Nikoo is a first-year blogger at YAA, and she hopes to be able to use this platform to express some of her thoughts while further developing her ability to write for an audience. She loves to inspire debate by questioning matters often unquestioned, and the exploration of the nature of a variety of topics intrigues her as well. A Grade 12 IB Diploma student at Sir Winston Churchill High School, she is always busy and enjoys the challenge of balancing her school work with her extracurriculars, which also include volunteering and serving as a member of YVC steering committee. When she has the time (or even when she doesn't), Nikoo enjoys reading, drawing, and occasionally fulfilling her need for sleep.
Oh no. I’m out. I need more. And so I return to where I started, and refuel. I keep telling myself this will be the last time. That for one last time I will allow myself this indulgence, but afterwards, I will be done with it. I know it’s bad for me- I’ve known…
A piece of me is being torn away. I don’t need it, they say It was temporary anyways. But I want it back. Have I no longer right to declare that It was mine for some time And it has become a part of me, As essential to me as my heart and my…
Are you beginning to feel it? It’s like there’s something always there, watching you, waiting for you to notice it’s presence. Ready to hit you in the face if you try to ignore it, and prepared to offer you both success and failure at the same time. Cruel and kind in its own right. Extremely…
It’s real. I used to laugh at upper years who had told me that after you get accepted into university, and shortly before IB exams/ diplomas and impending doom, high school seniors will lose their motivation. I will find I cannot study as well as I used to, they said, and I will also be…
A new year is just around the corner! Tuesday, March 20 2018 at 10:15 AM (mountain time), will be the official start of the year 1397, or the moment of ‘saal tahvil.’ It’s kind of funny to consider the western calendar, and how 1397 would be considered part of the medieval times… so are we…
It’s interesting how people often surprise you with their unexpected preferences, and one example I’ve been reflecting on lately is music. It’s not uncommon to see people walking around wearing earbuds, living in a world of music that the rest of us cannot hear or understand. But I do often wonder what it is people…
Empathy. As defined by the New Oxford American Dictionary, it is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. More specifically, it can be regarded as a measure of one’s ability to sympathize with others, to care about and see what they’re going through, and to feel strongly enough to try and help. Empathy…
Have I ever mentioned how much I love cramming for super-stressful exams? No? Well, perhaps there’s a good reason. Surviving exam season can be quite the challenge at times, as we have to be able to balance hardcore study sessions with proper nutrition and sleep to keep us going. And, of course, the ever-present temptation…
I love tea. Lately, I’ve probably been drinking too much. But hey, when you plan on cramming a large writing assignment in one 6:00 p.m. – 4:00 a.m. session, you don’t have much choice- it’s either tea or coffee, and we all know which is the better choice. (#teaftw) Disclaimer: please don’t judge me, I’m…
As the most common method of determining an individual’s aptitude or skill, standardized tests are nothing new. This simple method of choosing the best from the worst has been used for generations, and despite some flaws, the method is sound enough to have been used for this long. But lately, there have been doubts expressed…
I love tea. Mostly, I drink green tea. Strong. No sugar, please. I’m also quite fond of milk teas, but less on the milky side and definitely no sugar- I’m more about that strong tea flavour. And then of course, there’s bubble tea. Actually, I’m too fond of bubble tea, but I always manage to…
Too many times have I tried to get myself to work, only to fail because of lacking motivation. I question- do I really have to finish now? Is it possible to do this later, when I feel like it? A lack of motivation can be a problem in anything, from not wanting to finish an…
I can still recall the glorious days when I thought procrastination was, for me, impossible. How naive I was back then… I remember, once, when my Grade 9 teacher assigned us an essay to be handed in a week later, and also gave us in-class time to work on it. I remember my friends exchanging…
October 29, 1929: The New York Stock Exchange has crashed. Rapid inflation has led to even steeper deflation and in turn, people are losing money faster than they can even begin to realize. The Great Depression is coming: a time when unemployment hits rock bottom, a time when all the world suffers and begins to…
‘Oh, I’m strictly a nerd. Thus, I’m actually obliged to refrain from exercise.’ For many years now, I’ve been guilty of using this line or something similar to justify the lack of exercise in my life. Though the truth may or may not simply be that I’m too busy or lazy to be bothered with…