PhilAsify 101

Holy criggity crap. Boy, has a lot happened since I last posted here. I took my quarterly laziness hiatus from blogging and when I returned, Donald Trump became president, Dave Chappelle came back to television and Glenn got his head bashed in on The Walking Dead. I'm glad I'm taking a seat. Things are getting crazy and rather than be in on the action and share my thoughts and opinions and rants like everyone else has been doing, I've been laying low and just focusing on getting accustomed to my new work schedule. However just because PhilAsify hasn't been churning out fresh content doesn't mean I haven't been writing. In fact, soon after the election I went into hyperdrive mode to finish publishing my very timely and relevant first book, Vicegerents: The Divine Responsibility, The Importance of Muslim Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility .  It's available right now on Amazon so please feel free to check it out (It's only 99 cents). It's a smoo...

Hey gang. A little bit late on my goal for a weekly post, that's because I'm still trying to figure out a way to make a decent living as a freelance writer. As I expected, it's no walk in the park starting out.  Before I even lost my job , I was looking into freelance writing as a possible next career option because my job hunting had fallen into that terrible catch 22 conundrum. All the writing based media jobs I wanted were looking for someone with 2 to 5 years experience and there I was wasting my life away shuffling papers at a tax firm NOT GETTING EXPERIENCE. Freelancing looked to be the best option to 1) write , 2) build a solid body of work with a portfolio and 3) eventually get noticed by those same media based jobs that were denying me because of  my lack of experience. Getting into the freelance writing game, I faced pretty much the same trouble because I needed to show experience as well and show that I've written and had things published in various are...

An interesting theory on Procrastination and How To Stop it From Killing Our Goals So I was procrastinating all week when it came to figuring out what subject I was going to write about this week and while trying to avoid brainstorming I came up with a brilliant topic: procrastination! While mindlessly scrolling my Facebook feed--my go-to procrastination tool in my unproductivity utility belt--I saw an article post entitled,  " 9 ways to stop Procrastinating on Your Screenplay ". Interestingly enough, that is exactly what I've been doing!  Seeing as how the article was relevant to my exact situation, I gave it a quick look-see and was fascinated by an insight about procrastination that was articulated in a way that I have never heard before:  "Procrastination is ultimately a fear of being judged". Suffice to say, I was intrigued.

"It's just not working out." That was the reason I was given when I walked into the conference room where my Supervisor and the HR Manager sat and had me sign off my termination papers. Nothing else was stated between my boss. She got up and briskly walked out of the room. My reaction? Well...I didn't exactly say that but that's the vibe I gave. And as cool as a response as that is to getting canned, that wouldn't have been my reaction a year back. A year ago, I would've been floored by getting fired. I could see it now, my heart sinking, my voice cracking as I would pathetically beg them to reconsider. Anxiety would take the wheel and I'd be terrified with the outlook since there was no backup plan or steady income of any kind that I could fall back on. What would I tell my wife? How would I pay the bills and the rent? What are we going to do!? Nope. None of that happened. I was truly at peace with the decision. And it was the right d...

**Door creaks open, all is heard are the faint sounds of footsteps. A light turns on...SURPRISE!** I'm Baaaack! Did ya miss me? Oh. Hmm...well I anticipated this happening so it's all good. It's been a solid year since I've last updated PhilAsify101. In this fast moving, content-dependent world of YouTubers, vloggers and bloggers if you even get a hint of inconsistency, miss out on a weekly post, and don't give solid regular updates of SOMETHING, ANYTHING--you lose your audience. A whole year passes well, then it's rebuilding time. Surprisingly though it seemed I got a consistent readership of 100 or so views of my old posts, so that's encouraging. That being said, I have made my return and hopefully by Allah's will, it will be for good. I hope to regularly deliver to you consistent, thought-provoking posts. And just as was the purpose of PhilAsify101 when I first launched it, I write mainly for myself to keep my fingers moving and actual...

Back from an extended sabaatical once again is your favorite PhilAsifer. It's been six months since I've posted new content on PhilAsify and I can explain, if you'd just let me! My time away from writing was a mixture of several factors: 1) My job. I've been working longer hours lately to pay the bills and it's been eating away at my free time. 2) Fatherhood. Being a dad is great and all but it's tough when you're a writer because you need peace and quiet and a block of time to get cookin' and that usually isn't going down when there is a toddler amongst needing to be entertained and put to bed. 3) I've just been in a general slump that I had to work on. I wasn't feeling productive. I wasn't managing my time. I felt I was stuck in this hamster wheel and getting nowhere. SO I needed to re-evaluate myself and my goals and start taking steps to get out of that debilliating rut I was in. I didn't want to come back to churning o...

Surprise, surprise PhilAsify Fans (which I'm sure at this point probably only consists of 3 people, including my wife--on second thought, my wife doesn't regularly read my stuff, so howdy you two!) I'm back with a blog update. I just want to cut to the chase and apologize for the blog drought I put you guys through. It's was unannounced and unexpected and that's because I hadn't planned to have gone this long without updating. The lack of PhilAsify greatness stemmed from a combination of lazy spell that I go through on occasion which superkicked any semblance of productivity and consistency I had with my writing. Luckily, an article I stumbled upon brought me back to reality and brought to attention a lot of the flaws in my repertoire. The article,  15 Excuses Writers Make (That aren't fooling Anyone) , pretty much busted me out directly, pinpointed all the lamebrain excuses I use as a crutch when I go through an unproductive writing slump. It op...

Whether it's through reading, listening or watching a movie, I think it's safe to say that everyone loves a good  story. There's nothing like diving in head-first into the world of a good book, or being captivated by the rush of emotions a movie brings. That's because stories are a reflection of life. An interesting analogy which summed it up perfectly was: "stories are like human currency". You learn about peoples cultures, beliefs, and values through stories. You are introduced to new ideas and are able to relate to situations and look back on personal experiences through a good story. Even as a Muslim, a good story is what inspires, strengthens your faith and engages your mind, be it from the Qur'an or the Hadith. As a lover of storytelling with a degree in creative writing, I spend a good chunk of my free time looking for movies that tell a good story. One of my favorite filmmakers Spike Lee spoke about the intention behind his movies, “ I'm j...

"You ain't never had a friend like me!" Uh...no. Like many movie-goers, I love a good horror flick. Unfortunately in Hollywood, a halfway decent one is few and far between. Some border on goofy campy horror (The Leprachaun series, Nightmare on Elm Street ,  Cabin in the Woods ) while others rely heavily on special effects and an unneccessarily copious amount of gore ( 28 Days Later , Hostel ) and label that as horror. Some start out promising but then are dragged out into convuluted, contrived pieces of trash (The SAW Series, Paranormal Activity .) A good Horror movie ideally is supposed to take the viewer out of the comfort of watching as a third party and pull you inside the film into the same helpless situation of the hero. It's supposed to make you feel vulnerable and uncomfortable without the need for cheap gags like the overuse of blood or a quick swishing camera cut. Horror movies, even if the premise or elements involved are fictional, should at least ...

Salams and Hello to my loyal readers which at the moment may only be myself and my wife (and that's usually only when I force her to read my blogs). Now PhilAsify 101 has only been around for only a few months and already it's been a rollercoaster ride in terms of my enthusiasm, creative and consistency in keeping up with the being a new blogger. I've had my fair share of ups and downs. Some weeks I was on a roll, churning out ideas and tapping away on the keyboard. Other days, laziness kicked in and I was spending more time hanging out on Yahoo's Frontpage than logging in hours on my posts. Ideas were hard to come by. Other times, life got in the way and I couldn't put the world on pause to go sit and put my thoughts into paragraphs. It's even more difficult and deflating when you don't think anyone's reading your stuff, so in turn no one is anticipating anything and thus there is no pressure to please the masses. But I don't want to make excuse...

Hello folks. A quickie blog here today. The wifey and I watched Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy The Dictator this past weekend. And no, I don't feel like a horrible Muslim for having went to see it. Since the initial trailer for The Dictator came out during Superbowl Weekend in January, I've heard the opinions of Muslim friends, collegues and such vehemently bashing the making of this movie and practically wanting to boycott seeing the movie as if the movie was called "Lowes: Lumber with A Vengence". Now I've been a huge fan of Sacha Baron Cohen's work. He's a brilliant comedian and touches on political and societal issues that some people feel uneasy about discussing without ruffling someone's feathers. I loved him in Borat--Bruno on the other hand, not so much--the fact of the matter is SBC pokes fun at the way people act and the preconceived notions and prejudices instilled in the human psyche to the point where it makes one question the absurdity o...

Note:The following is a fiction story I wrote a while back that has never before been published online. Seeing as PhilAsify 101 is my own personal hub for not only benefiting you all from reading my thoughtful content but also to motivate and put on display my love of creative storytelling and fiction writing. So sit back, relax and take 10 minutes out of your day to read this short piece. And if you're feeling extra generous, share it! :) The dreaded workweek has finally taken its final breath. For some this would signify movies, surfing, club hopping and plenty of other unadulterated fun— especially in the peak of the blistering summer heat. But for an elite group of individuals, the ministry would once again commence. The ritual has been a long celebrated tradition that originated during Rashad’s senior year of high school and has lasted all the way through the pursuit of a Bachelor’s Degree.   Rashad Ahmed had recently earned a degree in business administration but his pa...

Mmm caramel! For those of you who read my "A Khutbah is like a box of chocolates" article I posted a while back, Alhamdulilah this past week I was treated to an ooey gooey khutbah with melt-in-your-mouth goodness! Brother Atif Mahmud, a Houston-area teacher and khateeb gave a phenomenal khutbah about the wonders of reading.     He spoke at length about how we are becoming a society that hates to read, a lot of it due to the technology of all those gadgets with a lower "i" in front of it. He threw out statistics he obtained that stated that last year, 90% (I think) of people neither read or picked up a book in the last year! Atif even alluded to the Ray Bradbury novel Farenheit 451 , which is a story set in the future where Americans outlaw and burn books by the thousands to eradicate learning and literacy, and said in a way things are becoming just like the story as people are reading less and less. In the end he presented to the congregation, notably the parents,...

For the two or three people that have followed me since the beginning of PhilAsify, you would know that I aspire to be a lot of things that I have yet to venture towards. One of those pipedreams is screenwriting. My passion to read as well as craft compelling stories led me to take a great interest in screenwriting while in college. I took a course on it and have  read a few books that ignited my affection and respect towards this skilled art and made me feel that this may very well be my calling card. I still think it can. Looking back, I wish my  study of screenwriting would have lasted more than a semester and that the class (though I'm not knocking my professor, Sam Havens, as he was a brilliant, funny and blunt teacher) would have been more extensive and hands on. 

Me in a nutshell.  Cot Damn! Good Lord have mercy. It's been already an entire month since I last wrote a blog. I have no one to blame but myself and my deplorable organizational and time-prioritizing skills. The whole point of PhilAsify101 was to break my dryspell of literature generation with an outlet for creative content. Epic FAIL.

Sometimes being the odd man out isn't such a bad thing. Over the years, we all have seen our fair share of trends. Whether it be in fashion, music or the ever-changing electronic world, people jump onto a bandwagon and are in disbelief when they meet or speak to someone that hasn't been in the loop. Taking it a step further, those type of people act as if they are looking at an enigma when you respond back that you think a certain trend is whack and you don't wanna bother indulging in it. The literary world is no different.

Still on the heels of week 1 of my blog initiative and your boy is still struggling with consistency. My wife told me a tip for first time bloggers is to have 50 blog posts written within the first month of your blog as a goal to have consistency since that in consequence would attract readers to your blog knowing that its being updated on the regular. Well, I don't know how realistic of a goal that is for me with my work schedule and home study schedule (which I will elaborate upon in a future blog post, InshaAllah). In my inaugural post earlier this week, I wrote that I proclaim myself as "The Writer Who Doesn't Write". As shameful of a title that is, I can also declare myself as the "Reader Who Doesn't Read". Explanation? It's coming. Now I do read in the literal sense, I read ESPN.com box score and news items, I read editorials and news bits on pro wrestling, I read threads on internet forums and also random news items on the ever popular Yaho...

So my blog is official. My feelings as of right now are mixed with nervousness and excitement. For a guy that's had a long sabbatical away from creative writing, I am a bit worried when it comes to content. That's nothing that a brainstorming session won't fix but I still want to be able to be the kind of writer that stays consistent.  When it comes to writing project, starting is the hardest part for me. Once I do get over the hump, I usually am able to get the ball rolling with engaging writing on a regular basis. But that initial window is just hell, because I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to posts and am very self-critical. I would re-read paragraphs and sentences and if they don't have the correct amount of wit, or the right verbiage and tone, I would be staying on the delete key longer than a pedophile that's going to be having his laptop scanned for porn. I mean, it friggin took me two hours to write my initial blog last night!

In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Whether you have stumbled upon this page by some bizarre accident, or I myself begged you to click this link, I would like to humbly welcome you to PhilAsify 101! I know the first peculiarity you might have noticed is the title of this blog and the odd way that I chose to have it spelled. When I first planned to create a blog for myself, I thought it would be clever to put my name somewhere in the title as a pun while at the same time making it relevant to the overall theme by taking a well-known subject of human knowledge and discussion (Philosophy) and put my own individual stamp on it. Frankly, and I'm sure you're thinking this, it may just be a pathetic attempt at being vain. Regardless, I thought it was cool and I'm sticking with it for the time being (But I do at least deserve some credit in the creativity realm when you take into account how difficult it is to make my name rhyme or sync with any word...