My name is "Advantage"

It was sometime around 1AM. He was deeply asleep. The cell phone rang suddenly and woke him up . He was so sleepy that he couldn't remember where he was for a few seconds. “Who’s this?” he answered. A man’s voice said “This is advantage.” “Who?“he asked. “Advantage” the voice answered louder. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Advantage? What the fuck? It’s early in the morning and someone calls with a strange name with an unusual Indian accent with a strange name?” he said to himself. He got scared a little. He repeated “Who?” pretending he didn’t hear the name and hoping to hear a usual one this time. The voice stop for a couple of seconds like it knew what was going on. It answered”mmm… This is Oliver”

“OK. How can I help you?” he answered with more confidence now.

“I’m calling about the plan?” the voice said.

“What plan?”

“The plan” the voice answered louder.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He hung up and looked back at the window. There was a red light flashing probably from across the street. It looked like one of those Neon lights of convenience stores but there wasn’t any store around his place. The closes one was one block down the street. As the red light was becoming stronger sleep overcame his thoughts.

Norooz and Death

Lots of death of my dearest ones have happened around Nowrooz. It’s like the angel (!) of death has this long list due by the end of the year! This is so fucked up. I really hate to say I am scared of Norooz now. Call me superstitious. My grandma, my uncle, my cousin and now one of my best friends father all died in the end of the year or during Nowrooz.

God bless him.

I always think people who die of sudden causes like heart strokes or accidents are very lucky. They don't suffer much pain like a person with cancer or any mortal disease that eats you up gradually. I hope I become one of these people but I don't want to die in Norooz.

I'm Sweet

It's 1AM. I really feel like writing something. I want to note this date as another damn anniversary beside April 5th. I'm overwhelmed but I can't write.
Let it be. Life is too short. Take it easy and all those crap to calm you down!
May be I read some Khayyam or something!

Flow of Life

There are not a lot of decisions we can make to change the flow of our lives. There are some pre-existing factors that define this flow. While we are riding on it, there are few chances of really changing direction. Otherwise, life goes; faster and faster.

How many success or failures stories do you hear about people that turned their lives around? Not a lot. Maybe there is something behind the scene. I don't know. I'm not saying there is a written destiny for each of us, but there are not a lot of things under our controls either.

People give up when they come to know their stories. That's when they say this is who I am and it is my life. This is as far as I can go.

When the clock goes off at 6AM everyday, I open my eyes and ask myself what I am doing. Is it really what I wanted to be? Am I happy or sad? and I can't find the answer.

Average People

Hi, may I have a regular coffee?

Sure, What size?

Medium

Hi, Do you have medium size of this shirt?

Let me see,...mm, there it is.

I thought it was on sale!

No, 'casue it's medium. We sale the items when we run out of their mediums.

Can I have the pepper steak, please?

Sure, how do you wanted?

Medium please.

How tall are you sir?

Average,mmm... somewhere around 5'9"

I see....

What's up man? how are things going?

Nothing much, just daily stuff...

What kind of music do you like?

Not too loud, not too slow, something in between, you know....

How much money do you make?

Mmmm, not too much. Something around average.

What kind of car do you like?

Not too big, no too small, not too pricey, not too cheap....

I never want to become and average person.

Halloween and Iranians

This is an old post but still worth posting!

Have you ever noticed how Iranians like Halloween? It's like it is their own tradition! Some Iranians here don't care about Norouz as much as they care about Halloween.
I have never gone out on Halloweens. Seeing how drunk people try disparately to scare you is not very attractive for me. Plus, I have to come up with a costume too; a pain in ass!!
Anyways, I think I will try it next year just for the sake of it!

Curb your enthusiasm> Ultimate sarcasm!

Since I watched Whatever Works movie (you can find its post right below this one) I have been obsessed with sarcastic character of Larry David. Recently I came to know that he is the main character of a HBO TV series called "Curb your enthusiasm".
The show is all about his everyday life as a writer and comedian very similar to the famous Seinfeld show in which he was the main writer too.
I love this show. I just can't get enough of it. Apart from all, I think I am picking up his way of thinking too!
Highly suggested!

Whatever Works: A Reaction to the Randomness of Our Worthless Lives

Whatever works is about a man (Boris Yellnikoff) who believes in randomness in life. Whatever works right now is what to be embraced without thinking about the consequences. For this reason, he wants to get rid of his life in which everything should be planned ahead of time. Movie starts with a scene where he explains his wife about his intuition of life and complaining how their successful marriage and careers are against his ideology. In the end, while her wife is shocked by the reasoning, he jumps out of the window! Not being lucky enough, he doesn’t die but gets a chance to start the life he wants with no strings attached. No family, no job, not a single responsibility! He goes with the flow of life without any resistance.
Like most Woody Allen’s movies, the story has a narrator who is Boris himself. He even talks to the camera which I didn’t like that much. Overall, it’s a funny movie especially with extremely sarcastic remarks of Boris explaining his ideas to everyone who has an ear to listen whether it’s a child or an adult.
I think the movie is on a limited number of theaters in Los Angeles. I had to go to a small crappy theater where I had to knock on the entrance door to get in! Independence doesn’t pay, let’s hollywoodize ourselves!

Some quotes:
"My story is, whatever works as long as you don't hurt anybody. Any way you can filtch a little joy in this cruel and pointless life, that's my story."
"I happen to hate New Years celebrations. Everybody's desperate to have fun trying to celebrate in some pathetic little way. Celebrate what? a step closer to the grave? That's why I can't say enough times, whatever love you can get and give, whatever happiness you can filtch or provide, every temporary measure of grace -- whatever works! Don't kid yourself, it is by no means up to your human ingenuity, a bigger part of your existence is luck. Christ, you know the odds of your father's one sperm from the billions finding the single egg that made you? Don't think about it or you'll have a panic attack!"

Epitaphs

Searching clues for the future without grasping the past
wasting the present, though it's running by fast;
but the rivers flow
to join the seas forever

Frank Bornemann

Leonard Cohen Concert, Los Angeles

There are not a lot of concerts which you can really enjoy these days but this one was an exception. Leonard Cohen's performance with his full orchestra was flawless. He sang almost all of his famous songs. From the 60's to recently released. Blue rain coat, lover lover lover, Take this waltz, Dance me to the end of love, I'm your man, ....
He has high respects for his musicians. He sits on his knees when the Spanish guitar player, plays a solo or bends briefly to each musician while introducing him/er.
Nokia Theater was packed although tickets were expensive. Those that were in the very end of the balcony were 84$ and from there, size of the whole stage is about 3 inches!
Leonard Cohen is having a worldwide concert tour this year. Don't miss it!

Jane's music

There are some songs that are like old friends. When I return to them after a while, they bring up the old memories as they go.
Some of these songs are composed by a German rock band named “Jane”. They are pretty famous in Iran for 70's rock savvies but not very well-known in the world of rock.
Guitar of Klaus Hess, keyboard of Manfred Wieczorke,... No pointless solos...“Together”, “Spain”, “Fire, water, earth, and air”, “Lord love”, “Expectation”, "meadow",...
Hmmmm!, Good old days!
This post is just a brief tribute to Jane. In the end, we were close friends for about a year or two. Besides, we still meet each other every now and then!
To read about the band and listen to the song “Spain” follow the link below:
http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=175
The music is usually categorized as Space Rock but I don’t like to compare it with that of Pink Floyd's. Personally, I believe music of Pink Floyd has had an incredible influence on many musicians but it’s not a scale to weigh other's music.

Great Nation Who Live In the Past

This year a group of Iranians celebrated the Persian new year (Nowrouz) in Pasargad were Cyrus the great is buried.
There is a nostalgic tendency among Persians/Iranians to look back to their nation’s prosperous past, 2500 years ago. The era when Persian Empire was the greatest power in the world and possessed a rich culture. For example, Cyrus Cylinder is considered the first human rights charter in history; Persepolis was built with paid labor,...
The question is:
Why are we trying so hard to prove to the world that we had a rich culture thousands of years ago?What will the world think about us? That we have lost such power, culture and even dignity permanently from 2500 years ago up to now?
Past is gone. Let’s live in present and try building the future.