Hiba's Blog of Thoughts

        Welcome family, friends, and my fellow classmates. When Mrs Joyner told us to write a graduation speech, I had no idea where to begin or what to write. How can you fit all the memories at Golf Middle School and all these feelings into a minute-long speech? Words can't express how thankful I am to have spent my elementary and middle school years in this district and they can't express how sad I am about leaving it.          I would like to thank my teachers, for teaching me and for helping me when I needed it. I would like to thank my family, for dealing with me when I was the most cranky and stressed. And I would like to thank my friends, for cheering me up and lightening up my mood when I was feeling down.         And for the future-eighth graders... Let me just say this.  You're probably bored and spacing out right now because that was me when I was forced to watch these award assemblies. But in a few ye...

                         The feeling you get when you start a new book or movie is very different from the feeling you get when you end it. You feel excited when you begin the book but you feel sad when the book ends.          The same thing applied to me when I started going to Golf Middle School and how my time here is ending. When I started 5th grade, I was so excited to finally start going to middle school. Even though I would leave Hynes behind, I was anxious to meet new teachers, new classes, and new opportunities alongside my classmates and friends.          And now that the end of 8th grade has come I realized the 3 years following 5 th grade flew by without me even realizing it. I created new memories and learned a lot. I don't want to leave my second home, and the people I've gone to school with since second grade, who I might not talk to again in hig...

        Who doesn't love food? Besides the fact that food keeps us alive, food gives us pure joy. Even though I love food, I can't really cook too many dishes. I can only make the simplest of things like cereal, toast, macaroni and cheese, ramen, and eggs.          One thing I have especially bad memories of is making toast, which is why I barely make toast. For some reason, every time I try making toast, I seem to burn myself. I have one of those toaster ovens, which are kind of like mini ovens that fit on top of your countertop but act like toasters. They even open up like ovens and have two racks like ovens. There was this one time where I was making toast, and I opened up the toaster to see if the toast was done. The one thing I had forgotten was that the toaster was burning hot. A sudden pain went through my body, and before I realized it, I had burned my hand almost to a crisp. The burn lasted for a very long time, almost a month....

        It's that dreaded time of year again all of us hate. PARCC Testing. Every spring, students are forced to spend about a week taking these horrible standardized tests. PARCC always puts everybody in a bad mood. Luckily, I've found some tips that may help make PARCC and other tests easier to get through and less stressful.  1. Get some sleep  Without sleep, your brain has trouble concentrating, focusing, and working in general. Get a full night's sleep the day before the test to make sure your brain works at its best on test day. 2. Have a healthy breakfast Your brain needs brain food to work! Before the test, have a breakfast which is healthy and rich in protein. Try foods like eggs or yogurt.  3. Practice! This one might seem pretty obvious. To get a good score on the test, y ou have to practice! You can use online practice tests so you know what kind of questions will come your way.  4. Use your extra-time wisely...

“You must choose love. Always choose love.”   This is a quote Erika had said to Daniel and his girlfriend from the book "Daniel's Story". The quote is very important and something everybody should live by.   There wouldn't be as many hate groups such as the KKK and ISIS around the world. People wouldn't be scared of being killed or being injured for being who they are.  If everybody chose love, there wouldn't be as much racism and sexism. People would be able to walk outside freely without feeling ashamed or insecure.  If everybody chose love, there wouldn't be as many wars happening at this moment. Iraq and Afghanistan would be at peace. Israelis and Palestinians would be happy.  There would be less violence, less refugees, less orphans, less oppression, and less children with their childhoods taken away from them. All of these horrible things would disappear only if everybody chose love. 

February 23, 2018 Dear Diary,          Today was just like any other day: busy, exhausting, but still fun. Today is Friday, which brought my mood up by a lot. It's almost 9:45 p.m. right now. I'm sitting at my desk trying to finish all my homework so I won't have to do it later.          Like last week, my family has to go to another party tomorrow (is it just me who has this many parties?). I'm excited about this one because more of my friends will be there.          On Sunday, I'm probably going to go watch the movie Black Panther with my friends and my brother. There has been so much craze going on about that movie, so I expect it to be really good. But then again, every Marvel movie is really good.          I know I am going to spark many arguments about this, but in my opinion, Marvel is better than D.C. I just needed to get it out there. The only D.C. movie I've actually ...

        It's 8:15 p.m. right now. Finally, I can relax.  My weekend so far has been booked. I've had no free time and no time to do my abundance of homework. Here's how Friday and Saturday of my 4-day weekend went:         Right after school yesterday, my family had to go to a party at my mom's friend's house. It was supposed to be at my house at first, but the location of it changed last minute. The kids my age stayed in the basement most of the time, while the older adults stayed upstairs. I was ecstatic because there weren't any younger kids to annoy us, which is pretty rare. We stayed there until 12 a.m. playing video games and eating ice cream.         As soon as I woke up the next morning, my mother, my brother and I went to Ikea with my cousins to help pick out their furniture. One of my cousins is 5 years old while the other is 3 years old, and for 1 glorious hour, they stayed at the children's...

One way my family keeps our memories are by taking photos. Even though most of my photos are on my phone, there's still a huge pile of photo albums somewhere in the back of my closet, and it is always fun looking back into the past. Here are two pictures that trigger so many of my memories: I remember this day very clearly. Some of my friends and I went on a "field trip" to an apple farm in Indiana back in October. There weren't only a few of us going. There were enough kids to fill most of a school bus. I knew most of the other kids, but I sat with my very close friends; Riha, Suwaiba, and Hafsa. It was kind of like a school field trip with supervisors, a school bus, and lunches served to us, but at the same time, there were fewer rules and more freedom, which made it better.          I remember being able to go around wherever we wanted around the farm, and just meeting up for lunch. We stayed there for nearly 8 hours, picking apples and pumpkins, playing...

        It was really hard for me to think of 5 songs that describe my life, so I mixed it up. Some of these songs are songs that bring up a lot of memories, have a great message, or just really fun listening to. Here they are:   1. The Best Day of My Life- American Authors  Link to Music         A wave of nostalgia always hits me every time I hear the first notes of this song. The song takes me back to fourth grade when it actually came out. I remember being obsessed with it at the time, especially since we were playing the song on instruments in music class. It also causes me to remember so many memories of fourth-grade, like the Red Riding Hood Play, the Bowling Party, and the awards assembly at the end of the year.  2.  Bibia  Be Ye Ye- Ed Sheeran  Link to Music          One lyric of this song "Se enioma enko ye, Bibia Be Ye Ye " translates to "If things...

       "This wasn't my choice!" Aaliyah hissed at Joanna from behind. "Well if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't even be stuck in here in the first place!" Joanna snapped back. She desperately tugged at the rope that tied her hands to the metal pole behind her, hoping it would make a difference, but it kept its tight hold on her. That rope would give her a rash that would last for weeks.          Aaliyah still hadn't said anything back, and Joanna wanted it to stay that way. Talking to her was the last thing she felt like doing with all the fury she was feeling. Joanna didn't know why she even trusted Aaliyah. She should've known better. All Aaliyah ever did was get them into trouble, and this time was no different. Except for the fact that all of their money, their phones, and just about everything else they had with them was gone, and that they were going to be stuck sitting under a broken lamplight at an abandoned park the whole night. ...

        Most people's goals are either to win the Noble Peace prize, become a professional football player or something else just as rewarding. Mine is to read as many books as I possibly can in the short life I have. But unfortunately, this 13-year old girl neither has the time nor the reading ability to accomplish this. Today, I've chosen 3 books from my never-ending list of "Must-Reads" to share with you. 1. Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi  Even though I haven't read this book, I know it is going to be awesome. I mean look at the cover! It's about this girl named Aria, who has lived her whole life confined in a dome and has never seen the outside world. That one detail already made the book sound very interesting. But anyways, Aria's mom goes missing, and she decides to go outside for the first time to find her. She also meets Perry, an outsider who is also looking for somebody who went missing, and they become friends. The annoying thing...

Age Rating: R      Duration: 2 hr 15 min Genre: Horror/Thriller My Rating: 8/10           I could've reviewed any other movie, like Wonder Woman or Spider-Man Homecoming(two of my favorite summer movies of 2017.), but I chose "It". The film involves 7 middle-school aged kids (Bill, Richie, Eddie, Stanley, Beverly, Mike, and Ben) who notice the disappearings of the children in their town of Derry, Maine, including the younger brother of Bill. These confused, curious kids venture out to locate them and soon encounter the evil Pennywise- the creepy clown who comes out of the sewer every 27 years to prey on the children of Derry.          I'd give this movie an 8/10. First of all, even though the movie set an eerie setting and had many creepy and disturbing moments, "It" wasn't as frightening as the makers of the movie claimed it to be. I'd say the most disturbing scene was when Georgie, Bill's little broth...

         The holidays are coming up! What some people call the season of Christmas and Hanukkah, I call the season of gift-giving and my birthday (mostly because I don't celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah). So if you're planning to get me a present for my birthday or any other event, I'll help you out and give you some ideas.  Here they are:  1. CANDY!         If you really don't know what to give me, just get me some candy. Why? Because who can go wrong with candy? Everybody loves candy. Trust me, candy is never a bad gift. Buy some Sour Patch Kids and a bag of Hershey's Kisses and you're good to go!  2. Some New Clothes         My wardrobe is a mess. I only have a few things that I actually wear, and the rest of it either doesn't fit me or are hand-me-downs from my sister. I really need to go shopping.  3. A New Laptop         It doesn't have to be t...

        What is Perseverance? Perseverance is your determination, your persistence, and your will of accomplishing your goal. It means you will stop at nothing to get what you want, and you will not let anybody tell you no. But when somebody does get to you and bring you down, you are to get back up and keep charging towards your goal. You are nothing without perseverance and you will get nowhere without it. And remember tough times that might demotivate you are never here to stay but to pass. Here are some quotes that might give you some perseverance:

        I'm sitting on my couch right now, finally starting this blog-post after procrastinating the whole week. It's a bright Sunday morning. I can hear the birds chirping and the landscaper mowing the grass in my backyard. As I think of things I'm grateful for, I notice how almost everything I'm blessed with is beneficial to me in some way, from everything big like the roof over my head to everything tiny like the shoes I wear. Since I can't name everything I'm grateful for, I'll name my top 10.  I'm thankful for... 1. My parents, who have continued to care for me, no matter how annoyed I make them.  2. My brother and sister, who I can always go to for advice and when I'm bored. 3. My friends, who will always be there for me when nobody else can. 4. Food and water, which keeps me alive and well.  5. My health, which allows me to do everyday things like running and jumping.  6. School, which teaches me new things and prepares m...

        I can't think of only  one show that is a great binge, so I'll name a few. Just remember, these are only 3 shows of the many that could be named right now.         The first show, which a lot of people are probably writing about, is Stranger Things. Even though  I haven't had the time to watch Season Two of it yet, the first season was really good, and I expect Season Two to be better. The show is about a 12-year old boy, Will, who goes missing. His friends and his family try to find him and discover that the government and supernatural forces have something to do with his disappearance. I don't want to get into it too much because I'll probably give away spoilers, but it gets really good.         If you like crime TV shows, the next show is for you. My dad would always be watching Prison Break when I was around 9 years old, and I would always just watch along with him, but I never really understoo...

        I can't choose one character from the Outsiders that I relate to the most. I can't decide between two: Darry and Sodapop, two totally different people with totally different personalities, which is why I have totally different reasons I chose them.  Sodapop is one of Ponyboy's older brothers, and he is the one Pony usually goes to when he needs help. And Darry is Ponyboy's oldest brother, who Ponyboy doesn't really like in the first half of the book.         I have one older sister and one younger brother. Like Soda, who has Darry as his older brother and Ponyboy as his younger brother, I am the middle child.           In the Outsiders, it seems like Soda is the "glue" of the family because he is always the reason Darry and Pony don't tear each other apart. I feel like I play that role in my family as well since I feel like I'm the one who keeps the family together. I also get really annoyed b...

        It's 2017. By now prejudice and racism against other people should end in the U.S., but the very little progress we made had retreated.          Starting off with Colin Kaepernick, NFL players have been standing up (more like kneeling down) against this issue by taking a knee during the National Anthem instead of what is expected. The peaceful protest gained more popularity when  Donald Trump commented on it, saying that the NFL players that kneeled down should be kicked out of the stadium.          There are many different opinions on this. Some people are saying that kneeling before the flag is disrespectful, which is why they shouldn't do it. But I understand why they would, considering what is going on in the U.S. such as police brutality and the Charleston incident.          Going back to the tweet from Donald Trump, saying that NFL players like Kaepernick should ...

        10 years from now, when I'm 23 years old, I see myself very vaguely. I know that I'll be going to a college, working to be some kind of teacher, even though I don't know which kind of teacher I'll be, or what college I'll go to. I'll be somebody that has accomplished a lot of things in high school, and has gotten a scholarship to a college. Accomplishing my goals will be hard, and unfortunately, I haven't been doing much to help myself, even though I should.          I'll probably be living close to my family, but instead of living in the suburbs, I will probably be living in the city of Chicago. I would like living in the city because of the people, the tourists, and the sights to see, despite the continuous honking and burdensome traffic.          Like anybody else, my family and my friends will be very important to me, but I also will take my education very seriously. I want to avoid being unhappy, a...

        I am who I am because of a lot of things.  I have one younger brother, and one older sister, which means I am the middle child. I like being the middle child because I get to experience what it's like to have a younger sibling and an older sibling. I get to be an older sibling and a younger sibling.          My family is religious; we follow the religion of Islam. My family is also from Pakistan, a country wedged between India, Afghanistan, and Iran. I usually visit the country every 2 or so years because most of my family lives there.           I like playing sports, and I like being outside. I like spending time outside, even if whatever I'm doing is as simple reading or doing homework. For me, being outside is stress-relieving, and really relaxing.           These are some of the things that make me who I am, even though there are a lot more that defi...