it's Over!

Dear Reader

So basically today's blog post is nothing more than a simple catch up of all the things that have happened in these last few hectic weeks.

When I wrote to you last, it was still Ramadan, or more specifically, the last ten days (during which  we seek Layla-tul-Qadr, the Night of Decree). That in itself kept me so busy that I did not have time to finish writing my final Ramadan Reverie post, which I had planned. Then of course, with the end of Ramadan came Eid-ul-Fitr, which me and my cousins celebrated by spending a week at Skegness (a small coastal town in East England). It was a little holiday that was well deserved, at least on my part.

While there, I prayed Salah on the sandy beach; an absolutely wonderful experience, you should try it too. It really brings one closer to God (swt), when praying to Him (swt) surrounded by His most beautiful creations:   

We also saw some children flying kites (it's England, so even the sunniest days are windy enough for kites). At the time I thought of many metaphors relating to kites. I'd share them with you now, dear reader, but unfortunately I can't remember them any more :-s. 

As soon  as we got back from Skegness, it was back to work, work, work for me. The final draft of my dissertation/thesis was due in the week after and I found out from my Professor/supervisor that I had many changes still to make. I think that in the seven days before the deadline, I only slept for a grand total of 8 hours. It was really tough. But I'm proud to say that, despite everything, I stuck to it, and came through in 1 piece. And now my MSc in Preventive Cardiology IS OVER!!!!!!! It's finished. The End!

There aren't words to describe the physical, intellectual and emotional exhaustion I felt at the day I handed everything in.  

But, since handing in all my work last week, my creative juices have been swirling in my mind. It's as if these past few months as I was working hard on my MSc, creative inspiration had been pouring into my brain's bucket, collecting and building until it reached the brim. Now that I've finally allowed it to flow through my finger tips, it feels like the pressure in my mind has been released. As a result, I've actually spent most of last week painting and sketching. Like I said before, I'm not an amazing artist, haven't ever taken any classes and I don't actually know how to paint properly. But all the same, I thought I'd give you, my loyal reader, some examples of what I've been doing:

So it started off this little doodle using infinity circles, an idea I got from Vihart:

Then I thought, wouldn't it be cool to do a Fibonacci style conch shell using infinity circles:

My friend, Codename: Peachy, liked this so much she told me that I should make a bigger version:

One thing lead to another and I ended up making this last night: 

For those who can't read Arabic, it says La illaha ilallah, Muhammadur rasulallah, meaning: There is no god but God and Muhammad (saw) is His messenger. This is the basis of Islam and the declaration of faith, the Shahada.    

And that's it. Now you know all that's happened in the last 3 weeks.
Nida