http://open.spotify.com/user/1259096876/playlist/6LLgVqmPAeYLKY4DRv8cxP
Hi!  My name is Muhaimen Ahmed (moo-hymen).  My nickname is moo.  In this music playlist I am posting, i have a quite variety of genres (trance, trap, hiphop/rap, dubstep, and progressive tech death).  I feel like this is a good representation of my personality.  Why?  Many people cannot stand certain genres of music, I like approaching everything with an open mind.  Of course progressive tech death is certainly not a mainstream genre, but i like it and don’t care whether other people like it or not, whats the point of not listening to music you like because its not popular.  Of the songs in the playlist, my favorite artist is Infected Mushroom.  They’re a Trance group that has its roots in Israel.  My choice of music is pretty out there, but to be honest, i think music reflects personality.  My personality being slightly unpredictable, open minded, and willing to try new things.

hey guys, i’m a pretty chilled out kid from queens ny and these are some pictures that represent me in one way or another…

first off. My family is the most important thing in my life and i love that coming from a very family oriented environment i close with all of my family and not just the immediate ones.

in the next two pictures i have to friends that i consider family because they really play a huge role in my life and idk what i would do with out them

next off are the girls 😉 i like to think of myself of a ladies man although i am quite the mammas boy

this flag represents a lot about me. i come from a jewish orthodox background and i really love the religion and all of the traditions that come with it

these next few pictures are some of my main interests. from rap to house to even classical music, i love all of it and it really helps me get by from day to day.

im also not afraid to admit that i am addicted to sports. my favorite sport is basketball but i love watching and playing hockey football and baseball. last but not least is Baruch college. the reason why i chose to put a picture of baruch is because i’m only attending this school for about a month now and i strongly feel that i made the right choice. i really love the school and i have made a ton of a great friends hope the next four years are going to be amazing.

So.. yeah.. I’m Sarah.
The first picture is of me and my mom. We may not get along sometimes and like everyone else and their parents, we constantly have disagreements, but  I love her so much and she is such an inspiration to me.  She is a such a strong and successful woman and I hope that I’ll be something like her.
The second picture is a picture of me and some of my friends. Some of my closest friends aren’t in the picture, but that’s only because all the pictures we take come out not so good.. anyway.. I love my friends. We’re always there for each other no matter what. No matter what kind of stupid drama happens, I know that I’ll always have them. They’re basically my second family.
The third picture is of the 7 train in Queens. Obviously, it is because I live in Queens and I take the 7 train everyday. I don’t think I would be able to live anywhere besides here in NYC. Of course, I think it is beautiful upstate, Florida, Tennessee, and California and everything, but because I grew up here, I don’t think I would be able to get used to the change in lifestyle. Every time I leave the city, I feel like everything is so slow and everything is so far away and everyone is too nice and there’s not really much to do.. which is nice while I’m on vacation, but not for me to live there.
The fourth picture is my dog which I already told everyone about. I think she’s so cute and I love her so much. She is a morkie.. half maltese and half yorkie. She can be really annoying at times, especially when she randomly barks at nothing, but I wouldn’t trade her for another dog.
Okay so the fifth picture is a picture of a Starbucks frap. Starbucks is a part of everyone’s lives if they live in the city. The drink in the picture is the caramel ribbon crunch which was my favorite drink of the summer. It had like three types of caramel or something.. I don’t even know, but it tasted so good. You’re probably thinking, “oh my god.. so many calories..” .. I don’t care. But I drink a Starbucks coffee literally everyday. If I don’t have it, then my day is not complete.
The sixth picture is of a sloth. It’s my favorite animal. I have been obsessed with them for a while now. So many people think they’re ugly, but I must disagree. They are simply adorable. I even have a sloth stuffed animal.
The seventh picture is of cheesecake. I used to hate cheesecake because I thought it was made out of the kind of cheese that gets put on a burger. When I tried it, I fell in love. Cheesecake is so delicious and is my favorite dessert.
The eighth picture is of the beach. I love going to the beach in the summer. Its such a great place to just lay out and tan or hang out with your friends.

One of the hardest things to do is to even attempt to explain yourself or who you think you are in the matter of a few words (obviously had a hard time with personal statements senior year). But here it is,

1. Kids- MGMT
2. Wake Me Up- Avicii
3. Youth- Foxes
4. Young Blood- The Naked and Famous
5. Everything Has Changed- Taylor Swift/Ed Sheeran
6. Cups- Anna Kendrick
7. Roar- Katy Perry
8. Fireworks- Katy Perry
9. Royals- Lorde
10. Intro- The xx

I picked the first song because despite however old I am, I’m probably still a “Kid” at heart. Also, because it’s super catchy. “Wake Me Up” and “Youth” are second and third because of the common theme of not knowing where I’m going in life, and how maybe I’m too young to know. “Young Blood” is next, and it sort of explains my naivety towards everything. Sometimes I feel really overwhelmed by the changes around me, like when I notice how the same people that were in my life just a year ago are no longer either with me or associated with me, and I sort of feel displaced or nostalgic, and so “Everything Has Changed” is next. Watched Pitch Perfect last weekend, and so I guess it’ll make sense to have “Cups” in this playlist! Plus, it’s an awesome song. “Roar” and “Fireworks” are next because I used to be really conscious of others when I was younger and­­­­ now I just really don’t care about what people think or have to say. “Royals” is next because it’s probably the most played song on my ipod right now. Sometimes I have a lot to say, and I just really don’t know how to put it in words or explain how I feel. And so, “Intro” is last, since it’s lyric-less and I sort of have else to say. ­­

As I type this, I realize that I should have chosen the “10 song” option for this blog post as I am currently listening to songs which would aptly describe me. Perhaps another time as I have already picked out the pictures. So let us begin.

I start with a picture that describes a lot of my high school life, and embodies a few aspects of urban youth.  When growing up in this incredible city, you do a lot of hanging out and wandering the streets looking for something to do. In this particular picture a few friends and I needed to get out of the cold, and decided  to be a part of an Urban Outfitters front window display. Quite a few laughs were shared with passing pedestrians.

I love hanging with old friends, but there is nothing like meeting new ones. Sometimes, a little common interest like a song or dance will spark something amazing.

I was not always as comfortable with New York City as I am now. I attended elementary and middle school very close to my house. It was not until High School that I started to explore everything the city had to offer. But walking around was just to slow for me. This is when I found skateboarding.

(A big thanks to my cousin who risked his well being for this picture, and the french tourist who approached us afterwards to show us the picture he had taken.)

Along with spending a ton of time hanging out on the streets, being on the court, pitch, field, and mat for different sports consumed much of my time. I played four different sports during my high school carrier (soccer, baseball, basketball and wrestling) but my heart belongs to one, baseball.

Something very important to me is my involvement with my synagogue. They have allowed me to define who I am and who I want to be. During my Junior and Senior year I had the opportunity to be an assistant teacher at the hebrew school.

My first job with an actual pay check is the farthest thing from a job. In the summer going into high school my friends dragged me to the tryouts to be a U.S. Open ball boy. Now 5 tournaments later we are still doing it but this year was  the most eventful. My picture appeared in a Wall Street Journal article, and I had a brief shout out on sportscenter when I crashed into another ballboy on national television. 

Now the final picture. The final act of my high school stupidity. A quick start on the freshman 15, diabetes in a dish, a great time. All appropriate titles. As the summer wound down, and it became time for all of us to go our separate ways and take on the world, we all came together to take down “The World”. Nine friends and I took a road trip to the International Delight Cafe, famous for their dessert called “The world”.

Thanks for reading.

-Daniel

1. Holy Grail- Justin Timberlake & Jay-Z

If you ever happen to be on either Hylan Boulevard or Father Capodanno, and hear Holy Grail coming from a Nissan Rogue with a purple-ish tint, it would most likely be accompanied with my beautiful voice. Whenever this song comes on the radio I can’t help but get my inner Timberlake on. As a side note, pretty sure him and I would be a great duet for the song!

2. Get Lucky- Daft Punk

Throughout the summer, all my adventures revolved around “Get Lucky.” Whether it would be random drives to the beach or speed racing on highways, this song was always playing. Now whenever I hear it, it brings back tons and tons of great memories.

3. Shoes- YouTube Parody

Anybody remember that mega popular video on YouTube? “These shoes rule, these shoes suck!”? Basically describes my life. I cannot even begin to explain how many shoes I own, and I’m constantly buying more and more. Shopaholic and shoeoholic? Guilty.

4. Spaceman- Hardwell

House music, rave music, shitty music, whatever you want to call it, I love it. This song in particular, is my get ready song, my get pumped song, my pregamming song.

5. Invincible-MGK

Unlike many of MGK’s songs this one actually has meaning and feeling behind it. Mainly about being invincible, this goes along with my thinking mentality. I get way too lucky when it comes to certain situations. As thankful as I am, I have a cocky attitude towards it, and believe that I am invincible, basically untouchable. (Def jinxed it)

6. Strange Clouds-BoB

Ready, set, go! When taking needed runs on the boardwalk, this song is always blasting in my ears. The beat forces me to run my fastest and perform my best.

7. Breathe me- Sia

Learn from your mistakes? Not me, I tend to make mine over and over again and then, maybe, I’ll learn my lesson. This song is always on repeat whenever it’s one of those days.

8. Wake Me Up- Avicii

“Wake me up when it’s all over.” When it comes to facing my problems head on, I avoid them by shutting off my phone, closing my door, and going to bed for a day or so. It’s only a temporary relief, because I do wake up eventually, but for at least a while, I am able to sleep in a little peace.

9. Good Kush and Alcohol- Lil Wayne

Yes I really put this song down. As old as this song may be, this was definitely the theme song of my summer. Written on chalkboard walls, tweets on Twitter or captions on Instagram pictures; any party with my friends had to include this song.

10. In the End- Linkin Park

The lyrics speak for themselves, “In the end it doesn’t even matter.”

Like others in my predicament of writing this blog post well into the near-late status of this assignment, I felt as though ten songs would not suffice in embodying who I am. So, I turned to the only method I could to finish this assignment.
I took a nap.
Then I started writing a poem. But then again, poems that reach 500 words tend to suck. And I wouldn’t want to bother anyone else in putting them to sleep with my writing.
Although, you may or may not already be asleep at this point, or you just skimmed past my first few sentences and ended up catching this part, I say to you, family. You have become my family just by reading this. Well no, I digress, I have no idea what you look like or who you are, so you may be just a cousin such and such five times removed on my dog’s side. Anyway, I am blessed to have been part of so many families over the years. Academic tie in! In sociology, this is our sociological experience. Ha! Didn’t think that there would be much relevance here would there?

Now to explain them. Not in any particular order, we have: my paternal family (without my brother),my closest high school bros, my ROTC detachment – Bravo company, my middle school family, my longboarding family, my SEO family.

My immediate family. Mom. Dad. Mark( In the Philippine). Paul(RIP). Me. This doesn’t need any description. Blood is thicker than water.

My high school bros. Our yearbook signing was pretty emotional to say the least. A mix of beer pong and goodbyes aren’t the best way to keep your book dry. For me this is a no need for explanation part. Think of you closest friends. Bang. These are the same.

Bravo Company. Hooah! I’m new to the company, but I have been shown nothing but kindness and innate professionalism from my platoon, squad, and company leaders. I wake up at 4 AM on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in order to get to PT. On Fridays I endure the pledge process of the Pershing Rifles Company D-8. Here I learn the intricacies of OPORDs as well as how to breach and clear a room. These guys (and gals) are people I would be willing to fight side by side with.

My middle school friends. Wow. Don’t we change? These guys were with me for eight years. I went to a catholic school and the bonds I made here are still present in my life. I still have regular contact with them, whether it is merely a game of basketball or serious conversations, we are still there with each other.

My longboarding family. Now if you haven’t seen me around the school with my longboard, well I suggest you rip your eyes out and throw them away in the kindest way. Seriously though, I bring it everywhere. It is my belief that longboarders are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. End of story.
My SEO fam. Now, this is my scholarship program. Did I get into my dream school? No. But some of them did, and a lot of them needed it more than I did. These guys are brilliant. Done.

Want to know me? Know my families. They all are in me.

Prior to actually doing this assignment, I was so sure that I was going to take part in the ten song playlist option. After all, the most basic thing that most people know about me is the fact that I absolutely love music. After much thought, I felt that making an eight image slideshow would probably be more fitting for this particular assignment since it would tell you guys more about me than if I were to choose ten of my favorite songs that are supposed to depict “my life”. It is said that “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Let’s start with the picture of the NYC Skyline. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? This picture was an absolute-must to include because this is the place that I call home. I’ve grown up in the city for my whole life and although it’s been a great seventeen years so far, there’s always a never-ending list of things to do or explore in The Big Apple. One day I would love to climb to the top of the Empire State Building. Yes, that would be really “tourist-y” of me but I want to experience what it would look like to see the city from a bird’s eye POV.

Next, I guess I can kill three birds with one stone, figuratively speaking. One of my favorite pastimes is journaling. Through journaling I can place all of my jumbled thoughts into an organized fashion through words. I also song-write in my free time, although the term “free time” doesn’t seem to exist ever since school started. Over the summer, I decided to make a bucket list with my best friend. There are exactly 121 things on this bucket list.  And yes, one of them is swimming with sharks in a cage. Any takers? I also have a picture of the French village since a lot of my bucket list items have to do with traveling.

Moving on to music. In my spare time I love to dabble with the guitar and the ukulele while singing some of my favorite songs. However, my staple instrument is the piano. I auditioned for Berklee College of Music and was going to attend that music institution before deciding to come to Baruch instead.

Last but not least, friends and my second family (church). Both groups are so so so so so important to me. Aside from spending quality time (haha) with my schoolwork and work, I believe in making the greatest possible effort to maintain friendships and relationships. It’s important for me to reach out to my close friends whenever possible by sending a simple text or Facebook message to ask how they’re doing. I’m also Christian, so my friends from church are like family. I grew up with many of them and are able to share everything that’s going on in my life to them comfortably.

Hopefully this post was able to show you more about who I am as a person!

1. Stephen- Kesha
2. Same Love-  Mackelmore
3. New Slang- Shins
4. Jersey Shore theme song
5. Kung Fu Fight- Carl Douglas
6. We are the Champions- Queen
7. Sorry, Sorry- Super Junior
8. You’re a Plunger- no idea
9. I Saw the Sign- Pitch Perfect version
10. I love College- Asher Roth

A glimpse of my life through 10 songs.

So I went to high school with Kesha, she tried to come onto me a bunch of times, and I never called her….thus the song Stephen was born.   My friends think it’s hilarious and serenade me with it on the daily. Little did Kesha know, Mackelmore’s Same Love was a little more fitting to my life. We’re friends now and the whole thing is fine. I feel like I’m on the ranks of Delilah who will forever be immortalized in music history thanks to the Plain White T’s.

I’m going on my 6^thyear of living in New York but my Jersey roots are well engrained in me. My appreciation for the state came after watching Garden State, which has become my favorite movie. The angst, the indie, the randomness speaks to me on some level. The Garden State soundtrack is pretty sweet and I would listen to it on repeat on the way to high school so it’s no wonder the Shins make this list. I have an unhealthy obsession with things about New Jersey, specifically when it’s referenced in pop culture. Any show about New Jersey, mentions New Jersey, or is shot in the greatest state in the world, you can assume I watch it. I not so secretly wish that Jersey Shore was still on TV so I could be cast member. I have a few friends who auditioned for the show, but Deena ultimately took the open spot after Angelina left. Besides Jerzday being my favorite day of the week, the massive poster of Jersey Shore that hangs over my bed, and the 100 pictures I have with the duck phone when I toured the Jersey Shore house, my craze for the show prompted me to enter a Jersey Shore look-a-like contest. Did I win? Of course. Dyed black hair in a blowout, my eyebrow was pierced at the time, tossed on a tight black tshirt, chains, and shutter shades.

One of the biggest influences in my life in shaping who I am and how I see the world is martial arts.  I’ve studied for sixteen years and am a third degree black belt. Testing for my black belt was by far the hardest thing I’ve done in my entire life. Literally, blood and sweat, but no tears, there’s no crying. I’ve taught karate camps, competed, performed in exhibitions and a bunch of stuff. When performing my two go-to things to wow the crowd are Chinese weapons and cinder block breaking. Weapons are cool and people like to see things spin fast and cinder block breaking is just something I do. I started off with stacks of wood, then blocks of ice, and then one day I did a stack of concrete and it sort of became my thing. At the end of each tournament or show I would blast We Are the Champions on the ride home. Why? Because I obviously won and it’s just a good ego boost. Just kidding. Except maybe not… This sort of leads into the next song of my life where people think I’m a total bitch and super pretentious. I’m not actually. So what if people are jealous, get on my level, right? I’ve been described as strict, overbearing, high maintenance, and a primadonna. It’s always nice to be complimented. Sorry not Sorry…or maybe just Sorry, Sorry by Super Junior? Yes, much better. I do listen to Kpop, usually while doing homework.

After I graduate in May, I’m likely going to teach elementary school and potentially continue teaching FroSem at Baruch. After teaching countless karate classes, tutoring, and endless super camps listening to You’re a Plunger being screamed by 6 year olds, I Saw the Sign and realized that education is my place. (Note: The link is to the Pitch Perfect version and yes I do know the dance….who doesn’t).

And we’re done. But that’s only 9 songs?! Yup, there is one more… About half of what I wrote is a lie and it’s up to you to decide what the truth is. You’re in college, you’re in control of your identity, make the most of it.

-Stephen