I FEEL ALIVE

Ahhhh my good old friend has wrapped itself around me again. This time though it doesn’t come alone, Who are these friends? If I remember correctly that’s the sweet smell of a wild berry tree drenched in spring rain, and aahh there’s the cool air that’s bouncing off that brick wall, just listen to that music our pure stream is playing…yeah of course a canary has to be whistling amidst this ‘earthy’ aroma. Thank you dear breeze, thanks my old friend for bringing new friends with you this time.

I FEEL ALIVE

Ahhhh yeah, today (Tuesday) was Sizeh Bedar (Thirteen gone out); it’s basically the last day of Norooz and as part of our tradition, it’s a day where THE WHOLE nation goes out to have a picnic. In every single park, river bank, meadow, gardens, or anywhere there’s a patch of greenery you would see families barbequing, playing badminton or volleyball, swinging on makeshift swings, smoking hookah, and dancing…yes even dancing but not in parks (too many prying eyes there :D)

I FEEL ALIVE

So mom and I are back in Tehran. During the past two weeks we went to Masouleh, Shomal (northern cirites of Iran near the Caspian sea), Abyaneh and Kashan. We still have to go to Isfahan, possibly next week. During this trip I have come to understand that:

1. Iranians are very sociable/talkative :D

2. Iranians favorite past time seems to be fighting and dancing :D :D

3. Iranians are neither leaders nor blind followers.

4. Iranians don’t appreciate their cultural heritage or historical sites

In separate posts I would elaborate on each. Till then here are some pix from around Tehran and places we visited.

Swing in Abasabad Jungle (shomal)



Historical House in Kashan (Borejerdi House)



Pic taken from a moving vehicle enroute to Masouleh (shomal)



A window in a Tradtional House in Kashan (Tabatabaee House)




Shop in Tajresh-Tehran selling Nowrooz stuff

Melat Park-Tehran


Abasabad Jungle-shomal




Ceiling in Tabatabee House-Kashan


Abyaneh woman wearing tradtional clothes (will post more details about Abyaneh soon)


Abasabad Jungle--shomal

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:

Half the world celebrated something on Friday :D :D :D :D

Mom and I will hit the road in about an hour. I couldn't sleep, got up to surf and came across this article. Brought a smile to my face, thought of sharing it:

"...on this particular Friday, March 21, it seems almost no believer of any sort will be left without his or her own holiday. In what is statistically, at least, a once-in-a-millennium combination, the following will all occur on the 21st:

Good Friday

Purim, a Jewish festival celebrating the biblical book of Esther

Narouz, the Persian New Year, which is observed with Islamic elaboration in Iran and all the "stan" countries, as well as by Zoroastrians and Baha'is.

Eid Milad an Nabi, the Birth of the Prophet, which is celebrated by some but not all Sunni Muslims and, though officially beginning on Thursday, is often marked on Friday.

Small Holi, Hindu, an Indian festival of bonfires, to be followed on Saturday by Holi, a kind of Mardi Gras.

Magha Puja, a celebration of the Buddha's first group of followers, marked primarily in Thailand.

"Half the world's population is going to be celebrating something," says Raymond Clothey, Professor Emeritus of Religious studies at the University of Pittsburgh. "My goodness," says Delton Krueger, owner of www.interfaithcalendar.org, who follows "14 major religions and six others." He counts 20 holidays altogether (including some religious double-dips, like Maundy Thursday and Good Friday) between the 20th (which is also quite crowded) and the 21st.

You can read the whole article here: Good Friday! Happy Purim, Eid, etc...


UPDATE: I just realized that Mother's Day in the Arab world was also this Friday :D :D

Hey maybe this is a sign that 2008 is the year of world peace :P :P

Our portable 7 Seens :D

Since mom and I are going to be on the road most of the time, I got ourselves a portable Haft Seen as well...love the design :D

Goodbye 1386

Twelve hours ago

It came, the morning breeze, the first breeze of spring. It whirled in, into my room, into my solitude, it twirled around, around my being, around my aura,, it surfed in, surfed careless into my being, into my soul. I am light, I am happy, I smile.

Only a couple of hours of 1386 is left. I close my eyes, tilt my head back, drop to my knees and the sigh lets itself out. A sigh that means…that simply means…thank you.

Thank you 1386. Thank you for 365 blissful days.

Remember the day I said hello to you? The day I wrote this post: “Happy Nowrooz 1386: My personal 7 seens”. Little did I know that my ‘inner’ journey started when I published that post. Little did I know that when the year 2007 ended I would publish this: Goodbye 2007.

And now, at exactly 9:18 and 19 seconds, I would be bidding farewell to 1386. My ‘inner’ journey will end with a physical one. I came to Iran to take a long overdue trip with my mom. A trip that I KNOW will be uplifting for my mom after a difficult year.

The goldfish on our 7 seen table smiles back at me; it winks, it says: Noroozetan Pirooz

Goodbye 2007

I just realized that I never published this on this blog. So before publishing my next post, gotta go with this one first:






Most people fall in love with their soul mates, children, pets, jobs, hobbies, or countries. Moi? What did I fall in love with this year? Here it is: This was my beloved:
The year 2007

Yep, the whole year itself. I LOVED 2007. This was the year of rude awakening for me. The year “I” became “me”.


What did I learn this year:

1. Being happy is easy. If you want to be happy, you will be.
2. Most people are good at heart. True once in while everyone will say or do something that ‘hurts’ but one wrong deed doesn’t make the whole world a hurtful place.
3. Life is all about striving to achieve inner peace. We are emotional beings, if we can take care of our emotions, we would be happy. The way to inner peace is to create the person you want to be.
4. There are no problems in life, only challenges and lessons to be learnt.
5. Clear communication not only solves problems, it also prevents misunderstandings.
6. Blood is thicker than water.
7. Savior the moment: When eating close your eyes and feel the ‘heaven’ with every taste bud in you, when listening to music, close your eyes and ‘feel’ the beat with every dancing muscle in you
8. From time to time compliment people to their faces not just behind their backs. I was shocked that the other day a co-worker came up to me and thanked me for the good word I had put in for her 2 years ago. She had just heard it!!! I used to believe that real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody is going to know whether you did it or not--true, but not all the time.
9. Stop living on autopilot. Life is all about creating memories. Don’t let a month go by in which you could tell yourself, hmmm I wish I had done so and so. If you are not truly happy with your life make that change TODAY. Never say, “Soon, I’ll do it.” If you really want to get up and DO IT NOW.
10. True friends and dear ones are the ones who bring out the best in you.
11. Not all relationships are supposed to last. Some people step into your life to teach you something about yourself.
12. Get a daily dose of dark chocolate
13. Karma does exist (scares me how many times I have seen proof of this)
14. Pampering yourself is essential for your spiritual growth.
15. Get out of your comfort zone and try on that dress, dye your hair that color, dance in public, sing in public; DO IT

What else I learnt
16. I love the Baby Blues comic strips
17. I love Subway
18. I love Sudoku
19. I love Jeff Dunham
20. I love Maz Jobrani

What I did do for the first time in 2007 (or after a long time)
21. Smoked
22. Quit smoking
23. [hehehe, tell ya later about this one]
24. Listened to a rock and roll song (‘Radio Nowhere’ by Springsteen) and actually liked it (thanks to Sh.M)
25. Treated a nice dude in a mean bitchy way [stoneface]
26. Went fishing (didn’t enjoy it, way too boring and the dude I went with kept telling me to stop talking I’m scaring the fish away )
27. Walked under the rain (hadn’t done that in 6 years)
28. Jumped in puddles and splash water around (hadn’t done that in ohhhh ages)
29. Resigned (I did that 5 times this year :D)
30. Fixed my most diabolic vice
31. Believed that true love could exist
32. Joined a gym and actually lost 5 KG …in the right places *evil grin*
33. Started reading again (after what I think was a ten year hiatus)
34. Became a believer of the effect of positive energy, ESP, supernatural phenomena. Like a friend put it: I stopped being a “Sculy” and started to be a little bit of “Mulder”
35. Accepted a compliment with grace and patted myself on the back several times
36. Threw away some memorabilia I had been clinging on for over 20 years
37. Made a decision without thinking it over 200 hundred times
38. Got one of my pictures published in a French book about the Safavid period
39. Found inner peace



That's all i can think of for now. Goodbye 2007 and thank you

Guess where I am :D

So I managed to get a KD 14 ticket (including tax) from Jazzera Airlines to this country and flew in a couple of days ago. Let’s play a game of where I am. Here we go:

Clue number 1:

Ten minutes after landing I witness a scene that brought a smile to my face :)

40-year-old-angry-man #1: Eeey mister. The end of the line is there.

50-year-old -don’t give a damn-man: I was here. Just left for a while.

40-year-old-angry-man #1: How’s that possible? Your flight came after ours.

At least 3 other angry passengers joining in: Yeah, how’s that possible? Get to the back of the line.

50-year-old -don’t give a damn-who is now getting a bit irritated-man: Listen, I said….[insert some angry words here]

30-year-old angry woman talking out loud to herself: Some people have a lot of nerve. They just cut and don’t seem to care.

What you should have concluded: Hmmmmm, so in this country people seem to argue over cutting in line a lot, hmmmmm so which country could it be, hmmm?

Clue number 2:

Me over hearing a conversation between a mother and a daughter

Daughter: That was a bumpy flight

Mom [looking exhausted]: I seriously got very scared. I thought we were going to crash

Daughter: Why don’t you go and sit down, I’ll wait in line

Mom now way too tired to reply

Daughter: mom you don’t look good. Take an anti-stress pill and go and sit over there

Mom: I took the last one on the plane. I don’t have any left.

Four other passengers at the same time: Here you go, I have one

What you should have concluded: Hmmmm, so in this country most people are a walking pharmacy

Clue number 3:

Passport control officer: So is this your first trip to [name of mysterious country you are suppose to guess name of]with this passport.

Me: Yeah

Passport control officer: So you were born in Kuwait, huh?

Me: Yeah

Passport control officer: And is your mister from [name of country]? [SIDENOTE: Ok, I’m not sure of the exact translation of the word he used, so let’s just assume ‘mister’ is what he said]

Me: yeah both my parents are from [name of mysterious country you are suppose to guess the name of]

Passport control officer: No, your mister!

Me: My what? Ahhhhhh, [realizing he means husband not father]Actually, I’m single.

Passport control officer: Why? [checks my date of birth] You were born in ???. So it’s time. Even guys your age should get married by now, let alone a woman. [insert another 3 minutes of a well-thought out and well structured lecture and definitely ideas I for one have never heard of before on the social, religious, national, civil, economical and well just humane benefits of marriage.

What you should have concluded: Hmmmmm, so in this country people seem to ask strangers lots of personal questions and seem to love lecturing people, now where could it be, hmmmmmmmmm?

Clue number 4:

In the taxi ride from airport

Me talking to myself: Is he speeding? Ahhhh, who cares, I’ll get home faster…wooooo…how come no one is driving within the lanes…damn that truck is emitting a lot black smoke…wooooo that car got way too close to us!!!!.....wooooo so did this car….damn that was close…woo that car is driving only 1 cm away from us…hey he’s not going to try to squeeze into that little space between the two trucks is he?..aaahhhh…he did…you know what, maybe I should just close my eyes till we get there.

What you should have concluded: Hmmmmmm, so traffic in this country is pretty scary.

Clue number 5:

When we got to my neighborhood

ME talking to myself: Wooooo, where did all this highways come from. They weren’t here last time I visited…and check out the traffic…and the people…and the shops…what happened to all those houses, why are they now apartment blocks?

What you should have concluded: Hmmmmm, so this city is basically unrecognizable if you go away for only a couple of years.

Clue number 6:

Taxi driver listening to the radio about an upcoming election

Taxi driver talking to me…or maybe just out loud: These [insert any foul word here]. Did you know [insert 10 minutes of latest political news with his well-thought out and well structured commentary and definitely ideas that I for one have never heard of on how the current regime has destroyed the country]

What you should have concluded: Hmmmmm, so in this country you will have a political discussion every time you are in a cab.

Clue number 7:

When I tried to log onto my Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr account I saw this:

What you should have concluded: Hmmmmm, so most sites in this country are blocked….oh…wait I think I got the name of the country mirrorpolisher is there now…It’s Iran…how did I guess, well elementary my dear Watson, I used a series of elimination techniques from the 7 clues and cleverly managed to deduce that the only country in the world that it could be is Iran…oh that and that it’s actually written in clue 7.

NOTE: Until 5 minutes ago, blogspot was also blocked, that's why I couldn't post anything till now.

What do Da Vinci and I have in common? Polyphasic sleep

Ever heard of Polyphasic sleep? Basically it’s sleeping in ‘multiple short phases’, i.e., you sleep for 2 hours, stay awake for 4, then sleep again for 2, stay awake for 4 and so on. Apparently this is the sleeping habits of some quite a number of world geniuses, namely Da Vinci, Lord Byron, Einstein (though not all the time)…and …well the mother of all inventors--Kramer (remember that episode from Seinfeld)…oh and apparently Batman.

Ok, not that I was trying to be Mrs Batman, but it seems I have joined the Exclusive Polyphasic Sleep Club of Geniuses (hereafter EPSCF). My membership started 3 nights ago when I stopped going to work. I slept in late, then got up, ran a few errands, had nothing else to do so went back to sleep, then got up again, slept again, got up again and then I couldn’t sleep all night!!! Before I knew it, I had developed the pattern of polyphasic sleep.

Oh and on the first night I couldn't sleep, I was surfing the net looking for a good Happy Norooz video, but couldn’t find any. So being a member of the EPSCF I go, Hey gurl, see if u can make your own video using windows video maker.

And voila, here’s my masterpiece:

Are you a Goodman Brown?

As she was talking to me, and I was conversing with her an old story started roaming somewhere in my head. I couldn't quite place the title, character, plot, but I felt I this story was what first installed a certain belief in me.

SHE: I trusted her, she was my role model. How could she do this?

ME: Come on, you two have been friends for 10 years now. Don’t let a little dispute ruin a great friendship.

SHE: What she did affects my work reputation. The thing is that I always wanted to be like her. I looked up to her. She was the perfect example of a great manager.

ME: See that’s why you shouldn't be friends with your manager

As that last sentence rolled off my tongue I knew there was some other point I had to make, some more important point.

SHE: No one is to be trusted anymore. Everything was a lie. Our friendship was a lie. What she taught me was a lie. I’m tired of……

ME: Hold on!! Why was it a lie? The message wasn’t wrong, the lesson she taught you wasn’t a lie; the messenger or teacher may have made a mistake. So what? We are humans, we make mistakes; but that doesn’t erase the good things we did in our past.

SHE: You don’t understand. What she did to me was the exact opposite of what she taught me.

Ahaaaa…I remember the story, I remember the plot…it was about a man who had a dream that his wife who he thought of as innocent and sinless was actually involved in satanic rituals...and...and he found out all his town folks who he also considered as puritan weren’t so pure either, as a result he loses his faith and lives miserably ever after…what was the name now...aaahhaa...I got it…the name of the short story was ‘Young Goodman Brown’. Now I remember, I read it about 12 years ago. I remember thinking to myself at that time, why would anyone put faith in a person, the message they are preaching is important, not how they live it out themselves. If the messenger errs, that doesn’t mean the message was wrong. That’s why I have never actually had a role model; I have never put my faith in any person

[5 minutes later]

…which could also explain why I have never been in love…or even close to it…but now I am going off topic…ok…back to my conversation with her…actually forget that conversation…you got the point…I told her about the story, she was still hurtand upset with her friend/manager, didn’t pay much attention to what I was saying…I wonder if she is going to end up being another Young Goodman Brown, hmmmmmmm?

If you are interested, you can read YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN here…or you can read the summary here… now I have to go and contemplate if I was right all these years in never trusting or looking up to anyone…hmmmmmmm

I 'heart' Dust

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the Dust descend;
Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie,
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and---sans End

Omar Khayam

Thank you Mr. Sand Storm. See I was sitting on my @$$ scratching my head wondering how I’m going to fill up the 20 min rest time I have tomorrow, when in you come and splash dust all over my room. Get up and dust you say with a smile. So thank you for being so concerned with my productiveness.

[10 minutes later]

Ok, so that was sarcastic… scratch everything I said above…me so sorry Mr Dust…didn’t mean to be sarcastic.

[10 more minutes later]

Ok, here’s the thing--on my last birthday I made a promise to myself that from now on I would always see the bright side of things, the good intention of others, the positive long term outcome of things. And I had successfully kept this promise till now that is...now that I offended Mr. Dust.

So to reprimand things, here’s my Top 10 Reasons Why Dust is a GOOD Thing:

1. When I dust, I have a lot of hand movements which means I burn a lot of calories, so basically dusting actually helps me stay in shape.

2. Dusting also helps me save money on gym membership fees.

3. When I dust I have to listen to music, so dusting helps me brush up on my dancing skills.

4. They say that dust is composed primarily of dead skin cells. So I guess this includes deceased people, which I guess includes my deceased ancestors. So basically I connect with my ancestors every time I dust.

5. I also build a close relationship with my household appliance every time I dust. I mean I’m touching them all over and touching always leads to intimacy.

6. I don’t know why every time I dust or vacuum I find lots of lost items...hmmm

7. Dusty days kinda look romantic. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether it’s dusty or foggy. I love foggy days :D

8. Dusty days help mask manufacturing companies increase their sales.


And the number one reason why I like dust:


9. Add a sprinkle of water onto dust and you are in an aroma therapy session

Ok, that was nice…now I feel better…life is beautiful again now that I have made my peace with dust.

*goes to smell a rose*

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

Drops of Tears

This little drop of tear fell coz your gorgeous baby smile won’t brighten up my day anymore,

This little drop of tear fell coz your cute laughter won’t fill our house anymore,

This little drop of tear fell coz I won’t have the joy of seeing you dance by jumping up and down,

This little drop of tear fell coz I won’t laugh every time you shake your head side to side refusing to eat baby food, but would take delight in eating grown up soup

This little drop of tear fell coz I won’t rejoice in seeing your little chubby hands clap every time you are happy

This little drop of tear fell coz my cheeks won’t get wet every time you try to kiss me

This little drop of tear fell coz your dark black eyes won’t penetrate deep into my soul every time you stare at me

This little drop of tear fell coz you won’t fall asleep on my chest anymore

My little angel left yesterday :(

UPDATE: The above tears fell coz my 10 month old niece went back to the States after a two-week visit to Kuwait.

Divine feeling

Is there any feeling more divine than when a baby falls asleep on your chest?





...especially if that baby is your 8 month old niece








PS. Net is slow so would be adding pic later

UPDATE: Apparently there's a feeling more divine...having your own kid :(
*goes to find the father of her child*

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

Week in review and the week ahead

Week in review

1. Sis b-day and a free yoga video

Yesterday was my sister’s birthday. She’s the kind that makes a list. One of the items on her list was a yoga DVD, so I gave her this link: http://yoga.org.nz/yoga_vidoes_download1.htm

Happy birthday sis :D

PS. Oh, and in case you are wondering, yes she did make me get off my ass and go out and buy her and actual gift. But wouldn’t it be nice if we could just give people links as gifts :D

2. Getting signs to start taking pix again

I got this personal belief that either do something with a passion or don’t do it all. So that’s why I haven’t picked up my camera in such along time. So when I got an email from some dude who is writing a book and wanted to use one of my pix; I’m like…hey maybe I could establish a relationship with that little thingy again. But this DSLR thing is too complicated so I went shopping for a good point-and-shoot camera. So far found nothing I like. Waiting for exhibition on feb 4^th to buy a camera and a laptop. Oh and thanks hamid for that email a couple of weeks ago also pushing me to start picking up that camy.

3. Thought of trying to develop a passion for cooking

Since a lot of people I meet these days seem to love cooking—even guys—I thought maybe I need to see if I can find the joy of slaving over a hot stove as well. So I thought of checking out you tube videos. Love this one :D

Week ahead

1. Gonna see my niece

My bro who (I don’t like using whom) I haven’t seen in over 15 years is coming this Tuesday :D :D :D…with his wife aaaaaannnnnddddddddd my niece :D :D :D This little angel has her own website!!! Damn times have changed, when I was born all I got was a bunch of pictures taken with a regular camera :(

PS.

FREE DVDS Yoga Online

Visit the Yoga.org.nz Online yoga website
heaps of cool yoga stuff including a free downloadable Videos and DVDs.