As the Clock Ticks

Addicted to the Movies!

noreply@blogger.com (AK) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:29:00 +0000

OK, so I know I'm a little late on this subject, but I'm really anxious about watching Wall-E! Everyone seems to be talking about it and I'm dying to go see it. What's keeping me from going to the movies? Free tickets! They're giving away free Wall-E tickets at my mom's work and she requested 7! The only thing is, they still haven't given her the tickets, and that's driving me nuts!! (oops, I didn't just say nuts...I need to be careful these days...lol!)

To make up for my Wall-E-less days, I've been watching lots of online Persian movies. My sister told me about these two Persian sites, PersianHub and IranProud, which I've been browsing like crazy. I've already watched more than 10 movies in two weeks!

I've been so addicted to these movies to the point that I've been dreaming in Farsi!! I mean, I barely speak Farsi, mainly because, well, I've forgotten most of it! But it's amazing how by just watching movies, the language is coming back to me.

So, back to the movies, my favorite movie by far has been Bivafa (Traitor). I think the story is a mixture of a Cinderella story and Pride and Prejudice. In short, the movie is about a poor but beautiful girl whose father and brother are thieves. One day her younger brother steals a huge amount of money from a man coming out of the bank. Angry at her brother, she chases him down until she gets the money from him and calls the owner to give it to him back. The man happens to be a handsome, young doctor from a well-to do family. His mother wants him to marry a certain girl from a rich family, but he doesn't like her. To give his mom a reason not to marry that girl, he tells her he's already in love. With whome? The thieve's sister! But he has to both convince the girl and transform her image in a way that's desirable to his strong-willed mom. In the process, he transforms himself as well.

You can find the movie on Youtube. Just type "bivafa part 1" and it should show up. Unfortunately, I don't think it has English subtitles though.

One thing that's similar in all the Persian movies I've watched so far is the beautiful actresses! I know...we don't usually associate Iran with beautiful girls, right? But actually, lots of them are! Of course, you won't see these girls in a bikini, but they're really beautiful.

And, of course, they have some very handsome actors...cough cough. Lol! Mohammad Reza Golzar is one of them...cough cough! But although I like how he looks, I don't actually like him because almost all of his movies are sort of autobiographical, mainly about how famous and handsome he is....whatever man! Sure you're handsome, but you don't have to go nuts about it! Oops, there I said it again. Shame! Haha!

Project Done!

noreply@blogger.com (AK) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:34:00 +0000

My "fashionable" tunic is finally ready to wear! I'm so excited!!
I was surprised by how nicely it turned out to be. I guess that means I'm going to keep making them!

I love this new hobby of mine. It's amazing how a piece of shapeless fabric can turn into something that fits you and transform your look from bland to beautiful! That's what I love about fashion!
Here are some pictures of the final product:

Wide sleeves.

Showing off the wide sleeves!

Tadaaaa! ;)

7 Reasons Why Commuting Sucks

noreply@blogger.com (AK) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:16:00 +0000

For the past a few weeks, I've been taking the bus instead of the car to school in an effort to save money on both gas and parking.
Initially, it wasn't such a bad idea. But lately, I've gotten quite fed up with it and here are the reasons why:

1) Duration. With the car, it usually takes 30-45 minutes to school, depending on traffic. With the bus, it takes more than an hour to get to the Medical Center, where I have to wait for bus 68. Total duration? Between 1.5-2 hours!

2) Heat. Let's face it, it's summer and I live in Houston...enough said. The heat combined with the high humidity makes walking or standing outside almost intolerable.

3) The Smell. There is no gentle way of saying this -- a lot of people in the bus stink. Of course, there are some homeless people out there, but also a lot of people on drugs and many, many smokers!

4) Crying babies. Last week there was a baby next to me that kept kicking me on the leg. It was cute the first and second time, but it got pretty annoying the third, fourth, fifth, and the millionth time. The day before yesterday, there was a baby girl in the seat in front of me that apparently thought spitting was funny. So did her mom. Yep, she was laughing at her daughter's "cuteness." Disgusting.

5) Irregularity. There is no guarantee that the bus will arrive on time, and believe me, I know this first hand. One time, I waited for more than an hour for bus 68 to arrive, in which time 2 buses should have already come and gone.

6) Congestion. This wasn't a big problem in Houston until gas prices went up. Now, the train is so full there is hardly space to stand during rush hour.

7) Fellow Passengers. I'm not a people-hater, really! But you have to admit that a lot of people on the bus aren't the kind that I would want to befriend. You know who are the worst people to have sit next to you? People that can't shut it! There was a lady with me once that had just come out of the hospital and was ranting about how she doesn't have a cigarette and would do anything to get one. "Stay away from me, lady," was all I could think about.

Ok, so it's not all so bad. I have been in fact saving a lot of money. But today while standing in the bus stop with my sister for about 15 minutes in the heat, surrounded by all kinds of people, including a druggie- old-spitting machine, a stinky guy, a lady yelling on her phone, and other kind folks, we both looked at each other knowingly and laughed. We were both thinking the same thing --"What are we doing here?!" It's not that we're better than those folks, it's just that when you have experienced the luxury of driving your own car and having your privacy, it's difficult coping with stinky passengers, the heat, and all the other above complaints....

But it's just me ranting my frustrations. And, of course, I'll be taking the bus again Monday. So, I guess I need to deal with it!

New Hobby

noreply@blogger.com (AK) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:51:00 +0000

Lately, I've been wanting to learn how to design and sew clothes.

The idea really came out of my frustration with finding unique clothes to wear. Sometimes, it just seems like everyone has the same style of clothes, and, well...that's kinda boring!

When I was younger, my mom used to make some of our clothes. But back then, she was a stay at home mom and had more time and patience for these things than she does now.

So...I decided to take the matter into my own hands.

A few weekends ago, I asked my mom to teach me how to use her sewing machine. She helped me sew a pair of baby pants, which actually turned out very nicely. I also started playing around with some of my mom's old pieces of fabric, and I think I got the hang of it.

My older sister has also been very interested in the idea of making our own clothes.

Last Thursday we went to a shop on Harwin where they sell Indian clothes and we found some pretty nice fabrics, but we found them either too flashy and bright or too expensive for what they're worth. This weekend we went out with my mom to Wal-Mart to see if they had any nice fabrics. To our surprised, we actually found a few very nice ones and we ended up buying 3 pieces of fabric and a tunic pattern. So today I've been busy looking for designs and cutting out patterns.

I can't wait to make my own tunic!!!