An open letter to Mike Huckabee.

Mike Huckabee, rumoured to be the Republican Party's main Presidential candidate in 2012, has made inane and idiotic (is that redundant? Close, but no) remarks about Natalie Portman's pregnancy.

For those who don't know, Ms. Portman, who is 29 years old, an Academy Award-winning actress, and a Harvard graduate with a B.A. in psychology (obtained during the filming of the three Star Wars prequels), and who's had a 4.0 GPA since grade school, is pregnant by her partner and fiance, Benjamin Millipied.

Mr. Huckabee slammed single mothers in general, calling them "very poor, uneducated, can't get a job, and if it weren't for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care." He neglected to comment on single fathers, or men who abandon the women they've knocked up, as if it's only women who have a hand in getting pregnant.

Happy Ramadan!

It's the first day of Ramadan ... and I'm on prayer break.

Oi vey.

However, it appears that I'll be able to start fasting tomorrow!  Huzzah!  Thank You, God!  Missing one day is better than two days, and at least it's at the beginning of Ramadan, so I don't have to stop fasting, then start again.

Somehow I scratched under my thumbnail.  It's kinda infected.  I think it's going to rot and fall off.  Hmmm.  Maybe they'll give me a robotic thumb?  I can think of uses for it ... And at least it's my right thumb, not my left.  LEFTIES RULE!  If we can figure out which direction we're going.  O_o

But seriously, I'm mildly concerned that my thumb's going to start rotting.  I'm sure that it's just blood under my nail that I'm sing, but still.

OH GOD!  That would mean that God WANTS my thumb to rot off during my first Ramadan!  O_O

Squeezing it hurts.  Please don't ask why I squeezed my thumb.  Just ... don't.  Don't ask, and I won't have to tell you that I'm an idiot.

I'm going to write about how the crazy right-wing ultra-religious nutcases are trying to ban Muslims and Islam from the Land of Religious Equality and Tolerance, but first, a moment of silence in thanks for me not experiencing all that hatred firsthand.

...

Thank You, God.

Oppressing the "oppressed."

I read a lot of comments online (I shouldn't, I know), and the people that I should be ignoring often make comments such as this:


"Free liberated women should be just that. Wherever they are. They shouldn’t hide from being photographed with backward burqa shrouded shadows, instead they should proudly present themselves as women, free, liberated and capable." (In reference to a picture of the-First Lady Laura Bush posing with three Saudi women; one in hijab, one in niqab, and one a burka)


So ... you who make these comments think that my religious attire is oppressive, yet instead of worrying about my education or health or even, at the bare minimum, asking my opinions on my religion, you do exactly what you claim my garb incites people to do, namely treat me like a non-entity?  Instead of proving that you think higher of me than you claim the men of my religion do, you use my attire as an excuse to treat me exactly like they supposedly do.


Instead of showing me through your actions that you think of me differently, that you think I'm a worthwhile human being and deserve to be treated as such, you treat me the same.  You call me backward, a shadow, assume that I'm uneducated because my face and hands are the most ok,f my flesh that you can see, and sometimes you can't even see that.  I wonder, then, would you treat me like a super-genius queen if I were to walk around naked, since you seem to think that my worth is related to how much skin you can see?  No, you would treat me like a piece of meat that you can bang however, whenever you want, regardless of my feelings on the matter.  You would call me cheap, a slut, a tramp.

One amazing weekend.

Blogging in the halaqa, lol ...

It's been one amazing weekend.  I went to the Windows to Islam class, grinning ear to ear because Brother Ibrahim (from this post) was teaching it, and it's the first time since 2008 that I've seen him.  He had us all introduce ourselves, and I knew he didn't recognise me.  So it got to me, and I introduced myself and told him that he knew me, that we'd met in 2008 and I'd gone to one of his classes here at SALAM, and that I was the Jamba Juice girl.

Oh my God.  I thought he was going to wet himself.  His eyes got huuuuuuge, and he jumped back, his jaw dropped, and he kept repeating "You're the Jamba Juice girl!  You're the Jamba Juice girl!  Allahu Akbar, you're the Jamba Juice girl!"  It was hilarious, and despite being in a hit, stuffy classroom for 7 hours, Saturday was amazing.  Ibrahim's an awesome speaker and a wonderful teacher, and I'm not just saying this because he has my blog address.  :P  We learned a lot, Alhumdullilah, and the next time he's in town, I'm definitely going to his class.

Then last night a total crazy guy came in and decided we were kicking him out because he was black, not because he was loud, belligerent, and rude as all get-out.  Oh, did I mentioned soot-licking crazy?  That was fun.

And now I'm in a halaqa (essentially a Muslim Bible study), learning more about my faith and blogging here.  :D

I'm back!

Not that it was obvious I was gone, but my computer cord finally died completely on me.  But, I have a new one, yay!

So ... They took me off Saturdays and switched me to Mondays; two extra hours, and I'll be alone, so way more tips.

Dude!  This crazy-ass lady came in the week before last, all hopped up on meth or something.  She was happy, for the most part, but screaming and hollering really loudly.  Kept yelling "ASSALAMU ALAIKUM!" at me, and saying the Pledge of Allegiance at me (pro-tip: "the Flag" and "under God" were never part of the original Pledge.  And it was written by a fascist - and a commie wrote "This Land is Your Land."  Trufax) and saying I needed to find Jesus.  After trying to calm her down, we finally called the cops, and she got PISSED and started screaming "ASSALAMU ALAIKUM, BITCH!" at me as some customers pushed her out of the restaurant.  I told the customers later that I had Jesus.  And Abraham.  And Noah.  And Moses.  And Muhammed.  They were like Pokemon; you had to catch 'em all!  That brought laughs.

Then she came BACK, and asked for the belt she'd left, and when I'd handed it to her, told the customers still there that she really wished they hadn't let me touch her belt.  Then she went outside and told on me to the cops who were coming in to eat.

Yeah.  Interesting.

And last Sunday, rather than working the 5-9 I was scheduled, I volunteered to stay 'til 10 for Mondo.  So, yeah, as I was leaving at midnight ... No, really.  The late-night cook apparently told one manager that he wouldn't be in 'til 12, but didn't tell the on-duty manager, and didn't get anyone to cover the two hours we wouldn't have a cook.  Kulwinder stayed 'til 10:30, but Jeff was PISSED, especially when Loc rolled up and sat in his car until midnight, despite me being Ms. Messenger between them, trying to get Loc to come in.  I don't know what happened with all that, but I'm sure I'll hear about it.

By the way, Iron Man 2 was FREAKING AWESOME.  :P

Oh, ugh, this guy I was semi-involved with before I converted came in on Sunday, too.  He would disappear for at least a month, if not more, then pop back into my life --- never answering texts, or voice-mails; just nothin'.  Then, the ONE TIME my phone was off when HE called ME, suddenly HE "felt abandoned."  Right.  Who treated whom like a one-night stand, asshole?  And YOU feel abandoned?  Right.  So rather than tell him, "You know, after the way you treated me in December, I don't think it's a good idea to give you my number again," I gave him my number.  But that's what I'll say if he ever calls or texts me.  I erased his number from my phone, anyway.

Jerk.