ain't nothing wrong

today begins yet another week. i went to a party last night, one hosted by the brazilian contingency here, and so as a result of much dancing and good-time having, a feeling of lethargy of the mind is currently clouding that part of my brain that forms words. what makes it worse is that now i have to try to read hebrew. things are just not clicking right now.

this morning we had office prayers. i had picked one out to read, but i just sat there staring at the words. i knew that if i tried, i would be slurring my way all over the place. so i just sang one. further entrenching myself in the persona of..."tweety". oh well, what to do.

i realized last night that i really miss dancing...and not just crazy shaking of the hips that is characteristic of brian, but real dancing...south american style. it reminded me of those times when navid and i would join those random dance classes for ballroom and salsa lessons - in the futile attempt to culture ourselves. it made us focus on the form and the purpose of the dance because, as navid found out the hard way, if we started to get jiggy, our parteners (which were usually 50-60 year old women) might just break a hip. ah, good times.

navid stay strong, and keep reminding brian that "there ain't nothing wrong with....", well, you know.

fear and guilt

i woke up this morning thinking about the nature of fear and guilt...i didn't get very far. instead i'll leave you with this poem:

spears in sunlight

with one hand i grip
and with the other i loosen
the hold of the world on my shoulder.
with ears stretched miles back to hear
the muffled sounds of shuffling feet.
i shout to the earth to fight
the garrulous nature of crickets.
for i want to tell the multitudes,
and in my words and signs i've left clues,
that madmen and heroes often sit unnoticed.

arab + american = belgian calendar

last week i had to go see a man, let's say his name is Hani, about some...er...work related matters :). his office is actually just down the road from mine, and so it was just a short walk over to his building. it was quite hot outside, and i'm sure i arrived looking quite flustered. so i step into his office, and he rises from his chair. my first thought was, "man, i just want to give this guy a hug". he was such a lovely man, and a bit like a small teddy bear. but i compose myself, walk over, give him a firm handshake...and then, and i don't know if it was initiated by me or him, i found my self embracing him. he sat me down, got me cold water, and we talked and talked about other matters before even approaching business. then we got down to what we needed to, to the nitty gritty, and then we chatted some more. before i'm about to go he says, "oh, i must give you a gift". so he then proceeds to pull out of his desk this attractive little calendar from Belgium. he had been invited to speak at a conference in Brussels, and after the conference was shown around the city by the mayor who then presented him with various souvenirs, one of which was this calendar. so now i have a new calendar in my office. people here are so giving.

one more thought:

"Century of Light" is amazing

question of the day:

according to Shoghi Effendi, what were the three major achievements for Abdu'l-Baha's ministry?