebook and write “Taibah’s Writing Journal” across it in Green Marker and then carry it around with me. It wouldn’t be used for any personal writings, but rather, when im sitting in the ‘drinkers lounge; in Second Cup or the ‘drinkers lounge’ in Starbucks I can pull that book out and write how my drink or food is tasting. It can be about what the girl on the bus was wearing. It can be the new word ive learned. It can be about my reflections on reading my tafseer books. It can be anything really. It can even be about you lol.

Im hungry.

-taibah out

my hate for tv

One thing i cant stand is how loud my mom turns up the tv in the mornings. She loves watching her pakistani talk shows on Geo and ARY and Indus. Its either Nadia Khan Show, Marina's Mornings, or some political discussion called Capital Talk or Pak Raha Hai Kya (translation: What's Cooking?).

I cant stand the Nadia Khan Show. She has this REALLY annoying way of greeting people in her 'guuuuud murrrrrrrrrning' and it makes me cringe. She has some rather cool people on her show, i remember Sami Yusuf on her show once.

Marina's Mornings are somewhat decent. She's a rather larger woman, and she focuses on nothing but health and health related things. I guess its alright, minus her giggle.

Capital Talk. nuff said.

Pak Raha Hai Kya is a cooking show. Its 2 people and one of them does all the cooking, the other does all the talking. Like ALOT of pakistani morning shows, its a call-in type of show. People call in and ask or comment on whatever food is being made. Its rather amusing sometimes to hear what people in pakistan say. Stuff like "you're pretty CLICK" or some wild accents.

Dont get me wrong, my mom can watch whatever she wants on tv, esp in the mornings when no one is really around to change it to ZeeTv or Star+, but why does it have to be sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo loud? oh wells, i simply close my bedroom door to shut out the sound of the tv.

i wish i knew how to use the remote :(

-taibah out

i reflect, because he said so.

recently, i was talking to friend one night, and they noticed i wasnt feeling like myself and the constant question of "tibz, whats wrong?" kept coming up. its amazing how one can sense strong emotion in just afew words that i write. i guess its the beauty of knowing how to write and how to read. people can accomplish great things with skills like these. perhaps one day, i will too. after talking it out in more detail, my friend shared with me this beautiful piece from

http://www.newislamicdirections.com/nid/notes/signs_for_those_who_reflect/

Signs for Those Who Reflect
By Imam Zaid on 18 May 2008
One of the skeptics came to Imam al-Shafi’i, May God have mercy on him and asked, “What is your proof for the existence of God?” The Imam replied, “The Mulberry leaf has a single taste, a single color, a single fragrance and a single shape. However, when the silk worm eats it she produces silk. When the bee eats it he produces honey. When the ewe eats it she becomes plump and her milk becomes abundant. When the gazelle eats it it nourishes him and mixes with his blood producing musk. Who is the one who has made these various processes and products from a single food? Surely it is God?”

if that doesnt make you question where you are in life....i dont know what does.

-taibah out