I am confessing...I am defeated. Juge won. I adopted his schedule. For the longest time there was a battle in my place every single morning from around 6:30am to 9:30am. I wanted to sleep until 8am...Juge wakes up with sun rise...The more I resist, the more Juge persists by LOUDLY meowing right by my bed and pushing her wet nose against my face...The result was that every morning I ended up being in bed more than planned hours because I was not satisfied with my sleep...Well, I passed out last night at 9:30pm on the sofa and could finally wake up the first time Juge called me without feeling like I want to pin him on the wall for waking up so early...Sigh...This was the last battle for Juge to train his human perfectly as he wants.

G A P M I N D E R: VIEW WORLD INCOME DISTRIBUTION 2003

G A P M I N D E R: VIEW WORLD INCOME DISTRIBUTION 2003

I am getting crazy. My younger sister(21) is visiting from Iran. She has her TOEFL exam tomorrow so I really didn't want to disturb her regular routine the past week while she was studying...Now my house looks like Hiroshima after the nuclear bomb and she listens to music 24/7. I escaped from home to my office to have some silent time...My Chinese office mate is talking to her wife in Chinese while listening to music. I have nothing against any of these individually but I just need a moment for myself...In silence!

Some times it's just too obvious that I'm from Iran. The other day I went to gym. After an hour of cardio I came to locker room to change. There were a few middle age ladies who seemed to be Cornell's staff and co-workers. They seemed to have a nice conversation about event that was going to happen and were talking about how cold the weather was last year and stuff like that...It was all fine with me except one small detail...Almost all of them were totally naked. I mean it was completely sensible because they just took shower after workout and were changing for work. I didn't have any problem with the idea but I couldn't imagine being naked in front of my colleagues and being the serious co-worker the next hour.
I am raised in a very serious culture. At work, people call each other only by last name. Even if they have been working for years you never call your colleague's first name at the work environment. It's not polite. Being shy, especially for girls, is a relatively good characteristic and people are by no means comfortable changing clothes in front of each other let alone taking shower and being totally naked. I used to live in dorm for four years and the most me and my close friends did in front of each other was to change our jeans to pajamas. It's just a totally different culture.
Anyway, I think it's good to be comfortable with one's body and not being so preoccupied with minor details such as being shy about showing your naked body in the gym shower. I want to practice to be more comfortable but I am not sure how long it will take me to be really comfortable.

Judge Refuses to Intervene in Schiavo Case (washingtonpost.com)

Judge Refuses to Intervene in Schiavo Case (washingtonpost.com)

I thought about this case for a while and couldn't decide. It is not the first time I've encountered this argument and can't still think which way is better...Let the patient die or hook her to life with every possible way hoping that a medical miracle will happen soon. In her special case I thought that 15 years of vegetable life is enough. And I honestly don't blame her husband for moving on with his life and loving another person.

New year

For those of us who are from Iran, Sunday morning at 7:30am ET(in couple of hours in fact!) is the beginning of the New Year. For the rest of us, it is the official start of spring (assuming you are in the north hemisphere!). I thought I would write a huge wish list for the New Year but then I thought I want all these to be happy, so here is my mega wish...I want a happy year. That's what I really want. I want a year that when in 365 days I look back I would say to myself:" I was happy, I actually enjoyed this year of life" Happy new year and happy spring to everyone, specially those of us living in places like Ithaca I have a good news: you survived one more winter!:)

Getty Images Editorial - Image Results

Shermine Shahrivar

She was born in Iran and left the country with his famiy to Germany when she was 1 year old. She baceme miss Germany last year and Miss Europe this year in France. I look at her and feel proud of the good gene pool that has made such beauty possible!

Pierre Omidyar

Pierre Omidyar

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream
not only plan, but also believe...

It's not a joke!

Women...

What does 8th of March mean in Iran?

What does 8th of March mean in Iran?


Well, I don't totally agree with his point of view especially when he talks about "a strong international effort in the defense of women's rights " in a sense that I think this was the least of the reasons for these wars. Moreover, I don't necessarily agree that the fact that feminism is not popular among Iranians is totally because of their lack of understanding of this movement but partially because of how some feminists choose to communicate their message which in fact is a very anti-men language.
mentioning above, I think it is worth reading. enjoy!

Saudis Call for Syria Withdrawal From Lebanon (washingtonpost.com)

Saudis Call for Syria Withdrawal From Lebanon (washingtonpost.com): "Assad, in interviews with international media, has given varying estimates for the timing of a withdrawal, from less than two months to at least a year or not until Mideast peace is achieved. "

Well, if we are talking about peace in Middle East it seems that's the best way not to reach it. Israel and U.S. blame everything on Syria and Syria waits for them to achieve peace...talking about waste of time.

Int'l Women's Day | History

Int'l Women's Day History

Thanks to Asemoon for the link.