Where are you rushing to?
… and amidst all that we even had a small and beautiful wedding. He was supposed to come back to Iran and start a business, now she is leaving the country with him.
Can’t decide
Hessam FetratiI can’t decide which one gets more on my nerves.
This kind of mainstream sensationalism or the progressive side of the blogosphere turning a blind eye on any misdeed by anyone “perceived” as a darling-imperialism-basher.
And that includes friends and favorite blogs.
– I have prepared something, could you check the English please.
He reads the first three lines of the first paragraph:
– Are you crazy?
– Why? What’s wrong?
– Are you pretending not to understand? You remember the deal? No politics.
– But this has nothing to do with politics, I am just telling what that fellow said.
– Are you trying to outsmart me? You think people are idiots?
– I really don’t get it. What’s wrong with this. It is a very simple story, it isn’t even related to today’s news.
– You are totally out of your mind.
Then he leaves shaking his head.
Previous Post
Check Naj’s blog and Pedestrian for updates and Iran category at PULSE for a different view
Under 18
I have been tagged by Sophia to list Six Things One Should Do Before 18. Here are the rules of the game:
1. Post these rules before presenting your list.
2. List 6 actions or achievements you think every person should accomplish before turning 18.
3. There are no conditions on what can be included on the list.
4. At the end of your blog, choose 6, or less, people to get tagged and list their names.
5. People who are tagged write their own blog entry with their 6 suggestions.
6. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged.
By no mean exhaustive, here are my thoughts:
1. Have problems!: The first thing which comes to my mind is this quote – I can’t remember the source – Vaut mieux mourir jeune car on a le temps de renaître, it is better to die in your youth, you will have time to be born again.
The difficulties one faces during one’s youth (together with some sound advice if you are lucky) will prevent many mistakes later, and limitations are a great source of creativity. Although I had a rather protected childhood, today I am grateful for some of my miseries.
2. Open your mind, get lucky and have a good reading list: What we read in our youth makes lasting impressions on us for the rest of our life. These days one cannot value enough those who are able to think for themselves, instead of feeding on the superficial news. In my own experience, the lecture of “Gods are Athirst” by Anatole France widened my perception of the turmoil of the Iranian revolution.
3. Experience nature: Create a bond with the environment. Camping, traveling, climbing a mountain etc. Value the simplest things.
4. Get over “clans”: Mingle with people of all ages and different social backgrounds – (this is almost natural in older societies). Relate to people on affinities and despite differences, instead of clinging to similarities. Don’t be afraid of not doing what everybody else does. You have plenty of time ahead.
5. Travel if you can, see the world.
6. Get discipline and learn how to learn … practice a favorite hobby seriously: music, photography, sports, cooking, whatever.
And what a better end than a Courteline quote: Il vaut mieux gâcher sa jeunesse que de n’en rien faire du tout. It is better to spoil your youth than do nothing with it. 🙂
You can find better advices here:
Six things one should do before 18 by Sophia
Six Things Everyone Should Accomplish Before They Turn 18 and more from Elizabeth
Under 18 by Vivre en Syrie
Ann, 99, proggiemuslima, Monte, Pedestrian, Bijan and Neghnegoo: You are tagged, if you feel like doing this exercise please join.
To my other friends: If you are not tagged by the tagged ones, I hope you’ll join the exercise if you feel like 🙂
Before you turn eighteen by 99, but you’ll never reach 18 with her 🙂
See comments below for Ann and BB2‘s excellent suggestions
Six Under 18 memes by Bijan
6 Things to Do Before you turn 18, by proggiemuslima
Neghneghoo: زير هيجده سال
aMmAr: Things to do befor you turn 18
And an interesting article: The Secret to Raising Smart Kids, link via Loopy
Moving
I started to move long time ago! But this week it is for real. A very busy and messy week ahead.
A long story short
I spent the last few days in the intensive care of a hospital, due to chest pain. It appears there was a spasm. I am not that surprised. All the news would cause spasm in one’s heart, mind and the very life of hundreds of thousands of people.
I was lucky to be taken care by a very adorable doctor. He visited me everyday at 6am sharp! His orders: Cool down for a while!
Moving!
I will be moving during next week.
I’ll try to update the blogroll and post interesting links in the –Recommended section, but don’t forget the sister-city-sites 🙂
Updates:
U.S. Religious delegation statement on trip to Iran
Antiwar rallies U.K. more than 100.000 demonstrators
Sabre-rattling?
Comment is free, Guardian: Stop bullying Iran: “…Since when has international law become able to measure the intentions of countries and react to them, if they say Iran, Israel, India, and Pakistan – who everyone knew had long the same intention? They have never signed the non-proliferation treaty, yet their defiance has been and is still rewarded intends to produce nuclear weapons? And how come the same UN security council turns a blind eye to …”
Telegraph.co.UK: U.S. Founds terror groups to sow chaos in Iran formenting terrorism in Iran
My Turn
Shirin & Muslimah asked me, a long while ago, to join two different online-tagging-games. I am merging the two:
1 – More than often, I am far behind the headlines: Years ago when I asked Alibaba “who is Lady Diana?” he told me that I was most probably the only person on earth, with a TV set, without that knowledge. Right now Britney Spears’ name is all over the net, I don’t know yet what she looks like or what is she famous for.
2 – I have learned Persian cooking from my … brother: When he saw me eating and serving him cornflakes seven days a week, he decided to do something about. Remember these Alibaba?
3- When I was a student, Casanova di Fellini was on screen, and a year later Jesus of Nazareth. I thought Nazareth was the director.
4- I can sleep almost everywhere, in most uncomfortable positions or places, any time of the day. I have even answered phone calls … sleeping.
5- I have an acute administration-phobia. Anything “official” is a nightmare, just give me a form to fill and you’ll see how incompetent I’ll be.
Muslimah, I am usually the one who is laughed at! Any volunteer? PPGG, 99, BB2, Naj, Dr.V…. perhaps? 🙂
Month 3
I have posted many articles about Iran, Iranians or half Iranians. I will take care of 1/4 Iranians later.
It is sort of therapeutic. Many Iranians don’t have time to follow some of the news presented here, such as my own brother, Alibaba the biggest fan of this blog. As a busy North American, he simply does not have the time. The good side of all his activities is whenever I am in a sort of mess he volunteers to the rescue 🙂
Speaking of which this month I had a few posts about philanthropic organizations. The Nobel Peace Prize 2006, Camila’s kidsco and Culturekicks. It really doesn’t cost anyone to find some time within his schedule to do something to help others. I have always been skeptical about those who have expounded big theories on the future of humanity but don’t find five minutes to do something practical.
And thanks to Proggiemuslima, this will take only one minute.
To name a few interesting organizations with consistent work in Iran:
Mahak providing care to kids affected by cancer. Their aim is that no child in Iran diagnosed with cancer has to go without treatment because of lack of money.
Behnam Daheshpour Cancer Institute named after its founder, a teenage boy afflicted by cancer, who spent the last years of his life creating this institute and equipped it to treat cancer patients and assist their families for free.
Popli Khalatbari Charitable foundation and an interesting article here.
I won’t be that nice all the time! Here are the Veterans for Peace to wake up Agent 99 and Delaram 🙂
C & A was the top post of the month, followed by Xmas in England, thanks Shirin! Persian or Farsi, again and Camila were next.
As Bluebear2 wrote, to put things into perspective don’t forget to have a look at miniature earth and the worldometers – real time world statistics.
Thanks to Loopy, I learned that Shahnameh is a best seller in the US.
Bloggers in Iran have two month to register. Thanks to kamangir, here is a translation of the new law.
For Persian speakers, Jomhour is a very informative and well written blog from Ahvaz, and here is the blog of a mountain lover.
If you speak Norwegian and you want to learn about Uganda, this is the place to go. If any of you are in, let’s say Sydney or Sacramento, you can check about local Iranian events here and here, and learn that no future events are scheduled at this time 🙂
Update! Thanks to AA, Time 25 Top Ten List 2006
Dear MZ
Almost none of my childhood friends live in Iran. It gives me a jet-set feeling 🙂
F& Z live in Geneva, R, C, F in Paris and Z & R are in Strasbourg. F & R ended up in Lausanne, M in Washington, S in Saint Martin, Antilles and MZ in New-York.
Among them R, thanks to her demanding family, comes over quite regularly. This seems a bit of an ordeal to her but for the time being she seems to have survived!
Another regular Teheran “habitué” is R. Fortunately he has also some family here and is devoted to them. He comes whenever he can for short visits and brings me F‘s news. S came once with his French husband and three beautiful kids, Z & R came this summer after 20 years for the first time, I was amazed to see their son in his late teens, speak fluently Persian and in love with Iran. I asked Z what’s wrong with him, apparently he was not even encouraged by his parents, but the grandfather, a former high ranking military, has been sort of subversive!
All the others have no immediate families in Iran. Most of us were students in Europe when the revolution occurred. Most never came back, others left the country.
We are all too lazy to keep in touch regularly, and our lives are different, but whenever we see each other it is as if we have never been apart. They have all shied away from showing up in this blog. Therefore I take the liberty to write whatever I want about them.
Last night through a forwarded email I found MZ‘s email – I didn’t even have her email address – I wrote a few lines. It didn’t take five minutes to have her reply, just as we had seen each other yesterday. I wrote back, late at night and found another reply this morning. I had forgotten how close she was. I had a good laugh, and was grateful once again to this great internet stuff. In her words, MZ lives in a sort of self-imposed exile in New York. Not the worst place to be exiled, you would say. In the last decades I have seen her once or twice.
We all live separated from things or people we love. In a way many of us are sort of strangers to our present lives, in exile. In our peculiar group, very few explored all the potential, most of us wasted our energies in confrontations with things out of our controls, or what we call among us our respective “Adams families” 🙂
Forever Under Construction 
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