I FAILEDDD!

FYI: I failed my driving test today! YES! I mean NOOOO! :(
Yeah Yeah... I went there and everything went okay! started driving smoothly doing everything properly and nicely. Then on the way back, the last left turn before the test center I looked around to take the turn, it was raining heavily, right, left, right...nothing... there I went and she screameeeedd STOPPPP!!! I put my foot on brake immediately, a dog was running across the street and its owner was running after it. I knew I had failed, I got so mad, it was such baddd luck! I was so pissssed! I got back and she said: "What the guy did was illegal, but you're still bigger!". So there it was, the yellow paper in my hand I got out of the car.

Sanam is sitting here nagging that she's bored, she's waiting for Hootan to get out of the washroom so she can put on her makeup. She's got this sad look on her face with her foundation cream in her hands staring at what I'm typing. And now Negar and Negin have joined her in staring at the screen, and now I am starting to enjoy three people looking at what I write :D :D :D

alright enough! PEACE OUT!

Barobax.net's Traffic

I received an email today from my hosting company warning me that my website's traffic has reached its 90% traffic of 5000 Megabytes (5 GB). This is both good and bad. It is good because it shows how popular the website has become that in 27 days it has transferred about 5000 megabytes of pictures and data to its viewers. On the other it is bad because if the site continues to grow like this I will have to start paying for this traffic. For now, if it reaches 100% cap. it will be taken down.
Since I moved to this new host in January, Barobax.net has had 12830 unique hits; an approximate average of 100 visits per day.

Spring Is Awesome Indeed

I'll be leaving on Thursday night, June 3rd. These few days will be the last few days before I leave so I am trying to make the best of it, and I am. I'm having the time of my life. I'm happy because of the excitement caused by the recent spontaneous changes. Due to all this I find much less time to update the site. However, I will not let it go down at all. I will keep the updates rolling as I travel throughout the States, Dubai and Tehran. With pictures, stories and news. I will come back to the land of Maple Leafs and glittering white snow, perhaps somewhat sooner than what I had planned before. Make the best out of these lovely spring and summer days before those cold winter nights. Living in Waterloo has never felt so great. Cheers to you all!

Parnian's Birthday

Parnian is in Iran, but she notified me of her birthday:
"koochiktaring ozve BAROBAX 19 saleh shod"
:) Happy Birthday Parnian. Even though your claim of being the youngest in the circle of barobax is yet to be verified ;)

Guestbook Fixed!

The guestbook had a problem and it did not take new submissions. It is now fixed. Thanks Navid for informing me.

Trip to Mississauga

Last night we planned to go to Aladdin in Mississauga. Hootan, Hamed, Ali, Bahareh, Armaghan, Sanam, Negin, Negar, Nahid and me. 3 cars. We went to Aladdin, had a good time. Jaaye barobax khaali. At around 1 AM we decided to go to another place, to a bar or a club or something and as we came down, we faced a shocking scene: Hamed's car had 2 flat tires and a car next to it had all four tires down. After standing there for a long time, calling CAA and waiting for them to come and pump the tires we realized that the tires aren't just missing air, they'd been vandalised and knifed! There was no choice, the car had to be towed. It started raining and after a longgg period of waiting the tow truck arrived. The driver, a humongous 7 feet monster stood tall like the Empire State building and started towing Hamed's car. Hamed stood there like a mother staring at her newborn baby waiting to be vaccinized by a doctor. If any tears dropped, it got mixed with the rain. No one testifed! And here we are, 3:17 PM on the Saturday afternoon, in a so called long weekend, calling here and there to find a place where we can fix the tires. And by the way, we're not in Iran!

Dream of Dawn

In the hazy memories of the past I swim, like a fish. Slowly floating, quietly dreaming. Here I sit, listen and remember. Here I revise another virtual reality, I listen, I respond. Am I living two lives? In two worlds?
In the desire of that daydream; here I sit, and watch it like a movie. I play with it like a video game. But I fail to grasp it, to smell it, to let go to it. I look at far far distances, I strech my hands to reach, I wave them to get attention. Why do I want to live this dream? I close my eyes and imagine. I then open them and see it all gone. It is like a game being over, a movie reaching its end. What is taken from me? Have I had it all the time? Or never in the first place? I grew up with its memory, memory of an unknown land. I miss it. I could cry for it. I wish for it. Nothing happens, the best I achieve is that virtual reality. When will I smell it? Will it happen before I am at the last of my breath, looking at my hands and feet for the very last time? Will it?
Let the clock ticks heal me. Let them bring me a souvenir from the far away land. I will keep it. I will put mirrors all around it. I will take pictures of it. I will give life to it. Create it. I will then smell it, touch it, and stay with it. I will belong to it.

US Border, Butterflies & Casino Niagara

Today, Hootan, Mahdi and I went to Niagara. We wanted to cross the border to go to the US, and once we got there we hit the longest line up ever! It would at least take us two hours to reach the bridge and it would have been stupid to tell the American officer that we waited for two hours just to see the Falls from the other side! So we decided to cross by foot. We parked the car at Casino Niagara and we started walking towards the border. There was a 50 cents fee for pedestrians going to the States, so we lined up there paid the fee and started walking over the bridge. We got to the US customs, Hootan having his American passport in hand and I had my green card. I told Mahdi not to tell he's with us and he started walking behind us with his Canadian citizenship card. We got to the American officer first and even though everything was totally legal and I wasn't doing anything wrong my heart started beating like a time bomb! The officer asked a few questions and asked why we're there. So we said: "We just wanna see the falls from the other side!". The guy looked at us, swiped Hootan's passport, and handed everything back: "Go ahead."
So we crossed and Mahdi walked in behind us. We were officially in the States. We started walking around for a short while, took some pictures and went back.
That was about it for our short trip to the States.

After returning to Canada, we decided to go to Niagara's butterfly conservatory. You can see the pictures. It was AWESOME, don't miss the chance of seeing it if you're ever there. Even though I STRONGLY discourage it for you Negin!!!

After the conservatory we went to Casino Niagara. It was my first time in a Casino, so it was interesting. There were so many Iranians there! I was shocked! I didn't play but the guys played for a short while and walked off after losing 10 bucks each!! :D

We returned to Waterloo around 8 PM after a 10 hour trip to Niagara. It was exciting. Jaye barobax khaali.

Garden of Eden

It is absolutely beautiful outdoors. I've never been in a place so beautiful. The trees, the flowers, the greenery, the seeds on the walkways. Ducks, squirrels, swans, falcons, raccoons. All around, with a light rain sometimes that washes everything clean. Absouletly amazing, all at my doorstep. This is indeed a beatiful land during spring. Set aside the long seasons of freezing rain and snow, go outside and take a deep breath. You cannot tempt people with beatuies of heaven here. Words can't describe what eyes see. No one would listen to promises of the Garden of Eden here.
I will take some photos soon, and upload them, eventhough you have to be here, and walk in the streets to understand what I mean by this beauty. Honestly, words can't describe it. Enough said then!

Trust

Trust is like a credit card. Initially you can't give a credit card to just anybody. But once you start to know very little about them, you give them a small amount of credit, with care. As time passes by, the credit card holder through transactions proves his or her reliability. In other words, he or she "purchases" credit. So the credit increases. This can go on for a long time, and a stable, trustworthy and honest person can gain more and more credit to establish many goals. However, if it turns out that the credit card holder abuses the credit, then the bad credit will haunt him or her for a long, long time.
I'll never forget what my high school supervisor told me: "I trust you Pooya, like my son. But blow it once, and you've blown it forever". Thanks Adonis, for teaching me one of the most valuable lessons of my life.

چه می بینیم؟

Let The World See Your Ugly Face

Yeah, let it happen to them too. Let the truth come out. It is ironically interesting, when one hears the word American, one thinks civilization, freedom, rights, etc. Did you see what they did to the Iraqi prisoners? Did you see that Americans are just like any other human being in any other country in the world? Arabs aren't genetically terrorists, Israelis aren't devastating by nature, Americans aren't historically noble, Mongolians aren't fundamentally ignorant. You said the act was un-American? Who do you think you are? Virgin Mary?!
Humans all around the world are the same. Put all Canadians in Tehran and watch them drive, I bet you it's going to be a bigger disaster than what exists now.
You aren't better than anyone! Let the world see your ugly face. The same ugly face that you've been trying to show to the world that you think belongs to Iranians. We are all as ugly and as beautiful. Let the world know the truth! Damn I hate liars!

Gays & Lesbians

She looked normal. She acted normal. I was attracted to her, I thought that she could be attracted to me too. But then I realized somewhat too late maybe. It suddenly clicked, she wasn't straight! She was a lesbian. I thought to myself is it really true?! Being a gay or lesbian has always been like a storyline to me. One that I hear on TV shows or in the movies. Sure I hear from people that they talk about a gay person or I read it on the university paper once gay people talk about their rights, but perhaps I had never really seen one myself. Maybe because I've been always keeping a distance, but this girl looked so normal that I didn't think she'd be gay. The issue is sort of annoying to be honest. I tell you why:

I think not being straight is a psychological disorder. It is like a disease. Sometimes one can inherit it genetically, and other times one might get infected through his or her social environment. Look at all the parades and advertisings and articles. Why is it a disorder? I tell you what I think:

Naturally living organisms tend to move towards those traits that makes them more fit for their environment. For example, all living organisms naturally escape from danger. One important trait is sexual reproduction. Humans in order to survive need to produce offsprings, this can practically occur between a male and a female. Now if you begin to disturb this balance by keeping the males with the males and the females with the females then you won't have any offsprings. This is not a productive trait. I am not saying that humans should only do what they've been doing for centuries or milleniums, I am saying they should do what eventually makes things right. For example, even though I am not a vegeterian I think being a vegeterian makes sense, because if humans can survive with only eating vegetables, and not harm any animals, and better protect the wildlife around them, then they can live happier. So even though not many people are vegeterians, it is not wrong if they all become vegeterians. However, being homosexual is totally different.

I think this issue should be dealt with seriously, nowadays it's as if offending a gay person is a more of a serious crime than offending an innocent kid. Here in the west, the media and the society all around are talking about it, it is like a virus that is spreading. I am not sick of those who are diagnosed with it, I am sick of those who are spreading it. One should not be socially encouraged to be homosexual solely because they have the freedom to be. Freedom is not about performing every possible act. Freedom should not be harmful.

Today's Update

I applied for OSAP today. Finally I will start paying waaay less for my tution. My estimate was $5400, how is that?! I remember Ehsan getting $9000+ !!

I have a driving test tomorrow, I have a feeling I haven't practiced enough, I rented a car for 2 days and practiced for a few hours with Hootan, I hope that helps me pass. Good thing is that It's not like Dubai where you fail and your next appointment is in 3 months! You can go for the test again after 10 days. So that's good.

GMAIL! Yes! Ali B. invited me and now I have a Gmail account. I desperately wanted my favorite ID: pooya_f but undescores aren't supported by Gmail so I had to go with pooya.f@gmail.com. It couldn't be pooya@gmail.com either because it has to be at least 6 characters long. I assume those of you who are interested in Gmail have read a lot about it already, but I will probably post a few things about it that I find interesting as I explore it fairly soon.

The search for a house for fall hasn't stopped yet. We've had no luck finding a decent one and we are sinking deeper as time passes quickly. We've seen quite a few, but they're just not what we have in mind. The search continues...

Soon I will book a ticket to Denver, Colorado for June 5th. That means I am going to be in Waterloo for exactly 1 more month. Let's see how it goes.

The next Super 7 lottery is on Friday May 7th. The estimated jackpot is $5,000,000. I will buy the tickets with the 40 dollars remaining from the cottage money. Let us pray. Meanwhile you can start daydreaming about all the things one can do if we hit the jackpot. وصف العیش نصف العیش

Cottage Flash Clip RELEASED!!!

Marvelous work by Amin. This AWESOME flash clip is not to be missed! Ekippe Barobaxe Cottage: see yourself in the clip.
Good job Amin.

Click here for the Exclusive Barobax Cottage Flash Clip

Cottage Expenditure

Ekkippe Barobaxe Cottage:
As I mentioned in my email, we have about 40 dollars left. Please leave a comment as how you want this money spent.