Welcome. Thank you for tumbling onto me.

I hope you stay, though I assure you I am pretty unoriginal. I'm like, the anti-hipster. I watch a lot of dumb TV. I love the Kardashians. I love that mainstream, repetitive, it-all-sounds-the-same, pop music they play on the radio. I like whatever clothes are in style. Yeah, so what? I don't try too hard to be different. I would tell you that I don't take myself too seriously, but I never really understood what that meant. I think I can be serious. I believe in myself. Other facts: I am brown (i.e. Slumdog Millionaire). I'm not always halal, but I'm honest. Like most informed people, I love and hate politics. Like most college students, I indulge in a lot of angst and sometimes I think I'm the center of the universe. Sometimes I find/think interesting things and I think that is what Tumblr is for? I don't even know. Tumblr is a funny word.

[thisisaliahs-blog]

i love seeing imperfection.

people's scars and stretch marks.  their unwanted hair.  their crooked teeth and their stubby fingers.  that extra fat they can never get rid of.

it's freaking beautiful.  i could stare at them all day.

i know i know.  i have this theory that i was born a TOTAL creep.

but i love seeing people, and the little things they try so desperately try to cloak and camouflage from the rest of the world.

but when they let it go... when they accept it... and wear it...

gah.

you know those people that just WEAR their skin?  

i feel like people's imperfections tell a story.  

the more imperfect, the longer the narrative.

and the more beautiful they really are to me.

[thisisaliahs-blog]

New life goal

to never be able to relate to Adele's music.

Sigh.

Her voice just rips through you doesn't it.

[thisisaliahs-blog]

This tumblr/blog is so fully entertaining. Love you, twinie!!

haha much obliged!  may i find out who my twin is?  

[thisisaliahs-blog]

so i haven't chewed my nails in months.

and then yesterday, sitting in my political theory class, without even realizing it, i chewed all of them clean off to bleeding point.

something is up.

[thisisaliahs-blog]

the impossible task of cleaning my room.

ive been putting this off for weeks now, and mess has begotten more mess.

and now u can barely see the floor and everything is just in piles that keep getting bigger.

and im trying to wrap my head around the thought of cleaning this thing.

but honestly, every time i walk in the door and even consider getting started, i just wanna lay down and make a clothes angel.

it's seriously too much.

i need to hire someone.

[thisisaliahs-blog]

like i've been saying for years...

kim and reggie foreva.

kris humphries is a giant douchey baby and she had no business marrying him.

err, except the 17 mil she made off their wedding...

oh that's right.

but you know what?  idgaf.

i enjoyed watching that wedding special.

in fact, i enjoyed looking at pictures of the wedding special before actually seeing the wedding special.

whilst flipping through OK! magazine at the giant eagle checkout.

i enjoyed reading abt their honeymoon while sitting under the dryer at my hair salon.

and i enjoyed reading pages of hilarious tweets surrounding their divorce.

it's called entertainment.  these people are entertainers.  clowns.  and the purpose of their lives is to successfully entertain ME.

and so far, they've been able to keep my attention.  

so im going to give credit where credit is due.

[thisisaliahs-blog]

when you're muslim,

everything is amplified.  every little gesture.  every look... every touch... every accidental brush.

it makes actions a lot more meaningful, ultimately.  but in the meantime, a lot of angsting occurs over a lot less because you're sensitive to EVERYTHING.

even the most menial, inadvertent, really-not-a-big-deal-to-most-people things can drive you crazy for days.

it's quite interesting, really.

as if young adults didn't already have enough to angst over...

the muslim angst threshold is like, 10 times lower than everyone else's.  

fan-damn-tastic.

[thisisaliahs-blog]

How to Get Over Anything.

1.  Prayer.

2.  Doing your homework.

Does not include: sleeping, eating, talking to all your friends about it, relaxing, or any other BS.

The first two bide you time and give you the strength and patience you need, whilst keeping you productive and feeling like you're still in control of your life.  The others just keep you marinating in your angst.

Now if only one could take one's own brilliant advice.

[thisisaliahs-blog]

We ask all these questions we know the answers to

 because we lie to ourselves more than anyone else.  But we know why.  We always know why.  The why doesn't even exist, does it?  It's just our denial.

[thisisaliahs-blog]

What is wrong with me?

Probably the most universal question in existence.

[thisisaliahs-blog]

omg.

i just realized im literally rocking back and forth on my bed, in relative darkness, clutching my laptop and obsessively checking email, twitter, facebook, and tumblr.  and i may or may not have been in this position for the past several hours.  

new low people.

NEW.  LOW.

[thisisaliahs-blog]

Reaching that point of selflessness and maturity

where you just want the world to become a better place, and you don't care who makes it that way.  It doesn't have to be you.  It doesn't have to be your way.

[thisisaliahs-blog]

The Bleep.

Does anyone remember that episode of Arthur with "the bleep?"

Incidently, one of my favorite episodes.  Preceded by the library card one, of course.

Well, I'm sort of watching Knocked Up right now on USA.  I say sort of cuz I've sort of seen this movie like 6 or 7 times, but I never really pay attention and only catch parts of it.  It's... eh.  It's an okay movie.

Anyways, back to the bleep.  So I just find it interesting how the bleep has changed over the years.  If you ever go back and watch old episodes of Fresh Prince, they even go as far as to bleep the word "hell" out.  A few years ago, the radio would bleep "bitch" out of every song.

Nowadays, not only do most words avoid the bleep, the sound of the bleep itself seems to have gotten shorter.  So that basically, you hear the beginning and end of the whole word anyway.  You just miss the vowel.  The bleep has become largely symbolic, perhaps as vulgar as the word itself.  See Jimmy Kimmel's "Unnecessary Sensorship" segment. 

Sigh.  It bothers me how desensitized we've gotten as a society.  

I mean, I thought I lost MY innocence early.  I can't even imagine what it's like for kids these days.

[anxietycat]

[thisisaliahs-blog]

i HATE it when people tell me to calm down, or "just relax."  there's a reason i'm expressing myself to you, and THAT'S the best you come up with?  why are we even talking.  guys are especially guilty of this.

[thisisaliahs-blog]

So like,

in a halal staring contest, do you pretty much just look at the ground?

Until like, one of you gets bored and leaves?

Halal arm wrestling... do you wear gloves or something?

Hmm.  Lol.

I'm just wondering how these things would work exactly.

[thisisaliahs-blog]

You know what I love about myself?

My tastebuds.

I know, that's a strange one.

But the other day I was cooking for the first time in my apartment, and I wanted to have my roomie try some of my kitchen experiment.

But it turns out she doesn't like mushrooms much. 

Then I wanted my other roomie to try it, but apparently no one around here likes mushrooms!

I know right!

Here I LOOOOOVE mushrooms.

In fact, I don't think there is a food out there I wouldn't eat.  Except pork of course lol.

I love the fact that I am not a picky eater.  That I was blessed with tastebuds and a brain that could not only tolerate all foods, but actually find them all desirable.  That I never have trouble finding things to eat at restaurants or parties.  Or even that I don't have food allergies like so many people.  I am not sure about the physiological reasons some people like certain foods and others can't stand them, but I think in terms of natural selection, I would win.  Which is awesome, because I never win at anything.

It's kind of weird to think that I've been taking my tastebuds for granted every moment leading up to now.  Kind of incredible actually.  

Tastebuds are truly a gift.

My friend Mary told me about this man she knew, who lost his sense of taste.  So he only ate food based on the texture... crunchy, smooshy, etc.  

Can you imagine????  

Dude.  Alhamdulillahs for the little things.  Which are actually big things.

Next time you eat, appreciate the taste of what it is you're eating.  Let the flavor cover your tongue and just think about what it's doing to your brain and how it feels.

Seriously.  Taste is a very underrated sense.

[thisisaliahs-blog]

(On the phone)

Me: So what's new with you? How was school today?

Faraz: ...

Me: Faraz?

Faraz: Yeah?

Me: Why are you so distracted?

Faraz: I'm watching... this video... on YouTube.

Me: Ok?

Faraz: About... how to hunt sharks.

Me: Uhhh... I see. And why is that? You're going shark hunting?

Faraz: Well, I could now.

Kid gets me everytime.