daniyahs

2003-07-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

I've moved on out of here to here
I'll keep this site here for awhile to inform people..

2003-07-21T05:57:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of moving my site. The lovely Janey is my new host so I'll give the addy when things are setup properly.

2003-07-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

Well as anyone can see things are really getting nasty around here…its ridiculous… If people are so offended by what I write..well it’s a big web you can find somewhere else. This type of nonsense is not at all productive and speaks volumes about what type of people you are. I have never said or wrote anything overly controversial to make such a big fuss as this, you simply hate my religion…

These childish antics are a waste of my time, what is your goal? To make Islam look bad?…well I suggest you stick to your forum.
I simply cannot understand what type of person would say the things you have said about myself and Abdu…have you no manners at all? No sense of what is right or wrong? Do you not have anything better to do? You do not even know us but I guess it is easy to attack people when you are anonymous and have your own agenda

I have no wish to have pointless arguments with people who are blind no matter what I say..you don’t agree with me that’s fine..no worries but at least allow me my opinion.

2003-07-17T11:01:00.000-07:00

I found this in my web travels and thought i'd post it because i enjoyed it

A Non-Muslim Woman Experiments with Hijab
by Kathy Chin

I walked down the street in my long white dress and inch-long, black hair one afternoon, and truck drivers whistled and shouted obscenities at me. I felt defeated. I had just stepped out of a hair salon. I had cut my hair short, telling the hairdresser to trim it as she would a guy's. I sat numbly as my hairdresser skillfully sheared into my shoulder-length hair with her scissors, asking me with every inch she cut off if I was freaking out yet. I wasn't freaking out, but I felt self-mutilated.

I WAS OBLITERATING MY FEMININITY

It wasn't just another haircut. It meant so much more. I was trying to appear androgynous by cutting my hair. I wanted to obliterate by femininity. Yet that did not prevent some men from treating me as a sex object. I was mistaken. It was not my femininity that was problematic, but my sexuality, or rather the sexuality that some men had ascribed to me based on my biological sex. They reacted to me as they saw me and not as I truly am. Why should it even matter how they see me, as long as I know who I am? But it does. I believe that men who see women as only sexual beings often commit violence against them, such as rape and battery. Sexual abuse and assault are not only my fears, but my reality. I was molested and raped. My experiences with men who violated me have made me angry and frustrated. How do I stop the violence? How do I prevent men from seeing me as an object rather than a female? How do I stop them from equating the two? How do I proceed with life after experiencing what others only dread? The experiences have left me with questions about my identity. Am I just another Chinese-American female? I used to think that I have to arrive at a conclusion about who I am, but now I realize that my identity is constantly evolving.

MY EXPERIENCE OF BEING "HIJABED"

One experience that was particularly educational was when I "dressed up" as a Muslim woman for a drive along Crenshaw Boulevard with three Muslim men as part of a newsmagazine project. I wore a white, long-sleeved cotton shirt, jeans, tennis shoes, and a flowery silk scarf that covered my head, which I borrowed from a Muslim woman. Not only did I look the part, I believed I felt the part. Of course, I wouldn't really know what it feels like to be Hijabed - I coined this word for the lack of a better term everyday, because I was not raised with Islamic teachings. However, people perceived me as a Muslim woman and did not treat me as a sexual being by making cruel remarks. I noticed that men's eyes did not glide over my body as has happened when I wasn't Hijabed. I was fully clothed, exposing only my face. I remembered walking into an Islamic center and an African-American gentleman inside addressed me as "sister," and asked where I came from. I told him I was originally from China. That didn't seem to matter. There was a sense of closeness between us because he assumed I was Muslim. I didn't know how to break the news to him because I wasn't sure if I was or not. I walked into the store that sold African jewelry and furniture and another gentleman asked me as I was walking out if I was Muslim. I looked at him and smiled, not knowing how to respond. I chose not to answer.

BEING HIJABED CHANGED OTHERS' PERCEPTION OF ME

Outside the store, I asked one of the Muslim men I was with, "Am I Muslim?" He explained that everything that breathes and submits is. I have concluded that I may be and just don't know it. I haven't labeled myself as such yet. I don't know enough about Islam to assert that I am Muslim. Though I don't pray five times a day, go to a mosque, fast, nor cover my head with a scarf daily, this does not mean that I am not Muslim. These seem to be the natural manifestations of what is within. How I am inside does not directly change whether I am Hijabed or not. It is others' perception of me that was changed. Repeated experiences with others in turn creates a self-image.

HIJAB AS OPPRESSION: A SUPERFICIAL AND MISGUIDED VIEW

I consciously chose to be Hijabed because I was searching for respect from men. Initially, as both a Women's Studies major and a thinking female, I bought into the Western view that the wearing of a scarf is oppressive. After this experience and much reflection, I have arrived at the conclusion that such a view is superficial and misguided: It is not if the act is motivated by conviction and understanding.

THE MOST LIBERATING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE

I covered up that day out of choice, and it was the most liberating experience of my life. I now see alternatives to being a woman. I discovered that the way I dress dictated others' reaction towards me. It saddens me that this is a reality. It is a reality that I have accepted, and chose to conquer rather than be conquered by it. It was my sexuality that I covered, not my femininity. The covering of the former allowed the liberation of the latter.

This article was originally published in Al-Talib, the newsmagazine of the Muslim Students' Association of the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) in October 1994. At the time of its publication, Kathy Chin was a senior at UCLA majoring in Psychobiology and Women's Studies.

2003-07-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

check out this

Abdu Fattaah

for some reason comments aren't working...or are they? someone pls test them...thanks

2003-07-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

I checked out the forum...wasn't too impressed..the arguements seem to be awfully one sided and so hatefull..

2003-07-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

kaf·fir also kaf·ir

n. pl. Kaffir or Kaf·firs also Kafir or Kaf·irs

1.A Xhosa.
2.often kaffir Used especially in southern Africa as a disparaging term for a Black person.
3.Kafir A Nuristani.
4.also kaffir Islam. An infidel.

One entry found for Kaffir.

Main Entry: Kaf·fir
Variant(s): or Kaf·ir /'ka-f&r/
Function: noun
Etymology: Arabic kAfir infidel
Date: 1778
1 archaic : a member of a group of southern African Bantu-speaking peoples
2 often not capitalized, chiefly South African, usually disparaging : a black African

SYLLABICATION: Kaf·fir
PRONUNCIATION: kfr
VARIANT FORMS: also Kaf·ir
NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. Kaffir or Kaf·firs also Kafir or Kaf·irs
1.a. A Xhosa. b. often kaffir Used especially in southern Africa as a disparaging term for a Black person. 2. Kafir A Nuristani. 3. also kaffir Islam An infidel.

I took the liberty of also looking up the word infidel so we wouldn't need to debate that one too..

in·fi·del ( P ) Pronunciation Key (nf-dl, -dl)
n.

An unbeliever with respect to a particular religion, especially Christianity or Islam.
One who has no religious beliefs.
One who doubts or rejects a particular doctrine, system, or principle.

2003-07-06T13:46:00.000-07:00

you know it would be funny if it wasn't so stupid...
People claim i am censoring things around here..well sure you have the right to say whatever you want right? well so do i..
i did indeed call you fools on a tagboard and why shouldn't i? this blog is my place on the net..my home if you will and your trashing it...now it would be ok if you were both open for some sensible discussion or debate but your not...i don't know what motivates people like you...seems you thinks your entitled to your opinion and i'm not...hello?? and Islam is oppressive??

really stay if you want..people like you make me laugh...i had a teacher at school once who said "If you don't know anything about a subject its better to be silent...because you run the risk of looking foolish"

Anyone can collect random quotes from the Quaran and claim to understand it...quoting out of context is an easy thing to do..perhaps a little more energy reading it instead of picking out things that suit your purpose...if you hate Islam so much just leave...

cheers thats all the effort i'm devoting to you..enoughs enough...

2003-07-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

well seems to be a storm brewing here...so lets get started.

Lebanese Australians accused of rape.. there was a case approximately 18 months ago where a group of boys of lebanese origin were accused of gang raping a girl of white australian origin. The situation was that the girl knew the boys and met them at the train station, they all smoked some joints together in the bathroom and then travelled on the train to another location. The men gang raped her...which no doubt would be a horific experience..these guys should be punished to the fullest extent of the law and in my opinion castrated. The last of nine men charged over the rape in Sydney has been jailed for a maximum 40 years.

The question is whether or not it was necessary for these mens religion to be splashed accross the front of the newspapers...Islam did not rape this women the men did. It was turned into a situation
where the men were known as those lebanese muslim gang rapers.

Rape occurs in most societys..even the most "civilized" Around the world at least 1 women in 3 has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Most often the abuser is a member of her own family.
Rape is fobidden in Islam - no question about it, if these men were guilty of rape in a muslim country they would be put to death... the mention of their chosen religion is not an issue.

In sydney there is a large Lebanese population and many of them are christian not only muslim...unfortunately there has been an incraseing number of "gangs" and crime relating to these gangs..mainly drug related.

Here in australian we have had some terrible crimes in the past - 35 died when a man opened fire at a popular tourist destination in Port Arthur Tasmania...this man was not known as the white australian christian who shot 35 - a man was found guilty of kidnapping a 5 year old girl from her home, raping her and leaving her for dead in park near her house...was he known as the christian child raper? no..because a persons Ethnicity and religion are not relevant.
Incidently the child raper was only given a minimum of 5 years jail.

These men deserve everything they get..no question but the media using their ethinc background and religion in their reports creates hatred in the community...this is not productive in a time when people are already fearing things they don't understand.

People of course are free to have whatever opinion they wish - i will not allow people to spew hate at me over what i chose to write or say...insults like these remind me of kindergarten so lets all act like the adults i know we are.

If something i say offends you so much..simply click the small X at the top of your screen and the problems solved.

2003-06-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

World Refugee Day.. Residency not rejection..

I am not sure how much the world knows of Australia's refugee policies today or what the situation has been in the past, I am also not aware of what policies other countries in the world have regarding refugees. But Australia’s policy stinks.

Australia is in breach of the following-
Universal declaration of human rights.
UN Convention 1951 and 1967 Protocol relating to status of refugees.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Declaration of the Rights of the child (as of May 8th 2003 there were 108 children in immigration detention centres on mainland Australia and 111 in detention on Nauru)

We need to return to a humane alternative..return to the system that applied before 1989 where asylum seekers who arrived without authorisation were offered support and accommodation in the community and allowed to choose where they lived while their claims were being assessed.

Currently Australia provides only temporary protection to refugees. Refugees in Australia therefore face the enormous stress of never knowing when they might be forced to leave. As far as I am aware of no other country places refugees in such a terrible situation.
Refugees in Australia live in detention camps away from the community like lepers behind barbed wires fences, many will be returned to their country without even leaving the camp.
This includes women and children..they are of course given food and medical attention but why should anyone have to live like this for as much as 4 years! Yes you read it right...4 YEARS while their application is being processed…what sort of life is this? Since our government seems to like America so much why not adopt their innocent until guilty approach? ha-ha

Our prime minister the Honourable (?) John Howard has been proven to have lied during the last election (not so surprising) about a boat load of asylum seekers who’s boat sank off the coast of Australia..during the election he told us that the people on board were throwing their children overboard, trying to show that these people were heartless or uncaring about their own children and the public shouldn’t sympathize with them…when in fact the boat was sinking and people had to leave it….all while the Australian navy was nearby watching....ok alhumdulilah not everyone drowned but many did! And the navy was there the whole time…

Then the lucky survivors got put into the detention camps....to wait and see if they will be accepted as “real” refugees.

Now I’d like to know why no one seems to remember or care that John Howard lied?
Unfortunately I think that John Howard’s apparent “tough stance” on the issue was what won him the election since many Australians saw these refugees as queue jumpers and trying to get in illegally.

Ok there’s much more to this issue and perhaps I’ll follow it up later inshallah..too much to write…

2003-06-19T11:46:00.000-07:00

hey well its all systems go here...things still aren't the way i'd like but hey i'm working on it.

2003-06-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

hmm well slight improvement...not much..i just can't figure it out...gonna start from scratch..again :)

2003-06-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

just in case someone tries - not all links are working so careful...you could end up anywhere

ok and in case you haven't noticed i've really been messing around here with things i don't understand and now - ta da! hmmm how do i fix this mess?

2003-06-15T09:04:00.000-07:00

Well i've put some links to sites with Islamic Audio lecture downloads - i'm hoping inshallah to include a list of my favorites.

Jazakum Allah khairan to Tora for some great links..you always seem to come up with the goods :)

Go get them.....

2003-06-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

Well Alhumdulilah..today was a good day!
i had class today at an Islamic centre near and my new neighbour came with me - i gave her a hijab and loved it! She'd never been to a class like this and met so many sisters at one place - inshallah she'll come more often.
Today we played a quiz game and it really made me realise how much i don't know! got to start learning more. i have listened to some great audio lectures from the internet and am hoping inshallah to put a link for some sites with downloadable lectures on here cos seriously they are so good.

Next Thursday i officially start at the women centre inshallah and am feeling really excited about it..bit nervous too but you get that hey..

This week i don't have much time on the net cos the computers busy with homework..inshallah next week things will be a bit less hectic and i can update a lot more often!

2003-06-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hi Aunty Kez and Grandma - have a nice holiday gma see you when you get back inshallah
Hope Tassies not too cold..
:)

2003-06-06T09:38:00.000-07:00

i was not meant to be a computer person - better stick to baking biscuits and making soup i think..
this is working for me too well ..inshallah i will figure it out

day two of training was fantastic..go into it later inshallah

2003-06-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Today was great! It was my first day training at the Women’s centre.

Today I got more of an understanding of what the organisation does exactly and let me tell you its really a shame places like this have to exist! The place is not very big so they can’t help everyone that needs help but I guess at least they can help some.
The centre manages properties for women who are homeless or just out of prison and find them somewhere to stay until they can either find somewhere else or get into government public housing. Today I learnt the actually reality of this problem.

I never thought here in Australia there was such a problem with homelessness and its increasing, of course there are a lot or reasons/issues as to why – I’d never really thought about it before, I mean I try to be thankful for what I have but this has made me realize truly how thankful I should be…some people have no home and sleep on the streets or in their cars with their children! Imagine this..if you have a roof over your head and food to eat you are lucky.

Basically the centre owns 100 houses all over Melbourne and lets the women stay there while helping them to get their life together and find a permanent place to stay – I was surprised to learn that the wait list for public housing is so long – people on low incomes/or in financial hardship have to wait approx 10 YEARS!! to get a place and homeless people – even though they have no where to go have to wait around a year!
A year – think about a year in your life and imagine living on the streets for even a night let alone a year.

Now I realise that there are homeless people all over the world not just Australia but does that mean it’s acceptable? Country’s like Australia should not have this problem in such numbers – being a developed country and all how come some have so much and many so little, the gap between social levels is just too wide – the government can afford to spend money on less important things but important things like education and public housing remain underfunded..argh ok now as I said before there are a lot of issues involved an increasing funding may seem a bit simplistic but surely its a start?
Well you know I don’t claim to know it all this is just my opinion – like it or lump it.

Let this be a reminded about appreciating what you have –everyone who can afford to should pay Zakat

Ah well day 2 of training tomorrow we’ll see how that goes.

Also pictures not showing -something i've done--add to the to be fixed list

2003-06-04T01:02:00.000-07:00

Alrighty it appears to be all systems go here - pls let me know if something doesn't appear on the page so i can fix it..

2003-06-03T01:31:00.000-07:00

argh comments not working

2003-06-03T00:53:00.000-07:00

some changes are a comin'

2003-05-31T08:29:00.000-07:00

Whats in your coffee??
On a less bright note I saw an interesting documentary about the world coffee industry and i felt awful!
I hope people will read this and consider these poor people. The documentery was talking to coffee farmers in Ethiopia and what the current market situation is. Basically they are getting the short end of the stick, we pay $3.00 for a cup of coffee here in Aus and from that they get LESS than 1 CENT! the price of coffee is not regulated so the big coffee buyers can basically set the price to what they want to pay..

read on..

There is a crisis in the world coffee industry... massive overproduction has pushed prices down to an all-time low... 25 million coffee producers face ruin. Families are unable to buy medicines, enough food, or to send their children to school. The four giant coffee companies make huge profits while paying coffee farmers less than it costs to grow it.
Make the coffee giants pay a decent price!

There are a great many companies, known as 'roasters', around the world who buy green coffee beans and turn them into roast and ground or instant coffee. But the four main roasters - Kraft, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, and Sara Lee - are giants in the coffee world and shape its retail market. Their brands include Maxwell House, Nescafé, Folgers, Douwe Egberts, and Kenco.

What do we want them to do?

The big companies should pay farmers a decent price for their coffee and also buy Fair Trade coffee.
Governments of rich countries should back a Coffee Rescue Plan by supporting producers' plans to make companies trade only in good-quality coffee; paying for the destruction of excess stocks; and providing aid to help poor farmers out of the crisis and restore their environment.
Consumer power: everyone can play an important part - put pressure on companies to act responsibly - and buy Fair Trade coffee.

go here to read more..

2003-05-31T08:14:00.000-07:00

Well this week has been a good one for a number of reasons...
Firstly yay! I’m going for training at the women’s centre next Thursday inshallah..so obviously the interview went well.
Secondly I’ve got a new neighbour – well she lived there for about a month now but I’ve only just met her and she’s Muslim! Alhumdulilah…well I can’t tell you how great this is! Since reverting to Islam I don’t really see my old friends much and I don’t know many sisters in my area so to have a muslimah move in next door is ace!
I’d seen her around a few times but she doesn’t wear hijab so I couldn’t tell she was Muslim. The other day I locked myself out of the house and was sitting outside contemplating whether to just wait for hubby to get home or try and get in – I was loaded down with shopping and school books so I didn’t want to go anywhere – argh carrying that load from the train was awful.
Anyway sitting at the front door and I see her coming up the street – she’s looking at me so I said I’d locked myself out. So anyway one thing led to another and I ended up spending the arvo at her place and discovered we had a lot in common. It’s great to be able to have some serious conversations with someone about Islam… I’m loving it she’s even asked to borrow a hijab and is going to come to classes at the masjid with me inshallah!

2003-05-26T07:12:00.000-07:00

Story I found in my web travels..by unknown author

THE STRANGER

A few months before I was born, my dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. Fom the beginning, dad was fascinated with this enchanting new comer and soon invited him to live with our family.Though his outside apperance was not attractive, the 'stranger' was quickly accepted, and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later. As I grew up, I never questioned his place in the family. In my young mind, each member had a specific niche. My parents were complementary instructors. Mum taught me to love Allah and dad taught me to obey him.

But the 'stranger' was our storyteller. He would weave the most fascinating tales. Adventures, mysteries and comedies were daily conversations. He could hold our whole family spell bond for hours each evening and would consume most of our time over the weekend. If I wanted to know about politics, history, science; he knew it all. He knew about the past and understand the present. The pictures he could draw where so life-like that I would often laugh or cry as I watched. He was like a friend to the whole family.

He was always encouraging us to see the movies and made arrangements to introduce us to several famous people. The 'stranger' was an incessant talker. Dad did not seem to mind but sometimes mum would quietly get up, while the rest of us were engrossed with one of his stories of far away places, she would go to her room and read the Quraan. She would quietly tell us that the Holy Prophet Muhammed(sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) said(something similiar to...) "THE BEAUTY OF ONE'S FAITH IS SHUNNING ALL NON-PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES".

I wonder now if she had ever prayed that the 'stranger' would leave. You see,my dad ruled the household with certain moral convictions, but this 'stranger' never obligated to honour them. Profanity,for example, was not allowed in the house, from us, from our friends nor from anybody else.

Our long time visitor however used four letter words that burned my ears and made dad squirm. To my knowledge the 'stranger' was never confronted by anyone. My dad was a teetotaller(a person who advocates total abstinence from intoxicants) who did not even permit alcohol in his home, but the 'stranger' felt that we needed exposure and enlightened us to other ways of life. He offered us beer and other alcoholic beverages often. He made cigarettes look appealing. He encouraged us to flirt with women. I know now that my early concepts of the man and women relationships were influenced by the 'stranger'.

As I look back I believe that it was Allah's mercy that the 'stranger' did not influence us more. More than thirty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. But if I had to walk in my parents's bedroom, I would still see him sitting in a corner waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures and enchant his audience with his magic.
His name you may ask.........,we call him the T.V.

2003-05-26T01:50:00.000-07:00

having some trouble with the template - when i go there its blank...not looking good! ah well
i needed to fix the link to ummouhameds journal - so till i can figure out the caos here's the correct link

http://www.karenhanson.net/jrnl.html
go visit - cheers

2003-05-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

great stuff - its all happening here

2003-05-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

alrighty lets try this thing out..

2003-05-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

well I've had a fantastic morning alhumdulilah. I went for a job interview for a volunteer position at a womens housing centre as a receptionist.
when i heard about the interview I considered what i should wear. I wear an abaya and khimar/hijab to school but thought that perhaps i should wear just a skirt and long top with hijab, not sure why i thought to do this- well in the end i decided to wear what i normally would, well if i get the position inshallah i'll be wearing that anyway so better they hire me as i am. Well SubhannaAllah the lady who interviewd me was muslim! and even complimented me on my jilbab - I've decided never to try and compromise my belief on how i should dress to please anyone...take me as i am. After all thats one of the great things about hijab in the first place, people when they meet you and judge you for who you are/ your character instead of your latest fashion outfit and cool hair cut. This in itself is a great feeling - liberating in fact and obviously the most important thing of all - its pleasing to Allah.

On another note i also had a rather disturbing incounter this morning while walking down the street - a man stopped me, grabbed my arm introduced himself and asked for my name and stuff. Now something like this has never happened before -he told me he was muslim from Cairo. Now someone please tell me what i can say to this guy in this situation? i mean he's muslim, how can he thinks its ok to grab me in public and start talking? Perhaps i'm wrong but i thought I shouldn't be conversing with anyone non-mahram - wouldn't he know this also?
I have much to learn...any suggestions welcomed

2003-05-16T22:13:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd post a bit about myself and when I reverted to Islam...many people ask

well my journey to islam is purely a blessing from allah.
I grew up protestant, used to go to sunday school as a child but never
really understood anything about the religion, christmas was about Santa and easter about chocolate rabbits... the whole idea of god
seemed pretty far fetched to me. I spent some time in Malaysia and had the chance to meet some wondeful sisters who used to tell me about
islam but i didn't really listen at the time - my main ideas about islam where how oppressed women were having to wear hijab, listen to
men, beaten battered women. After returning home to Australia I meet a brother and we started discussing religion etc, we needless to say we
were in a relationship for 4 years and while i know now that;s wrong i didn't particularly care at the time - he was not practising for the
first 2 years - well sept 11 changed it all, he stopped going out, started praying and the effect on him was amazing! he became like a
different, better person - his whole personality changed - of course our relatioship was a major problem because it was haram but at the
time there was no way i thought i could every become muslim.

well he started to bring lectures home, dealing with different issues and we'd talk about it...gradually i started asking more and more
questions, i decided we shouldn't be together anymore because i was happy for him that he was so happy (hmm make sense?) and i now knew how
wrong it was for us to have a relationship so he moved, we still saw each other on occasion and i started my own reasearch - supprised to
discover Women in Islam aren't opressed at all! i was amazed to learn that women were given certain rights over 1400 years ago that western
women only got in the last 100 years!! i decided to ask god..if your there please lead me too you. The crunch came when i was watching a
lecture about science in the Quaran (i believed in evolution) how the Quaran has many scientific things in it that couldn't have possibly
been know 1400 years ago except if i was a book from God,the next day i went to a mosque - very nervous! the sisters there were
just so friendly/ humble beautiful women...hardly opressed! and took my shahada that day alhumdulah!

I now wear hijab/abaya and i love it! I got married about 2 months ago and life is feeling new - it's like i've been let into a big secret
that i want to shout to the world!! I now realise that this was all meant to be...well hope that wasn't too long....

2003-05-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

well I think I'm nearly at a stage I can start with..I'm loving the purple/blueish

2003-05-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

argh! keep calm...

2003-05-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

alrighty..having a lot of trouble with the html..try again tomorrow inshallah

2003-05-15T01:29:00.000-07:00

alrighty..having a lot of trouble with the html..try again tomorrow inshallah

2003-05-15T00:30:00.000-07:00

assalamu alaikum to all...

well well another day another thing to ponder - At the moment (well not this very moment) I am studying and all's going well alhumdulilah.. I had to give a presentation today on a pretty boring (but important) topic..Occupational Health and Safety Legislation. Now I am a talker..I talk a lot..a lot..so giving a presentation isn't something I stress too much about, I just make sure I know what I'm talking about - mind you my face does get extremely hot..sort of like being in a sauna..not sure why, so anyway it went alright teacher's happy. In my class we have a mixture of local and overseas students - Chinese, Bosnian, Macedonian to name a few. There is one girl in my class from China and she is the sweetest chick - very shy but cheeky at the same time - for the sake of this blog I shall call her Lai Mew, ok well get on with the story..

Lai Mew is great, friendly, doesn't say a bad word about anyone, you know the type..she also gave her presentation today and had an equally boring topic as mine. Now Lai Mew has only been in Australia for a bit under a year...never spoke English till she came here and has done a fantastic job learning it but feels very self confident when speaking especially for a presentation..Well Lai Mew got up this afternoon and started her talk..doing a great job till four other members of my class started laughing at her, she stopped, the teacher told them to be quiet, apologize or leave, they mumbled sorry and she continued, they started again...poor Lai Mew left the front of the class in tears....now why do that to someone who's obviously doing the best they can? man it takes a lot of guts to give a speech in a language you aren't confident in! It makes me so mad! Why would anyone want to make someone feel so bad they cry?? I imagine the four wouldn't do too well giving a presentation in Chinese.

I can't understand people who make fun of peoples English...why?? usually those who do can't speak any language except English..personally I admire people who can speak more than one language - most people I know from other country's can speak at least 2 other than English..even if only one its still better than only English...its rather unfortunate people feel its ok to make fun of someone for something like that! Argh some people need to learn English is not the only language in the world..

ok rambling on here...hope my point was made..

2003-05-14T23:13:00.000-07:00

hmm not working..trouble in the engine room

2003-04-30T06:33:00.000-07:00

well lets just see how this goes hmm?