إِنَّمَا ٱلتَّوۡبَةُ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ لِلَّذِينَ يَعۡمَلُونَ ٱلسُّوٓءَ بِجَهَـٰلَةٍ۬ ثُمَّ يَتُوبُونَ مِن قَرِيبٍ۬ فَأُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ يَتُوبُ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيۡہِمۡ‌ۗ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَلِيمًا حَڪِيمً۬ا (١٧) وَلَيۡسَتِ ٱلتَّوۡبَةُ لِلَّذِينَ يَعۡمَلُونَ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَهُمُ ٱلۡمَوۡتُ قَالَ إِنِّى تُبۡتُ ٱلۡـَٔـٰنَ وَلَا ٱلَّذِينَ يَمُوتُونَ وَهُمۡ ڪُفَّارٌ‌ۚ أُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ أَعۡتَدۡنَا لَهُمۡ عَذَابًا أَلِيمً۬ا

"Allah accepts only the repentance of those who do evil in ignorance and foolishness and repent soon afterwards; it is they whom Allah forgive and Allah is Ever All-Knower, All-Wise. And of no effect is the repentence of those who continue to do evil deeds until the death faces one of them and he says: 'Now I repent,' nor of those who die while they are disbelievers. For them We have prepared a painful torment." [4:17-18]

A Bucket of a List

I'm a slacker. My friend's a slacker. We're both slackers and we're proud. We've never given in to the pressure of school, teachers, exams, projects, or the hopeless overachievers around us. We just go about, living our lives nonchalantly without giving those things a second thought. What I love most about our ability to not care about school is that we now appreciate more things in life. There's more out there than just getting good grades and sucking up to teachers, which is what the two of us do anyway. My friend, Miss Nickel the Juicer, took it upon herself to make a semi-bucket list, which I now call 'Nena and Nina's Infinite Playlist.' Although I have my whole life planned out, I never thought about making a bucket list. Making a bucket list is the first item to go on my bucket list. I'm just anticipating the feeling of what it would be like on my 80th birthday to look at my list and be able to cross out all of the crazy things I did in my life. It's quite exciting if you think about it. Since I don't have my list done yet, here are Nickel's top 10:

#10: go to a concert
#9: shave my head
#8: take a bite of an apple in the big apple
#7: get arrested (not for anything bad of course), spend a night in jail
#6: fall in love
#5: actually really help someone
#4: swim in the ocean with fancy clothes on
#3: GO TO VEGAS AND NOT CARE ABOUT ANYTHING
#2: travel. see the world. the good and the bad…but more good
#1: do yoga in the middle of a street

So far, my items are slightly less risque. I want to go skydiving, adopt an orphan, go to third-world country and just help out, live somewhere in the Middle East, memorize the Qur'an, go to China, learn yoga, eat sushi, and a bunch of other things that might take some thinking over.

Words That Don’t Exist in the English Language

L’esprit de escalier: (French) The feeling you get after leaving a conversation, when you think of all the things you should have said. Translated it means “the spirit of the staircase.”

Waldeinsamkeit: (German) The feeling of being alone in the woods.

Meraki: (Greek) Doing something with soul, creativity, or love.

Forelsket: (Norwegian) The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love.

Gheegle: (Filipino) The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is unbearably cute.

Pochemuchka: (Russian) A person who asks a lot of questions.

Pena ajena: (Mexican Spanish) The embarrassment you feel watching someone else’s humiliation.

Cualacino: (Italian) The mark left on a table by a cold glass.

Ilunga: (Tshiluba, Congo) A person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time.

Pretending to be a Professional

 It's been 5 weeks since I've been interning in the technology department at a community college. My reflections: work = boring. The office environment is too constraining. It's dull. It's monotonous. When I grow up, I am never going to work at any place where I'm stuck in an office. The only reason I'm alive right now is because I work with awesome people. For example, I'm pretending to work right now. I'm usually on a computer, sending out e-mails, making phone calls, all of that jazz. But as you can see, I am actually blogging, while my coworker is playing Modern Warfare on the computer next to me. No, this is not an SOS. It's more of a life plan. I'm going to work for myself at home. I'm not going to have a boss. I am gonna stay in my pajamas all day and drink 18 cups of tea while I work. And since I have the attention span of about 7 minutes, I'll keep a trampoline next to me to satisfy my ADD. But these are merely hopes. Just wishful thinking. Let's see what actually ends up happening. Until I get out of this dreary internship and get my college degree, I have one rule to live by in the professional world: WWKWD - What Would Kanye West Do? That gives the answer to everything.

Life's a Booger

As a distracted driver, it is my obligation to think about everything but the road while I'm driving. On my way to work this morning, my mom kept yelling at me for going too fast and rarely ever using the brake. Once I made it onto the highway, I carelessly began passing by cars and pondering over stuff, which I gather to be a teenager's favorite word. I remembered when I first began driving and I took a delight in hating it. The reason that I despised it, and I still do, was because I sucked at it. I was afraid of crashing into a cow and flipping the whole car over, killing myself, the other passengers in the car, and the cow. Therefore, I avoided driving as much as possible. I was discouraged by the possibility of making mistakes. I didn't want to mess up. But that's what life's about. There's no possible way you can live life without making a fool out of yourself. Making mistakes is evitable. But that's how you learn. Sometimes it's the only way you learn. You shouldn't be scared of messing up, and you most definitely shouldn't let it keep you from doing something. It's taken me forever to embrace this concept.

What's even more amazing is that Allah 'azawajal realizes this as well. He understands that as human beings, we screw up. That's why He constantly reminds us that we need to turn back to Him and ask for forgiveness. He is always ready to answer our du'as. All we have to do is ask. It's like if you're picking your nose when you notice that somebody's watching you. You sheepishly apologize for being so embarrasingly disgusting and you never pick your nose in public again. So if you commit a sin and then remember that Allah's watching, you suddenly regret what you did and turn back to Him is repentance. Then you've learned your lesson. And even if you didn't, you can still turn back to Him if you mess up again. He is the Most Forgiving and Most Merciful. It's amazing how inspiring a simple car ride can be.

Back in Business

Have you ever had an extra sugar, extra cream mochafrappalatte thing, and as you're sipping the dreadfully scrumptious drink, you can just feel all of that caffeine and sugary goodness seeping through your bloodstream, waking up every inch of you as it slowly flows through your body until you reach a hyperactive stage that seems to resemble a rabid panda? I didn't think so. It's an amazing feeling. But personally, I like the non-caffeinated version of these power surges, like when you are reunited with old friends, go out with a new pair of shoes on, or get a bone-chilling EmanRush. They're the little things that rejuvenate you and bring out that delicious fuzzy feeling that was hiding deep inside your chicken soul. It's like true love. Everybody has something different that makes them so happy that it plasters a permanent goofy smile on their face. I'm going through this stage right now. I got in touch with some of my beloved friends, I've been inspired to go back to the artisitc ways, I now have 2 pet hamsters, and I'm attending an Arabic class in a few weeks. It's absolutely thrilling. I feel like a new person. I think I might be able to get some stuff done now. That's simply miraculous.

Today's Special: Word Vomit

It is Week 2 of summer vacation. I am just beginning to get my life in order after having it tossed around carelessly by that evil monster called School. It's been ages since I've blogged here. The truth is, I've lost my inspiration to write. This is absolutely dreadful. I could cry endless nights over this tradegy. I loved writing, but over the past few months, I've lacked the will and creativity.

"Your resentment is delicious."

Yes, I know it is. I want to get the waterfalls in my brain to pouring again. Laziness is the opium of my life, but I really need to get over that addiction. Rehab starts now. After I get another helping of ice cream.