Mandela...GOODBYE

 I always thought I will meet Nelson Mandela one day, I guess time beat me to him. 

To a great man, an honorable man, and a true mentor

I say

you have achieved the impossible.

GOODBYE

NaNoing This Year?

Doing NaNoWriMo this year? cause I sure am (evil laughter)

Hello there my dear dear friends, I have missed you kateer shadeed (a lot,very, i.e. very much).

Surely by now you must know I'm participating in this year's NaNo since I have announced it a couple times before, and it's also one of my main goals for 2013 if you read my Pixy Dust list.

My book is called The League (actually the name is longer but I'm keeping it to myself this time), and on my NaNo profile I have given it a short synopsis (forgive me if it sounds lame, I'm working on it):

In the day marking the end of a millennium, Captain Celia and her comrades of warrior women from The League fight their final battle against their archenemies the Celestials to rid their once peaceful island from them and their dangerous immortal leaders known as The Four for good this time.

As each girl try to fulfill her assigned role in the master plan she opens her heart to tell us about her life as a hero, a women in love and her personal fears. They might be different from each other and maybe not, but what’s in common between them all is the influence Celia has on their lives. 

Have I also mentioned that the girls need to finish this battle and -if still alive that is- look good to attend a wedding? 

OMG I have 13 characters! (until now that is), all are main, all have their own unique voice and story arc...how amazingly dreadful! But you guys have no idea how I'm loving this book :D I think I'm doing a good job writing in 1st person, and girls voices are awesome, my last project "Nights" that I have finished writing if you remember hehe has been mainly colonized by male voices, but now there is only Girl Power!

There are many unfinished businesses that I have to deal with on this blog (Angry face) and it's November, I mean can you believe 2013 is heading to a close? still got a lot of work to do in my life, whether completing what I haven't on this blog, my God forsaken MA research and my writing so I wish for you in the end of this post a swift, uncomplicated week.

By the way, if your participating this year Buddy me please, I'm trying to intimidate my friends a little so they attack back cause that's how I love to make things roll (or whatever).

Meet you again Soon :)  

Gandalf fell and Aragon cried “Come! I will lead you now!”

I’m reading The Fellowship Of The Ring horribly slowly, still 4.5 more chapters to go, but as time passes I come to appreciate it more and more.

RoboBro is a Robot who happens to love Football

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Crazy Robot destroying the house in Jumanji 2

I wrote this post last year, some things have changed since, but it still applies to this year and to RoboBro, it’s his birthday (yesterday that is, Blogger stopped me from posting it then >:< ) and I warned him of a bomb, well I hope you find it as funny as much as he will find it shocking (evil laughter).

First Novel? Finished. Now hand me my Diploma!

As you can see a plain THE END is gracing my word document, my WIP, my first EVER finished novel.

Not a picture book, not a short story, no, a Novel.

Life hasn’t got easier or anything, I still have to struggle, to fight, to go through endless battles of fear, doubt and harsh realities.

The world has not come to an end, nor have I jumped on top of it or anything as extreme or monkey-ish as that.

I haven’t gained more wisdom nor have I grown up to the Haneen I aspire to be.

The only feeling I have is complete Exhaustion, physically.

And a ton of WEIRDNESS mentally!

Well…and I thought Ikhlas Hussain was exaggerating when she described her feelings of nothingness after she finished her novel last year.

But any way, that was yesterday at 11:56 in the night. Now the feeling of weirdness is still there but it’s changing slowly into a weird kind of “I’m high” (no drugs included), now that I woke up to find my friends and family congratulating me on facebook. And still are as we speak..Love You Guys ^_^

The truth is…the truth is my friends is that I’m happy. About time life, about time.

I started Nights Unleashed in the end of 2009, now it’s  September 2013…man I sure deserve a diploma for this one.

It still needs a lot of work to do, the manuscript is a sheer miss, yea it’s messy –No Messi not you (I love saying this hahah)

Thanks for the shout out Leo! :)

Well What?!

I had to put him! 

Messi = accomplishment 

But this book took so much of me and gave me more, to all my characters I say thank you, to tshi-tshi my laptop who went through it with me, and the rest of laptops and copy books which had a part in this adventure thank all very much.

We still have work ahead of us, probably a rewrite but eh for now I say goodbye to Mark and the rest of the gang, for I need not look at them at all for the rest of the year to come.

See you soon everyone :)

The Classic, The Villain and The Beacon of Light

Hello People!

Richard Armitage & Daniela Denby-Ashe in BBC 2004 North & South

The Classic. Early this August I took a break from The Fellow Ship Of The Ring (yes imagine I still did not finish it) and dived into Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, (I stumbled over it while searching in a website specializing in classics of literature) I finished it in 3 days and I normally take 4 days (on a row) with big English books, but this book, Ah! Mr. Thornton! Margret Hale! What wonderful characters, I simply loved everyone in this book, old but how modern and beautiful and thought provoking and funny and heart breaking and gloomy and optimistic, Aaaa! It’s a great book.

Eid is Upon Us MuaHaHaHaaa!

source

Light my life O Lighthouse

 

 Sanganeb Reef (source) 

a lighthouse here in Sudan that I want to visit

State of day. If you’re a writer (or if you enjoy reading stories about hard working, successful yet quirky people) then you should head to Susan Dennard’s site (author of Something strange & deadly series). It deserves to be a part of the keep calm culture;

“Keep calm

 &

 read SOOZ’S blog”

whether you’re looking for a valuable writing lesson, a BIG doze of confidence or your simply craving a good laugh from the heart, it’s the site for you.

Taxi! Follow those boys

State of Day. The weather have turned -finally- and rain pored for two days, today has been windy with a mild sun (Alhamdulillah). Hehehe in Khartoum this weather is worth celebrating.

But I also heard that some poor families on a far side of the city lost their houses to the strong rain. Not very good news :( but hearts are kind in our country we help as much as we can :)

Leaders & followers: Memories of a 6 year old

In order for him to relate to the tortured girl Carrie White in his book Carrie, *Stephen King tells how he had to explore an area in his past so “distasteful” as he calls it, his exact words were “digging back to my memories of high school...remembering what I knew about the two loneliest, most reviled girls in my class—how they looked, how they acted, how they were treated” (p.78)

Yes the stories of those girls were sad and both have died tragically in a young age before he even wrote the book, but this simple exercise –if I might call it one- was of tremendous help to him, he finally came to understand and sympathize with his troubled main character. We writers do this a lot, derive from our own memories and real life to enrich, relate and create believable characters and situations.

STUFF

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Salam my lovely friends :)

Just passing by to tell you what’s going on in my life right now;

I finally started “The Fellowship of The Ring”, I just finished chapter 3 yesterday and I can’t believe that until now Frodo is still trying to get out of the Shire! who knew it was that big? And once again I came to the same conclusion, the Shire is a tiring place to live in. Those Hobbits are really nosy.

But the book is very different than “The Hobbit” it took me pages to get a fine laugh, while The Hobbit was very amusing and funny from the beginning. Of course I knew that this one will be more serious but not that serious, and sad. The book is filling me with a dark feeling that is quite uncomfortable and I’m already crying and we haven’t gotten to the strong places yet. The sweet sorrow is at work from the beginning this time not the end.Oh My!

What can a photo illuminate in a story: Or what happens when FC Barcelona Trio cross the portal to an alternative world? Part (2)

State of day. 
Hard luck for Spain, 3:0 is a bit harsh defeat but it was Brazil's year, and they were playing on their land anyway. And so ends the Confederation Cup, next stop World Cup 2014 :)

Midyear is always a time of stress and struggling for me, just like writing a novel, the beginning is exhilarating and all sunshine and butterflies, the end is a sweet sorrow, while the middle? Is a pool filled with sea-snakes producing killing electric volts, octopuses that spray a horrible black ink and God forsaken Piranha fish, and I’m thrown right into it trying simply to survive and get the hell out of it, but it takes all the energy in the world.

It’s pretty much getting hectic in Sudan, God only knows where are we heading!!!

Been watching too much BBC SHERLOCK for my own good (the last episode in season two, Ah! my eyes are still puffed), I'm obsessing about anything Sherlockology actually. Behave Haneen. Behave. O! You know what? I'll just say it; Sherlock, Dr. Watson and of course Moriarty are driving me to the edge, DAMN you MEN! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!

Ramadan is only few days away  :) (Thank God, it's about time)  Wow! It’s a year already?

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It's a Choice by the way

Slamau3alaekum!

I love this saying because following it was the first step I took when I decided to change my life and become a more serious person, working hard to make my dreams come true.

I love it because Happiness IS a choice, just waiting for it or linking it to a certain time in the future or a place is a sure waist of time, and as many lessons in my life I learned this the HARD way.

I also love it because it's a big theme in my upcoming WIP once I finish Nights :)

So plain & simple:

Cover Reveal, House of Ivy and Sorrow by Natalie Whipple

Oh My! Oh My!

Dear readers today I got to see the cover of Natalie's Whipple upcoming book; House Of Ivy & Sorrow, visiting the world on April (my month yay!) 15, 2014 (yea, shoot me) and the reason I’m doing this is not only because Natalie’s an awesome person but also because that book in particular, from the day she spoke of it on her Blog, I got hooked and fell head over heels in love with it (go read the first chapter she kindly gave us back in 2011 on her blog and tell me your not in love too), I knew that book was a winner and when Natalie announced it's her second book deal with HarperTeen I wasn't surprised at all but extremely HAPPY! I even had a dream! An actual dream of me talking to Natalie asking her about HOI&S (I'm zinzanah by the way, to make it easier to find my question), Yup! that much I’m serious.

HWC: My perfect first breakfast cause I’m a Hobbit like that, and what does it have to do with Transportation in Khartoum

Ladies & gentlemen; I’m a night owl (or one of my Mark’s loyal bats, just whatever you choose to call me) and as much as I tried to get rid of this bad habit I failed, there are various reasons for this spreading from iron deficiency to the constant stress.

This of course means I lack energy, especially in the morning, and once I have breakfast,  I feel all drowsy and want nothing but to hit the bed. I hate that, I hate it so much I used in the past to drink a whole pot of chi and tolerate the agony of a coffee thermos just to get myself through the day without having to experience the embarrassment steaming from knocking my head on the first surface I find and pass out!

What can a photo illuminate in a story: Or what happens when FC Barcelona Trio cross the portal to an alternative world? Part (1)

State of day: told ya before I like to disappear, I was busy casting away evil shadows surrounding my house, and even met some Morlocks on my doorway, that was one nasty fight. But! but it wasn’t all bad I got to watch some mind blowing movies :) StrategyKid and I are big fans of historical Asian movies so when he brought the DVD of Red Cliff 1 & 2 by John Woo I was in time for a great treat.

And Aishah Amin has declared the winners of her pioneering contest for best Hijabi design, some of her top ten were really down my allay :) I hope I see more of such contests and maybe next time I’ll participate myself, who knows.

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Welcome everyone for your first part of the long awaited Barca picture posts by Captain Haneen. It’s a post serving a twofold purpose because it’s also about writing ;)

Thorin Oakenshield

Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield with Orcrist the elven sword

img. belong to  http://thorinoakenshield.net

Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror Oakenshield

Race: Dwarf

Book: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

This noble dwarf has got his fair share of hard life and bad luck. Thrown out of his own home where he was once a prince surrounded by all kinds of pleasure & ease, a time of richness he described amazingly by;

"the poorest of us had money to spend and to lend, and leisure to make beautiful things just for the fun of it"

THWC: If you have an injured leg

 

Muscles injuries are very annoying, like freaking annoying! Especially if you push yourself too hard and ignore your doctor orders (like me that is) so today I got these humble advices for you my fellow runners, from my own experience -things I learnt the hard way:

1. If you have an injured leg don’t dance. Seriously it will only make it worse.
2. If you have an injured leg try not to sit crossing your legs (or bent it in any way if possible), it will hurt after a while so be wise.
3. If you have an injured leg try to avoid long walks but use a compression sock if you have to, it will feel much better. And of course I don’t need to tell you NO RUNNING for you baby!!!
4. If you have an injured leg use bags of worm water for 10 minutes, repeat as you please, Oh it gives a good fussy feeling and it helps reduce the pain.
5. If you have an injured leg make sure you eat your veggies, fruits, drink milk and have enough protein daily. Good diet speeds up the recovery.
6. If you have an injured leg always keep a relief gel handy, trust me you will need it, try Rofenac or Deep Heel, they are really good.
7. Finally If you have an injured leg, or any kind of sport injury be slow with your body it’s important to listen to it and to the signs it gives you, because when it comes to injury it’s the body who is smarter than the brain.

I hope you all stay well and injury free :)