I believe I believe I believe!

I believe every one of us lands in this world with a purpose. If only we pay attention to the signs and details that cross our path so frequently, we'll discover our true sole purpose. Granting what has been written on the wall of my destiny, l am determined to make a promise to shine a light for any lost soul who comes my way! Salome N. Saz

Roses are Red, and the sky is Blue!

The moment you told me "all roses are red and the sky is only blue," I felt invisible inside- you had never noticed the "black"of my eyes, "yellow" of my skin, or the "violet" of my heart! Salome N. Saz

Happy Valentines to all the "breathing-souls In love!"

It's been 20 years, but seems like yesterday: They said, " love has made you blind." I said, "love has given me the chance to see the world through my soul." They said, "love has taken away your senses." I said, "with love I can feel the delicacy of the world's flavor." They said, "love has broken your stride." I said, "love has become the wind beneath my wings." . . . They say, "love dies." I say, " so does everything else in this world; its impermanence helps me enjoy every moment of it while still alive." Happy Valentines to all the "breathing-souls In love!" Salome N. Saz

Wake Me Up Tomorrow!

You wake up in the morning and all of a sudden you feel the heavy pressure of a gloomy day , you feel a strong sense of suffocation & want it to end right after it started. you imagine skipping the page and going to the next chapter. Even though the next chapter is totally unknown , thinking about it blooms a feeling of hope inside you that predicts " most days on the next chapter- especially the first day- are light, sunny and full of fresh air!" No matter how true your prediction of the next chapter might turn out to be, you believe it as the truth and the only truth for now! This is how we humans survive our day-to-day life struggles : There is always an illusionary beautiful tomorrow! Salome N. Saz

Father's Day!

ديگر شاهد أهسته أهسته گذر عمر پدرم نسيتم .شاهد اثر ارام مرور زمان بر چهره زيباي مادرم نسيتم شاهد روزهاي تولد, جشن هاي عروسي، مراسم عزاي ماد ر بزرگ، پدر بزرگ، خنده ها ، عضه ها نسيتم و عزيزانم سنگيني مرور زمان را بر شانه هاي من نميبينند. حال خوب مرا نميبينند و صداي لحظه هاي تنهايي و دلگير مرا نميشنوند إز أنها فقط خاطره عشق به جا مانده در ذهن خسته و وفادار من وقتي سرنوشت من را با دوري پيوند زد زمان را در ذهن و قلبم منجمد كردم، چرا كه حركت زمان خاطره هايم را كهنه و كهنه و كهنه تر ميكرد و رنگ و جلاي ان لحظه هاي زيبا و كم نظير را اهسته اهسته كم ميكرد. اري، چند صباحي است كه فقط من مانده ام و اين خاطره ها؛ خاطره هايم را با قطره هاي گاه به گاه اشك دلتنگي و روياهاي دلنشين شبانه جلا ميدهم روز پدر را إز رآه دور به بهترين خاطره زندگيم تبريك ميگويم و زير لب براي أو از پشت گوشي تلفن زمزمه ميكنم پدرم دوستت دارم ، و دعا دعا ميكنم كه مبادا اين بهترين اين عزيزترين اين دلنشين پدر لرزش قلب دلتنگ مرا إز رآه دور حس كند . ارزو دارم مرا هميشه شاد و خندان تصور كند ، چون ميدانم أو به لبخند من شادمان است! سالومه ١٦ جون ٢٠١٣

This Mysterious Life- Puzzle

Watching a burning cigarette sizzling in the wind took me back to my very past, to those days of melancholy and despair when the volcano of absolute isolation and fear shuddered me bitterly. Though, something strange happened inside me. Looking back at the sad scenery of my life, I felt a soft breeze of sincere peace and gratification grew within me. Yes, my travel to the past put a genuine smile on my lips instead of making me unhappy. Finally the closure I was looking for so long landed leniently on my bare hands : Hadn't I been gone through all those layers of disappointment and despair, in which I buried my hope, faith and trust over and over, I wouldn't have found some missing pieces of the mysterious life- puzzle. Salome. N.

Freedom is not my cup of tea!

I keep telling myself: " breath... breath ,.. do not hold your breadth." Then again I often catch myself holding my breadth ; suppressing life within my heart . I guess despite of all the years I've spent in the new places where I have unlimited access to fresh air (where i can breath as fully as i want to for free), the idea of living to the fullest and breathing life in thoroughly has not yet become my cup of tea. After all, I'm an immigrant. in the land I came from they don't put free " fresh air " on the market for ordinary consumers like me. Salome N.

Let's walk together!

Long time ago, Time came in to my life and took me for a walk. However, Time's steps were too small, and walked so slowly. On the other hand, I was walking so fast, taking two steps at a time and finally started flying. So Time who couldn't keep up with me anymore, sat down and watched me flying away. At some point in our separate ways, Time and I met again and started flying together. But our fly did not last for a long time. We lost each other in the middle of a storm. Today, Time and I meet again. Time looks fresh and I look tired. Time is flying up tremendously fast. And this time, I sit down and watch Time flying away. It's unfortunate that Time and I never compromised; neither Time , nor I gave up flying to walk in tune with each other! Salome N.

I wonder why it took me such a long time to do this simple math: I am not and never have been Jesus, so I am going to stop being nice to mean people!

Breaking Up Is not Always So Bad!

"Life" has been so nice to me, since I broke up with "Yesterday" fell in love & became serious with "Today" and finally stopped dreaming about "Tomorrow"! Salome N.

Speed of Life!

January is passing through too quickly, too fast- like in the blink an eye. I feel I haven't been able to catch up with it thoroughly like I used to do in old times. I'm grasping at the life, holding on tight; however, its speed has gone up too high. I'm grateful for every age I'm blessed to become, but I'm aging too fast. I can no longer feel every moment as fully as I used to do. Yet, I know I can keep buckling down, I can keep forgiving quickly & taking chances, I can keep kissing slowly & laughing hard and I can keep loving deeply. Yes, I keep doing it all, because life is too short to be anything but happy and I owe happiness to myself, I always do!
Salome N Saz

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

is it...?

I'm bored to tears of incessantly feeling uninterested; I need a fresh start!
I need a new beginning; but with me in such eroded state of thought and physicality, it would be impossible to thrive. I need to rejuvenate and gain all the liveliness I lost through the passage of many exhausting years!
Is it possible to not take it all back; to pick the unmarked and leave all the battered memories?

Life will Go on!

Life has been taking your pieces apart so mysteriously for so long, that eventually comes a day that you’ll see no past resemblance in your present self.
You take one look at the mirror and one look at your old picture in the family photo album ; you are no more able to remember the recognized relations & the feelings inside the picture.
That’s when you notice your family has become a friend on Facebook and your friend is the family whom you see habitually.
How far will you go on?
Would you ever go back to find the lost pieces of your past, to put every part at its earlier place, to become one once you were?

Remember

the distance between us and our relatives has made us forget about the bitter reality of the diminishing process of human's aging.now the sign of their existence has turned into a tasteful imagination, and a shadowed sweet-like memories of our far gone forgotten childhood!because you don't really remember!

To Live

To love, to sip a double-shot espresso in a warm cup, to listen to a heart-stopping voice when singing a titillating song, to have a long morning sleep in a room with a tick-curtained window, to drink a glass of French chardonnay with the fruit and vanilla toasty aroma, to laugh and to cry freely and to dance carelessly
= To Live
The rest are just number of Ordained Imitations of a Real Life

pleasure!

In the name of FATE!!

In the name of FATE! “When the fate commands, the entire universe will come along in abeyance.” This is my belief. As I recall, I’d always believed in the human’s infinite power in controlling his life, until some tragedy opened my eyes to the true nature of life. 18 years ago, my cousin died of cancer at the age of 17, while she was insistently bargaining for the bright future, the stingy dealer, Fate, didn't consent in the end! She had diagnosed with leukemia three years before she died. She went through all the remedial therapies discovered by that time, six months later she was getting healthier for about a year, but she ended up saying goodbye to her life few years later. Actually, her time had been up from many years ago, but her parents and people who loved her did everything they could to postpone this departure; they thought they could fight with this unsympathetic fate and make it walk away from. Well, unfortunately the real fate doesn't work that way! I still remember, my cousin’s shouting, “help me, please help me,” from very far end of the deep ocean, my sister and I were there too, we were witnessing my cousin drowning deep in to the Caspian sea. we were scared to death, but our mouth was locked shout for a few minutes, because of the sudden, massive anxiety we fell into. My whole body was frozen, I was incapable to move closer or shout for any help for few seconds. My sister and I were the only people I could see around us. (That afternoon, three of us sneaked out from the hotel room, went for swimming without our parent’s permission.) Finally, after some life-savor minutes I pulled my self back to the sate of conscience and started screaming and crying, my sister started crying too. I was the oldest among three of us and my cousin was the youngest. I remember, the burden of guilt for not crying out for help faster to save my cousin’s life . The guilt was with me for a long time, till one day I learned the position of “destiny” in life! In that gloomy afternoon, my cousin didn't drown in the sea; she was saved by my mother who came out to the beach after she heard us screaming and few life guards who were cruising all over the sea to save human’s lives, or in the other word, to encounter fate. The story didn't end here and the happily ever after did not last long ; seven years later, one day, fate came over my cousin's bedside one more time, waked her up, & gave her a kiss of Leukemia. She was 14 by then. This time my aunt and uncle tried every existing possibility in the universe to set her free from leukemia. They took the best recognizable doctors to her bedside, prayed, loved and helped the poor. But nothing could change the fate’s mind. She died two days after my 19th birthday. Her name was Farnaz, and we all loved her so much. She was smart, passionate and happy. She was like a sweet little angel, beautiful and peaceful. Watching the non-negotiator “destiny" taking her away from life made me promise one thing to myself : that I would live my life like there is no tomorrow, until the day Fate-with its firm smile- walks in to my bedside. On that day I wont turn my back or look the other way. instead I will smile back and wait..! Salome N. Saz

"Kiosk" Concert review

“Kiosk”, is the first Iranian underground rock band outside of Iran.
This band is well-known for its biting critical, social and political, but humorous lyrics accompanied by rock music.

The lyrics and music are all written by “Arash Sobhani”, the lead vocalist, songwriter and guitarist, based on his personal experiences and his sociopolitical observations.
With the release of their third album, “Global Zoo”, KIOSK, has been launching their North American “Global Zoo” tour, and San Francisco was one of their stops.
The San Francisco concert was held at the “Mezzanine” club, on Friday, Nov.18.
The tickets were sold for $35 and there were also $55 tickets for the people who wanted to get access to the VIP lounge.
“Mezzanine” was big enough to contribute an adequate dancing space for almost 300 people. The high rise ceiling also offered the full amount of fresh air.
The club’s artistic lighting and its strong sound systems also made the place very articulate.
There was a bar close to the entrance that was surrounded by the people who were ordering drinks.
The VIP lounge was located at a corner of the main salon, several steps higher than the ground level and far from the stage. It also didn’t have any dancing space.
There were just some chairs at each corner of the VIP lounge, but the chairs were all at the blind spots, so if some one was seated, she or he wasn’t able to see any part of the stage.
Certainly, it was very disappointing to the VIP audience, who paid more for their tickets and most of them ended up coming down to the main salon, in order to order drinks, watch the band and dance with the music.
The show time was scheduled for 8:30 p.m. but the band showed up around 10 p.m. Therefore, the audience was already drunk and ready to mingle by the time the band showed up on the stage, I would say.
But there is something I need to point out, that being late is such a common behavior among Iranians, especially the artists, so no one in the crowd was upset or surprised, because of the two hours delay in the start up. Even some people, like us predicted this delay before hand, so we showed up for the concert around 9 p.m.
By the time the band came on the stage, they started their performance rightaway without any introductions, so during the first five minutes of the show, we were not really sure if that band was “Kiosk” or some local band that is just there to entertain the expecting audience and kill the time, or maybe this false asumption was just the effect of alcohol running in our blood!
The “Kiosk” performed the new album, “Global Zoo” including nine songs on that night, which are the following:
1- Ay Ay 1
2- Sirabi e Naft
3- Pragmatism e Eshghi
4- Agha! Nigah Dar
5- Kafsh
6- Livanha,Botriha,Galonha
7- Gerogangiri Dar Bagh e Vahsh
8- Chahrkesh e Pooch
9- Yarom Bia

Sobhani’s voice was very pleasant and comprehensible.
The lyrics were all social commentaries on a wide variety of issues affecting the daily lives of Iranians all over the world, that is why everyone could some how relate herself or himself to the songs.
The guitar player, Babak Khiavchi, and the drummer, Shahrouz Molaei, were also playing a great role in making the performance pleasant with their versatile playing instruments.
The volume of the music instruments were in harmony with the volume of Sobhani’s voice, so both the songs and the music were absolutely decipherable.
The casual lyrics in Sobhani’s conversational songs and also the unity between the performers and their instruments, created an affectionate era, full of energy and joy.
When the show ended, the cheerful audience applauded the band and asks for more songs, so the band performed the first song, Ay Ay, one more time; repeating one song of the album at the end of the show, as the audience demands, is also a common routine in each Iranian concert.
Audience was fully satisfied with the “Kiosk” performance. I could tell that by catching the smiles left on many faces when they were exiting the club.

“Arash” Concert Review

Not everything, and different or out of ordinary is interesting; as a matter of fact, some innovations would be anything but interesting!

“Arash,” is what I would consider as a phony innovation.
“Arash,” is a new Swedish band with a male Iranian lead singer named “Arash” which had its first north Californian concert at the “Avalon” club in San José, on Friday, Nov. 21.

Unfortunately, everything about this event, from the very beginning part, to the ending, was a bogus indication.

The band’s music style was an unharmonious mixture of Rock, Pop, folk and the lyrics of more than a few songs, such as “Boro,” “Naro,” “Dasa Bala” and “Tike,” was an array of rubbish Iranian expressions.

The worst part of all was the fact that everything we were hearing during the performance was coming right through a record player and the band members were just bunch of amateurs, who were acting as if they were playing instruments or singing on the stage; they were performing a fake live show, right in front of our eyes!

Couple of incidents confirmed the live “Arash” performance was a fake:

First of all, during the entire performance, I could hear the flute playing, but there wasn’t any flute player on the stage.
“How embarrassing! If they had recited their performance, just once, before the show, they’d figure out, that they should have some one out there, as a flute player?” said Habib, an audience.

And the second fact was the female Swedish singer, “Rebecca,” who was inexpertly reciting in ‘Farsi.’
In the meantime, she left her microphone on the stand and started dancing on the stage and, but we could still hear her singing throughout the record player!

The hardly tolerable high volume of the show was also an unwelcoming matter for the audience.

There was only one thing that kept me standing still till the end of the show, and that was the unintentional ridicule, presented in this performance.
All I was waiting for was another hilarious incident, on the stage and apparently, I didn’t have to wait long for that moment to come along.

Since all the band members were are Swedish excluding one, so they didn’t understand the meaning of the lyrics they were singing together, so as they were all singing a gloomy, restrained song, the band, started jumping up and down, as if they were reciting a harsh rock song.

I should also mention that, before the show started, the security guards purposely wouldn’t let the people who had come to see the show, inside the club, in order to make a big line out there to create a center of attention in the neighborhood.
So even though, we’d purchased our tickets beforehand, we still had to stay in that huge line, for about one hour.

The bartenders, were also working deceitfully, in their own way; the common bar rule “first come, first serve,” Was not applying back there, so it took us almost half an hour to get our first drink, even though we were in the first row, right in front of the bartender.

“What else could possibly go wrong in a performance?”


“Arash,” was an actual thumbs-down!