Some random poem thing

What do you do when it feels like the end?

When it feels like you won’t be able to live forever?

when life flips on its back and leaves you dangling from the edge?

Here’s what you should do

heave yourself up on your elbows and get yourself together

no one will sympathize you if you’re mopey,

but everyone will respect you if you’re strong

look yourself in the eye, howl at the sky, jump into the ocean and scream

I am worthy.

It won’t take long before you realize that sometimes it all gets too much, but you gotta realize that soon the fog will all clear up, and you’ll be able to see everything crystal clear.

don’t waste your life away on tumblr, even though it will always be for you, it won't get you where you need to be.

As long as you can see the leaves changing colors changing with the seasons, as long as you can hear the birds outside your window, and you can feel your little brother’s hand squirming in yours, you're lucky to be alive.

SUMMERTIMEEEE

Hey Guys!
So.... Summer has dawned upon us, and is slowly coming to an end, which, let me tell you, I am NOT okay with. The first few weeks of summer were pretty meh for me, but now I feel like everything is slowly coming together. Not anywhere near my dream summer of course, but we're getting there. Around two or three weeks ago, I went to a WITS camp, the same one that I went to last year, but this year I took a different class. Last year I took Slam Poetry, which was amazing and inspiring and wonderful, but I wanted to try something new, so I took a Sci-Fi and Fantasy camp instead. I ADORED it. Just being in that atmosphere was enough, everyone around me was either a fangirl or a fanboy of some sort, and there were a lot of fights/debates on the discrimination against Hufflepuffs, and whether some books were badly written or beautiful, and I really felt like I was surrounded by my own kind, people who understood me, and it was almost torture leaving after only two weeks of camp. Since then I've met up with my friends a lot,(I just came back from seeing a movie with two of my friends), I might go to a book signing next week, so It's been pretty relaxing. I've also been working with my mom on our new found catering business! That's exciting. I also just read one of THE BEST BOOKS EVAHHH, Its called Every Last Word and you should read it. Soooooooo yeah. I haven't been writing much on here because nothing eventful has really happened, but I'll try to keep you guys updated as the weeks roll by. Deal? Deal.

BYE...................................................................................................

Photography

Hey Guys!

           So, since this blog is kind of my safe haven, I decided to let you guys in on another hobby of mine, and recently discovered new hobby of mine, to be exact, which is PHOTOGRAPHY. I have been exposed to photography for a while, since I help my mom take pictures for her cooking blog all the time, which is...http://sleeplessinmykitchen.com/, hehehe, shameless promo right there. ANYWAYS, I've always taken pictures with my mom of her food, but I never really developed a personal interest to photography. Until 2015. It all started when one day, me, my mom and my brother decided to go to the park, and we walked around until we saw this kind of slope of pretty rocks and some grass, so we sat there and just talked peacefully. After a while, I got bored, but the rest of my family didn't want to leave yet. So I picked up the book that I had brought with me(The Young Elites by Marie Lu, GO READ IT BECAUSE IT'S SUCH A GOOD BOOK!) but then found out that rocks aren't very comfortable reading nooks, so I stole by mom's phone, and started snapping a couple of pictures of my book surrounded by nature. I liked the few pictures that I took, so I started taking some more, and more, until it became a full-out photo shoot. After that, every time we went to the park, or anywhere outside, I would bring a book with me, mostly to take pictures of, but you know, occasionally I would read too:) Anyways, I was basically obsessed with taking pictures of my books, but what got me into just general photography was going on trips with my school, We convinced our teachers to let us take cameras, so throughout all of the trips I was snapping pictures of everything around me, and now I will stop in the middle of a crowded sidewalk and take a picture of a small flower growing in between the concrete. I'M OBSESSED, but It makes me look at things with a new perspective, so its not all bad.
            And I know that I'm not exactly the greatest photographer, but It's a hobby, and you don't have to be good at your hobby, you just have to like doing it.

If you want to see a small portion of my photography, check out my instagram:  https://instagram.com/duaawithan_apostraphe/

here are some of my favorite pictures that I've taken:

I know this was a super long post, and that you all probably hate me by now, but I just wanted to say this: do whatever makes you happy, and don't care about what anyone else thinks. 

BYE,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Racism

Hey Guys!

So I'm pretty sure you all know the concept of racism, and if you don't, then here is the definition

noun

1. the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.

   • prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.
   • 
     

That's the exact definition from Google 

So, there's obviously a lot of racism in the United states, towards African Americans, Hispanics, etc.

And Muslims. 

I don't mean to be blunt, but its the truth.

I mean, I'm a Muslim from the Middle East, Its where my family is, where I was brought up, and I'm proud of where I'm from. I'm proud of my religion, my language, my culture, but some people aren't. That's a problem, Now, as you can see, the second definition of racism is, well, being racist. Racism is what causes some people to be ashamed of where they are from, or what their skin color is, or their accents, or whether they wear a headscarf or not. And I know what people think they know about the Middle East or Muslims. The stereotypical Middle Eastern is a "Crazy Person" or a "Bad Person", and to all the people who think that, its not true. Like yeah, sure, there are some bad Middle Eastern s or Muslims, but there are also some bad Americans or some bad Italians, or whatever. But those certain bad people do not represent the whole entire race or religion. It just defines those certain people. Like yeah, some kids are bullies, but are ALL kids bullies? Obviously not. 

That's just what I'm trying to say. Also, this post was inspired by the recent and tragic Chapel Hill shooting that resulted in 3 innocent young Muslims being shot and killed. And some comments that I've been getting at school.
BYE...............................................

Learning

Hey Guys
Sorry I haven't been posting much. But, life.
So, today I wanted to talk about learning, because I've been doing a lot of it lately.
So, for a while, since I started my new school, I've been feeling kind of stupid. The school that I'm in right now is a little more smarty smarty than my old school, and I feel like everyone around me is a lot smarter than I am. So, of course I've been studying extra hard, but its still kind of difficult to have everyone around you have so much more knowledge than you do.
Another thing I've been feeling kind of dumb at is Arabic.
So, when I came from Saudi Arabia to the United States, I was pretty much an ARABIC TALKING MACHINE, but thats changed. I've been forgetting a lot of basic things in the language that I knew as a second grader, and it's become very challenging for me to read.
Whats even more stressful about the situation is that in a year and a half or so, were moving back to Saudi Arabia, where I'm going to be thrust into 9 GRADE LEVEL ARABIC. Thats scary. And I really don't wan't to be held back a grade. If I was then I would break lots of things. lots. and yell. A lot of that too.
Sooo.. ya. That was my completely uninteresting and annoying blog post and I hope you enjoyed.

BYE..............................

TEXAS TEEN BOOK FESTIVAL!!!!

Hey guys!

*internally screams*
*tries to calm down*
*can't calm down*
*finally calms down*

Sorry 'bout that...

Ok, so yesterday was the Texas Teen Book Festival in Austin, so me and my mom(thanks mom!) drove there, and lemme just say, it was amazing. But there was a lot of waiting. A lot. Like a lot. Sometimes I just wanted to go up to the people in front of me in like and be like "MOVE OVER!!!!!" but I didn't do that, Because you know me, I encourage kindness. OR DO I?!! MWAHAHAHAHA no jk.
Anyways, I got some books signed by some of my favorite authors, like Marie Lu and Joelle Charbonneu, and I got to talk to them, but I remember talking to Joelle and me bringing up the topic of spiders. WHY DUA'A WHY. It was really quite amazing.
Then I went to a James Dashner panel, the author of the Maze Runner series, and he was HYSTERICAL. Which is always good.

Its so weird picturing authors outside their books, like I never imagined Joelle Charbonneu to be so nice since her books are so violent! Its actually really cool.
All in all, I had a great time, and I hope I can attend again next year!

BYE.................................................................

PERCY JACKSON FOR LIFE

Hey guys!

So... I don't know if any of you are aware (and if you aren't then i'm sorry but your living life wrong) of an AWESOME series called the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. I've kinda grown up with this series, waiting for a fair amount of the books to come out (the wait for The House of Hades was intense man, INTENSE) And it is coming to a close, with the last book coming out OCTOBER 7, THATS CLOSE, THATS PRETTY CLOSE, and I am ready and not ready. You probably think this is all just silly rambling, but I feel VERY STRONGLY about this topic, because I NEED ME MY PERCY JACKSON. I know in I think my first post I said that I loved to read, and that has progressed from a HOBBY TO A PASSION. And I really think that more people should read. I think that people just don't like reading because they haven't found THAT BOOK yet, and reading has always been just kind of boring because its for school, and let me be honest with you here, not even us avid readers like reading for school, because it SUCKS. So I think if they just found that book, they would immediately get sucked into the world of reading. For me that book was Percy Jackson. And I actually usually say Harry Potter for this one, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Harry Potter kind of just started me with reading, and Percy Jackson MADE me love to read. So thats why I love it so much. So I advice you, if you don't read, or you don't like reading, than pick up Percy Jackson, and even thought its a children's book, it is enjoyable no matter what age you are(I mean I think so, I'm not an adult so I wouldn't know) SO READ THESE BOOKS. NOW. RIGHT NOW. SRSLY. NOW. And then join me in complaining that Percy Jackson is over.

BYE.......................

2,000+ VIEWS! WHAT?!

Hey Guys!

I have exciting news! Today I logged on to my blog, and saw that I have 2,000+ views!!!! 

LET US TAKE A MOMENT OF SILENCE...

This is so cool! I never imagined I would come this far. When I first made this blog, I only thought that friends and family would visit it from time to time, just to see what i've been doing, but now, everyday when I look at my audience page(yes, there is an audience page where I can see from what country you guys are viewing my blog, Its kinda creepy for you but really cool for me) and see all the different parts of the world where people are viewing my blog, it reminds me of how AWESOME this is! Believe it or not, my third most viewed country is Malaysia! And I've also been getting some visits from Poland, Ireland, Ukraine, and other places that never even crossed my mind! Its just so cool.
So thank you guys so much! You have all made this experience so much more special, SO THANKS((:

BYE......................

Sooo... School

Hey Guys!

So.. School has started, and it hasn't been all butterflies and sunshine for me.
First of all, this is a new school that I'm attending, so I'm really missing my friends from my old school.
By the way, this is not just at the school that I am attending, this is everywhere, but I'm using my school as an example because I can. so, let us proceed.
Everyone seems to be in their own group, I never thought people could be categorized like this, because at my old school, everyone was friends with everyone, and no one was this segregated.
Also, even though its only been one week, theres already been some drama brewing. So here I am,  walking around, and I hear little snippets of gossip, for example "OMG, LIKE she is LIKE so embarrassing LIKE I wish she would LIKE stop LIKE following LIKE us LIKE." and in my head i'm thinking : no one wants to hear your immature gossiping, it will get you nowhere in life so you should just keep your thoughts to yourself.

Like I said, everyone wants to stick with their own group, so I've been kind of a loner. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but when it gets to the point where you have to hang out with your teachers, you know theres a problem.

I'm sorry if i'm ranting a bit, but I can so I did

BYE..............

I WAS IN BOSTON!

Hey Guys!

So, the past week, I was in Boston! The trip was made so that we could see my aunt, and my baby twin cousins(who I've never met) and it was great. My cousins were wonderful, but beware, to be in the same room with them, you have to at least know the basics of self-defense. Just saying. First of all, let me just say that no matter how nice the Boston Children's Museum is, the Houston one is better(because its #1 in the country if you didn't know that, don't judge me for bragging, I know you'd do it too(:) I think one of my favorite parts about the trip was going to the movies with my aunt, we watched Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and it was just so funny to see my aunt overreacting over everything emotional or scary that happened while I was just grinning like a maniac. I think another one of my favorite parts was going to the Harvard COOP bookstore, man that place was huge.

There's probably a billion more things I wanted to mention about the trip, and after I post this I'm probably gonna remember all the things I forgot to mention and I'm going to be really mad at myself, but this is it for now.

BYE............................................................................ 

Hobbies and stuff

Hello everyone!

This summer has not been the most eventful one for me, since both my parents are super busy, and that's why I haven't been posting much, because there's nothing to post about. But anyway, I found a topic I wanted to discuss. Hobbies. Since I have't been doing stuff outside of the house much, I find myself uncovering new hobbies and passions I didn't know I had. For example: Filming. I have found out that I really enjoy filming videos, editing videos. I have always knew that I like cameras and like taking pictures, as I help my mom with taking pictures for her cooking blog(which I will put a link to below, after I finish writing what I want to write about) But I did not expect to like making video's. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I love to read. so I have found a fairly large community on Youtube called Booktube, and, hence the name, it is a section on Youtube dedicated for books. People post book reviews, book hauls, and basically anything book related. So of course I had to join, so now I have a Booktube channel! (Which I will also link below) and because of that I have been reading so many books in my free time(which is not rare) and it so fun to discover so many worlds and join so many adventures(I SOUND SO CHEESY). Also, people on Booktube are so nice! I have been getting so many encouraging comments and I have only been doing this for about 3 or 4 weeks and I already have 8 subscribers which is kind of crazy if you think about it. So if you have a lot free time on your hands I encourage you to start trying out new things you wouldn't have tried doing if you were in school or something time consuming, and you might just find a new hobby!

This is my mom's blog(it's in Arabic): http://sleeplessinmykitchen.com/
This is my Booktube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCIKCA8sXr5MO-EDdUY9HGg
BYE...............:))))):)))):))))::)))):)))))

Poetry Slam

Hey Guys!
So you know how in that last post I said that the last week of my class we were going to have a big competition/performance and I think I forget to mention that it was in front of 100+ people! Ya, I know, stop gasping, its getting annoying. Anyway, there were four teams of us, and I was in a team called "Voices of Unusual Size" it consisted of 5 people, but the 5th guy abandoned us. So anyway, in the poetry slam, there are four rounds, and each of the teams preform in those four rounds, and the guy that left us was supposed to do a duet with another boy, but since he didn't come, I had to take his place and learn his lines and the choreography in 30 minutes! It was crazy. The slam was awesome! It was so cool! All the teams were really good, and in the end, we got second place!!!!!! Whoooooooohooooooo! But what really made my day was the support, some people in the other classes made signs and posters and were cheering our team name, and at the end, a bunch of people came up to me and congratulated my team, and they also gave me some of their posters that they made. It was pretty great. the only downside was that I forgot my backpack. Oh well, I'll just get it tomorrow! (which is the last day) I just wanted to let you guys know that I will always remember this day, when I spread my voice out to the world with my friends.

BYE..............................................................................................................