On the plus side, it’s been easier to adapt my typing skills than it was that one time when I broke my left middle finger. Naturally, despite the slowness there, I was able to send a constant “fuck you” to everything that caused me any discomfort or challenge, which is a huge benefit all its own. Even though I want to desperately, flipping anything off with my band-aided index finger leaves me feeling completely unsatisfied, and just thinking about that makes me all angry, fuck.

In a nutshell, I’ve settled on two of these puppies, one for my living room and the other for my bedroom. I run them both on high power pretty much all day, and so far it’s actually been quite an improvement. Score for Vornado.

(2) I probably would have written this post sooner, like sometime last week, only I got distracted and took a trip down to San Diego for a couple of days. In addition to working on my tan getting sun-burned at the beach (which was, naturally, a glorious experience), I got to hang out with the impossibly fabulous Tia and the witty and awesome Haligonian Ben (see, Ben? I learned!). We shopped til we dropped, I got new shoes, and judged people for what they were wearing. In other words, it was sheer greatness.

(3) Los Angeles is great right now. Way too hot, sure, but since I have new fans I can just sort of sit in front of them for an hour. There’s really nothing quite like it. But really, what’s making this place so awesome is that my partner is in town visiting, and ever since I picked him up at the airport on Saturday I’ve been walking on air. Even the traffic around here hasn’t been so bad.

(4) I love having a pool fifteen feet from my front door. I’ve always loved it, but now it’s great that I have a place to go cool off while my steamroom of a house gets the royal A/C treatment. But then I was in the pool tonight, racing the dog back and forth and feeling so confident that I could see all with my fancy little goggles that I didn’t even see the stupid chlorine container floating right in front of me. Or should I say, in front of my racing freestyle stroke. My hand connected with that fucking asshole floating device and BAM, my left index finger is suddenly cut open and bleeding. I’ve sustained worse injuries from swimming before (like that one when I was 10 involving my ankles, a flip turn, and the pool ledge) but that doesn’t mean I like typing without the use of all ten of my fingers. Blast.

The other thought battling for attention, in addition to my sinuses, is the constant reminder that, no matter how much I like my humble little place, there’s this one tiny problem of it not having any insulation. Well, except for the windows, but considering I tend to leave them open to some degree at all times during the day, that’s doing fuck all¹ now, isn’t it? See, the problem with this house is that its wooden walls have this special property trapping the outside weather right inside. This means that if it’s 40 degrees outside, it’s a bone-chilling 50 degrees inside. (On a side note, people from colder climates have scoffed at me for this assessment, and to them I have only this to say: so you enjoy walking around your house in your underwear when it’s 48 degrees, do you? Yeah, didn’t think so.)

When the weather is warmer, say 100 degrees, my house becomes a little oven and sits all day at 90 degrees. Or 95. Or 100. It just depends how hot it is outside. Given my past history of heat rash, first to the point of being within about 20 hours of having actual heat stroke, and subsequently recurrent bouts of it that like to revisit me every summer, I’m not exactly amused by the warmth of my house.

There’s air conditioning, sure, but I’m sporting a medium-sized wall-mounted mother which sits in a corner of the living room and spouts air six feet up. It’s amazing, it really cools down that solid five square foot area. I might add that that area is home to one bookshelf and one rocking chair, and an occasional me sitting in said chair. It’s literally (and figuratively) the coolest spot in the house. And sure, the cool air kind of spreads to other parts of the house, but while that spot remains at 70 (that’s the coldest I can get it), there’s still a 5-10 degree variance everywhere else. Honestly, you wouldn’t think it would be so hard to cool off 550 whole square feet.

I’m thinking I’ll be going shopping to learn about some of my options, and maybe in the process I’ll even find something handy and energy-efficient, too. I just want to cool off, that’s all I want. Should you, dear reader, have any tips, ideas, or thoughts on how to chill out, do tell.

¹Please enjoy that clever little throwback to the genius that is Eddie Izzard.

The sun is setting on an otherwise normal day. A breeze trickles past, just light enough for you to feel your hair whisking slightly as it passes through it. It’s six o’clock in the evening, and the day is winding down. On a street corner, there’s a few people, less than a dozen, staring out at the passing traffic. Warm greetings are exchanged, but a sense of sadness hangs in the balance. A stronger sense has emerged, however. It is that of courage, and in that courage, a steadily growing conviction.

Looking out at the streets, you feel a stranger in this place. Why are you here? You’ve never been this vocal before. But then again, you’ve never felt so at ease with yourself inside, and in that ever-growing sense of self, you feel that this is right, and no place but this place is where you need to be. Voices can be heard from across the street, and green shirts, bandanas, headbands, and wristbands can be seen adorning the people who steadily begin to surround you. Your shirt is green, but not as green as you would have liked. Set against the others, you suspect that the teal shirt you’re wearing is really more blue than it is green. Distraction. A large green sheet catches the southerly wind, and in moments, it’s your hands holding this sheet, your feet keeping it steady on the ground. The sheet balloons and the accompanying sound, flap, flap, flap, battles for your ear’s attention against the sound of fifty car engines surrounding the intersection.

The imposing image of a sea of cars greets you, and you’re aware that in this covey of solidarity, you are different. You cannot hide this difference, and the energy surrounding you reassures you that it cares only that you are here, that you are standing for what is right. Horns begin honking, simple gestures that seem fleeting and almost futile, but are undeniably powerful. The honking of a car horn, you realize, is just another way to speak your mind, another way to find the words when always they seem so difficult to say.

A look behind you. Twenty people were present when you took hold of the large green sheet. There are at least fifty people now, eyes full of passion and determination. Up the short flight of stairs, more are descending to join you, and across the street, groups of three, four, five people continue to emerge. The blaring of car horns grows louder, steadier, until the noise subsides and becomes a symphony the likes of which you never imagined possible. The shouts of people in chorus with horns, flags waving in the wind, chants floating through the air, all sounding to the same impossibly beautiful tune. Peace.

More than one hundred people, you estimate, are sitting on the sidewalk, candles in hand, listening as someone speaks. We want peace. We do not want violence. We want freedom. Their words, even from only ten feet away, are barely audible over the sound of passersby honking their horns in support of the efforts of a mere handful of individuals, united as one.

Darkness encroaches, and you take comfort in the lack of light. Strangers approach, more open to you now, and eager to converse. A few question if you are Persian, saying they can’t quite tell. When you say that no, you are not, they beam with pride and thank you for your support of their efforts, and of their country. Of course, you reply, and you in turn thank them for letting you share in this moment and be a part of their lives. You mention to one woman that you went to another rally last month, and that the energy and the overwhelming sense of humanity is inspiring. She meets your gaze and says I know, I, too, was there.

In this moment it becomes clear to you. You need not wear the exact same shade of green, for we all wear different shades of the same green. In your mind, you’ve known this all along, but to feel it, to truly feel it for all its worth, that is to own it.

Note: Wednesday night, June 24, 2009, will forever be unforgettable for me. A good friend invited me to join her at a rally for Iran, and I was excited to participate. The words above depict my own experience, but mine is hardly a unique one. I’ve long believed that we can make this world a better place by getting to know one another and by sharing our lives, our cultures, and our stories. This night further proved this to me when the woman told me that she, too, attended the Day of Decision protest of Proposition 8. We are all in this together.

To the people of Iran, and to their families and friends throughout the world, I have this to say: Know that an extraordinary number of people are supporting your peaceful and courageous efforts to seek change. On a single street corner in the valley of Los Angeles, I saw support from people whose origins span the entire globe. People from every walk of life imaginable driving Ferraris, sedans, SUVs, sports cars, semi-trucks, city buses, RVs, and motorcycles all honked as they went by. Folks waved the peace sign and gave thumbs up, and even children smiled and waved as they passed. The number of people watching and waiting, giving silent and desperate support, is staggering.

To the organizers of the rally I attended and to my Persian friends, old and new, I am so grateful for having been able to attend and be welcomed at this event. Thank you.

I mentioned last week that I would be heading to an event in LA codenamed Drink Up Los Angeles. It was the brainchild of Leah, a long-time LA blogger who I’ve crushed on for quite some time. In total, I think around sixteen people showed up (including the always awesome Nicopolitan), some of them bloggers, some of them not, and some of them former bloggers.

Part of the fun of the night was ordering food from a computer (and then paying your bill from the computer), which you know, had my inner nerd satisfied. Plus, it was an interesting conversation piece. But easily the best part of the evening was meeting such cool people, all of whom were open, welcoming, and generally amazing in every sense of the word. It reminded me once again that the internet can be an amazing tool when it comes to meeting people you would otherwise probably never meet.

Arguably one of the best points of the evening, though, was that after the main uWink dinner, a bunch of us walked thirty feet and landed in a restaurant that turns into a karaoke bar at 11pm. History has taught us that I am a karaoke fool, and much singing commenced. The defining moment of said singing was when Leah requested we do a duet version of Love Will Keep Us Together. The picture you see at the top of this post was taken while we were singing Leah was singing and I was going insane since there was a microphone in front of me. It pretty much sums up, in one single moment in time, how much fun I was having. Seriously, I can’t wait for the next one of these to roll around.

Hi! We noticed you haven’t played Zombies in a while, and we’re curious what we could do to make it better. Would you take just one minute to answer a few quick questions to help us improve? We’d love to hear any feedback or suggestions you have. Thanks for your help!

» Help us out now!

Thanks again,
The Zombies team.

I didn’t bother clicking the link to the survey, since I figured they might not like what I had to say. The reason I haven’t played it in ages is because if there’s anything that I hate in this world, it’s third-party facebook applications. I think there’s a total of maybe two useful ones (i.e. Networked Blogs and Lexulous), and I use them from time to time, but aside from that, I’ve deleted almost all of the very few applications I ever bothered to add. Which reminds me, this email must mean that I forgot to delete my “Zombies” application. Time to rectify that…

Yesterday, TechCrunch reported that the Iranian government is currently blocking internet access to FriendFeed, which is hugely popular in Iran.

FriendFeed has been “almost completely blocked” in Iran, co-founder Bret Taylor tells us. You might not think this matters too much since FriendFeed is much smaller than Twitter (note: Twitter is not being blocked) in terms of users, but the service was hugely popular in Iran, Taylor says. In fact, Iran is one of the service’s most active countries, and it is the most active region as defined by comments per user per day, according to Taylor.

All this speaks to silencing the words of the people, so I am reposting here a first-person report from Iran about the election. Thanks to Seldo for bringing this to my attention. I wish all the best to Wilfried and his family.

The following is a rough conversation outline I just had with my uncle, who lives in Tehran. Sorry for the poor readability and grammar. My Farsi isn’t the best, and his English isn’t great either, so we had to make do. I haven’t had time to proofread and clarify yet; just wanted to get this out there in its most raw form. Draw any conclusions you’d like.

Italics = me
Rest = uncle

“Tell me whats going on with the election.”

Basically, the Iranian people want the following:

1. Take steps towards democracy
2. Have good and free relations with entire world (incl US)
3. Seek peace, as we are people who want peace with neighboring countries
4. seek progress, for a better situation and position in the world
5. These are all aims which Mousavi, Rezaee, and Karroubi desire.

We are told by Mousavi, Rezaee, and Karroubi that they are going to govern peacefully, strive for good relationships with other countries, and bring peace to the country. They support progress, and want good relations with other nations, even Israel and the US. They’d also like to stop giving economic support to palestinian terrorists.

Those are their aims and promises. But then the election occurred.

- Nearly 50 mil people have voted
- We are all sure that most of the votes have gone to Mousavi
- We are sure he would win with more than 26+ million.
- We found that Mr. Ahmadinejad had 6-7 million, but of course he is backed by the government and supreme leader.
- In reality, it is its like a coup d’etat.

“Tell me about the protests”

- When people realized their vote hasnt counted, they reacted in good and democratic matter. They went out of the house and had respectful, peaceful gatherings in different streets in Tehran. All of these have been filmed and are on YouTube and Voice Of America (VOA).
- The gatherings are going on and on. They don’t seem to stop.
- Of course, Ahmadinejad’s supporters are also gathering.
- Mousavi has planned a demonstration today (Monday) at 4-6pm in tehran, betwen Azadi street @ Revolution square. I believe they will have a speech about the events and future of these demonstrations.

“Have you seen the demonstrations personally?”

– Yes, I have seen them personally, but I didnt dare to go into them personally. There are too many army people [riot police] there. They are very rough in their actions.

“They are violent?”

- Thats right. They hit people with electric batons and tear gas. They want to make people fear them.
- In Ekhbatan (south western Tehran, ~500k people), we see the demonstrations from the 9pm onward every night. People go outside and shout slogans like “we want our vote,” “we want our president,” “we don’t want Ahmadinejad,” “down with the dictator,” and “down with Ahmadinejad”. Also, I witnessed the army [riot police] attack some people and break into homes and break many street windows between 2AM and 3AM (both saturday and sunday night).
- Now we are waiting for Monday’s demonstrations, to see what happens.

“Just batons and tear gas, or guns too?”

- We heard shots fired, but have been told that people are not the targets, that they are shooting into the sky as warning.
- We heard news from Shiraz that one univ. student was killed. I am going to look at other media to confirm because the state media filters everything.

“What do you think is going to happen?”

- I think this is the kind of reaction people have in such a situation. They have reached the conclusion that they can’t live with this situation. They want their country to progress, be peaceful, have good relations with other countries, and not to interfere with internal relations of other countries (palestine, iraq, etc). We are serious about these things. We don’t want to interfere. We need to have good relations with other countries. Until now we haven’t had good relations with them. I voted for mr Mousavi. Those of us who voted for him want him to fulfill these objectives: good relations, stop economic support of terrorism, peace, and progress, both industrial and scientific proposals. These are the main things that these people want… and they are going to pursue their desires and needs.
- At the present time, the people are going to hear from their leaders[/candidates]

“So you think theyre waiting for the leadership to define what the next few days or weeks are going to look like?”

- Yes exactly, absolutely, they are going to reveal their goals, and they want to have their elected candidate presented as the president of Iran, and I think we as the people of Iran will not stop pursuing that goal, having Mr Mousavi as president.

“Even if Mousavi becomes president, do you think the surpreme leader is going to allow change to happen?”

- Of course, we can’t predict what will happen, but this process has already started. I think both the fate of this process will ultimately be democracy. I think people want democracy and are willing to sacrifice all their life and more. But I cannot predict what will happen. We don’t know what will happen. But now we have been confronted with the situation that the Supreme Leader has very definitely interfered with the democratic vote of the people.

“Are you implying there may be some kind of change in the entire leadership of Iran?

- I cannot predict what will happen. This is a process that we have just begun. We have to let the process unfold. It may be that the Supreme Leader may bend to the will of the people. I think this is probable.

“You do think it is probable?”

- Yes, maybe, but not too much. Naybe 10 or 20%. This depends on the behavior of people, it is upon them to decide their own future and fate. But really the past history has shown us that this is very improbable. *laughs uncomfortably*”

“Some people here are concerned that the outcome may only strengthen the hardline/Surpreme Rulers’ rule, and/or that Israel will try to take advantage of this.”

- Thats right. I’ve heard that, and Ive heard that some people in Israel are very happy that Ahmadinejad has come back to power; maybe that gives them some reason to attack. The thing is, we dont want war. We want change. mr obama has stated the same. We want change, and we have demonstrated that we need and we want change to happen.

- Also, I wanted to add something else. I think our leader mr mousavi is against any violence, and I think they have selected kind of a policy that is very very similar to the policy of Mahatma Ghandi: the policy of anti-violence. Through this leadership he reached the desired outcome, as did Dr Martin Luther King in the United States. The same thing I see in Mr Obama, the same thing we see in Nelson Mandela. This will work, and we are with it. I think the demonstration of Mr Mousavi will be totally anti violence. All the intellectuals in Iran are for peace and want to stop interference in the other countries affairs. They have adopted the way of nonviolence, to keep going and to follow and to continue the process of this voting and this, to some extent, revolution.

“So you would think of this as an attempted revolution?”

- Yes, I think this is a step towards it

“One last thing – have you heard of the riot police being from Lebanon, or being Hezbollah?”

- Not yet. I have not heard anything about them bringing any Lebanese police. I doubt it, but I am going to ask those people in Khermanshah, and I will contact you.

“If you do hear anything about it, please let me know”

- I will tell you.
- I want you, and all those that seek the truth, to please inform the people of the US and abroad, that this time the Iranian people want to have good relations with all countries and all poeple. This should be very clear for the American people, they shouldn’t judge the Iranian people as terrorists, or those who want to are evil or corrupt. We will have democracy in all its objectives.
- I will inform with you any news I have.

“Tashakor, Khali mamnoon”
-Ghorbonet beram, khodafez

]]> http://www.rockytimewarp.com/2009/06/first-person-report-from-iran-election/feed/ 1 http://www.rockytimewarp.com/2009/06/first-person-report-from-iran-election/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/allthingsphil/~3/fDiuCRcc7ZM/ http://www.rockytimewarp.com/2009/06/drink-up-los-angeles/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:21:09 +0000 Phil http://www.rockytimewarp.com/?p=641 If you live in or around Los Angeles, definitely consider heading out to Hollywood tomorrow. Here’s what you need to know:

Drink Up Los Angeles is happening on Saturday, June 13 starting at 8pm at uWink.

uWink
6801 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90028

Come join us for a laid-back gathering and have a few drinks, alcohol or otherwise. This is not a marketing or networking event. Although some connections will inevitably be made in the natural course of things, please don’t come with that intent. We are hoping to have a nice and easy hanging-out-type of night with friends, old and new.

The event was arranged by the fabulous Leah Peterson of Leah Peah fame.

Be there or be square.

]]> http://www.rockytimewarp.com/2009/06/drink-up-los-angeles/feed/ 2 http://www.rockytimewarp.com/2009/06/drink-up-los-angeles/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/allthingsphil/~3/BE660jt2M2E/ http://www.rockytimewarp.com/2009/06/touch-my-vomer/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:47:17 +0000 Phil http://www.rockytimewarp.com/?p=636 As if it wasn’t completely apparent from my plethora of rants on this website (read: the only four entries I wrote for the months of April and May combined), my spring semester of graduate school was about as much fun as shaking hands with Rush Limbaugh. School went from being a cool place to learn new things to being a place where gouging my eyes out with a melon baller seemed like better use of my time.

Luckily, this summer I have only one class for summer school, and the absolute lack of stress from it is enough to add hopefully one or two years on to the ten years of my life the spring 2009 semester has no doubt cost me. One spring class remains for me to complete, though, an issue of contention that in a week or two I will be finally putting to rest. The side effect of this one extended class has been a surprisingly positive one, in the form of a classmate who’s becoming quite a good friend.

We’re in the same situation, she and I, and our recent evening of a five-hour study session has cemented our friendship. Without the pressure of attending this class every week, without the clamor of other classmates for grades and minute details whose relevance are lost even on the professor, and without the constant bombardment of the inexplicable notion that if we cannot do this, we have no business in the field, actual learning is taking place. We’re able to move at our own pace and digest the information in ways that we can understand, and lo and behold, we’re also prone to poke fun at the information we’re studying, a sign that it is, in fact, something of interest to us.

We got rather carried away tonight when I realized that a certain bone in your nose sounds vaguely sexual. And while it’s a full-on inside joke that I doubt any others might find funny, I’m still chuckling about the hilarity of someone rubbing up on your Vomer, and I’m pretty sure the mention of the Vomer as a salty midnight snack left the two of us useless for a good five minutes since we could barely breathe.

The point is, though, that my previous frustration with this material is dissipating, and a somewhat tepid enjoyment is beginning to take its place. I suppose we all learn in our own time, and the older I get, the more true that seems. I’m grateful for the second chance I’ve been given. I think I’ll make it through all right after all.

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