like a fish needs a bicycle...

ayn rand and salmon

nas says:
yeah, i've made efforts to not read ayn rand
nas says:
it all looks so painful
lay-c dot com says:
it is. i can't help but think about how salmon swim upstream when i read her stuff.
nas says:
hahaha
lay-c dot com says:
seems so ridiculous and futile.
nas says:
yeah
lay-c dot com says:
and yet
lay-c dot com says:
that's how salmon spawn
lay-c dot com says:
so, i guess there will always be "objectivists"
lay-c dot com says:
whatever.
nas says:
haha
nas says:
i remember learning about salmon in elementary school
nas says:
it was so depressing
nas says:
they were like "and then the salmon swims and swims upstream, and the ones that make it past the bears just keep swimming, and then they finally make it upstream, and then they die."
lay-c dot com says:
yeah that's kind of what reading an ayn rand book is like.
nas says:
:)
lay-c dot com says:
no for real. you're like, I just read 900 pages for THAT?
nas says:
haha... right. that's awful.
nas says:
did you read "atlas shrugged"?
lay-c dot com says:
I think I started it
nas says:
which one did you read?
lay-c dot com says:
i read the fountainhead several times
lay-c dot com says:
it's a good book with a really jacked up philosophy
nas says:
really? interesting
lay-c dot com says:
good story, but again, i can't stop thinking about salmon
nas says:
haha :) poor salmon
nas says:
we should just end their misery early by eating them
lay-c dot com says:
too bad paperbacks are inedible

land'o'lakes

good lord, how has another week passed me by? i used to be so good about blogging regularly. i need to get back into it, lest my blog mom reprimand me... :)

anyway, went to minnesota this past weekend. first time in my life. my mom asked me if i was going to come back saying "minne-sowta" in that campy, bobby's-world, midwestern sort of way. the answer was, of course, a definitive no. i did, however, see plenty of cheese signs in wisconsin along the way (see moblog to the right). so yeah, it was a nice weekend. here are some pictures... enjoy. :)

Posted by naseem at 11:14 AM | Comments (3)

more lists

things i'm excited about resuming when i start school again this fall

1. getting to share the bahá'í faith with people who haven't heard of it already...
(this is hard to do when you're working at the bahá'í national center, where almost everyone is already a bahá'í. however, i imagine this is relatively easy if you're going to school in new york city and you meet new people everyday who ask you about your religion. it's such a fabulous experience... i seriously can't wait to do it everyday)
2. walking everywhere
3. taking naps in the afternoon
4. going to the gym more regularly
5. finding cheap ethnic food on every corner

things i would like in/around my house when i grow up (in no particular order of importance... oh, and use your best judgment if you're not sure whether i mean "in" or "around" for any specific item)

1. a beach
2. an exercise room with a treadmill, an elliptical machine, weights, and a decent-sized home entertainment system
3. a studio room with unfinished hard wood floors, high ceilings, full length mirrors on 2 walls, a wall-to-wall ballet bar on one of the unmirrored walls, a great sound system, and floor and ceiling bags for kickboxing (this room would be ideal for kickboxing, ballet, and all kinds of dance practice)
4. industrial strength toilets in every bathroom (so i never have to call a plumber)
5. partially shaded trails and paths for hiking, biking, and walking
6. a hammock
7. my mom's persian food
8. a full basketball court
9. a willow tree
10. lots of sunshine (actually, both "in" and "around" on this one)

(ok, so this isn't a list, but post script... yay for me! i'm so proud of myself for finally getting my moblog going and for figuring out how to post all those pictures in reverse chronological order. check it out!)

monday, a realization, and a moblog

hello monday. glad you've decided to pull the sun out for me... so yeah, it was a long and somewhat tiring, but really nice weekend. so many wonderful bahá'í activities... and i got to practice my spanish at the house of worship. :)

meanwhile, i think over the past few months i've come to some conclusions about myself. i've been suspecting as much for a few years now, but i think i've finally realized it's time to face the truth. evidently, i was born without the following:

1) an immune system
2) a metabolism
3) platelettes

guess that's life. it's a miracle that i'm as healthy and happy as i am, so yay! :)

oh! and i got my moblog going finally. i still have some stuff to figure out before it's fully functional... and i have somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 pics to post, so that'll be fun once i get them all up. plan to spend a few minutes catching up with my moblog. :)

closet-land security

first of all, i have to apologize for what has apparently turned into a 2-week hiatus. i really had no idea it's been this long... sure, i've been busy, as we all are all the time. mostly, i think i was just really entertained by my last post, so i didn't realize i needed a new one all this time. i must say it came in handy too, seeing as how i attended another persian wedding this weekend. good to be prepared for the inevitable... :)

meanwhile, it is officially hot in chicago. not just warm... i mean, the air is of course warm (even at night!), but in the sun, it's actually hot. it's not texas or anything (95 degrees for an overnight low this past weekend), but it's pretty hot...

so all this weather change, though quite welcome, can pose some problems for those of us (read: me) trying to dress ourselves (read: myself) for work in the morning (especially when looking presentable is expected). emerging from my 9-month hibernation on the frigid shores of lake michigan has left me a little disoriented as i try to put on sleeveless shirts, skirts, and sandals... especially since they're supposed to fit and match each other. not that i've lost the native texan in me or anything--she's still there and ready for summer, but she's just beginning to wake up and isn't quite back in the habit of getting dressed for warm weather every morning.

and this brings me to the point of this entry (yes, it has one, so hush). sometime last week, while tyring to dress myself for the humanly habitable weather, i noticed i was having a wardrobe crisis. of course, wardrobe crises are nothing new... i have no doubt that i and countless other woman have them routinely. but this time was different. i started thinking about all the different wardrobe crises i've had in my life, each with a different character and for different reasons... here are a few varieties, in no particular order of importance:

1. must find weather-appropriate clothing, can't seem to do so
2. didn't shave so i can't put that on
3. can't wear this because it makes me look fat
4. if i go with this outfit, i'll have to change my purse
5. apparently i have no clothes that are suitable for this particular occasion
6. my dad will tell me i can't leave the house in this (somewhat a non-issue since graduation from high school, thank God, but still a consideration when visiting my parents)
7. wore that the last time i saw the same group of people
8. if i wear this out, people may try to offer me food and shelter (luckily, this one wasn't too bad in college, since i went to school in austin, where looking homeless for class is socially acceptable)
9. everyone and their cousin is wearing a similar outfit/piece of clothing at the moment
10. i'm pretty sure wearing this will encourage people to mistake me for my mother (you wouldn't think i could ever be mistaken for my mom, white as she is, but actually, instances of people telling me i resemble or behave like my mother are becoming more and more frequent and frightening these days)

so that's just a few of mine that come to mind. (sidenote: notice the numbered list. i seem to be one for making lists lately... on my blog and in other areas of life. hmmmm...)

anyway, i suppose these various crisis experiences are part of life. it occured to me that i should find some way to bring order to them, to manage them in a meaningful way. that's when i decided that i could employ an ingenius system that is already in existence--conveniently created by our friends at the office of homeland security.

for the past few years, the terror advisory system, the levels and colors of terror (read: "turrr"), and the colorful alerts on the bottom of our TV screens have likely become a regular and yet completely inconsequential part of most of our daily lives (and is it just me, or does the box of color levels displayed on the website look eerily like "simon," that beeping/flashing-light game we played in the '80s?). ah well... no longer will this brilliance go unappreciated, no longer will this fabulous 5-tiered system seem useless to the masses... because i'm about to put its genius to good use.

so, my friends, here is my new system for the office of closet-land security (acting director, me).

green = low - (i could leave the house looking like this, but it's probably better not to... there has to be more in my closet than this)

blue = guarded - (hmmm, better change - don't want to scare people... although, maybe i'm safe from the matchmaking persian ladies if i don't look so good)

yellow = elevated - (yeah, i look bad - i'm casting serious doubt on my ability to see the visible spectrum of colors, understand progressive sizing in clothing, and/or remove body hair appropriately)

orange = high - (ok, we definitely have a situation on our hands. and i'm running out of time! ok, stay calm. what if i just put on everything i've tried on so far simultaneously...? then my actual person will be minimally visible... OR maybe i could explain my appearance by saying i have a random genetic mutation that causes me to dress myself this way...)

red = severe - (this is ridiculous. i think i'm going to put on a chicken suit.)

i encourage everyone to try out this fantastic new tool... it's sure to aid in our quest to dress ourselves each morning. applying labels, colors, and descriptions to wardrobe crises will no doubt take the fear out of potential clothing catastrophes. and it's more fun to come into work and let everyone know that you're dressed at orange alert today.