I have come to the conclusion that people don't like quotes. I can picture y'all opening my site in anticipation of exciting news or defilement of someone and being utterly disappointed by the quotes. Yeah, I'm picturing y'all thinking "quotes = snore." So, I'll hold off on them a little unless I find some really good ones. OK, so persianguy opened up the success of Iran prior and post revolution for discussion (or he already decided, I'm not sure). Well, all I can say is that Iran is very multifaceted. My heart is in Iran, but in that sense I don't know what I mean: the country, the culture, the people, the history? As far as my political affiliation, I guess I don't really have one. There's no point in my having one because I can't it to change anything. If I lived there, I could theoretically join a party and change or support whatever I wanted. The last time I was in Iran was in 1997; this is the experience I use to guage the success of the country. I did not have a good time there. OK, let's remove factors such as family members. Maybe they were the reason for not having a good time. OK, so now we're left with times when I walked in the streets/bazaars/restaurants/parks. The events that occurred in those places is the bulk of why I strongly disliked being in Iran. I never felt more devalued as a human being and reduced to nothing more than a sex object than when I walked down the streets of the 3 largest cities in Tehran as a 13 year old. After going through that for 2 months, I cannot even begin to imagine going through it for my entire life. There were nice times and memories I have from going there, but those were largely reserved to familial influence. Once that factor was removed, there was nothing left for me but pain. While all the things you say about Iran's success may be true, I don't think we can ignore the fact that a lot of people have been hurt by it's government, and it has changed the people there. A lot of people were hurt by the Shah's government too, but I think it is impossible to say that no problems exist in the current Iran. It is far from a utopia.



On : 3/7/2004 8:44:13 PM diego (www) said:

your words on Iran are really interesting. I have my own experiences going back to Mexico on vacation - which I do at least once per year. My heart is split between the US and Mexico. In Dallas I feel I have complete liberty and personal security as well as a bright economic and professional future. Then there's Mexico City that has all the culture and urban life that I could ever want - at the expense of feeling safe walking down the street late at night and always feeling like I'm being judged by seedy characters looking to make some cash by robbing me....but I'm still intrigued by how my life would change if I decided to move there.

Hehe, I feel like i'm hijacking your blog, so I think i'll reflect more on this tomorrow and post on my blog. I guess what I wanted to say the most is that I understand how your heart can be torn between your ancestry and your present.

On : 3/7/2004 9:06:23 PM prettydoc (www) said:

Diego, that is so beautifully said! That's exactly what I'm trying to convey. Please, hijack away. I'm so glad you understand.

On : 3/7/2004 9:30:58 PM diego (www) said:

hehe ok. well here's more...

exhibit A of diego being torn: watching the US play Mexico in any sport. I always end up rooting for Mexico because i can't stand the arrogant way US players act. We all know they have all the money in the world, they don't have to be uppity about it. All of which is why i got really depressed when the US beat Mexico in the World Cup in 2002...I mean soccer used to be the one sure thing where Mexico used to wipe the US out.

Then there's the part of me that feels really guilty about going against the US cuz I live here and this country's given me all I have.

On : 3/7/2004 10:04:25 PM prettydoc (www) said:

I totally get it. When I went to the Wrestling World Cup in 1998, I was rooting for Iran the whole time. The US players were just so cocky, while the Iranian teammates were so nice. We even got to hang out with them for a while ( I played fooseball with one!). When they lost to the US, I was so upset the whole ride home. But when Iran beat the US at the Soccer World Cup, I went crazy with joy that the US had gone down. That then scared me because I live in America, so I probably shouldn't feel that way. But I do, so I guess I'll have to deal with it.

On : 3/8/2004 3:05:26 PM gp (www) said:

i like this post. its the most personal of all the blog entries ive seen in this little community. i wish all of you would share like this instead of talking about what you ate and how frustrated you are in your love lives. daily events are ungodly boring. a journal is private for many reasons. lets try and not make this about daily events? or how about this. make it into a narrative instead? add an interesting fictional twist? make up names? i dunno. its just that there are literally millions of these types of blogs and they all basically say the same thing. the day breaks and a conflict develops. the hero makes themselves out to be more pathetic (or more heroic) than they actually are. the conflict remains and instead of dealing with it, the internet hears about it. =)
im not going to argue that im any better. this is just a suggestion which i should take as well. im not a voyeur, but this expoundment of daily events make me feel like one. does this make sense?
just a suggestion. feel free to ignore me. =)

On : 3/8/2004 3:22:20 PM prettydoc (www) said:

I get what you're saying gp, but sometimes it's hard to come up with deep stuff to say. If we tried to make everything deep, we'd wind up w/ stupid stuff like how dryers are obsolete. There has to be the lame diary entries so that when a real gem shows up we can appreciate it. Thanks for the compliment and I'll try to bring some culture to the blog community in the future.

On : 3/9/2004 2:59:51 PM diego (www) said:

haha. yeah, we can't be deep all the time. i'm afraid short flashes of brilliance are all you can ask from us gp.

On : 3/9/2004 4:31:55 PM will (www) said:

You and the ten thousand other decendants of a thrice defunct regime. Iran this, Persia that.

I want to hear more about dryers. Since you seem to be taking suggestions.

On : 3/9/2004 5:52:28 PM prettydoc (www) said:

OK, dryers are warm and inviting. When you use a Bounty sheet, your towels smell like heaven.

On : 3/9/2004 7:42:27 PM diego (www) said:

oh God, not the dryer debate again.