Hurry up and ...

Being 7 years old is not easy. Case in point (I am generalizing here but I’m sure most of us deal with the lack of hours in a day in a similar fashion):

• Children have to work with their parents’ / guardians’ (hereafter parents) schedules. For example, school doesn’t start until 8:40 but most kids are dropped off at a pre-school care at least an hour or so earlier so they can be walked to school. “Hurry up and wake up” parents say.
• In a mad dash to get everything in order for the day, most kids are handed a quick breakfast, which they end up eating on their own without anyone to talk to. In the meantime, parents are busy preparing lunches while listening to the 24/7 traffic update hoping that their commute will be easier than yesterday. “Hurry up and eat” parents say.
• Backpack on their backs, kids are given a quick kiss on the cheek and handed over the pre-school staff. Quick waves of a hand and off they go. They’re now our education systems problem… at least for the next 8 to 10 hours. Phew! To the other motorists, “hurry up and drive faster” parents say.
• Although school ends at 2:40, most kids don’t get home until 5:30 or 6:00 at night. Thank goodness for the after-school care. Kids are greeted with their parents’ tired smiles at the door when it’s time for pick-up. “Hurry up and lets go; we still have to make dinner” parents say.
• Finally, kids are home. But the pressure doesn’t end there. Wash your hands! Empty your backpack! Why didn’t you finish your lunch? Do you have any homework? What do you mean you’re not hungry? What do you mean so-and-so was mean to you? You have to toughen up! Now “hurry up and get ready for your basketball and soccer practices; just double up your uniforms so all you have to do is take the top jersey off” parents say.
• Dinner is prepared quickly without any consultation with the kids. They are simply involved with the consumption of whatever it is that is placed in front of them. “Hurry up and eat; we’re running late” parents say.
• Repeat the last step: Finally, kids are home. Oh, my gosh! It’s 8:30 PM. “Hurry up and take a shower; it’s way past your bedtime” parents say.

“I’m sure glad Thursday is over” kids say. Or at least I think they do.

And then we wonder why our kids don’t spend any time with us when they grow-up.

Thanks for reading,

Armin

Destiny in a Crystal Dome

I grew up with my grandmother’s stories. She, Maman as I called her, had a story about everything. It was a gentle way to let me know what is good and bad, right and wrong, acceptable and frowned upon. Looking back, I have realized that those stories shaped who I am today, for better or worse. But there was one story that is never too far from my mind and I would like to share it with you. Here it goes (this is a literal translation of the story as I remember it; I don’t know who else to credit this story to other than my grandmother as I couldn’t find any reference to it online):

Once upon a time, in a land far away, lived a King and a Queen, who were blessed with the arrival of a beautiful daughter. As it was customary in the old days, the Royal Family called upon a Fortune Teller to learn more about the little Princess’ future. Fortune Teller, reluctantly accepted the request as he knew that any bad fortune would mean the end of his life, however, he considered it his duty to serve his King and Queen.

Upon one look at the Princess, the Fortune Teller lowered his head in sadness as he knew of the terrible future that would be. The King noticed the emotions and ordered the Fortune Teller to tell all as he sees it. Fortune Teller foresaw the death of the Princess on the night of her 18^th birthday as she will be stung by a poisonous scorpion. Bewildered by the news, the King ordered the beheading of the Fortune Teller and summoned all to rid the city of scorpions. However, just to be sure, he demanded the creation of a large crystal dome, which could house the Princess until she turned 18 years and one day old; as this would surly break the fortune that awaited her.

So the dome was built with only one point of entry that was high enough for no creature could get in or out. This small window was used to pass food to the Princess as everything else that she needed was placed inside the dome.



Courtesy of Google Image



As years past, the Princess began to wonder about the world outside of the dome. She knew there was so much that she was not a part of, but she did not know as to why she was being kept in the dome all alone as no one dared to tell her the full story of the Fortune Teller. However, she had heard rumours about a deadly scorpion from those that attended to her needs.

A day before her 18^th birthday, Princess asked for a special gift: a roll of bee-wax, as she wanted to preoccupy herself while she excitedly awaited her release from the dome. The King saw no harm in that as what harm could be caused by bee-wax. She ordered the palace’s bee-keeper to prepare an uncontaminated bee-wax and present it to the Princess. The bee-keeper did as he was told.

On the night of her birthday, the Princess decided to create a scorpion out of the bee-wax. Once completed, she fell asleep with the scorpion on her chest and began to dream of the next day and all the wonderful things the life outside of the dome has to offer.

Thanks for reading,

Armin

When We Were Kids...

My last blog, Remembering the summers, prompted me to look back a bit and review all the things that we used to do in the 70s and 80s that would be deemed absolutely unacceptable or at least frowned upon by today’s parents (meaning us). Here’s what I came up with and I’m sure there’s more that I just can’t remember yet:

• Having a teenage mom, who I love very much and thank her for deciding to keep me. Love you mom (and dad, of course)



Family Picture; from left to right: My sister, mom, dad, me, and my brother!

• Doctors pulling me out with super-sized 1970 style forceps, which nearly blinded me and caused brain damage (albeit the latter may still hold true J); rumour has it that I was a 12-pounder kid... I think it's just a rumour!!!
• Deciding that at age 5 I was old enough to go grocery shopping on my own; this didn’t go too well as it caused a serious panic in the neighbourhood
• Walking, running and jumping off 10-feet tall neighbourhood walls
• Riding bikes without helmets
• Never mind airbags in cars; seat-belts were optional at the time of purchase J
• Sitting, standing and occasionally rolling around in the back seat of cars; and if we were lucky and behaved well, we would be awarded a chance to sit in the trunk of the station wagon… oh, good times.
• Jumping into a shallow home-made pond, only to break my nose by hitting the bottom of the “pool”
• Never mind smoking 6 meters away from entry points; people used to smoke in the room, in the car, in restaurants, beaches; really, there wasn’t a place that you could not light one up
• Playing with the mercury that came inside the thermometers… funny, how that little swirling silver-colour ball can cause mercury-poisoning, eh? Who knew?
• Playing with lead- painted toys… forget that, we played with lead itself if we could get our hands on it J
• Bullies? We weren’t afraid of bullies because we all had a friend in the neighbourhood that would take care of that problem; albeit we had to pay “our friend” to stand up for us. If the neighbourhood bully wasn’t around to protect you, you could ask your dad to find the “mean” kid and give him a good spanking
• Grabbing a cab and going to school at the age of 10… and then walking back home in the afternoons, all by myself
• And the list goes on and on…

I would love to hear your stories and I hope you’ll add your piece to this.

Thanks for reading,

Armin

Remembering the summers...



Picture Courtesy of Google Image: Unknown Photographer!



There’s something about the warmth of a late-spring sun that takes me to my childhood years during the elementary and junior high schools.

The end of school year; final exams, which was then followed by report cards; playing football (soccer) in the back alleys with a little and usually deflated plastic ball; bottle of Coca Cola (or Canada Dry Orange) and muffin as a substitute for breakfast, lunch and dinner; riding our bikes, without a helmet, freely all over the streets in “our” neighbourhood; late wake-up calls and even later bed-times; unlimited black-and-white TV shows on our little red-tube television set with a rabbit antenna; hours of Cowboys & Indians or Cops & Robbers street play-time, which was usually followed by hours of reading or re-readings of my favourite books and comics, which included Adventures of Tintin (I had all of the hard-cover books in the series); helping my dad with the set-up of the “Cooler” (an old fashioned air-conditioning mechanical system that simply worked by splashing water on a straw filter while forcing wind through it… it worked great).

But most importantly, I miss the sound of untamed laughter of my childhood friends as it echoed through the streets and alleys of Tehran.  I’m sorry that I only got to experience it for the first 10 years of my life before it was stolen from us.

Thanks for reading and may your life be full of untamed laughter,

Armin

Drum Rolls Please...

And so my second blog is now ready and published: My Journey: The Second Half. I hope you'll enjoy it. However, My Journey: The First 40 Years will continue telling stories of my past so please check back in often as it will be updated as it did before.

Thanks for all the love,
Armin

Canucks & More Milestones

Driving to and from work today, I realized that I was the only one with a Canucks flag still attached to my vehicle, outside of those die-hard fans that have the Canucks logo plastered and/or glued to their vehicles. It was just a day earlier that you would see a flag on every second or third vehicle, so much so that one could question the dedication and loyalty of those that didn’t have a flag on their cars. After all, “We Are All Canucks”, right? Well, for most of the time and only if and when it’s convenient, and only if we’re on a winning streak. That’s sports for you.

It’s overdue but it’s always better to be late than never: it’s time to toot my own horn and tell you about my blog’s new milestones; and just like the last one, I would like to start it off by saying thanks for taking the time to read my stories and posting your comments, providing your feedback and guidance along the way.

It is the 5000+ readers celebration. Here’re some stats to share with you:

• First blog entry: 9:30 PM – Pacific Standard Time, on November 24, 2010, titled Not Another Blogger; obviously, that didn’t change as the aforementioned blog is still my first entry J
• Number of readers to date: 5,125
• Most read blog entry: Rest in Peace My Friend, dated January 1, 2011, which also won a first place prize at an open contest; this first place entry is followed closely by Racism is just “peachy”!
• Top three “referring sites” in order: Facebook, LinkedIn and Google, which the latter moved up to replace Twitter
• Funny Stat: One of the reasons why my blog showed up on Google so many times was because of people searching for the following keywords: “Samantha Fox” and “Phoebe Cates Fakes”
• “Page views by countries” in order of highest to lowest (drum rolls please): Canada, United States, Denmark, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Russia, Hong Kong, Germany, Philippines and Australia
• Just for fun, I thank the following “browsers” (top three only as the list is too long): Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari
• Also, I’d like to thank the following top three operating systems for allowing readers to access my blog: Windows, Macintosh and iPhone

Well, many of you had asked me what I was going to do with this site once I reach 40 years of age on April 27th as the title of my blog won’t be relevant. Well, there’s work in progress so please stay tuned.

Love you and thanks for reading,

Armin

Imagination!

I’ll explain the reason behind showing you this picture shortly, so please hang in there!

The last couple of weeks have been full of great surprises, some of which I can share while others have to remain a secret for the time being.

Well, as some of you may have seen the Facebook update, our four-legged two-footer monster suddenly decided to become a two-legged two-footer monster. Yes it’s true, Brayden finally walked without any assistance. Affectionately, he is currently known as “Frankie”, which stands for little Frankenstein J

Also, for the first time ever, Isabella surprised us with a breakfast in bed for Easter Sunday. She brought us two bowls of cereal that were delivered on individually prepared trays. Also, she made her baby brother breakfast along with a bowl of fresh fruit, which consisted of chopped up red grapes.

I’m very proud of them both!

Now, what’s with the picture you ask? Well, here’s the story:

Couple of nights ago, right before I started with the bedtime story, Isabella asked, “daddy, what do you see when you look at the fan?”

I tried to concentrate as hard as I could but couldn’t come up with anything; I simply answered: A Fan!!! How boring!

So here’s Isabella’s version of what she sees… but before you read any more, take a look at the picture again and see if you can let your imagination lead you to the answer.

Here’s a one minute pause J

OK, so Isabella told me that she sees a woman (head, two arms and two legs) with a baby boy in her tummy, which is being kissed by her triplet girls!

Do you see it now?

May you be lucky enough to have an imagination as colourful and active as a six year old.

Thanks for reading,

Armin

PS. Next time that I feel like life is tough, I'll try to remind myself of how difficult it is having to learn to walk.

Denmark...



Little Mermaid(s)



Isabella getting introduced to
my favourite writer, Hans Christian Andersen



… the land of small cars, bicycles and people with big hearts; or at least that was our experience.



Now, that's bike park!



As you may know, we spent Spring Break 2012 in the land of the Vikings. The sights and sounds of Roskilde and Copenhagen were enough to keep any tourist engaged. From its cobblestone streets to water canals zigzagging through the city, and from the old castles to the new and beautifully built Opera House, Denmark has something to offer everyone.

However, this trip was not just about experiencing a new country; rather, it was about reconnecting families and introducing new members to the old ones. And I think we succeeded in accomplishing just that, thanks to my family’s wonderful hospitality.



Royal Plaza



I met my cousins’ spouses and children for the first time, while Karm (my wife) met most of her extended family only for the first or second time.

However, the highlight of the trip was the way Isabella, our 6 year-old world-traveller, was embraced and loved by everyone in Denmark. To watch Isabella review old pictures with her great uncle, to witness a bond being developed between Isabella and my cousins and their respective families, and to hear Isabella talk about her experiences in Denmark was an amazing experience.

Unfortunately, our 1 year-old world-traveller, will not remember much about this trip, however, rest assured that he had an impact on everyone around him through his mischievous behaviour, his devilish smile and baby-words, which in no way, shape or form make sense to anyone except himself. One such word was “Teekam”, which was repeated by everyone throughout most of the trip.

Finally, it was great to share this experience with my parents. I loved sitting on the sidelines to watch my mom and her brother (my Uncle Esi) disagree on things like two teenagers, or to listen to stories between my parents and Uncle Esi and Zohreh Joon (my Aunt (Uncle Esi’s wife)).

Another reunion must take place as every 20 years just doesn’t do it.

Thanks for reading and wish you a lovely reunion with your loved ones.

Armin

PS. Thanks to Hadis, Paritpal, Mahdis, Jacob, Sara, Payam, Daei Esi, Zohreh Joon, Elham, Jamshid, and their children for making this a memorable vacation. Love you all. Also, I wanted to thank all those that came to visit us, whether they travelled from within Denmark or as far away as Germany. Your presence made this trip that much more enjoyable.



PPS. As a bonus, we got to spend the Persian New Year together. This was a real treat in that the it had been about 30 years ago that we got to do that.

The New Begining...

It's hard to believe that I'm turning 40 in couple of months, while my son just turned one on February 22nd <touch wood :)>. I say it's hard to believe because few generations ago I would've been a grandfather at age 40. We're certainly living in amazing times.

I look forward to another 40 plus years of a wonderful life, while hoping that I'll be around to see my grandchildren. At this rate, my children won't be married until they have reached their late thirties and certainly won’t' have kids until their fifties, if they decide to have any at all! For my sake, I hope their generation will be more proactive in reproduction than tour generation.

Thanks for reading,
Armin

For your viewing pleasusre, here's the link to some pictures from Brayden's birthday party:

Wiggly & Wobbly

Isabella & Karm at the snow-tubing hills of Cypress Mountain

I’m starting to love winter… and I don’t mean the typical warm tropical type that we get in Vancouver. Rather, I am talking about the one with the punch; yup, the snowy type. May be it’s another one of those aging things.

In fact, I’m so in love with winter that for the second time in as many weeks I decided to hit the hills for a little wintry excitement. No, I didn’t go skiing; I went snow-tubing, which is just as fun, but with better speed control J.

Sun Peaks 2012 Family Trip!

This past week marked a couple of major milestones: Isabella’s tooth started to wiggle and Brayden took a wobbly unassisted step towards adulthood. I’m not sure if either of them are a good milestones as one may lead to thousands of dollars of dental work and braces until Isabella is 13 or something like that, and the other is going to possibly cost thousands of dollars for damages done to the house by breaking stuff; either way, I may have to start saving some money for the unknown, albeit I’m not sure where we’re going to have to cut back from… may be we won’t need the 200 plus TV channels after all!

Another interesting thing I have noticed is the unpredictability of children, especially 6 year-old daughters. There are times that I am the best father ever while being showered with love; suddenly, and only minutes later, I am one of those fathers that will “never understand” his daughter and “always” hurts her feelings. I take comfort in the fact that Isabella’s mom is also on the receiving end of such comments.

Finally, I’m starting to appreciate life with my families a lot more. This one, I am sure, is an aging thing. But, I’m constantly trying to figure out a way to spend more time with everybody, whether it’s a family trip or a house party. It’s amazing how time becomes a precious commodity as I age.  Nickleback said it best:

If today was your last day and tomorrow was too late / Could you say goodbye to yesterday?

Perhaps I don’t want to leave anything to chance and lose out on today.

Thanks for reading,

Armin

PS. Isabella, thanks for teaching me to love winter just as much as summer. I'm amazed at how you were able to find beauty in all four seasons.

What’s Old Is Not Necessarily New Again!

Clearly, some things need to stay in storage! Last week, my parents handed over something that was very special to me when I was a kid. This thing dates back to early 1980s. I was thrilled to have it back. My dad asked me to take it home and change the battery and have another go at it.

I couldn’t wait… I carefully placed it in my jacket pocket and protected it like my wallet. This thing has been with me through the good and the bad. On the way home, all I could think about was whether or not I could fire it up once again and listen to its sweet sound.

If you look closely,
you can see my fingerprints
from years of pushing on the
buttons!

Next morning, I put new batteries in my hand-held video game and it came alive. It was ready to go like it had never stopped. Excitedly, I called our daughter over to show her my childhood toy. She couldn’t wait to see what it could do. I turned it on and pop appeared the soldier on the screen. 7000 points later, which was accompanied by many compliments from my daughter, I lost and my last soldier succumbed to the attacks of the enemy.

I couldn’t wait to pass the video game to my daughter to play. I was sure she was going to love every minute of it.

Well, 3 minutes later and against my words of wisdom (trying really hard to convince her not to give up), she passed it over to me and asked for her Nintendo DS. I guess my generation’s video games just don’t do it anymore. L

With much sadness, I thank you for reading,

Armin

PS. My “Soldier Fighter” is sitting in the cupboard with Isabella’s Nintendo DS.

Are You Ready For The Three-Letter-Word Conversation?

I am a self-described open-minded person. I spent my early teen years in a country that one of its most important national icons was a cross-dressing singer: Zeki Muren… beautiful voice and a beautiful person (YouTube her name if you get a chance… you won’t be disappointed).

Upon arrival in Canada, we settled in the Westend, where it is internationally known as the gay and lesbian capital of British Columbia.

So it’s fair to say that I have been exposed to different lifestyles and hard to believe that I could ever feel uncomfortable about anything… until tonight!

Tonight, our daughter’s school had put together a seminar, which was “intended to provide parents with guidelines around what to teach their children and when”. The organization, Saleema Noon Sexual Health Educators, was going to talk to my baby girl about sexual health??? I don’t know why, but I was nervous and unsure. Although we have been trying to be as “open” as possible when it comes to talking about the topic of sexual health, I have to admit that it’s not an easy topic to participate in when children are involved.

Long story short, I am so glad that I attended the presentation because it reinforced what I had been saying all along: Best medication is prevention (fine, I have simply said what many others have said before me). I learned that my daughter’s class will learn (and I’m quoting here):

·         That they have ownership of their bodies

·         Scientific words related to sexual health

·         That reproduction usually happens when a man’s sperm joins a woman’s ovum by sexual intercourse, but that there are many different ways that families are formed. All families are unique.

·         That the baby grows in the uterus (not the stomach)

·         That the baby is usually born through the vagina

·         Not to pick up condoms or needles

What are listed above are hard topics of conversation but necessary ones… I am just glad that a real doctor will start the conversation and that my wife and I will have to simply follow the lead.

I don’t know about you but I wish I had a similar education when I was growing up... but that would’ve been unthinkable 30 years ago in a religiously driven and war-torn country of mine.

Thanks for reading,

Armin

PS. I think it was Sir Francis Bacon that said knowledge is power! Isn’t that the truth? Thank you Cambridge Elementary School and PAC for organizing tonight’s event.

As always, your comments are welcome! I hope you'll share your experiences with me.

First Brick

While sorting through some old stuff in the storage,
I came across a bunch of my old name-badges, which prompted the following question:

Looking back at years past, I began to wonder to whom I owe my professional progress.

Was it that little construction / development office in Istanbul, Turkey, that hired me as a “coffee boy”? I was working full-time (5 days per week) when I was about 13 years old and brought home about 4,000 Turkish Liras, which paid for our weekly household groceries… actually, I had a bit left over to treat my family to Lahmacun (famous Turkish pizza) every Friday and buy a little toy for my baby brother from a neighbouring pharmacy that displayed all sorts of shiny toys behind the shop window. Back in 1985, 4,000 Liras went a long way as if I remember correctly Ekmek (Turkish sourdough bread) was about 250 Liras.

That job lasted for a year or two but I am ever so grateful for having the chance to experience it. I learned how hard it was to make money, the difference between the “Wants” and “Needs”, prioritizing expenses, the importance of family members helping each other, self-discipline, and most importantly humility!

Thanks for reading,

Armin

PS. Take a chance on and give a chance to a teenager… you might just be the one that sets the first brick on his or her path to success!