Sweet Jesus

"Mark, you've become more and more like Jesus Christ recently. All you need is to grow your hair out now and wear sandals..oh and don't forget the white sheet." -Me

"Honey, you don't like other people's good fortune." -Mark (directed at his wife)

"OHHHHH PLEEEEASSSEEEEE! Don't you pull that with me. I will get a piece of wood and hang you from it and put you there like Jesus." (His darling wife; who loves him DEARLY)

(Laughter ensues by the rather large family) ---large in number that is and not in mass! ;)

I love my family. We are vivacious, loud and well just like the family members in the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding".

Shabe Yalda

Happy Shabe Yalda to everyone! The longest night of the year! This night holds great religious and cultural significance to Iranians everywhere. On this night (once a year) families gather together and stay awake in order to recite stories, eat fruits, bundle up together under the korsee (a type of blanket) and play games. In the old days a fire was to be lit all through the night because Ancient Iranians believed that there was discontent between the good and bad angels. This battle would be lost to the good angels after successfully making it through the longest and darkest night of the year. So in essence it is and was a battle between light and dark you could say. :)

Ablaze

A rainbow sunset with blissful shades of gold.
Dusk and obscurity upon us.
We scramble in the dark, finding our way with arms outstretched.
But our path is unclear and cluttered with obstacles. The destination is painted in abstract with vibrant and sometimes deliberate strokes.

Envious reds shedding morning dew.
Passion and absurdity have awoken.
The light is blinding and still with it's vast abundance, we are blind.
We don't need light in order to see.

Narcissus bewildered

Under the shivering shell it was my soul that went numb.
The lucid crystal did not hold my future but it mesmerized me in a way that cannot be explained with words. Staggering under a rotating universe enmeshed and engrossed.

Two choices lay ahead my friend.
With meek and mortal eyes, I glanced at you. My glance, however painful, revealed an unchanged mask with hollow eyes. You beheld a smile both tragic and peaceful at the same time. I had been grasping at words spoken from those eyes for so long that without them it seemed that my world was momentarily meaningless.

But I found meaning in you even if you never wanted me to.

Bittersweet

And a week went by with a bittersweet taste.
Tumultuous serenity.
The mind never forgets but loses sight.

Rain storms in the summer are refreshing but cursed in the winter.

And so the week went by in vertigo. Vertigo and an aching for simpler times when we trumpeted happiness from the rooftops. There was no one to impress and we didn't care who was offended by our joy. Happiness found in late night pillow talk and dances in the rain. We were there.

I remember. There was momentum and speeds only imitated by large machines. But eventually the pendulum must stabilize and come to a halt. Our bodies and souls are not built for such intensity.
So moments of sheer bliss unhindered by the world were dissolved as is the cold when spring is so near.

The light changes when you're in the room

Looking for something, I know not what.
Strangled by the fog of uneasiness and dillusion.
Everyone is simple.
Complexity is incongruity with its villainous terrains and unpredictable turns. Find me beyond the haze and amidst the turmoil of reality. Meditating on the NOW in a trance, blurry, and oh so accurate!

I can feel your emotions on my skin and I know.....
I just know....

Looks like you could use some monkey love

"Ok, do me a favor. Turn to the right, just do it.
And pretend that there is a chimpanzee
3 year old chimp is watching the screen with you.
And he gives you a huge smile as you turn to look at him."

Sneaker suspicion

I will not submit.

I will not make myself a bride.
Heavy white cloths, limiting my movement, tangled and losing the ability to run.
No! Not me.
Bring me my sneakers and wipe that makeup off of my face.
There are far better things than "marital bliss".
You will not make a housewife out of me.

"I'm going to punch you in your ovary!"

Blog Lama's tip of the day...

Crying like a little child may help you to achieve basic things from your mate, parents or perhaps boss? However, you cannot expect to continue with such a pathetic manipulation tactic without getting caught. One day, the jig will be up my friend and you will have lost ALL respect from your friends and family....

GASP! Maybe even your soul mate!!!

Respect of our elders

Loyalty to our elders is to be cherished and cultivated as we grow older under their wing. They bring us into this world and hold our hands through all the difficulties that this life may force us to endure. Many cultures find that elders must be respected and their opinions should be heeded first and foremost. In the Iranian culture, we do not place our parents in nursing homes. They will live with us if we so choose or they will be nearby. In some instances, it is impossible to live close but we will always have our parents and family close in our hearts and on speed dial!

Iranians engage in communal culture. There is a sense of closeness and warmth among family that cannot be denied. Unfortunately, this beautiful attribute has been tainted upon mixing with other cultures.

American culture has many great attributes but unfortunately there is much ageism. Ageism has caused many individuals to place little worth on the opinions of elders or their work. Ageism has led to the nursing home culture, which in many countries would be found to be both disrespectful and unheard of.

And now...I see among Iranians a sense of disrespect which has come about due to improper intermingling of cultures, anger and frustration. I know of an Iranian man who repeatedly ignores the plight of his poor mother. She has given him life and he cannot even help her to gain her bearings now that she is in a state of exhaustion and desperation. I am deeply saddened that this sort of thing has happened to our beautiful mothers. Mothers who gave up their lives and their potential for simpler lives because they wanted to provide their children with the opportunities never afforded to them.

The youth will realize one day that the disregard and contempt that they had for their parents will one day materialize when they themselves have children. Karma always has a way of creeping up on us, one day.

There is no I in WE

Face it.

Everyone is coupling off and surely there is nothing inherently wrong with that concept. What is irksome however is when you ask someone to join you for a simple evening out and they say they can't because their boyfriend or husband or their owner (oops, did I just let that slip?!) has a cold, is annoying or you just simply cannot be without them. Woops! Where did you go? I think your identity just morphed into someone elses. I'm sorry, does that hurt you? Certainly you didn't think that this is a good thing did you?

Common excuses:

1) I can't come out with the girls tonight because my sweetie will be bored without me
2) I can't come out with the girls tonight because my sweetie stubbed his big toe and WOE IS ME, what will he do without me?!
3) I can't come out with the girls tonight because umm...well...he just doesn't want me to go.

As I have stated in previous posts, for some people this is not a conflict because they never had a personality to begin with. Hiding behind your man is comforting because HEY you never have to think for yourself again. Silly BlogLama, how could you have forgotten that you are merely a girl in a MANS world! Tsk tsk tsk....

My frustration is a result of numerous moments when I have simply wanted to jump over a table and slap the stupidity out of these women. Grow a brain, get a life and stop hiding in the shadows over others.