Ankh : Life

The book "Sinouhé l'Égyptien" by Mika Waltari was a big hit when I was a teenager in Iran. This weekend we went to Chicago and visited the Tutankhamun exhibition. It was like that story was live in front of your eyes. The whole experience was just magnificent.

They also had a side exhibition where they displayed the field museum's collection of mummies. Spooky, ha? Well it is Halloween after all !

Simple pleasures of life

Walking across the campus in a chilly morning to get to your early class. You push the heavy door of the building, and enter the Hall. Those first 5 seconds when the warm air caresses your cold cheeks are...
Divine.

Buttermilk

One of the new things for me in America that I fell in love with immediately was Buttermilk! If i want to describe it to someone that has not had it before, i'd say it tastes somewhat like 'doogh', a drink made by mixing yogurt nd water. But buttermilk is far better! It has this mild sour bite and light creamy texture, and not high in fat. You can easily substitute it with your soda for dinner. Moreover it has calcium and other goodies of milk, so it's good for you too.

Real Buttermilk is the liquid left over after producing butter. But the ones you find in supermarkets are "cultured" buttermilk, that is milk to which some bacteria have been added that turn lactose into lactic acid.

Hah, too much Ado about a dairy, but it deserves some attention!

A completely irrelavent BLUE

Blue Music Video


I went to The Blue Men concert tonight, which was fun. I was youtubing to see if I can find one of the songs they performed and I ran into THIS! This used to be in my top10 list when I was in highschool. It was pleasantly nostalgic to hear it again.

In America

Desperado


There's some things you should wish for and some things you shouldn't. That's what my little brother Frankie told me. He told me I only had three wishes, and I looked into his eyes, and I don't know why I believed him.
...


It was as hard for Frankie to smile when the tumor was malignant as it was for my dad to cry after. But they both managed it. I'm going to switch this off now. It's not the way I want to see Frankie any more. Do you still have a picture of me in your head? Well, that's like the picture I want to have of Frankie. One that you can keep in your head forever. So when you go back to reality, I'll ask Frankie to please, please let me go.

- In America, Jim Sheridan

Good hair day

It may sound ridiculous, but it does work! Today I had a good hair afternoon and I believe if you ran a Dif-in-Dif analysis on me (morning vs evening, today vs yesterday), you would have found a significant beta.

The most beautiful colors on earth

I love trees in the Fall. They dress in their most gorgeous gold and red gowns to face the merciless cold with a high spirit.

Adaptation

Today I woke up for an early morning class. I was packing my bag, taking my cellphone, grabbing a pen, tearing a few pages of the notepad to take to class. Looking at the notepad, I froze. Why on earth it has punch holes on the left, I wondered. After a few seconds it came to me: English is written from left to right. I've been here for quite a few years. I guess my subconscience still refuse to adapt to the new environment.

Research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK

A friend sent this to me

http://improbable.com/about/

These people administer the Ig Nobel Prizes, given each year for achievements that make people laugh, and then make them think. Look through their webpage and you sure will find many interesting topics of reasearch. Look at this one for example:
What is the number of photographs you must take to (almost) ensure that
nobody in a group photo will have their eyes closed?
http://velocity.ansto.gov.au/velocity/ans0011/article_06.asp

Dedicated to all the bored people out there.

Free Hugs

Free Hugs Campaign. Inspiring Story! (music by sick puppies)


Once in a while, you can see Free Hugs guys on the quad of our campus offering to give you a hug.

Fasting and Love

I've always thought that fasting is very romantic. At least there is a great deal of analogy between fasting and Love. When you're in love, you're willing to do anything to show your devotion to your lover. Even some things that doesn't make sense to you. You don't reason with your lover on whether or not what he/she wants is reasonable. You just do it because you want to see her happy, and that gives you even greater happiness.

Certified to heavens

Dear God,

Are you sending me a message?
Would you mind being a tiny bit clearer, cause I don't get it...

Respectfully yours,
me

When is an email conversation over?

This is a serious question. I wanna know.

So you email somebody and ask some question. They reply you back. You send a thank you note. What if they send out a you're-welcome. What then? I guess that;s the endline there.

For this one it was kinda straight forward. But imagin this one: You send an Happy-Birthday email. They send a Thank-you-What's-up. You send a you're-welcome-such-ad-such. They send a keep-in-touch. Do you need to reply to that?

I'm trying to understand. Are there any keywords, hidden signals, in an email saying that it is the endline, and you would look silly if you continue replying to that one?

Natural Highs

Think about them one at a time before going on to the next one . . .
It Does Make You Feel Good

1. Falling in love.
2. Laughing so hard your face hurts
3. A hot shower.
4. No lines at the supermarket.
5. A special glance.
6. Getting mail.
7. Taking a drive on a pretty road.
8. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.
9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
11. Chocolate milkshake (vanilla or strawberry).
12. A bubble bath.
13. Giggling
14. A good conversation.
15. The beach
16. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.
17. Laughing at yourself.
18. Looking into their eyes and knowing they Love you
19. Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
20. Running through sprinklers.
21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
22. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.
23. Laughing at an inside joke
24. Friends.
25. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you!
26. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
27. Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).
28. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
29. Playing with a new puppy.
30. Having someone play with your hair.
31. Sweet dreams.
32. Hot chocolate.
33. Road trips with friends.
34. Swinging on swings.
35. Making eye contact with a cute stranger
36. Making chocolate chip cookies.
37. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.
38 Holding hands with someone you care about.
39. Running into an old friend and realizing
that some things (good or bad) never change.
40. Watching the _expression on someone's ! face
as they open a much desired present from you.
41. Watching the sunrise.
42. Getting out of bed every morning and
being grateful for another beautiful day.
43 Knowing that somebody misses you.
44. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
45. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people
think.