Blogging is Cheaper Than Therapy

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...

Lately I have been thinking about friendships with members of the opposite gender. Reflecting on the past, I have had a fairly good amount to different degrees. Some were intense, some were flirtatious, some were like family and others were meaningless. For almost as long as I could remember, I have gotten along with girls better than with guys. It was a bit of a problem in my younger years though as I had been infatuated with many many girls. When I think about it, almost all of the friendships that I've had with girls have dissipated and meant very little at the end. Can guys and girls really be good or close friends for a long period of time? What happens when one of them meets somebody they like, does it change that friendship at all? What about if the man or woman has feelings for the other but know that they will not be reciprocated? It's all strange to me. If there is one thing I hate, it's losing a friend; be it male or female. Especially in the last few years, I ...

I am sitting in my room with a light on and I just put a pair of socks in, in my room.. I rarely ever wear socks indoors. Do you know what that means? Fall is officially here. The weather here is quite dreary, I am happy that I did not go to New York City today like I had planned to. I wish I was drinking a warm beverage to keep me warm on this brisk Autumn afternoon. I have come to the realization that I am a hypocrite, for the most part that is. Anybody who knows me well knows how anti-development I am here in northern Virginia. I have been living in my house for twenty years now. My neighborhood is fairly large (I live in a part of Oak Hill called Franklin Farm, which I think was once owned by Benjamin Franklin.), there are probably 600-700 houses here and I remember a time when the community here made an effort to know one another. Back then, this was a middle class area and was a wonderfully enchanting place to live; it's not like that anymore. All of the sudden, this area s...

Okay, I feel a little silly writing about this but it's my blog so I shall. I know there have to be other people like me out there who have to compartmentalize everything in their life. From clothes (dress, dress casual, casual, work-out, etc) or other things that don't necessarily need to be placed into a category but I do it anyways because I kind of see my brain as a desk and everything needs to be properly filed in its rightful place. I've been thinking a lot about friendships, past and present and how I am going to "file" them away. I wouldn't say that I am extremely social but I have met a lot of people and made a lot of friends in my life thus far. The challenge has been how do I properly sort out all of these friends? I used to have three categories; friends, good friends and best friends. I no longer categorize my friendships into three because those good friends can become just 'friends' or 'best friends' within one action or one t...

It's the second week of September and we can already feel and smell Autumn in the air! I love this time of year; when we put away our shorts and bust out our sweaters/cardigans. I love this season, it always makes me feel so nostalgic for Autumns past. I remember every Fall season since 2003 so vividly. I remember all of the songs that made up those times, my different circles of friends I've had and all of the good memories. Autumn is such an interesting season; the changing of the colors is brilliant and beautiful. It's hard to classify a season as a "new beginning" but if I had to choose one to serve as that, it would definitely be this one. These are a few things I look forward to the most: caramel apple ciders, espresso beverages in general, plaid shirts, wearing boots again, long coats, cardigans and that char-like smell in the air. I look forward to a new start, a new beginning with the changing of the season!

Heeyyyy guys. I got back in last night from an amazing trip to south California. Where do I begin this? My flight there was awesome, Delta airplanes are great! Every seat had a personal screen where I could watch television, movies and listen to a wide variety of music (it had Death Cab, Fleet Foxes, Lupe Fiasco and a whole lot of other amazing stuff). I got to Orange County right after the khutbah ended which was a bummer, I really really like the Imam at the masjid that I used to go to. I got a rental car and upgraded to a Ford Fusion so I could have a car with built in Bluetooth and better gas mileage. This car was pretty nice actually, it had dual climate control, heated seats and a button that changed the internal mood lighting in the car; it was unnecessary but cool. I couldn't find a USB port anywhere to charge my phone/play my music so that was annoying. I had planned to have lunch with a group of my friends right after Friday prayer but our plans weren't well-coord...