Blogging is Cheaper Than Therapy

Let me start this off by saying that I am not a masochist. I do not enjoy pain nor do I encourage the administering of pain on to others. How can a person feel pain? There is obviously physical pain. Discomfort can strengthen our threshold but physical injury rarely has positive effects. Everybody feels this pain at some point in their life, as it is an almost inevitable occurrence  This is not the beautiful sort of pain that I am speaking about. Pain inflicted within the mind, past the flesh of the brain deep into our souls, this is the beautiful kind of pain. Psychological/emotional torture hurts, I mean, it really hurts. I once had a discussion with my friend about how painful certain situations can be, "I would much rather have a bone broken or be in a car accident, I would much rather feel an extreme amount of physical pain than feel what I'm feeling right now.", I said. "That is because physical pain eventually heals.", he retorted. I knew he could real

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, Happy December to all. I am in the midst of sipping a fresh cup of coffee, listening to The Killers's new Christmas song 'I Feel It In My Bones' and enjoying a mellow evening in my homestead. My brother and I had a conversation earlier this week which is something I try not to think about too deeply because of how frightening the single thought tends to be; the thought of forever. As a Muslim, I try my best to live my life conscious of the effects of my actions and ultimately whether I am doing something good or something bad. I don't want to die with a large accumulation of bad deeds which will result in an eternity of suffering in Hell's roaring blaze. But then there is the opposite, an eternity of true bliss in Heaven. Both thoughts manage to terrify me. "Why does an eternity of Paradise scare you, is it that you think you will get tired of it?" Him and I were sitting in a donut shop, "Think of it this way, today

The service is shut off as of 2:00 am this morning. This may come as a shock to many people, maybe? My bill was $59.97/month with Dish Network.. not a tough pill to swallow at all. The thing that was bothering me was, am I really getting the worth of those (near) $60 every month, or any month? I don't think so. I paid for the service in my home as a courtesy for my family but even as a family of six, we are not getting the value out of it. Let's break this down, $60/month covered HD channels, 200 channels, local channels, my DVR service and a protection plan. Another option for watching television (if you want new episodes) is using your Playstation 3, XBox, Hulu Plus, Roku, Apple TV and countless other websites and services that deliver next-day programming in high definition for $2/episode. If each episode is worth $2, that is about 30 hours of television per month that would be watched for $60, there is no way my family is watching that much television. For me, I watch mayb

Greetings all! We have arrived at the start of another wonderful summer (hopefully). Summer has always been my favorite season (not because my birthday just so happens to fall smack dab in the center of it) but because of the freedom most people tend to have during the season. Every Summer that I can remember, I remember vividly; the smells, the music, the friends and the amount of joy that I have felt with each Summer's past have been unforgettable for me. My first experience thus far this Summer season was going to Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. I love live music and the lineup was phenomenal, how could I say no? From start to finish, this was an amazing journey. I found my way from Washington, D.C. to Tennessee with two very nice women I met online from Zimride.com. I am one to trust the kindness of strangers, as it has never gotten me in to any trouble so I wasn't worried about what could have happened. I was surprised by how open, friendly

Good morning, all!           I awoke this morning shortly before my Fajr alarm went off and realized that it was the first of the month. Oh, July; you used to be my favaorite month out of the year, I now despise you. Especially this July, it's going to be a rough one. The weather this morning is gorgeous, the birds are calm, nobody seems to be moving about outside, which is pleasant.         I have been coming to terms with phase two of being an abstergent person. Last year, I went through my entire room and donated, sold or threw away things which once meant something to me. I got rid of many sentimental possessions in the hopes of replacing them with new and better things which would mean even more than those belongings. I was always a pretty sentimental guy, a trait I don't share with many of my male friends. On the other hand, many of my female friends were borderline pack rats so I figured why not go somewhere in the middle? I enjoy a life of simplicity and having ample l

Franklin Farm is what I call home How many people know their neighbors? I have lived at the same house for over twenty years. I have had the same next-door neighbors, the same neighbors directly across the street, the same neighbors diagonal  and three other families that live in a pipestem across the street from me the whole time I've lived at my house. I know my neighbors across the street pretty well. The mom used to get mad at me because I would ride my bike around the neighborhood and cross the street without looking both ways; her sons,  who are much older than me, used to play basketball with me every so often. My neighbors next door have never really gotten along with me because I used to hit their house (accidentally) with soccer balls, baseballs, lacrosse balls and so on. My parents sometimes talk to the neighbors diagonal from us when they see each other. I know one of the families that lives in the pipestem because one daughter and I are the same age and I would pla

The definition of being a "man" has changed through the time and is different throughout various cultures. When you look back at the beginning of mankind with Adam and Eve, they were created equal. Adam and Eve were man and woman, both living an equal life; neither had any power over the other. Throughout the period when men and women were separated into tribes, the men hunted and provided meat and food while the women gathered and tended to their camps (of course this is surely exaggerated as there were more tasks and responsibilities that went into their every day living). When looking through history, men have always have more rights and control than women. Somewhere in time, the natural traits that most men possess became the way to judge a person's value. Men are naturally stronger, more muscular and taller than women. Are these ways to judge a person's worth or value? Certainly not. God has created us equal, in His eyes but assigned us different characteris

A few weeks ago, I had a young relative over. I knew he would be bored so I allowed him to play my PlayStation 3, under my supervision. While he was playing, he was being quite wild with the controller and would keep on sticking his head in front of me to look at my laptop screen to view my Facebook page and whatnot. I gave him several warnings to stop doing that and to listen to me, as I am older and he was intentionally being bothersome. I was typing something in and he messed with my keyboard a little bit and said "I'm going to hit enter" and I said to him very sternly, "Do not hit enter, if you do, then you will be in trouble."; well, he hit enter so I got up and turned the PlayStation off and told him that he could not play at all for the rest of the time he was at my house. He began asking me incessantly to allow him to play but I said "no" multiple times. I then asked him if he thought asking me over and over again was helping him or if he tho

One of my long-terms goals is to build a masjid. Growing up in Northern Virginia and living in Southern California for a few years, I have seen some nice mosques. I admire the fairly efficient system in place with two in particular that I've been a member of the community of. All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Sterling, Virginia and the Islamic Society of Orange County. A.D.A.M.S. has amazing connections and a great relationship with the government, seeing as how it is a stone's throw from Washington, D.C. Usually when there is a conflict affecting American Muslims, our own Imam Mohammed Magid will be interviewed on CNN or other shaikhs from neighboring mosques. Islamic Society of Orange County has a very impressive facility. There is ample space for people to set their shoes down and socialize outside of the musullah area, the bathrooms are luxurious, there is an accredited school, a large bookstore and even an area for one to cleanse the body of a deceased loved one before bur