understanding

"The fact that the message conveyed is couched in no formal vocabulary makes things doubly difficult, because neither party can get very explicit about what is actually taking place. Each can only say what he thinks is happening and how he feels about it. The thought of what is being communicated is what hurts."

The Voices of Time

chocolate

Today I heard on TV that an Aztec Indian legend holds that cacao seeds had been brought from Paradise and that wisdom and power came from eating the fruit of the cacao tree. Wise people, I like the idea. Each person in North America eats about 4.5Kg of chocolate in each year. That should make us very rich and powerful!
Well, of course, this took me to a little search on the history of chocolate making. It is rather amazing how much chocolaty details you can find on the web.
And now some research is finding that it might even be good for you. No complaints from me! Now I'm really feeling the cravings ... but I guess I still can't agree that chocolate can be addictive ...

driving

Interesting quotes, anonymous source ...

"If you change lines the one you just left will start to move faster than the one you are in now. Switching back screws up both lines and makes everybody angry."

"Insurance covers everything except what happens."

عید دیدنی

فال سال نو

Sara reminded me that I forgot to write down my New Year's faal, so here goes

دیدار شد میسر و بوس و کنار هم

از بخت شکر دارم و از روزگار هم

زاهد برو که طالع اگر طالع منست

جامم به دست باشد و زلف نگار هم

ما عیب کس به رندی و مستی نمی کنیم

لعل بتان خوشست و می خوشگوار هم

....

خالی مباد بزم تو از جمع سروران

وز ساقیان سرو قد گل عذار هم

:و شاهد فال

دوش بیماری چشم تو ببرد از دستم

لیکن از لطف لبت صورت جان می بستم

عشق من با خط مشکین تو امروزی نیست

دیرگاهیست کز این جام هلالی مستم

Now I would say that indicates a great year ahead, I can't wait!

Ulysses

... sometimes things don't work out in our favor as fast as we would hope for them to, and we think life is not as we wanted it to be, sometimes we are very wrong ... wrong doesn't exist in life, so it can't "turn out wrong" it can just turn out in a way we didn't expect it to ... no wonder he kept saying to me that I shouldn't settle, he kept saying: "Don't settle, you deserve much better." I am so happy he did.

"... it may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
it may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
and see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
we are not now that strength which in old days
moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

Ulysses, Lord Tennyson

in the New Year

I really couldn't resist writing how happy I am. The New Year stepped in with love and joy and I have enjoyed every moment of it. Seeing friends and getting together with those I adore. I hope this feeling lasts until the year end. I guess what makes it so special is the greetings and wonderful gifts and kind thoughts you receive from all over the world. It fills you with life and reminds you how lucky you are. Could I have asked for anything more?

my 7 seen, 1384

She had no shoes and sat on the front row seat in the bus. She muttered and giggled every once in a while. People passed her and tried not to stare. I couldn’t look at all; I just listened to what she was saying.
Suddenly, she turned and asked someone how she could get to Coquitlam center. The lady answered politely: “You should take the 143 from here.” Her eyes lit and she cried with joy: “Thank you for sorting my life out, you are my best friend.”
It left me thinking how simple life can be, and that may be she knew it much better than I do ….

best New Year's gift

... we met and said happy new year to one another and started a typical new year's conversation. When we were saying goodbye I remembered that he hadn't given me my new year's gift, so I asked for it. He needed a piece of paper and a pen, and wrote down:

"If you love something dearly, let it go. If it comes back to you it belonged to you and if it doesn't it was never yours."

I smiled and put the paper in my handbag ... Not a single year goes by that I don't remember his gift. I have told him time after time how much his advice has helped me and how I have carried it with me for so many years. Till now that has been my best new year's gift and I have passed it on to so many people. Thank you... and to everyone a HaPpY NeW YeAr!

Butchart Gardens, Victoria, BC, Canada

dancing

" ... some dance to remember some dance to forget ... "

Eagles, Hotel California

But nobody reads your mind anyway ...
I have always loved dancing so much that I never thought I would need a reason for it. Though I should admit it has helped me at happy and sad times in life. I came across an interesting perspective on dancing in our student newspaper, The Peak.

Looks like banning public smoking commercials wasn't enough for some activists. They don't even want advertisements displayed in places where you can buy cigarettes! I am not a fan of smoking but I should admit it's asking a lot.

how about a job?

No, I have not flipped because of my recent workload. I am just thinking that working would be a good idea for a while. I still love my research and I am sure I want to do a PhD. It's just that ... well, I received a job posting which is overly exciting to me. May be I will apply for it and then think about it if I get a positive response from them. Honestly, I don't think I have a good chance since I am not even a landed immigrant, but that can't stop me thinking about it.
It said: "... never settle for the path of least resistance ..." I've decided to keep that in mind for everything in life. I don't want to choose the easiest path. And I also know that "... opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work ..."
Ha! Looks as if I can be quite good at convincing myself when I want to do something.

what?
(he stared at me like that for quite a while)

forgotten tradition

There is an old tradition associated with charshanbe soori that is now forgotten in most parts of Iran. Although I understand that it is mostly due to the change in life style, it’s a shame anyway.
At sunset, a lover boy who had decided to express his love to his sweetheart would wrap a pomegranate in a handkerchief with some kind of embroidery to show who it belongs to. He would then leave the handkerchief outside the window for his secret love to find. Hoping she would accept and keep the handkerchief.
A boy afraid of being rejected if he would ask a father for his daughter’s hand would go to an older person and ask for their help. They would arrange for the girl to be taken to a hide away and would then negotiate with the girl’s family to convince them to allow the young man to marry their daughter.
Another love-filled tradition forgotten … I wish we would at least replace these traditions with something new that would fit our lifestyle.

last year's 7-seen

music

I am sure you have all heard of Darya Dadvar you might want to listen to her music. Delightful if I may say. I feel it has a Spring touch to it.

He said "those who can afford to love can afford to loose ... " and he said "it's too bad to know through people's voices when they change ...".

family and friends

This weekend my sister moved into the same complex I live in. With my brother and me and my other friends that makes 11 of us living in the same complex. It's just great! I have both my friends and family all so close.
Who would have thought, here on the other side of the world! I am sure this will be a time we will look back on for all our life and smile about. I am writing this down here because I am very excited about all of it and I am thankful.

with friends, Vancouver, BC,Canada

P.S. Interestingly, today the people in our lab told me that I should laugh more often while I’m in the lab since it becomes sort of epidemic! One more reason to be happy!

traditions

I spent most of Saturday cleaning the house and preparing for the Iranian New Year. I kept thinking of how I had done it last year and the year before, to see if anything had changed.
A conversation with a colleague from Turkey once again made me think about how much these traditions were important to me and for how long I would want to follow them. May be right now I feel I will always want them in my life; but then, it’s only been a few years since I moved here.
My friend thought that I would probably stand by them for as long as I live. What about my children? and their children? Are they going to want to go to the trouble of staying awake till very early in the morning to see the year turn? As much as I hate to admit it I don’t think so. And honestly it would be rather selfish of me to expect them to.
I asked my friend whether he and his friends had any ties to the traditions people followed before the cultural reform introduced by Ataturk . As he spoke to me I understood that it didn’t even matter to him what traditions people were following at that time; it was history. "There are people who study these things at universities" he said. They were now westernized and didn’t want much to do with what their great-grandparents thought.
Like it or not this is more or less how the next generations are going to feel towards what is now an important tradition in my life. Should we try to teach them more about the cultural background they came from? Or is it not our responsibility, or for that matter, not our concern?

On the way back to Vancouver from LA

rules

" ... somewhere, I am sure, Ohm's law still applies, but I'm no longer confident about just where. As the size of the circuits shrinks the life of the electron becomes complex and fuzzy ....
Living without rules gives us an uneasy freedom. We make up things as we go along amidst an increasing uncertainty and unpredictability ..."

Robert W Lucky
IEEE Spectrum, March 2005

I think everything is changing at such a fast pace that there can be no rules that could stand for long and we have no choice other than to make case by case decisions …

Speaking of having no rules in life, who in the world would have thought that while in prison you can become a lot richer? It seems despite all the negative comments about her, dear Martha is now among the billionaires !

and it is born ...

Today is a special day for me. I have finally decided to start writing a more public blog. I had been thinking about it for some time, but it took a lot of convincing. I wasn’t quite sure I had anything to offer. My dear friends were great encouragement, as they have always been.
I guess as life is, only time can tell how things will go and as I do with everything in life, I will give it my best. For sure it will be a great experience, so I am taking the first step; may it help me reach higher ….

Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC, Canada