Seven (More) Things

peace y'all,

Yeah so I got another meme tag from UmmZaid and I am most happy to oblige (rolled up sleeves and rubbing hands together).

7 people I admire (okay, and I mean besides the most obvious since we should all admire the Prophet Muhammad salalahi alahi wa salaam, his family, and all of the Sahaba and the rest of the prophets...)

1. My Mother and great-grandmother (G'Mama)
2. My sister ("Sussuur")and my aunts (especially the ones born behind my mother and father respectively- and let me add the rest of my family elders here to save room).
3. Professor Richard Skolnik. This man has had an incredible, serving life, masha'Allah.
4. Steven F., Phil R., Ben L., Chanel H.,Molly H. They'll all be internationally known, just watch.
5. Amina F, Nesra, Mahwish, and all the other sisters who love the deen and just glow with it. You can see their faith by their actions. Their love is an example to me.
6. Good public school teachers. The ones who put up with BS for the sake of knowledge and the children they teach to love learning. Especially Black teachers who stay with our people.
7. The incredible women of Sigma Lambda Upsilon. I don't want to join any other org.

7 things I plan to do within the next year (inshaAllah)
1. Start grad school at Columbia (and complete all the attendant paperwork, including scholarship applications *groan*)
2. Find a full time job
3. Attend Halaqas at a great masjid on the regular.
4. Crochet at least 2 sweaters to give away as gifts
5. Get a passport and a continental US drivers license.
6. Take an algebra class.
7. Spend some real time with N.

7 books I love (besides the Qur?an)
1. Let the Circle Be Unbroken (and the rest of the Logan Family series) by Mildred D. Taylor
2. Spin a Soft Black Song by Nikki Giovanni. I love all of her work, but this was my first, a gift from Mama when I was 4.
3. Eleven Blue Men by Berton Roueche. Public Health and why I Care 'Bout It.
4. Plaited Glory by Lonnice Brittenum Bonner. How I overthrew the tyranny that is a relaxer.
5. Thinking Out Loud and just about all other prose by Anna Quindlen.
6. El Sueno de America (linked in English but best in Spanish) and everything else by Esmeralda Santiago
7. I'm a Fantasy freak, so I'll just list authors: Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, David Eddings, LM Montgomery, Terry Goodkind...

7 movies I have to own
1. Roots. and Queen.
2. Sixth Sense just appeals to my sense of the spooooky.
3. Flight of the Navigator. Child of the 80's syndrome strikes.
4. School Daze and Malcom X, Spike Lee classics.
5. The entire Back to the Future Collection, though I like 1 and 3 best.
6. Crash and Traffic. Together two movies that really impacted me.
7. Like UmmZaid, I'm having issues with a number seven due to the fact that I pretty much have all the DVD's I was dying for (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Carmen Jones, Crouching Tiger, Color Purple, Shrek, Nemo, the LOTR trilogy, etc). When I was in PR I bought them for off the Blockbuster cheapie racks, or if I wanted it it was cheap b/c who watches American (English) movies in portareeco? Also, I've got a wierd taste in movies due to the fact that I didn't watch many of them until I was grown. While I'm frantically catching up in the movie dept., I don't like to buy dvd's when I haven't seen the movie...

7 places I want to visit (besides Hajj and Medina, and not including anywhere I've been)
1. Brazil. Starting in Sao Paolo and working from there.
2. "Arabia", as Abeer calls it- this is bka Palestine/ Jordan/ The Emirates/ Maghrib/ Egypt... yeah, dem places. One fell swoop.
3. London.
4. Cuba. I long to see it for my own eyes.
5. The entire US Pacific coast. Esp. Washington State in the summer and fall.
6. Nigeria.
7. any island with crystal clear, quiet, undisturbed waters where I can go snorkeling, diving, and maybe even find a pearl.

7 places I?ve already been
1. Isla Culebra, Puerto Rico, and La Parguera (bioluminescent bay), Puerto Rico. I don't recommend everyone go there cuz that would spoil it. Beautiful, alhamdulIllah.
2. The Shenandoah and Smoky Mountains. Gooooorgeous. Would love to spend more clear summer nights there stargazing.
3. Salamanca, Spain
4. Disney World /Caribbean cruise.
5. The SouthEast. KY,TN,LA,GA,AL,WV,VA,SC,NC,FL... I think I've only been THROUGH Mississippi, but the rest I got.
6. Toronto, Canada.
7. Washington, DC.

7 websites I love ( I tend to lose websites.)
1. Idealist
2. WashingtonDC dot Craigslist dot Com
3. Da Momma- warning: I've laughed so hard on this I couldn't speak...
4. Sherry, who got me into this blogging mess in the first place
5. Gooooooogle!
6. SLU is still an ambition
7. As a group: the blogs on the side of my blog! UmmZaid, TRK, AngryBB, and Waiter, and Leila are faves... and let me admit right now that I don't update it properly or nearly as much as I could, but if I visited you more than 3 times, you are a fave, too.

All Seven and I'll watch them blog... your turn!:

1. Sherry- do it this time
2. Sister Scorpion, if you ever see this
3. Nene
4. David bka the Bus Stop Cutie allll the way down in PR
5. Umm Mahtab- welcome to my world!
6. Nishat
7. You, oh anonymous reader.... come and tell me you did it.