Ramadan Musings: Day 1

That's right folks, during daylight hours, Muslim men and women aren't allowed to hold hands whilst floating above a bed.

So my dear Viking friend of mine, who is Christian, has decided to try out Ramadan for the first time this year as a form of solidarity with our mate of the room variety, so that she doesn't have to fast by herself (now that's love right there). In the meantime, he's decided to write down his experiences with fasting in journal-esque format.

On a whim, and though this is far from my first Ramadan, I've decided to do the same and then upload some of them the next day, just for fun (and slightly to have more than one post a day, this internet is killing me folks). So here they are, day one of my Ramadan musings. Forgive the ramble, slightly decent into madness, and complete stupidity of some of them.

Keep in mind that the timings correspond to Abu Dhabi.

August 2nd, 2011

2:07am

realized I can't keep sleeping at 8am and waking up at 2pm for the rest of the month. The prospect of more daylight frightens me. Trying to find a list of things to do that will distract from heat and thirst and boredom. Have ruled out DDR, am now sad

2:10am

realized that writing these Ramadan reflections are actually fun. Might consider doing that. Fingers crossed for it not making me feel worse.

2:56am

hope roommates have remembered that cat isn't fasting and, according to Islam, probs shouldn't be tortured 

3:30 am

wondering if it's Ramadan that’s causing sister to go crazy. She's having a rant about no one being able to hate her if she's in a comma.

3:31am

it might be the heat, I misspelled "coma," and my cousin asked wot my sister will be doing during the time that she's in her coma. She's in the damn coma, she can't do anything but be in a coma.

3:32am

reconsidering applying for internships in this state. It's not even sunrise and already I'm dying of thirst and delusional. All I can think of to answer the question " Describe a specific project or assignment you have worked on that illustrates your strengths in the area(s) of interest you have selected" is "I deal with my family on a regular basis. This illustrates my strengths of patience and high tolerance for stress and ridiculousness. In addition, it shows how I can multitask, i.e. keeping saying while resisting the urge to strangle them and still being able to form mostly coherent and respectful responses to repeated questions." 

4:51am

trying to figure out why on earth anyone would create a toothbrush with enough bristles to only brush one tooth at a time. Illogical is an understatement. Have to remind myself that second day of fasting officially began about 20 minutes ago and so I cannot curse the makers of the toothbrush

4:57am

::trying to convince my sister that staying up till 6 again is not very healthy, her response is that she just wants watch one episode of Doctor Who. My arguments have been successfully rendered invalid.

5:00am

wondering why I typed in 'chase.com' when I meant to check my email

5:03am

checked Pottermore instead, day 3 still hasn't started. Wondering how this time thing works

5:13am

sister asking Doctor (the cat) if he knows how to induce a coma. I'm busy reminding myself that this is a month of reflection and patience, in order to not toss my computer across the room for the horriblness of the internet connection. Considering giving up trying to check my mail in order to avoid accidentally breaking my fast less than an hour into the second day due to excessive cursing.

5:18am

NYU email loaded…found an email informing me that I had, apparently, applied for an internship position at Macmillan last night. Vaguely remember being on the website, but details are fuzzy. Deciding that this is a sign from God that I should get offline, in order to avoid such occurrences again.

6:20am

gave into temptation and checked Pottermore potential timings online, apparently it seems to have increased by the hour every day (starting on 9am GMT day one). Wondering if it's considered blasphemy that my conviction to wake up early has solidified upon that knowledge, as opposed to for a desire to read Qur'an and pray. Shaking head in exasperation at self seems especially appropriate to #blamethemuslims (i.e. myself) at this moment.

2:17pm

Figured out Pottermore riddle (with the help of my ever constant companion: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in paperback form). Am now officially registered for Pottermore. Am extremely pleased with myself. You'd think I aced some exam or invented something brilliant. For those of you still trying, your next chance will be at Noon GMT tomorrow, and the question/riddle will be from the book 4. Rewarding myself with a nap.