You are currently browsing the archives for April, 2009.
There it is. Moments that you can taste, hold in your hands and not let out of your sight. We sigh in vain after the past, we hold our breath and count the stars.
Tonight my heart broke, mended, and went home as my friend’s voice soared in the rafters (thank you for that, Emily). I remembered what it felt like to be surrounded by these people, these amazing, world-traveling, soul-embracing people.
We forget to be kind to ourselves, to each other. We are moving in a million different directions, so many paths, and waiting for what we don’t even know exists.
Today is the First Day of Ridvan, and we celebrated by having some friends over for lunch. Now I am having a quiet afternoon, enjoying the silence, reflecting, and trying to recover from a cold.
The Most Great Festival is, indeed, the King of Festivals. Call ye to mind, O people, the bounty which God hath conferred upon you. Ye were sunk in slumber, and lo! He aroused you by the reviving breezes of His Revelation, and made known unto you His manifest and undeviating Path.
(Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 59)
This time last year…I was at Bahji for the celebration of the Holy Day. We were 5 days away from the Tenth International Baha’i Convention, and I was surprisingly put together and relaxed. It was spring, but felt a bit more like summer. Everything is a blur…you know that you need to remember the details, but you don’t have time to write everything down. The anticipation of waiting for the delegates to arrive, making sure last minute tasks were taken care of, phone calls and emails…
But on the Holy Day, everything stops for a moment. There is silence, then the sound of chanting filling the gardens at Bahji, and the sunlight strong on my face and hair, the crunching of stones underfoot as over 500 people circumambulate the Shrine of Baha’u'llah, the joy of talking with friends and laughing as the sun begins to set.
…and then back to work.
I spent some time working on my blog last weekend. Even though it is April, it was still very much like winter here, and the idea of going outside was not very appealing.
I’ve added a plugin called “Now Reading”, which allows me to share books that I’ve read, that I am currently reading, and that I plan to read. I’ve been having fun adding books to the list. While by no means comprehensive, it does give you a taste of some of the books I like. I have not included most of the fiction I have read, simply because it would contain hundreds of books and I’m too lazy to input all of that information. If you have any reading suggestions for me, please leave a comment!
Finally decided to add a search box to the sidebar below the links, which makes it easier to look for things. 
I’ve also updated my links and about me pages in very minor ways, and added a few blogs to the sidebar: Sarah is writing about her adventures in South Korea, Tajalli talks about promotional marketing, and Lorenia is a strawberry. Also, check out the latest World Art Collective art installation…cute statues, powerful message.
“It’s like the whole of humanity is displaying addictive behavior…
from the individual to the largest organizations.” -Shannon, 1/1/09
Dear teenagers,
Leaving chewing gum on the floor of the dressing room where my new boots can step in it is not acceptable.
Neither is leaving fifteen prom dresses in a crumpled heap on the floor, forcing me to pick them up. If you thought lifting weights was good for your arm muscles, try prom dresses.
Finally, human skin was never, ever meant to be orange. It hurts my eyes…tone it down a bit.
Sincerely,
me
“Unless the season of winter appear, thunder roll, lightning flash, snow and rain fall, hail and frost descend and the intensity of cold execute its command, the season of the soul-refreshing spring would not come, the fragrant breeze would not waft, the moderation of temperature would not be realized, the roses and hyacinths would not grow, the surface of the earth would not become a delectable paradise, the trees would not bloom, neither would they bring forth fruits and leaves. That fierce inclemency of cold, snow, frost and tempest was the beginning of the manifestation of these roses, hyacinths, buds, blossoms and fruits.”
(Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu’l-Baha v3, p. 655)
I should start my own perfume line. It will be based on Persian cooking, mostly. There will be “Kabob Koobideh“, which smells like it just came off of the grill, “Persian rice”, which has the fragrant aroma of rice and saffron, and of course “Rosewater&Honey”, since that is how all Persian desserts are flavored. There will be more fragrances as the line expands, of course, but those will be the original products.
My target market is women, especially those who want to attract a man who is looking for a wife who has some of the more…traditional…skills. He doesn’t have to know that she ordered that ghormeh sabzi, rice, and faludeh from the local Persian restaurant. She will smell like she has been working in the kitchen all day. The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right? 
I will also target individuals who love Persian food but have not quite gotten the hang of making it correctly, college students who are away from home and miss their mother’s cooking, and people who really wish that they were Persian.
I’ll make a fortune.
I have never been particularly fond of cats. They are less predictable than dogs, more aloof, and I am slightly allergic to them. But cats and I usually come to a sort of…understanding, and avoid each other whenever we must coexist. I will even pet them if they’re nice.
My cousin is wonderful. I was staying with her in NYC, and she is a perfect hostess and dear friend. But her cat…oh my. We just could not seem to agree.
1. The cat attempted to sit on my head while I was sleeping. Several times.
2. I woke up at 3 am with two glowing eyes a few inches from my face. Do you know how disconcerting this is?!
3. My foot was sticking out from under the blanket, and the cat bit my foot. This was at around 5 am.
4. She knocked my glasses off of the ledge, and then looked at me like it was my fault.
5. I locked her out of the room, and she scratched at the door and mewed all night.
6. She climbed outside the window and stood on the ledge, several stories off the ground. I was really hoping I wouldn’t watch this cat fall off of the ledge.
hahaha. Regardless of all of this, it was pretty amusing. And my poor cousin kept trying to keep her cat off of me, with limited success.
(The criminal, looking guilty as usual.)