In the waiting room

Have you ever noticed how annoying Doctors' waiting rooms are? I mean does it bother you too, just sitting there looking at other sick people or noisy kids, or reading decade-old magazines and crappy news papers, or worst of all, listening to the music from the playlist-for-the-sick?

I spent 15 minutes waiting to see my family doctor today and now totally believe that they deliberately try to push you to your limits, just to see if you get a nervous breakdown or a seizure or something. Who here thinks that Pink's "let's get this party started" is a good song for such a place? is "you'll be kissing my a**" what we want our kids to associate with the doctor's office? but even if I try to ignore Pink, there's one song that I absolutely can not forgive them for playing. And that's no other than THE WORST SONG EVER MADE in the history of contemporary music: Girls just wanna have fun by Cindy Lauper!

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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Well, as stupid as its name is, I was surprised by this movie... it was a very well-made movie, super funny, with good acting (except the supporting role actress who was a tad disappointing). The whole movie is basically narrated, and it's just too funny... I resisted for the longest time and finally watched it last week and definitely recommend it to everyone. You're gonna get a good laugh out of it and you're gonna enjoy the cinematography and editing... the story is not the best, but the dialogues are awesome. Just thought it was disappointing how little publicity this movie has received.

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To Nazly... for being the best!

We are the same height, have the same highlights, we borrow each other's clothes, we don't look like each other but somehow are similar. We go on the same diet, we overeat together. We go to school together, and party with the same people. We listen to the same music, and go to the same hairdresser. We travel. People think we're sisters... I think we're even closer.

You are a lot more than a roommate to me... you are my mom when I'm sick, my dad when I need protection, my sister when I need someone to confine in, my brother when I feel lonely... you've been my friend all along, you are what's left of my country for me, you're the closest thing I have to a home... Just like I hope to be all this for you.

So bear with me when I'm moody, when I need attention, when I'm sad, heartbroken, or tired. When I don't feel like talking, or when I talk too much. When I act weird or give you advice you haven't asked for. When I drag you to the movies, or want to stay home when you feel like going out. When I get cleany, or when I make a mess. When I become cold, irritating, or obnoxious.

Three years...It's not been easy, but we've grown up together. Sooner or later, we'll be going our own way, but I'm sure no one will understand what we've been through, except for us! So cheers to us, the coolest roommates on earth!

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Airports

" Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport.

General opinion makes out that we live in a world of hatred and greed. I don't see that. Seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends.

When the planes hit the Twin Towers, none of the phone calls from people on board were messages of hate or revenge, they were all messages of love.

lf you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."

From Love Actually

I always cry at the airport when I go back home.. I'm fine up until the moment I see my mom and then it just happens. No reason, no control. Today I just happened to remember the fact that I love airports... no matter if I'm leaving home, or going back, if I'm there to pick up friends, or to watch them leave through the gates. I just love airports.

We're leaving in a cruel world. Sometimes - like these days - you just see it more clearly... maybe we should all go walk around the arrival gates in a nearby airport... just to feel that love still exists. It does, right?

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Talking to myself

Sometimes I wonder if he really knows how I feel... I never told him, he never asked... we're just going along with it. Emoticons are not the best way to describe how one feels, are they?

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I call it a great weekend when:

1. ... I wake up in the morning and go to a CPR class at 9:00 a.m. (note: from now to 22 July 2009, you're allowed to choke on your food, have heart attacks, get beaten by snakes, and get unconcious for any other reason in my presence. because now I'm knowledgeable enough to call 911 and ask for help; honestly, the first three hours of the class was just to tell us how important it is to call 911 and how you should do it and what to say and stuff like that. They did teach us how to do CPR and rescue breathing though, so you're still safe.)

2. ... I leave the CPR class and go with my friends to rent a motor boat and ride around in it for two hours in the Pacific ocean, watch the seals sunbathe on rocks, and get back just in time to have a delicious fish and chips at the harbor.

3. ... After a long hot summer day, I end up watching "Paradise Now" with some friends and discuss politics till 1 in the morning.

4. ... I wake up super late on Sunday and still decide to go canoeing (yet again!) and have a wonderful time.

Yeah, I just had a perfect weekend (still a few more hours to go)!

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Disturbing

The link to this website has been circulating a lot in the past few days, I can't comment on the reliability of the pictures, but even if one percent of it is truly happening, we can surely call it a disaster.

I'm also very interested to see where the States is going with arguments about Iran's involvement in the conflict. There has even been a meeting with a group of selected Iranians and the White House officials, probably to somehow justify a military action against Iran. I really have no idea where all this is going.

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Flowers or plants? that's the question!

So my office-mate is back from Germany, where he had to attend his mom's funeral. We (people in our office) wanted to do something for him; so we bought a card and each wrote a few lines in it. We also decided to buy her flowers... or was it plants?

You see, two of us (including me) thought that you didn't want to get something that went on living for a long time, because it was always going to remind the poor guy of the tragic incident, while the flowers would die away. However, there was an opposing view in our office that thought plants were better.

This morning I walked in to say hi and talk to my office-mate... and he was very difficult to see behind the leaves of four big plants on his desk. It's done now and I think just showing that we cared was good enough, but still feel weird about having to see those plants everyday... would flowers have been a better choice?

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Breaking the silence

I have mentioned on other occasions that I do not want to write about my political views here... I feel like to write about politics you have to know a lot more than I currently do... I did not want to act against my word, but sometimes enough is enough. And that's the case with my silence about Lebanon's situation.

Just looking at the pictures on news websites is painful... imagining that the same thing is very likely to happen to my homeland, for a similar pathetic excuse. I'm not saying that the lives of the two captive soldiers are not worth anything, but really, is it why Israel is attacking Lebanon and killing so many civilians? What is the ratio of the value of an Israeli soldier's life to a civilian Lebanese, 1/1000? I feel the word OVERREACT is not enough to express this situation.

Picture from BBC News

I also don't know if there is anything that I - or any other individual - can do to help. For some reason I don't think praying is the answer right now! Maybe if we can show that we care, that we see what's happening, and that we're not fooled by whatever excuses they make up to justify their actions, the silence will be broken. Or maybe it's all wishful thinking... I guess I am entitled to daydreaming after all...

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Messing around with Google!

Looks like I'm getting a lot of people coming to this weblog using Google search for "Don't get mad, get even"... and that's because of this post. I guess what people are actually looking for is this new apparently-super-lame-movie called John Tucker must die. Well, I surely think they're better off just reading my post... but well, I can't really beat Hollywood in advertising, can I?

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Once more

Feels strange... it always does at the beginnings... feels warm, just like friendships... feels mysterious, just like the future... feels painful, just like the distance in between.

Always surprising when it hits you... you remember all the familiar feelings, yet... it's not like anything you've ever experienced before.

I close my eyes and dive in, hoping for the best...

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Raise your hand if...

.. you hate the comment screening process that I added to my blog a while ago. You know, the one where you have to enter a series of stupid letters to prove you actually exist! Honestly, do they try and make it deliberately annoying or what? I just had to enter jnfkwsly or something like that to comment ON MY OWN POST! So maybe I should get rid of it?

Update: Ok, ok! I've dumped the word verification process. Sorry to have annoyed you all this time... but watch out, if you don't post at least a comment a day, I'll have to put it back!

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Unclassified

There are good movies, and there are bad movies. In between, there are movies that you can't quite make your mind up about. They have something to say, they are not super badly made and the actors are not particularly horrible; yet you can't say you liked or hated them.

I watched Head in the clouds today. an "unclassified" movie in my opinion. It left me feeling sad... well, the cloudy weather didn't exactly help either, but anyway, I felt that it had a message, but couldn't say what it was... I'm sure some people will like it but it just lacks that something that makes movies memorable. Anyway, just thought I'd say something about it!

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And they finally answered

I lost my login and password like a year ago... and it didn't matter how much I tried to get them back from their "bad, bad server", as they put it, nothing would convince their system that I needed my password. Finally, following tons and tons of emails I sent them, and after being known as the most impolite among my friends for not answering any comments, invitations, and testimonies, they gave me my account back... just 20 minutes ago. I almost cried tears of joy... guess this just shows that there's still hope for us all, that prayers will be answered one day, and we'll be reunited with those we love in a warm, loving network... called Orkut.

- Ok now, time to go reject those friend requests I guess! ;)

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And the world cup goes to...

Yeah baby! That's right... no other team but Italia!

Now all I have to say is to Zidane :" What are you?... a two-year old? "

Update: I just had to add Negar's drawing here... a very accurate picture of what happened, priceless!

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Sudoku...

...is my new addiction! It is a Japanese puzzle thingie that just won't leave you alone. You gotta have more... and more... and a little bit more... until you can't stand looking at numbers anymore.

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A movie not to watch...

I wasted two precious hours of my life last night to watch a movie that I basically hated... well, "hated" would be too strong, but still, you know what I mean.

"Where the truth lies" is a film by the well-known Canadian director, Atom Egoyan, and is not at all what I had expected after "the sweet hereafter" - the only movie I had seen from him before. The movie tells the story of an "ambitious" journalist that wants to uncover a mystery from more than a decade ago. The mystery involves a dead girl and two showbiz stars of the time. I say "ambitious" because if you're willing to sleep with whoever comes your way - regardless of them being male or female - you look pretty damned ambitious to me! Don't get me wrong, I'm all for pushing the boundaries and showing whatever that helps the plot. But throwing in random threesome scenes in a movie just for the hell of it doesn't really impress me.
As if having Hollywood actors in a Canadian director's movie wasn't disgraceful enough!

Anyway, DO NOT WATCH this movie unless you have to write a school paper about it or something in that order, and even then, try to copy stuff from other reviews. It's two hours of your life you won't get back!

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The worst football expert

...well, think I need to admit openly that I am the worst football expert you've ever met in real or virtual universe... I was 100% sure that Brazil and Germany would make it to the final game and look what happened!?... I wanna say that Portugal is going to win over France and make it to the final, but since i actually like Portugal, I'm gonna remain silent and just hope nothing goes wrong!

UPdate: And yet another disappointment!

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A graph of my sport activities during the year

Note: here, the lowest point in the graph is basically just walking to the bus stop and back and the peak is doing canoeing, biking, hiking, and running in one week! Guess I am what you call "Jav Zade" in Farsi!

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