"Fall has always been my favorite season...

...The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale." - Lauren DeStefano.

I'm currently sitting in one of the many student lounges of my residence hall. I'm surrounded by Intro to Film stuff (because I have an essay due tomorrow) and chocolate milk (because it's delicious), and I can't stop thinking about what a perfect fall day it was today (side note...Sarah Sham just walked by....awkward...).

Minnesota usually has this problem where it's hot as hell in September, then we have one week of nice fall weather at the beginning of October, and then suddenly, it's snowing. That is always so upsetting to me because autumn is clearly the best season out of the four. I know I mentioned my love for fall in like one line at the end of my last blog post, but I thought why not just make you feel uncomfortable with how much I like this season?

I would just like to take a second to extend a thank you to the weather, a wonderful 68° today! Can you believe that? I heard it was pretty cold and rain-y at the game on Saturday, but the weather has been great today.

Fall is, in a word, perfect. Look at this picture I took today on campus. How gorgeous is that? I know it's cliche to talk about the colors of the leaves during autumn, but they're too pretty to not do so. Like the quote at the beginning of this post said, it's like nature had been saving up for this moment to shine, a last hurrah before everything gets covered in fluffy white snow (which is, of course, beautiful in its own way).

Onto more superficial things.

I've recently become obsessed with sweaters, because they're like a cuter, more stylish version of sweatshirts. Think about it. For me at least, after I put on a sweater, I just add jeans and some footwear (I love my new riding boots. or my combat boots) and done. It always gives the impression that you put more thought into your outfit than you actually did. I want a cute cable knit sweater, because I've seen some girls wearing them with button down shirts underneath and ohmygosh. So cute.

Another clothing item: scarves. I have way too many, and this season is the perfect time to throw on a different one every day of the week. 

During this season, you also have a great variety of choices when it comes to beverages. In the summer or spring time, there's iced tea. There's lemonade. There's soda (but who wants to drink that all the time?). Fall (and winter, I suppose...) are the prime time for warm beverages. When I get up in the morning I drink some coffee. Later, I might have some Pakistani chai. Then I could drink hot chocolate or the awesome chai tea latte stuff Kira gave me. It's so nice to just grab one of these beverages, cuddle up in a cozy sweater, grab a soft blanket and sit on a comfy chair and read. Ugh.

So basically, yes. I have a huge crush on this season, okay?!

~ Fatima

Oh My God.

The post I made before this one talked about how I wouldn't stop writing on this blog.

Posted on June 27, 2012. That's embarrassing.

It is officially 108 days since I made a blog post and I now know better than to say "it's different this time, I'll regularly post to my blog." I think by doing that, I put a lot of pressure on myself to make the blog post, even though there is probably no one that is reading it anymore.

It's also kind of awkward, because coming to this blank template is like seeing a friend you used to be really close with. It used to be so easy to talk to them and tell them what you're thinking, but after so much has changed, you don't even know where to begin.

It's funny because even though I'm the closest to home, I'm the one that has been the least successful in adjusting to college life. I think there's many reasons for that; one, I've never really been away from home before. I never really slept over at friends' houses (it wasn't allowed), and I never wen't to sleep away camp. Another reason is that I wasn't really expecting to live in a dorm, so I never mentally prepared myself for it. Lastly, the compromise I had with my parents on living in a dorm was that I would come home on the weekends. It's a good cure to homesickness but a kick in the face to making friends, because the weekends are when everyone hangs out and gets to know each other.

So yeah it's been kind of slow and tough, but I've also been really awkward with making friends. My first couple of weeks at Wayzata were torturous until I became friends with Haley. I'm sure the same things is happening now.

Sorry to whine, but hey, like I said. I'm sure no one is reading this.

On a happier note, I'm so happy it's fall! I hope Minnesota lets us have more than a week or so before it starts snowing. I'm really excited because fall means sweaters and scarves and boots and mittens and hot drinks and blankets and pretty leaves and ❤.

~ Fatima

I Won't Give Up

I know what you're thinking.

That Fatima. She always promises she'll do certain blog posts but she never follows through.

I totally admit that is very true for me in the past (I'm sorry I never did that assignment that I assigned, Kira...). But, the project that I introduced a couple weeks ago? I am working on it.

I have found through this writing project I assigned for myself that it is incredibly hard to write about yourself, the experiences you've had, things you've done, everything. I don't know how authors can write full autobiographies. It's even harder when you're trying to write about your experiences when they are ones that you can't even remember yourself. I know writing the "high school" chapter will be way easier because it just passed. The one from when I'm a baby? Not so much.

It is cool to get to hear my mom tell me stuff I didn't know I did when I was younger, and I have learned that I was a very quirky child.

So...I shall post the "first chapter" eventually. I haven't given up on it.

Till then, you can look forward to hearing stories about me being obsessed with clothes, hair made out of scarves, and eating a ton of Nutella.

Love,

Fatima

PS. Did you like the title to this blog post? I was just listening to that song. It's great.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

So this movie is finally coming out!
I had read the book by Stephen Chbosky in eleventh grade Upper Level Comp during reading time. I had not had a book with me, so I had borrowed this one off of Mrs. Cardona's shelf.
It was a fantastic book, and the movie looks like it will be a good one too.

And I just adore Emma Watson.

Also, sidenote: the top comment said that Emma Watson would make a really terrific Alaska Young. What do you think about that, Kira? Do you agree? Just wondering haha.

Project idea?

You know when you're about to hang out with/see someone that you have not interacted with in a long time? And even though you used to be really close to them, you're suddenly self conscious of every part of your existence?

That's how I feel right now writing on this blog.

Okay enough about how I feel like a failure with my blog. Seriously, Fatima, get over yourself.

So, I guess high school is over. How crazy is that? I remember a couple of months ago I made a really dramatic blog post (which, despite being dramatic, was pretty true for how I feel about the situation) about how everything will be different at this time next year, and there's nothing we can do about it. It's just something that's got to happen to everyone at some time, even though it may seem like we're the first people to feel the way that we do about the situation.

Another chapter in our lives has just ended, and we're about to start a new one titled College (ahhh!).

I just kind of had what could be a cool idea for a project for my blog.

What if for the next couple of days/weeks I posted about my experiences thus far from each of the chapters of my life? It could either go poorly or be kind of fun to look at. I think I shall.

Fatima's Life (So Far) by Fatima Fareed
Index:
Chapter One - Birth, Baby and Toddler years
Chapter Two - Elementary School Experiences
Chapter Three - Middle School Experiences (that are usually ignored but for the purpose of this activity I guess we can revisit them...)
Chapter Four - High School Experiences
Chapter Five - College Experiences (Coming Soon...)

Ehh? Eh?

I am

the absolute worst person ever at keeping promises with myself.

I had promised that I would keep blogging here even after AP Comp was over, and I did. For a little while. But then I made excuses that I was really busy (even though I was really busy with stuff), when I should have made time to write blog posts.

I'm slightly worried I'll have to go through the let's-develop-a-voice-for-our-writing all over again.

Grr. At least I'll have all of summer to do it...

I am the worst at keeping promises to myself.

Ah.

I am really upset with myself for being so lazy with blogging. I had promised myself to blog at least once every week, but I totally let that go. Kira's been totally on top of things with blogging. She's great.

I'll blame Mo Pro...(don't we tend to blame Mo Pro for anything and everything anyway? Global warming? Blame Mo Pro!)

Okay, now I feel kind of nervous to blog. Is that weird? I used to really look forward to it, now I'm like I"m going to disappoint my reader. I guess there's really no way to see how it goes unless I


start.

Fatima has wanted to be an aspiring novelist since day one.

So, this is unbelievably embarrassing and I can't believe I'm putting this up on my blog that was originally for AP Comp. Anyway. I'm pretty sure this is either from the third or fourth grade, and I typed it exactly like it was written in my notepad. So that means all the typos were by me (I could spell especially but not instead. Okay). The light blue typing is my critique/comments, as Jenna assigned. Haha. At least we know my writing has significantly improved since I wrote this...enjoy. Don't judge me.
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Hello! Chapter one (I really, really wanted to be an author "when I grew up" as a kid).
Hello! My name is Alisson you may notice that I sign my name like: [click] (there was something about handwriting and signatures that always fascinated me. I'd always try to incorporate it into my stories somehow, haha). Its because my teacher told our class that everyone was a star in his or her own way (that is so cheesy but I'm pretty sure one of my teachers actually did say that to our class) so, I thought that if I put a star insted of an A, it would look more interesting and that it would reminde me that I was a star in my own way. Before, my signature looked like this: [click]. That looked stupid. When I really sign my name it looks like this: (it's nothing too exciting). Let me tell you about myself. I have brownish reddish (ginger obsession goes way back) hair that is up to, I mean right below my sholders. I have brown eyes with gold speckles in them. I like sports. especially basketball. I have a brother named Paul. He has blonde hair and green eyes. My mom's name is Amy Warner I don't have a dad. I do not know what happend to him. I also have a rabbit. His name is Baxter. My brother thinks bunnies, dolphins, and horses are boring. Do you want to know why? It's because they are my favorite animals. This is what my room looks like: purple walls, a green desk, a bed that's blue and has dolphins on the bedspred (aka "I have the ugliest room ever"). They're are posters of bunnies, horses, dauphins and pictures of my family. Oh my goddness ("goddness" made me laugh so hard)! I forgot to tell you how old I am. I am 10 years old and in the 4th grade. My brother is 9 and in the 3rd grade. "Allie Warner get down here this seconde!" Mom shouted. "Coming!" I yelled back. I dashed out of my room and then down stairs. I was panting by the time I reached Mom in the kitchen. She was holding somthing orange. "Whats that Mom?" I asked. "It's an invetation to a birthday party!" She replied. She held it up to me. I read it in, like, 10 seconds (speedy...). "Cool!" I said "it's from my friend Susan Howards. "Darling, why don't you call her Mom said. "But I don't have her.-" then I relliezed that Mom was pointing to something at the bottom of the card. "Her phone number!" I said and laughed nervesly. She handed me the card. I took a deep break, picked up the phone, dialed Susans number, and waited. "Hello?" somebody said "Hello Susan? I want to tell you somthing."(End of the chapter. CLIFF HANGER, aren't you just dying to know what happens in Chapter Two now?!)


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So. I've always been really curious about people, and that's all I'd write about when I was little. You can see that there is no plot whatsoever but there's a ton of description about what the characters looked like...I think I've always liked describing to people what I was seeing in my head, and wanted them to see the same thing. My story characters usually had qualities and hobbies that I wanted to have when I was little (gold speckled eyes sounds freaky and Twilight-ish now but I thought it was so cool. Also I wanted to be sporty but. Yeah). SO needless to say AP Comp has certainly improved my writing quality.