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[ Friday, April 25, 2003 ]

 

Yay! Good News!

Alhamdulillah I got the $1000 Cal Alumni Leadership scholarship! Woohoo! I got the phone call this morning. There were 2000 applicants (most of whom also got accepted to UCB) and 200 students received the scholarships. So guess what I am doing to celebrate....c'mon, guess, it's more fun that way!....I'm baking chocolate chip cookies of course!!!!

Man, I had some last minute direction issues w/ the interview location last night, but alhamdulillah I found the place just a couple of minutes late. I had to go through a winding road in the hills to get there...so much fun while driving the Camry (Daddy let me drive my old Camry again since it's safer). It drives so much smoother than the Galant! It was so much fun speeding through the hills on the way back (but it was dark, so I slowed down a little bit).

Anyway, the interviewers were really nice--an English teacher (Susan Sperry) and her daughter (both Cal graduates), and another Cal alumni who just graduated a year or so ago (majored in bio-chem). I was so glad that they were all women; I get a little nervous when being interviewed by a guy...of course, I get nervous anyway. It was great b/c Mrs. Sperry is really into diversity-she was happy to find me b/c she's always looking for people to come and speak to classes about Islam and different cultures. I told I'd love to come in and speak, and I gave her some tips on novels for the students to understand the culture (one of the books I recommended was Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye-I really love that novel!).

We talked mostly about the MSA and Kaiser volunteering, but we also touched on the Halaqas, Gen M, Diversity Committee, etc. I gave them an activity list so they could see the various clubs I have been a part of.

I sent off my CalMSA scholarship application this week. Daddy and Apaji helped me with editing the essay. It's weird b/c it was more difficult for me to write an essay that Muslims would read, than it was to write my past essays.

This past week, all 9-11th graders have had STAR testing; since I'm a senior, that means that I've been going to school at like 10 or 12 every morning for a couple of classes each day. It's been so nice�I wake up in the morning, look at the clock thinking I'm going to be late, and realize that I actually have another couple of hours to sleep. Help, I'm turning into a bum!

What else is new? Seher-the-bear is coming over tonight! I'm so excited! I haven't seen her in...wow, I can't even remember how long it's been. And (I know we're always told not to start a sentence w/ "and," but I don't care) Seher is going w/ us to the Unity Halaqa tomorrow! Masha Allah Imam Suheib Webb is an awesome speaker, and the MCA actors' guild is supposed to perform (masha Allah, they're so funny!). I'm excited!

It's raining, it's pouring. The visibility was very low when I was driving on the freeway this morning to drop Nasser Lalaji off at work. It would've sucked if he had to bike to work. We saw a couple of accidents too, and I thought about Daddy and Apaji driving on the freeway.

Anywayz, I'd like to end on a positive note: the chocolate chip cookies are grreeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaat! They're warm and gooey and just plain delicious w/ my cold glass of milk! Woohoo! I win!