Book Review: Don’t Call Me Ishmael

~ Sarrah Hakim ~ 5 Comments

I won’t lie – I stayed up until 2 AM to finish this book. It was beautiful. Everything about it was beautiful, but what stuck out to me most was the author’s voice.

Here is what is says on the inside cover of the book:

By the time ninth grade begins, Ishmael Leseur knows it won’t be long before Barry Bagsley, the class bully, says, “Ishmael? What kind of wussy-crap name is that?” Ishmael’s perfected the art of making himself virtually invisible. But all that changes when James Scobie joins the class. Unlike Ishmael, James has no sense of fear – he claims it was removed during an operation.

Now nothing will stop James and Ishmael from taking on bullies, bugs, and Moby Dick, in the toughest, weirdest, most embarrassingly awful… and best year of their lives.

This book did everything a book is supposed to do. I laughed at all the funny parts. When Ishmael was embarrassed, I was squirming in my seat because I felt uncomfortable, too. And when he succeeded, I wanted to cheer for him.

But I think the biggest compliment to the author is the fact that I stayed up so late reading it! I had a decent chunk of the book left to read, but I knew I had to finish it that same night… THIS is what a book should do. And it’s been a long time since I felt this way about any book.

Was it perfect? Of course not. To be honest, I had a little bit of trouble getting into it at the beginning. But once I got into it, the author’s voice was so strong that any other fault could have been overlooked.

If you’re looking for something entertaining, quick, and beautiful, I would recommend Don’t Call Me Ishmael. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

The Nature of Change

~ Sarrah Hakim ~ 8 Comments

Because of the ridiculous number of spam comments I’ve been getting lately, my brother helped me install a plugin that will hopefully prove to be a successful spam blocker. Now, when you leave a comment, you have to answer a simple math problem (I know, I know – I don’t like math either, but hopefully it will solve my spam problem).

Unfortunately, the previous theme of my site was not compatible with the spam protection plugin, so I was forced to change the theme. I’ve pretty much decided on this one, but I might experiment with some other ones too – so don’t be surprised if this site looks different the next time you visit!

Feel free to comment if you like my current theme, as it’s the one I’m leaning towards at the moment.

Beyond that, although I am a creature of habit and probably one of the most averse-to-change human beings on the planet, even I will admit that change is good sometimes. It might even be good most of the time. At any rate, we can’t deny that it is inevitable.

So many changes happen in the course of a lifetime, whether they’re small changes (like changing clothes, changing a hairstyle, changing the theme of a blog) or big things (like moving to a new house or starting a new job).

Even if you sat in a room and refused to initiate any sort of change or try anything new, you’d still be affected by external changes. Your body would change as you grew older. You wouldn’t be able to change the weather. What if a tsunami or earthquake took place? That would be a major change, and if you were in the area you’d be affected.

To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure where I’m going with this post. I think I’m writing it more for myself than anything else. I’ll admit that I’ve sat in my room and wished that I could stay a kid all my life. I’ve sat in the garden and wished that I could sit there forever. I look back on my best memories and wish I could go back in time and stay in those moments forever. I’ve thought to myself so many times that life is pushing me forward too quickly, and I’m just not ready to be an adult!

There’s obviously nothing I can do to stop it. And I think if I could just learn to embrace change, I’d be fine. Because there’s this other part of me that’s looking forward to being able to do things I can’t do right now, to being independent, to going to college, and to actually starting my life!

I don’t know about you, but I think there’s a balance between reflecting on the past and looking forward. There’s nothing wrong with looking back on fond memories or learning from past mistakes… but I guess it’s important not to get caught up in them and start yearning for things to stay the same.

Change is inevitable. I think once we accept this fact, it’s easier to realize that  things don’t need to stay the same… we’ll move forward in life and we’ll make new memories. We might have done something great before, but we’ll move on and do even greater things.

And finally, to end with one of my favorite quotes:

“If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.” 🙂

Looking Past the Rain

~ Sarrah Hakim ~ 5 Comments

I don’t know where you’re living, but where I am there’s nothing but rain. Michigan weather can be ridiculously unpredictable at times, but every single day this week has been the same. (Okay, to be fair, it hasn’t rained yet today, but it’s still cold, it’s still rained every other day this week, and it looks like next week will be the same.)

It makes it hard to get stuff done, and if you’re like me, it makes you feel gloomy, too. I guess they don’t kid around when they say “April showers.”

It reminds me of this poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

The Rainy Day

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart, and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

I like this poem a lot, and the main reason is that although the first two stanzas sound really depressing, once you get to the third one you realize that the poem itself is quite encouraging.

Some days (in Michigan’s case, weeks) are going to be gloomy. And there’s nothing we can do about it, except remember that the sun is out there, somewhere behind the clouds. We can’t control the weather, but at least we can control our outlook on life. Besides, if every single day were sunny and bright, I don’t think we would appreciate those days as much as the first sunny day after a period of rain. I guess this way we don’t take the sun for granted.

And hopefully we’ll get a lot of nice flowers because of the rain. 🙂

I personally have a really hard time with gloomy weather because it affects my mood. It may have something to do with SAD; I’m not sure. But whatever it is, the lack of sun gets me feeling rather depressed. When this happens, it helps just to remember sunnier days of the past or look at pictures of tropical places I’d one day like to visit. I have a calendar on my desk with a photo of a tropical island for each day. I also have vivid memories of my trip two years ago to Florida. This might sound silly, but if I try hard enough, I can almost feel the sunlight on my back.

A photo of me in a place I’d rather be at the moment – relaxing in the Florida Keys on a sunny day!

It reminds me a lot of the book Frederick, by Leo Lionni. You can read more about the book here. It’s a children’s picture book, and it’s very nice. I would definitely recommend reading it. It’s quite inspirational and the pictures are beautiful.

At any rate, I think if we can just look past the rain and remember those warm, sunny days we’ve had, we can make it through the gloominess. Just try not to let those dark days get you down. Here’s to brighter days in the future!

Reason #6: Snow Days

~ Sarrah Hakim ~ 3 Comments

This post is a bit overdue, but I want to make sure I get it in before the end of winter.

Perhaps the greatest feeling in the world is waking up and finding out that it’s a snow day. I think the best kind of snow day is the one that comes when you most need it and least expect it. When you have an impossible amount of work due the next day, when you’ve been working hard for the past few weeks and just need a day to catch up, when you really want to relax in bed with hot chocolate… that’s the best time for a snow day.

I don’t know about you, but when there’s a snowstorm predicted the night before school, I find myself gravitating towards my computer and refreshing the weather page all night… instead of doing my homework. 😛

I can’t really describe it, but there’s this crazy feeling of hope creeping up in your chest, and even though you’ve told yourself that this is it, you need to concentrate on your work because if there’s no snow day you’re going to be in big trouble, even though you know there probably won’t be enough snow, or that they’ll clear it all away in time, you’re still thinking what if? What if there’s no school?

And then you wake up the next morning to find that the world is white, and you can snuggle back down under the covers (or you might be too excited to go back to sleep).

I know it sounds a bit exaggerated, but there’s really a special joy reserved for snow days. And it’s different from having no school on breaks, because that’s already planned. This is like getting a piece of candy that you didn’t have to begin with.

And last year, when we didn’t have a single snow day… well, I guess that’s when I realized how much I missed them. Snow days are a wonderful part of living in Michigan. 😀

PHOTO: The picture above is that of a snowman I made on a snow day this year. Snow days are great for catching up on work, but it’s important to have fun, too!

Happiness

~ Sarrah Hakim ~ 6 Comments

I’ll admit I wasn’t too sure what to write about today, but since I resolved to update my blog at least once every weekend, I told myself I would just start writing and hope that something coherent (and if I was lucky, interesting) would come out of it.

And then I remembered this discussion we had last week in my English class about happiness, and it got me thinking.

Here’s what the dictionary has to say about happiness: the quality or state of being happy.

And since that’s not exceedingly helpful, here’s how it defines happy:

characterized by or indicative of pleasure, contentment, or joy: a happy mood; a happy frame of mind.

But what does that even mean? And – and how can you take something so beautiful, so thrilling, and put such a boring label on it?

You know that feeling you get after doing something nice for someone and watching that person smile?

The feeling of waking up in the morning, yawning and rubbing your eyes and feeling like crap, and then finding out it’s a snow day?

Clicking “print” after spending hours and hours on an essay?

Crossing something off on a list of things to do?

And (although this is probably just me) making tea at 3:27 pm?

Okay, well that’s happiness. It’s not some dictionary definition, and it’s certainly not a goal you’re trying to reach.

If you have a goal, a dream, a passion, there is no reason you can’t aim for it and be happy at the same time.

I agree that surrounding yourself with positivity is important, and motivational speakers are great, and yes, you can choose what you want your outlook on life to be – whether you want to dwell on the positive or negative – and it’s true that you don’t ever have to compromise your happiness.

But in the end, happiness is something that fills your heart, that isn’t artificial, and that can’t be measured or defined.

You can tell me about dopamine levels and all that, and the whole scientific side of it. I don’t care. I’d still like to think it’s something more. So here’s to happiness: the simplest, most complicated, and most beautiful feeling in the world.

Wishing you all a happy day… er, week… ah! Life! A happy life to all.