Sincerely, Sawda

No, I'm not dead, and no, funnily enough I haven't forgotten about this even though it really seems like I have lol. I can promise you there are drafts I didn't get round to finishing, and posts that are still in my head. I've had a long summer break that's about to come to an end and all in all, its been cool. Some updates of the self include: 1.That competition that I last posted about? I won! Myself and some other girls will be in attendance InshaAllah*. 2. I got my first job, and let me tell you the struggle was real. I feel like the hunt was well worth it though, for several reasons. 3. I'm due to start studying a computer science degree. For now this sits with me with next to no emotion.  But I'll say alhamdulilah* for the fact, nonetheless. Right now, I'm basically at the end of my long summer break, and in all honesty it didn't really go to plan. Not that I had the most solid plan in some aspects but in the others that I  did.....

Stage One For those of you that aren't aware, this post is an entry for a competition.  Some of you may know,and others may not but I am interested in computing and I am currently doing my A-levels (Maths, Further Maths and Computing)  in order to study a degree in Computer Science starting later this year. As someone who is genuinely interested in what they were studying I ventured out to find things outside school I can get involved in. I stumbled across a mentoring programme by the STEMettes , and have been part of it for a few months now. Basically, I was paired with a women in STEM from Deutche Bank who has taken me under her wing in all things STEM. Because of this I am able to enter a competition allowing me to go to the Grace Hopper Celebration later this year in America, a celebration for female technologists and the world's largest gathering of females in computing. I would LOVE to go, it's always been an event I knew about about from my internet searche...

This is what came up with the search for "wise man" on Google. lol So first off, this man was just a random man, I don't know if he was/is "wise" as such, I didn't even know, and still don't know who this man is. I just knew he was a man, basically a random uncle who turned to me mid-revision. He started off with the typical "when are your exams?" every aunty and uncle pose you with in the library. At this point part of me was like "🙄 pls uncle" but of course, I was polite and answered the man's question, "In June" I said, and looked down to resume working. He then said something along the lines of "work for yourself, don't work for other people" which made me look at him; I nodded in agreement. Again this partially just was to be polite, but this was admittedly good advice that I at least had to nod to.  He then went on to say that in this day and age we live in an "open system" and ...

My blog name still remains "sawdadoesnotblog" lol. In all honesty, My excuse is A levels, because they are not a joke. But if it makes matters any better, I can honestly say I haven't forgotten about this blog at all, I've just avoided writing because at the time I get the urge to express I don't find myself by a computer, and if I am by a computer I'm doing something else, and not putting effort into making my thoughts coherent enough to put on a blog. "Analysis paralysis" is another thing that I suffer from but trying to let go of gradually. I was made aware of it when watching a Patricia Bright video  and I personally define it as as " over thinking and over analysing to the point of not actually doing anything ". I do this so much and I feel like I've lost out and will continue to lose out because of it. I probably said something similar in the last post I made (yes, the one in September lol,) but saying your going to get rid an...

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...