Today, after walking around the Arc gardens I came back to work and the path was blocked by lawn sprinklers. I thought I could time it right…but I didn’t. Luckily I didn’t get completely drenched, but it was pretty funny.

(Seat of the Universal House of Justice)

The Fast is just so wonderful…breakfast with flat mates, dinner with a bunch of friends in the lunchroom. I must say that I am very happy here.

I uploaded a bunch of pictures…so check them out.

I questioned my own existence for a moment last week. It only lasted for a second, but it was quite terrifying. While in conversation on MSN with one of my friends back home, she asked “Sholeh, is that you talking to me, or someone pretending to be you?”

I sat back and thought about it for a second. Was I really carrying on a conversation, or had my body been taken over by aliens or evil spirits or a person with a talent for such things? A million questions ran through my head as I sat there, stunned.

It was extremely disconcerting. It turns out that I had been giving one-syllable answers to her conversation, and this worried her since most of my friends know that I rarely stop talking.

There was this cough
that infected the BWC,
echoing down the mountain.

You may scoff,
but trust me on this,
the rockets were never this loud.

The lady afflicted by the curse
hid in corners and behind stairs
but the noise from her lungs
shook in the air.

Her friends Abi & John,
hit especially hard
cringed from the sound
of her plague-ridden bark.

In the end she became known
as the girl with the cough
if she doesn’t heal soon
they’ll have to make a Sholeh-clone.

And now the heroine embarks on an epic journey. There were going to be dangers along the way…dragons, a couple of bad-tempered wizards, and maybe even a few evil spirits. One could never know with epic journeys. That is part of the fascination of the story.

🙂 See y’all on the other side.

I never knew it would be this hard.

How do I choose?! hahahaha.

Dear friends and family,

There was a freak incident this morning involving my phone and Carmen’s tea. I watched in horror as my phone skidded on the carpet, hit a bump, and flipped (while on a phone call) straight into a large mug of green tea. Needless to say, I’m without a phone for the next few days. You can call Carmen if you desperately need to reach me, or just email me.

This is similar to the Great Burrito Incident except that I didn’t do anything stupid on purpose. Truly. This was just a confluence of unfortunate circumstances.

There is hope, however: I may have a friend who has a phone I can use to activate. And my obsession with organization paid off: 3 weeks ago I put all of the phone numbers in my phone onto a Gmail spreadsheet. So I didn’t lose anything.

much love,
Sholeh

I am not a good pet owner.

The other night I took out our gerbil, Sushi, from his cage and put him in his exercise ball to run around the living room.

I promptly forgot about him. One of my roommates (not sure who) rescued him and placed him back in his cage. *sigh* I felt very bad.

If you haven’t seen the new Weird Al video, White and Nerdy, you really must. For all of us nerds, geeks, and brains, this is especially poignant. When I was in middle school my group of friends was obsessed with Weird Al. We had one tape that we would pass around the group, taking turns listening to it.

Explains a bit about me, huh? 😀

True story. Well, most of it, anyways. I am really unable to see without assistance, and they were lost for a month. This gets annoying after a while. *whew*

I never watch TV, but this season I’ve been staying home more in the evenings, and as a consequence of this have actually gotten pulled into several shows.

Grey’s Anatomy– I don’t need to say much about this. Drama, pure fluff, and I love it.

Heroes– Can anyone say SUPER POWERS?! Finally a show that I can relate to, considering my fantasy/sci-fi geekiness.

ER– Ok so my beloved show is hardly recognizable, and I don’t really understand what is going on, but oh how I love it still.

Shows I used to love, such as Gilmore Girls and Scrubs, I haven’t yet had the chance to watch. *sigh* I am looking forward to Jericho, maybe.

Well, this is your glimpse in the life of Sholeh. Exciting, no? I mean, sure, I have many things to do. Tonight is Feast, tomorrow night is another Baha’i meeting, and there are people coming through Chicago all the time that I want to spend time with! Not to mention family, friends, chores, errands, cooking, and the things I need to do before December. 😉 But you don’t want to read my list of things to do, because you have things to do, too.

I have a drawer at work devoted to chocolate. Sometimes people give me chocolate, and in fact I was stuffing a Kit Kat bar into my mouth this afternoon when two Snickers bars were dropped onto my desk. Food (specifically food that will make your skin greasy and your body protest) is highly thought of at this company. I have an entirely too-large bag of chocolate covered raisins, too.

Conversation:

“Hello, this is ____, could I have a quick price on material, please?”

“Sure, let me find my notebook. Oh my, I can’t find it. It has disappeared under the terrifying onslaught of papers. Papers everywhere! At least 3 inches deep. The fortress is being overrun, the moat has been taken, and the peasants are running in fear.”

(customer is cracking up)

“Well sir, it appears as though I’ll have to surrender. I have no choice. Now, what material were you looking for today?”

We are never too old to play dress-up.

(Sarah L & I get into some cloth. Lots of laughing and picture taking ensues.)

As we looked at our collection of materials, I realized that I really wanted to make a dress. So I bought a pattern on Monday and have started it. I’ll post pictures of the finished product when I am done.

Speaking of younger people (good transition, eh?), I’m taking the training for working with junior youth . We’re doing it in an intensive style, which involves a good deal of “Guys, we really need to focus!” because we’re simply having so much fun discussing the material.

I came back to the city Sunday night after visiting my family in the suburbs over the weekend. It was nearly 11 pm and I had a car to unload. Sarah L was staying with me, and so I enlisted her help.

After several trips to the car we got everything inside. As we stood in the living room, I looked over to the corner and realized that something was different…

There was a full suit of armor in my living room.

“Sarah!” I pointed and exclaimed, “I did not even SEE that until now.”

She looked over at it, and then looked at me with wide eyes. “I didn’t see it either. And I’ve been here all day.”

We discovered that he belongs to one of my roommates, and his name is Sir Tetanus. And he has a new home in our living room.

One of my friends pointed me in the direction of this article at BBC about Adidas & Puma.

“It’s quite a crazy story because in this little town, Herzogenaurach, a cobblestoned medieval town, you have two of the world’s biggest sports companies,” says Barbara Smit.

Apparently two brothers started a shoe company in the 1920s, but a feud happened between them, and eventually everyone in the town had to choose sides.

Rudolf, or Rudi, set up his rival firm, Puma, on one side of the river; Adolf, or Adi, stayed on the hill and shortened his name to form Adidas.

I find it very amusing that such a feud created two of the largest and most famous sports companies in the world…and that it was in a little German town, the name of which I can’t even pronounce.

Even in death, Rudi and Adi were not reconciled. At the local cemetery, their graves are about as far apart as you can get.

Although the feud had some positive result (the creation of two companies), it is also very sad that the brothers never allowed themselves to get over their pride and hurt. Ah well…the story as old as time, eh?

that are awesome about working for a large corporation at headquarters:

10. Free mouthwash in the bathrooms…with little disposable cups.

9. Parking is never a problem.

8. Italian ice for afternoon snacks.

7. Free camp chairs with the company logo on them.

6. Grilled steak, hamburgers, and hot dogs when you have to work overtime on the weekend.

5. Office supplies whenever you need them (and no one complains about you needing office supplies!)

4. A cafeteria in the building, with a cook who knows that you can’t eat bread and leaves the bun off of your hamburger.

3. The coffee is already made when you get to work because there are 60 other sales reps who are more addicted than you are.

2. Almost getting run over by flatbed trucks on the way to & from the parking lot…every day. Woohoo adrenaline rush!

1. Having an ID badge with your name on it…and you actually look good in the picture.

(Two cube monkeys pass each other’s desks)

Coworker #1: I hope you choke on your sandwich.
Coworker #2: Yeah, well, I hope you slip on your orange peel.

So much love at the office. The benefit of no walls on our cubicles is that you hear things like this. The two older gentlemen that sit across from me have a running banter that keeps me amused throughout the workday.