eeeehhh...raise your hand if the last post wasn't clear...:O

Ok, so a non-virtual friend saw me online today and asked me why I haven't updated my blog in a long time.


Have you ever seen that episode of FRIENDS were Chandelier does his best to hold back his sarcastic remarks? Well, I actually managed to do so :D

I did NOT tell her, "Good ya reminded me, I'll write a post in ENGLISH 2nite to let you know I have moved to wordpress."

Nor did I tell her, "So how short should I write my posts so you wud actually read them till the end?"

Nor did I say, "I stopped blogging coz my evil twin started her own blog. Go and visit her blog, she writes the EXACT same things I think about."


Nope, I didn't tell her any of the above. I just told her to read the post I'll write tonight. So here's the post:


BABA JOON, YA AMMY, WALEEK...I HAVE MOOOOOVED TO WORDPRESS??!!! NEW BLOG:

WWW.MYMAGICALDROPLETS.WORDPRESS.COM

:D...oh and the capitalized letters are just to get your attention sweety...i'm not yelling :)

Darya it is :D

Till 6 this evening I still hadn’t come to any final decision on what to call this new baby. For me to choose something I have to ‘feel’ that it’s right; I need to get a sign—nooooo I haven’t read one Paulo Coelho book too many :D

So I’d added some new songs to my ipod—some old albums that I hadn’t listened to for a long time—when Moein’s song Pialeh came on. Oh god this song!!!It must have been at least 10 years since I last heard this song. I love the message of the song. So merry old me tried to sing along, trying to remember the lyrics when the following words were sang out loud:

Bi Neyaz o

Tanha baash;

Teshneh bash o

Darya bash

Translation:

Be detached (from worldly possessions)

Be solitary

Be thirsty

Be the sea

Can a sign get any clearer than this??!! It says be the sea—be darya.

And so Darya (the sea) I become

The ebb and flow of my sea will be marked here: www.mymagicaldroplets.wordpress.com

I had created that blog when I wanted to export the posts on Magical Droplets before deleting it. I just exported all the posts on Mirror Polisher to it as well.

PS. I forgot to credit the two images in this post (edited) and the one preceding it--opps-- they are both from this site

The importance of being Earnest

How do parents do it????? Not the raising the kid up properly part…that’s easily done…they should just invest in a good international satellite dish and let the kid be brought up by the old box in the corner.

No I’m talking about the hardest part of having kids—choosing a name.

I’m trying to pick a new name for my new blog and I'm stuck.

Scratched and scratched and scratched my head all day yesterday and came up with no name that ‘felt’ right.

Then a Youtube buddy of mine emails me that a friend of theirs has just given birth and they are looking for a suitable Persian name. So I gave him my fav Persian names…then a lightbulb came on…hmmmm how about a Persian name for my new username? I can’t use my own coz well of that eerie feeling… so why not another one?

See as a kid I never actually really liked my name coz it rhymed with my brother’s. I felt that the only reason my parents gave me this name was so it would fit in nicely after my brother’s name on some kind of list —hey I’m a Cancerian…we are weird.

So first name that came to my mind was Delaram. It means a peaceful heart or a quiet heart. I used to have a colleague in Iran with this name and she really was calm and peaceful.

Other names I have short-listed are:

1. Shabnam: I like the ring to it …oh and the meaning? Well it means dew …which is what I meant by magical droplets. Oh and I also have a very sweet friend called Shabnam so there’s good aura attached to the name :D

2. Darya=sea. Me lova da sea :D

3. Kimiya=Alchemy. I like the way it sounds and the meaning.

I’m gonna sleep on it tonight :D

No longer a Mirror Polisher

Today marks the 18 month-and- 20 day anniversary of when I wrote my first post (don’t look at me like that, I’m sure there's some tribe some where in the world that actually celebrates an 18 month and 20 day anniversary).

I was in the middle of writing a post on “The Five people I will meet in Heaven” when I realize that the phase of being a “Mirror Polisher” is completed. Here’s an excerpt from the post I explain the story behind the name:

Why Mirror Polisher? Coz I used to dread mirrors. I would only look into one in the mornings when brushing my hair, and even then only at my hair, never into my eyes. For some reason, staring straight into my own eyes wasn’t too comfortable for me. Maybe it was because our eyes are mirrors of our souls; if you look deep enough you can see the essence of one’s soul. For me a Mirror Polisher is a person who is not afraid of seeking self-awareness, who polishes the mirror to get a clear reflection of their soul.

Well, people, I am done polishing. I now know who I am. I am now happy with who I am. I now love having mirrors all over the house…and these mirrors are so well polished that the eyes that stare back at me no longer intimidate me.

So, it’s time I left this blog.

Just like I left Magical Droplets.

But who am I going to be now?

……

……

……

……

……

Hmmmmmmm…..

I’ll be me.

No nicknames, no words that best describe me, no symbols of what defines me, just me…

Actually scratch what I just said…I can't use my real real name!!! Not that I write anything I wouldn't want anyone who knows me in real life to read, but still...it would be creepy knowing that they know about my blog but I don't know they know

Hmmmmm, give me time to think of a new nickname.

*goes to think*

Tagged by Intlxpatr: The 7 things tag

7 things I plan to do:

1. Allow my heart to be in the driver’s seat for a change (not that it asked anyone for permission; it just shoved my head out of the way and took over)

2. Go to Malaysia in mid-May :D

3. Learn what all those buttons on my camera do :O

4. Learn to play at least a couple of guitar chords

5. Start reading Rumi in Persian (thanks A.N for the motivation)

6. Motivate my mom to start painting (I already taught her how to surf the net :D)

7. Re-lose that 5 kg I have re-gained and lose an additional 5 kg… and then decide if I need to lose more weight :D

7 things I can do:

1. Just like Intlxpatr, speak in public…don’t get nervous at all…an NO I don’t not imagine everyone sitting naked. I honestly want to know if that tip has ever worked for anyone!!!

2. Talk and talk and talk endlessly for hours and hours on end

3. Forgive and forget (of course the forgetting part is coz of my terrible, terrible, terrible memory)

4. Lie and get away with it (a skill I have recently mastered…at least I think I have)

5. Procrastinate effectively (I work a lot better when I am under stress…yep that’s my excuse

6. Speak my mind (another skill I have acquired recently)

7. A.N says I am an expert at coming up with a 1000 excuses for not-doing something

7 things I can’t do:

1. Bake!!! (it just never turns out right; but then again I don’t need to, my bro makes excellent cakes)

2. Not cry when watching most movies (it’s embarrassing watching a movie with someone, they always go, now why are you crying at this scene???

3. Give up easily

4. Sing (except in the car and bathroom…and when I want to clear the room)

5. Anything artistic, e.g. paint, draw, music

6. Dance…heck even my 10 month old niece dances better than me…actually I should add this to the list of things I plan on doing…learn Persian dancing

7. Remember where I have parked my car

7 things I say a lot

1. Magical (my favorite word)

2. Lovely ass (as in “I’m too tired to drag my lovely ass out of bed”; or when messaging friends to let them know I have arrived “my lovely ass is here, where are you?”

3. ‘Baba joon’ when talking with Persians; ‘ya ammy’ here in Kuwait

4. Extremely (instead of very)

5. What the hell!!!!!

6. Serious??!!

7. No way!!!!

(Based on my last 3 catch phrases I can see that I’m surprised quite a lot, hmmmm)

Jack Handey Quotes

On my old blog, I used to regularly publish quotes I liked. And since tonight, well heck I bored, I thought I’ll reinitiate that tradition. Here are a couple of quotes from Jack Handey:

"When you die, if you go somewhere where they ask you a bunch of questions about your life and what you learned and all, I think a good way to get out of it is just to say, 'No speaka English.'"

"Whenever you read a good book, it's like the author is right there, in the room, talking to you, which is why I don't like to read good books."

"I wish I would have a real tragic love affair, and get so bummed out that I just quit my job, and become a bum for a few years, because I was thinking about doing that anyway.

"One day one of my little nephews came up to me and asked me if the equator was a real line that went around the Earth, or just an imaginary one. I had to laugh. Laugh and laugh. Because I didn't know, and I thought that maybe by laughing he would forget what he asked me."

If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is, "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is, "Probably because of something you did."

"Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny."

"To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other."

"I think a pillow should be the peace symbol, not the dove. The pillow has more feathers than the dove, and it doesn’t have a beak to peck you with.

"I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it."

"If you're in a war, instead of throwing a hand grenade at some guys, throw one of those little baby-type pumpkins. Maybe it'll make everyone think of how crazy war is, and while they're thinking, you can throw a real grenade."

"Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis."

Day in Review

Already accomplished:

Case 1: Finally called friends and let them know I’m back in Kuwait.

Case 2: Finally started yoga…OUCH my back!!!

Case 3: Finally mom had her talk with me on WHEN THE HELL I plan to go back to work.

Case 4: Finally fixed my yahoo messenger

Case 5: Finally changed my template…again

Case 7: Booked 2 tickets for the new KLT show: www.theklt.com

Case 8: Read a great translation of Googoosh’s song: Mordab HERE on Abadany dar Holland's Blog

Still need to do

Case: 1: Install that “Intro to Guitar” CD; and that “Guide to Persian Literature” CD

Case 2: Check out all those bookmarked sites that were blocked in Iran

Case 3: Finish reading “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter”

Case 4: Reply to 2 personal emails

Back Home from Home :D :D :D

Mom and I are on a plane back to Kuwait. A family emergency has forced us to cut our trip short.

“So, what were you dreaming about?”

Still dazed, I could barely make out the face that asked me that question…it took the daze a few minutes to settle…moments later I could make out my mom’s bright big eyes.

“Huh?”

“You were smiling in your asleep…so..tell, tell?”

Tell, tell I will. In the next posts, but in the meantime here are some posts I wrote in Iran but couldn’t publish them coz blogspot was blocked:

My apologizes to wordpress

What do my car, my pda, my mobile, my camera, my laptop and wordpress have in common?

1. Things I spend more time with than my family

2. Names I have picked for my future kids

3. Things a certain dude thinks are possessed by the devil

4. Things that my 9 month old niece knows how to use better than me

5. The only words in English I know how to spell

6. Things I have hurt their feeling and are no longer speaking to me



Scroll down for answer












Scroll further down

















Ok stop scrolling


1. Nope: It’s more or less the same

2. Nope: Are u kidding me!!! No way I’ll have 6 kids!!!

3. Nope: He thinks these objects are the devil himself

4. Nope: Give her a couple more months and yes she would

5. Nope: I know 1 or 2 more words

6. Aha…yep, I have some how managed to offend these inanimate objects over the past 2 years and 6 have taken their revenge The latest inanimate object I owe an apology to is Wordpress. Ever since this post, my comments have been spammed. So here’s my letter to Wordpress:





Dear Wordpress,

Dude, me so sorry. I never meant to compare you to Blogger. You both have your own positive points. You are both special in your own way. Please accept my sincere apology :D

Mirror Polisher

My journey on this foggy day

This pic is temporary; till i get off my (beep) and go out and take a pic of the fog)

When I left the house this morning and was greeted by the light morning breeze and the magical foggy weather, I knew that something uplifting will happen today.

On the car drive over to work, I heard a spiritual Hayedeh song I haven't heard in a long time; and when I came to work I took a trip into Hamad's World.

His world is beautiful, his world is enlightening, his world is sincere. His world is the message the morning breeze was sending me this morning.

His world is here

Blogger or Wordpress

I’m bored stiff, so I’m gonna try something new. Every time I post sth on blogspot, I’ll also copy it here. Let me see which one of these hosts I would grow to love more .

So far I like blogger more coz:

1. It allows you to change the html code (on wordpress you can change it but can't save the new template unless you upgrade)
   
2. It allows you to add any widget (including all the widgets on wordpress)

I like the following features on wordpress:

1. The tag surfer
2. it comes with recent comment widget (though you can add that on blogger easily)

UPDATE:

1. I'm having trouble embedding YouTube videos on wordpress.
2. Wordpress had much better templates
   
3. Wordpress has recently allowed some widgets to be added
   

Is it time?

Pic taken on Sheweikh Beach

The dream was cartoon-like, images too flowery, colors too vivid, animation too vibrant…emotions it provoked too child-like.

Eyes smiled open, body floated off the bed, window slid aside, sweet morning breeze found its way into my lungs. The breeze dragged me onto the beach.

The fine sand grains massaged my whole existence. Too lost in my own entity to notice another figure floating beside me.

Moments had to pass for the mental fog to settle before I could make out the words being directed at me.

“Beautiful morning”

I wasn’t sure if it was a question or a statement, so my smile was the only reply I gave. A weird feeling took over then. A certain energy was present. I felt she was the answer…only I wasn’t sure what the question was.

Not wanting to fail the energy I blurted out:

“Have we met before?

“Why do you ask? Do I look familiar?

“No”…and I wanted to add...but you feel familiar...but I didn't.

She stood there staring into the horizon.

“You come here often?

“No, never actually…not at this time of the day anyway. I’m never out of bed before the sun is way up in the sky”

“So how come you are here today?”

“The morning breeze pulled me here”

Then there was silence…but not tortuous.

Then a thought locked in my head. A post I had once read on Cancerian’s blog. The thought that she could very well be the future me made my knees weak. Now the silence was unbearable. I had to know, I wanted to know. I had so many questions to ask, there were so many things I wanted to know. So I asked:

“Are you happy?”

That’s it, that was the only question that mattered. That was the only answer I wanted.

TO BE CONTINUED

To answer Intxlptr question: Source of the new name “Mirror Polisher”

Though I did become familiar with the concept of polishing mirrors through studying Sufism, I have not used it with the same symbolic meaning.

Why Mirror Polisher? Coz I used to dread mirrors. I would only look into one in the mornings when brushing my hair, and even then only at my hair, never into my eyes. For some reason, staring straight into my own eyes wasn’t too comfortable for me. Maybe it was because our eyes are mirrors of our souls; if you look deep enough you can see the essence of one’s soul. For me a Mirror Polisher is a person who is not afraid of seeking self-awareness, who polishes the mirror to get a clear reflection of their soul.

Blogiversary

Now this is weird. I just realized that my very first post on my old blog was exactly a year ago.

Now what are the odds that I choose the same date to start both blogs!!!!

I wonder if Nov 9th symbolizes anything else in my existence...hmmmm

My New "Magical" Template

Me 'heart' me new template :D

It's called "Magical" which happens to be my favorite word :D

I downloaded it from here.

It comes with 3 widgets:

Magical Mirror Images: This script features a different image on a mirror background each time you reload the page. All of the images are animated gif images, and include spooky quotes, a moving eye and a quill which writes by itself




Magical Thoughts: This widget displays a different magical quote each time you reload the page.




Magical Clock: This widget displays a clock based on sun/moon images. Depending on the time of day a portion of the sun and/or moon is shown. At Midday, the full sun image appears, and at Midnight the image is of a moon.

I added the widgets from the demo site

Why I had to delete my blog?

It was therapeutic.

“Magical Droplets” (my old blog) was inaugurated out of sheer boredom. It however turned out to be one of the best things to ever happen to me. Through my posts I was driven into a journey, a journey within, within my soul, a soul I had lost touched with, a soul I had despised, a pathetic soul, a soul I had to kill, a soul I eventually had to revive.

I ended up with inner peace. For the first time in my life I am comfortable with myself. For the first time in my life…..well for the first time in my life…I simply began to love myself. I can now look in the mirror without looking away.

So why did I have to destroy the ‘friend’ that led me to this inner peace? Because “Magical Droplets” was becoming toxic. It was drawing certain energies I wasn’t yet strong enough to handle. I had to protect my fragile new soul.

Pressing that delete button made me breathe a lot easier.

Of course, I never truly get rid of a great friend this easily. I owe it so much. Through Magical Droplets I got connected to vibrant people who I would like to think God send them my way to help me cross the path.

I am grateful to Magical Droplets. So I kept a copy of my old posts here. I started to visit it again last week. Going through the chronological process of my transformation brought a smile to my face. I am now stronger. I can handle any toxic vibes that may be sent my way.

And so, I will start blogging again. Let’s see what “Mirror Polisher” would bring my way…