My Baabo is back in Somaliland

Today, my Baabo (dad) is traveling to Somaliland for a two-month trip. He'll be back in February, but if he gets a good opportunity, he might stay there.

My Hooyo (mom), for the past week, has been a nervous wreck and has been going out of her mind, preparing this trip for him. Last night and this morning when we were leaving, she was so anxious that she was pacing around the house looking for more things to pack up for him. We had to take her car to the train station and she was driving. Bad idea. She was braking a lot and commenting a lot about how weird she was feeling. My father told her that he could drive if she wanted and she got out of the car with the door open. She even said that she doesn't know why she wants to cry right now. I had to keep telling her to calm down and breathe in and out. When he left, she couldn't take a nap and when she did fall asleep, she woke up looking like the world had asked her to run its circumference.

I thought it was really cute that she was acting like that. I've never seen my mother get fluttered (I don't know the right phrase) over my father and it was nice to see, even though it was during an extreme moment. This is going to sound really bad, but I've never witnessed Somali love, affection and appreciation between married couples first hand, so to see it today in its morphed form was refreshing. I hope to one day show Somali love as a mainstream phenomenon.

My mother has always misunderstand my feelings of depression and my language during those times. What's been kind of cool to see is my mother going through some of the things I've been through this fall. I comment of this coincidence sometimes, because I don't want to seem pretentious. I hope that she notices the similarities someday.

Another thing I want to remember today was that I paid for my dad for the first time. It was for an extra carrier that cost $175. It was momentous. I'd never paid for him before. I'm saving that receipt.

P. S.

I also was nervous. When I'm nervous, I make horrible jokes, laugh awkwardly, or become uncomfortable silent. My Baabo seemed to be nervous, too. When he was pulling out his passport for check-in, his hands were shaking so badly that I kinda felt bad for him.

MY HUNDREDTH POST - THANK YOU!

My hundredth post was about John Mayer and how I wished his album would arrive soon.

sigh....... #stillpissedbutwaitingpatiently

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you all for sticking with the whirlwind of a blog. I started this blog January of this year. I wanted to have a space where I could talk about my thoughts and opinions about the entertainment fields I was interested in because my family was sick and tired of talking about celebrities and I didn't have any friends around. Even when I had friends around, they could never understand how a "smart, Muslim girl" like me could know so much about pop culture and music. I always upset me, but still I loved the gossip, the business, the lovely memories I've made, and the stories each project would tell.

JOHN MAYER IS COMING BACK. IN 2017. #ARGH

MY WISH CAME TRUE. 

JOHN MAYER IS COMING BACK. 

WITH A FULL ALBUM. 

I AM SO EXCITED.

The first single is "Love on the Weekend".

I LISTENED TO IT. IT'S REALLY GOOD. JUST LIKE THE OLD DAYS. THANK YOU, JM.

The 7th full-length studio album is tentatively named "The Search for Everything".

Guess when it will come out. 

BTS Part 5: BTS "WINGS" Overview

I love artists that make me feel like I can love them irrevocably and vice versa. Like they care for me, understand me, get me even if they don’t know me personally. Even though the same words could apply to any of their other fans. I’m not special but they make me feel like I am because I listen to them and support them. Such great words that relate to my life and others like me feel like we see each other as humans going through the same things. This is what BTS has done for me this comeback.

I’ve learned a lot while listening to Bangtan’s music. I’ve been following them for over a year now. I didn’t how I had so much love in my heart to give to each member. Sure, I love Jimin, but I can fan-out over each of them in a very unhealthy way. And my love for them has grown exponentially since I become an A.R.M.Y. I’ve loved their music, their performances, their choreography, the concepts they work within, the stories they’ve developed. I love their rudeness, their cuteness, their laughter. You could try your best not fall deeper into them, but it really can’t be helped. They do that naturally. Of course, I want them to be happy forever. I know that is unrealistic, so what I really want is for the people around them and for the fans that love them to support them and always love them as they go through their lives. They are still human. They will still have their low days. It’s really insensitive to expect to hear good music out of them at that time.

BTS Part 4: About WINGS - Tracks 10 thru 15

So... continuing on...

10. Lost

Story: This song is for the Vocal Line and was proudly written by Rap Mon. It is again about a young person expressing their thoughts, being lost between their childhood and their resistance to grow up within a harsh world. There are so many meaningful lyrics that asked questions but didn’t receive any good answers. It makes you imagine a young person really is in the middle of a desert and a raging storm. I also like the line about how ants who can't find their way keep bumping into each other but always came back home in a straight line. This is such a well-made song and one of the best among the Vocal Line’s songs that I’ve heard.

General Thoughts: The sound kind of reminds me of the Peter Pan concept from HYYH Pt.2. It also reminded me of when BTS did their reality show “Bon Voyage” when Suga “Lost my Taehyung, lost my Taehyung” on their broadcast screening. Not that Taehyung had anything to do with the song besides sing beautifully. It just reminds me of that. My buddy, Jimin, starts off the song, then Jin's part kills me in the second verse, but V's voice though [ugh, the pain]. The build-up to the chorus is phenomenal, including Kookie's high-note riffs.

BTS Part 3: About WINGS - Tracks 1 thru 9

I’ve always wanted to learn about what an artist is thinking when they create their work and how they can tell a story within their medium. BTS is one of the artists I wish I was a fly on the wall, watching them craft songs. They’ve told stories about their lives through their music and because music is supposed to an open dialogue, I wanted to add what I gained from listening to this album. I never did well in poetry English classes, but this review of BTS’s “WINGS” album is not actually a review, nor is it an analysis. It is more like an observation of what I’ve felt after repeating them, plus a little bit of fanning out.

My dream is to own all BTS merchandise one day.

Also, as new information came out and as I found more qualities of the album, my thoughts kept changing and rearranging. I’m not sure this post will be certain in all that I want to say, but it feels close to what I thought, whether it affected me personally or as I continued to find keywords that matched the concept.

So, here goes...

1. Intro: Boy Meets Evil

Story (in my head or what I choose to believe): What kinds of evils do young people face? Family, school, peer pressure, money troubles, the unknown future, and the fear of failing. This greed to succeed at all costs, the ambition to dream bigger and higher, becomes evil when reality snaps you out of all of it. These all would cause the temptation being used as a theme. The more you believe you are striving intrepidly toward your goals, the less the world cares. The world will not let go of you willingly. Without clean intention in your heart as you aspire, the world will throw curveballs from every corner to test your resolve. It is your duty not to fall on the wrong path and into temptation. That’s exactly what the song is not doing. The character has fallen into sin(?), i.e. pride, ego, lust, greed etc., because that is what humans do.

General Thoughts: I want to thank Jung Hoseok. Thank you for working so hard to provide us with such a powerful introduction into the album. It was his first time doing an intro to one of their albums and I got to see how much he's been wanting to do it, Hopie-style. He spent a lot of time stressing out about perfecting the choreography and the song for us. He ended up giving A.R.M.Ys, like me, who were on the edge of stanning, a reason to fall even harder for him. Where was the cute Hopie? Answer: Elsewhere. This was aggressive, sexy, rude Hoseok. That high kick, those body rolls, that tongue, the cheeks, the sudden appearance of J-abs. I'm positive he just wanted fangirls/boys to die. Read my post about J-Hoping.

Watch J-Hope - 'WINGS' Comeback Trailer: Boy Meets Evil - over and over and over again.