eurostar

no, im not talking about myself, silly. the train!

2 hours and 15 minutes to london, under the english channel. and as an added bonus, i gain an hour! ill be in london in time for lunch with a dear friend.

be back this weekend with updates. have a lot to tell you, but youll just have to sit on pins and needles until then!

things i miss at 2:28am

home, my bed, my sheets- almost as old as i am though youd never know it to look at em- worn and comfortable like the time that passes when youre not paying attention; beige with earth tone floral patterns that say 70s more than 80s, and woven secrets my parents once took to bed

sanaz, whose name is engraved across my heart, and i dont care if im the only one who sees it. soon the whole world will.

solmaz, my backbone and my breath, my water and my wind. my most avid reader and most enthusiastic critic, its been a pleasure and a privilege. heres to doing many more things in public.

osito, jaat khalee

the gang of six, high five!

driving, driving, driving, driving, even the traffic; my car, the only pace in the whole world that is only mine, where i can sing however loud i want, cry however long i want, and leave the heater on long after its too hot to handle

tv, even the commercials

it kills me to say this, but the english language; to communicate again by translating thoughts into words, not by translating words into words in other languages, always falling short, trying to convince myself its worth the stumble if im learning

doughnuts, venti coffe, iced coffee, soy milk, special k, iroonie yogurt, mast-oh kheyar in a big bowl, yogurt and fresh strawberries with coconut and honey, veggies al plato at lalas and the #28 at versailles, pak sazee, east wind, palominos, whole foods, amandine and walking there as an excuse to leave work, sushi, compartes chocolates, tropical enchiladas from kay and daves, cheese enchiladas and margaritas from el cholo, pitchers of sangria at cha cha cha, insomnia and all the work i pretended to do there, enchiladas in general; especially good company, a few belly laughs and picking up the bill with a "you get it next time" just to ensure another meal with you

my cell phone- im not the kinda gal to pretend im glad to be rid of my phone. i may not answer it when im home, but i sure as hell miss the sound of that damn thing ringing and finding a surprising name on the caller id.

staying out late, and getting home later; taking off my shoes at the door so as not to wake my parents

said and parivash, i could write a book about the things in miss about you. i know you miss me, and i miss you too.

some highlights

'njoy!

celebrate '08 (wink!)

happy new year, everyone!

have you heard the one about

my uncle tells a lot of jokes. many will inevitably find their way here.



someone once asked ahmadinejad: "why are you so ugly?"

to which he responded: "well, i wasn't born ugly, you see. when i was a baby, still in the hospital, someone accidentally switched me with an ugly baby. otherwise id still be good looking."

once upon a time

there was an old persian king who asked his cook, a seasoned chef, to make him the best meal possible. the chef thought for a while and spent the afternoon preparing a simple dish: tongue.

when the king sat down to dinner, he smiled at the sight of an old favorite. upon tasting it, he looked to this great chef and replied: "yes, this is absolutely the best meal. afarin. for tomorrows dinner, however, id like you to make me the worst possible meal."

the next evening, the king sat down to this worst of meals: tongue.

perplexed, the king looked to the chef for an answer. " when i asked you to prepare the best meal possible, you made tongue; now, for the worst meal you bring me tongue again? what is the meaning of this?"

the chef looked at the king and said: "the tongue is both the best and the worst thing, sir. with it one can accomplish the utmost feats, or commit the foulest abuses."

welcome

look who finally jumped on the bloggerwagon.

welcome! this blog is entirely dedicated to my travels. i will use it as a way to let everyone know where im at, what im up to and, probably most amusingly, what im getting in to.

at the moment im visiting paris, a pit stop on my way to iran. i leave here on january 15, 2008, and most likely will not come back to los angeles before the iranian new year at the end of march, and even that is a maybe. while im gone, you can check up on me on this blog, and i will try my darnedest to update a few times a week. i figure this way you can drop by when youre bored, procrastinating, trying to live vicariously through me, trying to look busy or just simply missing me, without my having to flood your email.

its taken all day to master this whole blogger business, so ill be back with details tomorrow, but in the meantime ill leave you all with one "what im getting into":

so i mostly stay at my aunts house when i visit paris, and about 2 weeks into my trip i decided to do a load of laundry while she was at work. i figured out the machine and i found the laundry detergent easily enough, but i couldnt for the life of me find any fabric softener. i couldnt even figure out how id go about adding the fabric softener after the wash started as its a front load machine. well, i was very determined to do my laundry at that exact moment, so i decided to just do without. i started the machine. it did its job. an hour and a half later: voila! clean clothes! but wait- whats this? theyre so soft! it mustve been the kind of detergent with the softener mixed in. genius!

thats not the end of the story. if that was the end of the story, it wouldnt be a story.

flash forward a few days: the topic of laundry comes up with my aunt. "by the way, does your detergent have fabric softener in it, cuz i just used detergent and my clothes came out really soft." my aunt looks at me confused and asks what exactly i used to wash my clothes.

i go in and grab the bottle and come back. she takes one look, laughs. i take a second look and: its tile cleaner for the floors. it even has a picture of sparkling clean tiles on it. i mean it even has the sparkle star on the corners of the tiles!

needless to say, now i walk around smelling like clean floors.




ps: yes, that is a leopard print umbrella. jealous?