Originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.
Last Wednesday, I went to a Mohja Kahf poetry reading at Mudraker’s in Berkeley (it was rocking, by the way!), and ended up seeing some old buddies and making a couple of new friends. One guy I shook hands with towards the end of the evening exclaimed, “You have a really firm […]

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TARGET dressing rooms have rocking red walls, originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.
Last June, my buddy A left me a voicemessage late one night after having watched the film, Paris je t’aime, which actually consists of eighteen short films by 21 directors, each of the stories taking place in different arrondissements (municipal boroughs) of Paris. Walking […]

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Rockstar & sunshine & scribbles, originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.
The past couple of months, I kept getting emails reminding me that the sweepthesunshine.com domain needed to be renewed by February 17. So, I took care of that - on Valentine’s Day, no less, because I really do lowve you, internetS, and especially Blogistan - and we’re […]

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Did you grow up wth scissors like these when you were a kid? Me either, by yaznotjaz.
We haven’t talked about hair in a while, so this would probably be a good time to tell you how, a couple of weeks ago, I decided my sideswept bangs needed to be trimmed. What I had forgotten, unfortunately, […]

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Hands in supplication, by yaznotjaz
Last night, the Pakistani satellite channel, ARY-Digital, showed the Hajj pilgrims, a sea of white, at Arafat and Muzdalifah. I watched the television while eating dinner, the volume turned up loudly so that the pilgrims’ invocation echoed throughout the house:
Labayk Allahumma labayk, labayka la shareeka laka labayk. Innal-hamda, wa’naimata, laka wal-mulk, […]

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This way down, originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.
Four years of blogging, and up ’til now I’d managed to dodge completing any memes thrown my way (I’ve been tagged for my share, though, you can be sure; I still owe you one, Maliha!), and I still don’t even know how to pronounce the word “meme,” so why […]

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Originally uploaded by yaznotjaz
“Everyone’s a critic, yaar,” said my friend over IM. “Let’s just call ‘em all biatches.”
I started laughing, which was a good thing, because I had just spent most of the morning cursing a stranger I knew nothing about. This was two Fridays ago. It started with an email: GMail automatically refreshed my […]

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Originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.
This image was something I had quite a bit of fun putting together yesterday. [Click for a larger view, and to read the notes, even though, after all this time, I’m sure you already know why I specifically picked those photos.] I was inspired by Jamelah’s montage to […]

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You know what’s annoying? When you write an entry and post it, and then later, while cleaning up your desktop, come across a file containing an already-half-written entry (actually, bullet points) that you were planning on posting for that event but then forgot all about. And since the already-posted entry in question was two posts […]

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Originally uploaded by yaznotjaz. [Click to read in the original sizes]
Actually, I don’t really have much to say about the 25 thing, except:
1. The poetry in the photos above really resonates right about now. [Click the photos to read.]
2. I don’t feel 25. Actually, I never felt 23 or 24 either, or anything older […]

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Nothing brings one’s (read: my) mood down like logging into an old Yahoo! email account and realizing it was deactivated because I hadn’t logged in for four months. Yeah, like your 1GB of space helps me now, Yahoo!, when I’ve been using GMail as my primary email account for nearly two years.
Thanks a lot […]

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tryin’ out my new toys
I have moderately severe hearing loss.
What that means is, if you were standing right in front of me and I weren’t wearing my hearing aids, I wouldn’t be able to hear a word you were saying.
I’ve worn hearing aids since I was eight years old. When I was younger, […]

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i am -
Twenty-three days of sunshine and nights of rain and eyes that crinkle above wide smiles. Twenty-three picnics on the lawn, footraces, cart-wheels, twenty-three summersaults that go awry. Scraped knees and bandaged elbows, sticks and stones and rosebush thorns. Loud laughter and raised eyebrows, twenty-three dismissive glances and tears left unshed.
Twenty-three plans unmade […]

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i don’t cry every time i bleed/my eyes are dry, but they’re bloodshot
When it comes to saying “I told you so,” my parents have ample reason to patronize me with their variations of that phrase. This I freely admit. My mother mournfully shakes her head and says, “Didn’t I tell you so?” whenever I neglect […]

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someone please pass the remote control
Went to see my ear specialist this morning. Now I feel like my world has been invaded by that great entity called Sound. Hearing, the good ol’ third sense - ’bout time I went and got it balanced out. Problem is, now all I really want is some sort of […]

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