Absolute Random Nonsense

Towards the end of the summer, we were informed that in order to enroll in Nikan’s middle school, we were to pass an entrance exam. This would be similar to our previous finals although all questions would be multiple-choice. There wasn’t much studying to do given the vast amount of material that it covered so the best option was to simply go with what we had learned and knew. The morning of the exam I was dropped off rather early and as I stood in the schoolyard scoping out the new environment and the few students- all new - already there, one of them seemed familiar to me. Apparently the feeling was mutual as he looked at me and waved me over. It was Bijan. I hadn’t seen him in about a year but we picked up where we had left off. We talked about all of the people we had known (I told him Hamid was also attending this school to which he responded, “The vomit guy?”) and funny things that had happened to us in the past which in itself completely eased any tension we were feeling prior...

Yasmine Dubois, known professionally as Lafawndah (also known as KUKII) is not like 50 other artists within a one-mile radius. Her music draws from wildly unpredictable influences – devotional songs, ambient electronica, the British singer Sade, Iranian folk music and the films of Robert Altman have each had their moment – and refracts them through her own experimental pop sensibilities. She was born in Paris to an Iranian mother and an Egyptian father. She grew up in Paris and Tehran and is now based in London. Lafawndah’s lyrics are deceptive. Take Town Crier from Tan, which sounds as if it might be about an abusive relationship. In some ways it is, but the relationship is instead between a state and its citizens, inspired by her experience of returning to Iran in 2011 around the time of the Green Movement protests. “I want songs to start with intimacy and then as you listen you begin to understand there is more at play,” she says. “It’s hard to suddenly go into bi...

In Spring of 1993 I took a job working at Jonathon's in UConn's Student Union every Friday night from 6:00pm until closing (around 1:00am). My first night there as I looked over the lines of people waiting for food or just socializing, Richard Marx's "Endless Summer Nights" kept playing in my head. The following week in a similar scene Go West's "King of Wishful Thinking" did the same. One night I noticed a girl being carried around on a guy's back. At first due to their comfortable behavior concerning their surroundings I assumed they were older than me but when I thought about it, I figured that given that I was 21 at the time, the odds of this being true was only 25%.  

A Santa-suited gunman who killed six people on Christmas morning was the estranged husband of one of the victims and the father of two teenagers who died in the massacre. Aziz Yazdanpanah, 56, showed up to his estranged wife's apartment on Christmas morning dressed like St. Nick and opened fire shortly after the family had unwrapped presents. Yazdanpanah then killed himself. The six victims were identified by ABC affiliate WFAA as: Nasrin Rahmaty, 55, who was Yazdanpanah's wife; Nona Yazdanpanah, 19, his daughter; Ali Yazdanpanah, 15, his son; Zohreh Rahmaty, 58, his sister-in-law; Hossein Zarei, 59, his brother-in-law; and Sahra Zarei, 22, his niece. Zarei owned a popular Dallas, Texas, ranch and was well known in the Iranian-American community, according to WFAA. On Christmas Eve, the family hosted a party at the ranch. The gunman was not invited. Police received a 911 call, which initially sounded like silence, Sgt. Roger Eberling said. After listening to the call again, Ebe...

After I left Iran I heard that our cat stayed around for a while before leaving. I found it odd because even though it felt closest to me, it still received attention (and food) from other family members so i didn't understand why he chose to leave. It was only when I thought about it further that I realized he had been just as devastated as I would have been had he one day simply disappeared.  

A California woman is mourning the loss of her husband, who drowned over the weekend while  saving his 7-year-old son’s life after their kayak capsized.  “He was a very loving person,” Mojgan Manafi said of her spouse Hadi Ahmadi, 55, according to The Press Enterprise. “If he didn’t have anything, he was still willing to help people. He was such a great dad. He was such a great husband." According to a news release from California State Parks, tragedy struck on Saturday, Dec. 6, at Lake Perris State Recreation Area in Riverside County. Authorities responded to reports of screaming and people in distress in the water near Moreno Beach, the department said, sharing that a father and son were kayaking when their vessel capsized.   Neither individual was wearing a life jacket at the time, though there was a vest in the kayak, according to the department. “State Park peace officers quickly arrived on scene via patrol vessel and immediately recovered the man, who was uncon...

Darren’s puzzled look told Kurt that maybe he should have opted for the long version of the events. “Kurt, this is very unusual.   I’m not sure if I would feel comfortable just handing out that kind of money to you.   We have never had this kind of relationship before and it’s just a bit odd.   It’s not something I can make a decision on right on the spot.   You need to explain to me what exactly is going on.   And this really isn’t the proper place to be having such a discussion.”   Darren motioned at the children he held. “Look Darren, I really can’t explain. Just trust me on this, I need this money really bad.   Like I said I’ll pay you back and then some.   Just do this one thing for me.” “Kurt this whole conversation is a tad bit bizarre and quite frankly this isn’t the time or place for us to be having it.”   Behind him the sound of conversations, laughter and music morphed into one inaudible din.   “Kurt I’m sorry but I r...

Yashar Z. Sany, formerly at Microsoft is a serial entrepreneur and visionary founder of IranianLawyer.com, Azki.com, and PersianRugs.com, platforms serving millions and redefining legal tech, digital insurance, and e-commerce for Persian communities worldwide. While at Microsoft, he started a Persian Teams channel – a global community connecting Persians around the world. He hosted meetings on the last Thursday of each month. And during these sessions he invited and interviewed special guests which consists of successful tech & non-tech Persians, so as a team they can learn and inspire from. He immigrated from Iran, starting with humble beginnings, working at a rug store in the US. He then earned a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Boston University, graduating with honors. Later completed an MBA from the University of New Haven while working full-time

With the completion of the 1982 World Cup, an updated set of World Cup soccer cards were issued. Brazil continued to lead the pack in all categories (other than goals received). Still having a soft spot for Italy, I was somewhat agitated that they hadn’t overtaken West Germany as the second highest team in overall points. The fact that West Germany was in such close pursuit of Brazil in all categories made me uncomfortable. With the possibility of them eventually catching up and passing Brazil, I made a conscious decision to always hate the German national team and all things related to German soccer. Poland’s third place finish in the World Cup hardly ranked them high in these cards’ standings as their poor past performances yielded a low aggregate number of points. Updated stats aside, another observation regarding the new cards was the shoddy work that had been done regarding their pictures. While many of the pictures were just too dark, the actual content was also questionable....