EYE-OPENER

"When she is a daughter, she opens a door of Jannah for her father. When she is a wife, she completes half of the deen of her husband. When she is a mother, Jannah lies under her feet. If everyone knew the true status of a Muslim woman in Islam, even the men would want to be women." 

-- Shiekh Akram Nadawi, via I Got It Covered

THAT BOOK, YES, THAT ONE

I finally got around to reading The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. I finished it in ~5 hours, and it was a pretty huge book. I missed doing that and I missed the adrenalin rush you feel when you just want to devour the book in one go, as if taking a rest will cause the magic to disappear. The long night was worth it, though. I had an incredible time with it and I really miss Rose.

I love it when a book "gets personal" with me, if you know what I mean. I think reading is a very personal experience. You will never understand or feel the meaning of any reading material unless it's in your own hands, unless you're reading it. That's probably why I never actually read reviews. Reviews are always helpful in expanding your ideas, but when it goes down to it, it's the emotions the book was capable of sparking from you that matter. I dare say, not what the standards conceive it to be. 

When you read a book, you need to trust your own gut feeling because if you don't, then you haven't thoroughly gained the most of what the book offers. That is why, I think, reading is one of those very few experiences in life that should never be plagued or invaded by others' influence. When you read something, that experience should be your own, you should claim it as yours for taking, and no one else's. I think that is how reading a book becomes worth it and parting with its characters becomes bittersweet.

Here's to hoping we all get to read more books this year that will make us pause in awe and wonder. Crossing my fingers. Enjoy the rest of your day!

HELLO, 2012

Suddenly, it's 2012. And I didn't intend to say this for fear of jinxing it, but I have a feeling it's going to be an incredible year. 2011 was a truly a great one with countless blessings, but I'm excited to see how 2012 will rise way above it. Inshaallah.

Just like last year, and the year before that, I have designated a black notebook for my writings (aka whatever that floats my mind). I'm hoping I'd start writing on it instead of writing about it. But hey, no pressures. As long as I know I have this black notebook hanging around my room, then it's all good. The point is to have something to write on whenever I feel the need to. I find surreal comfort in that.

There's a word written on the back of this notebook: everyday. But since it'd be impossible for me to write on it every single day for the next 360 days, I'm just going to interpret the word "everyday" in a different way. I hope, with Allah SWT's will, that 2012 contains 365 days of new and significant experiences. I want this notebook to not only contain my thoughts, but thoughts that have come out of my getting out of this comfort zone; thoughts that don't just hang around my mind, but thoughts that are born out of new places I have never been to, adventures I've never done before, food I've never tried before. I want 2012 to be a year of braving the once unknown. That sounds pretty scary, but I'm up for it. I think I am.



I'm going to be needing all the optimism I can get, but I'd like to tag 2012 with the word adventures. I believe He has already planned this year perfectly for me, but I hope that Allah SWT guides me with this one little wish that I have for this year. Inshaallah.