Sincerely, Sawda

Might as well ch ange the url to  "sawdadoesnotblog" or "sawdadoesnotblogoftenatall" because I have really not been on this for a while. Mainly down to procrastination; just being lazy but also due to my tendency to want to perfect everything. Some of you reading may have seen the multiple layout/colour/everything aesthetic changes to the blog has undergone and how now I've got a header and resulted back to a blogger theme I had at the start. I feel like I needed to just backtrack and start from the beginning. Work my way up to where I want to be g r a d u a l l y . I say that in terms of the look, content and essentially feel of my blog but also in relation to other parts of my life and things that I do. I know I have this habit of trying to get everything right, I like to do things once and have them be excellent to match that image of excellence I have in my head, but recently (and this is a long-term, over the summer 'recently',) I have come t

What have I been up to which stops me from posting regularly? Well, this week was enrichment week where we were off school timetable and went about multiple activities. I was more than busy - everyday had me coming home and crashing just anywhere and anyhow. Monday:  Wasn't spent at school, I spent the day exploring London essentially, and visiting the science Musuem to find out more about computer science. I realised that London is large, definitely a place I want to explore this summer. Tuesday: Wednesday: AS booklet deadline. 1st draft personal statement deadline. Coursework Deadline. So basically deadlines. The afternoon also brought about Prize Giving where I won an award for Computer Science (Woop!) Thursday: International Day. We had several workshops based on subjects across the curriculum but focused on the international concepts. I couldn't say I didn't enjoy my time today especially with the Street Art activity at the end. W

(I just want to start of this post by saying that I do realise that week one has passed, but being busy has meant that I posted this late...apologies!) I knew I'd be tired, but I didn't imagine I'd be so busy and so drained! I thought that post-exams meant I would be free, and will have plenty of time to focus on several things but...I was too wrong! The biggest thing this month for me however, would have to be concentrating on my fasting. Not many people remember or even realise that fasting in Islam is not just meant to be for the sake of being hungry but to increase 'Taqwa' - a sense of God-consciousness. I wouldn't say that it has been easy or I have been perfect but I can say I have been trying, and my empty stomach does remind me. Ramadan has also made me realise that in this country at least we have SO MUCH food, an excess even. I have managed to collect snacks almost every day from my friends to eat later, even though I know that I have a consiste

Its pretty obvious that blogging has not been on my recent list of  'things to do' seeing as my exams just seemed to take over life completely - but I am back (and freeeeeee)! Back and better I would like to think; you can see that there's been a change in the blog theme, and as I strengthen my coding abilities  hopefully we'll see some more. Code Academy, still with the basics here Ramadan has just began and I am B U Z Z I N G. Its the best month of the year hands down for reasons that could take me an infinite amount of time to explain. Going to school will be hard and I couldn't even say that I have the most structured 'Ramadan plan' if any at all, but I am excited for what it will bring. Ramadan Kareem to my brothers and sisters out there. Make sure you watch this space!

I've recently spent a lot of the free time that I use not studying, sleeping, eating (and all of the other essentials, which kind of isn't free time if I'm honest... *1 ) surfing the internet and social networking, particularly on Tumblr. Its a softer blogging medium. Here on blogspot I feel like I have to have a bit more to say,I should plan behind my worlds and I have to think about how I am trying to iterate a point. However, on Tumblr, there seems to be a bit more...freedom, I guess.That may be because I tend to spend my time  clicking 'reblog' 'like' and 'follow', rather than making posts like I do here but it is generally a softer medium because of this. I was strolling - or scrolling *2 - through Tumblr one day and I literally stumbled across the most revealing thing about a person I knew in real life, but didn't actually know closely. For the years I've known this person, I've completely misjudged them, not badly or nega

As a young woman, I feel that a day like this is absolutely necessary in a global society. In the East and the West. women endure a constant battle to be valued appropriately and to be treated right, and today, the 8th March is the day that all the work that has been done is celebrated as women (and supportive men) stand up and show the world what we're really about. I'm also glad to see the lack of discrimination in race and religion when celebrating the achievements of what we've done for the world. It's good to see the unity of femininity , all for a great cause. Below are just a few inspiration women. Oprah Winfrey, this lady...  Rosa Parks: Standing up - or correctly: sitting down for what she believed in William sisters changed the game (-of tennis- quite literally)! Fictional but fierce, firey, and fabulous Suffragettes, thanks for the vote Gulabi Gang. Actual Squad Goals. Not a force to be reckoned with M

For over a month now, my blog name has been "changing", as I'd grown tired of my blog name. I felt that it had to go, it was all a bit of a mouthful and just wasn't the one, and so I made the decision to remove it. But to what? The idea had been growing at the back of my mind for a while now and so I knew I wanted to do it, only thing holding me back was the new name. There was none. And so, as to not procrastinate, I got rid of the name and set it to"changing". Coincidently in that in the time that I've gone through some changes in parts of my life, some minor and some in progress but changes nonetheless. I did doubt the change, because I don't like being indecisive, and it won;t be good for important factors like consistency.But change is good, great sometimes even. Here are some reasons to embrace change:   Click!  The new name? The SawdaSphere . We have the atmosphere the stratosphere and many other '-spheres', so this blog is essen

I tell myself every year that they're useless, how the stats show that the majority of people that make them don't keep them. I've had doubts as to whether I should create some, but in retrospect of my last year I think that New Year's Resolutions would be the best thing for positive change. 1. Look after my  body Typical. Almost everybody that has New Year's Resolutions has one to "be healthier", "visit the gym more", "look after my skin", right?  But as of late a lot of things have been steering me to looking after myself more. I think as a young person who is satisfied with their physical image and rarely falls ill I take my health for granted. All the things that I may be complimented on now are not guaranteed especially if I don't take care of them. I definitely don't want to lose my positive attributes, and on top of that regret them, so doing things like looking after my skin, exercising, looking after my diet, my te

What a year A lot. Sitting here writing this post on page 365 of 365 has made me realise that an actual whole year has passed. That is a lot of time, a lot of time to learn,to grow and experience many things. The first thing I really learnt this year, is "Carpe diem" - seize the day.  Looking back has made me realise that I may have missed out on opportunity, simply because I was shy, lazy or procrastinated with what I needed to do. One of the worst feelings is regret; not for what is done, but for what could have been. As much as I have to keep on moving (another thing I've learnt), I do tend to look back for reasons of self evaluation and realise that maybe I could have been better, or different with a little more go and action.  To balance this out though, I have also told myself that beating yourself up over what is done won't help anyone. I've read that for every minute of sadness, anger, stressing you lose 60 seconds of joy, which is true. As