Long Enough For the Clouds…

Sometimes something or someone is just so awesome you have to rap about them. Here is that rap. The Navab Rap.

It’s funny.. I thought that for the most part I created this blog for myself. It chronicles almost 10 years of my life at this point, and entries (if you can find them) pretty much tell my entire life story. There is that element of blogging though that I found that I really enjoy… Sharing.. I think now with Facebook and Twitter people tend to just plug in to those things and no longer really seek out and read blogs. I seem to get little or no response from people on my posts anymore which in turn I find gives me little impetus to create new blog entries. I and other bloggers seem to be more and more satisfied solely with the microblogging status updates we give and receive on Twitter and Facebook. What I have is a dieing blog. The same thing seems to be happening to blogs all over.

hmmm.. should I do some late new years resolutions?

94. I have lost track of my spirituality lately. I think this is a part of a deep unbalance in my life overall. I aim to fix this.

95. I have lost track of my true artist self. I have created neither song, nor painting or drawing in awhile. I need to resuscitate the artist within me.

96. I would like to give Navab a sibling sooner than later, hopefully a brother.

97. I secretly would like to start watching/following Hockey. I kind of enjoy it. I think I could allow that one sport into my life.

98. I’m not going to coach after this year. I love my athletes, but I need to focus on other things in life like finding balance and getting my Master’s degree next year.

99. I’ve recently discovered that I have high blood pressure. No more salt. Bye salt, I loved you.

100. I do not desire fame, but I desire to affect as many people with my creativity as humanly possible. The way I see this most possibly happening is through creative writing, television, film, or art.

Wow that took me half a year to finish. 100 facts… man.. (no one saw my initial drafts for several months)

Awhile back I did a 20 things about Navab blog post and I want to do another so here it is.

1. Navab has hazel eyes and the pattern in them is identical to her Mom’s eyes.

2. She can count to 20 in English and 10 in Spanish. She also knows her ABC’s although she doesn’t say them all perfectly. Yes she is a year and 9 months.

3. Her favorite television show is Yo Gabba Gabba.

4. She loves playing with her toy house that a neighbor gave to us. She also really enjoys books.

5. She is still a vegan (yes, drinking human breast milk is a natural part of a vegan diet for a baby). She loves Cheese-less pizza

6. Navab loves melon despite her mother hating it and loves grapefruit despite her father hating it.

7. She loves doing headstands.

8. People keep on saying how huge she is even though all the charts say she is just average size… Maybe there are just a lot of short people in Houston.

9. She has memorized the “Blessed is the Spot” by Baha’u'llah.

10. Her mom let a spider live in the bathroom for a few days. This was a big thing for Navab. One day I picked up the spider and took it outside. This was a very significant thing for Navab. It was a month ago and she still mentions about me taking the spider outside.

11. She is allergic to many nuts and seeds. She would probably need a shot if she inhaled the dust from pistachios. Her allergy to them is astronomical on the allergy chart.. We probably won’t ever keep pistachios or cashews in our house ever again.

12. We are currently night weening her. This means Lacey has to sleep in a different bed temporarily so Navab doesn’t go for a feed.

13. Navab currently tries to take ownership over everything she likes… “MINE! MINE!”

14. I’d bed she has at least a 500 word vocabulary now.

15. She has used the potty a couple times.

16. She tries to take my wallet already. Is this an instinct in little girls?

17. I’m starting to wonder if her hair will get darker. It might stay this honey color. I think my hair had started to get darker by this age… but I’m not completely sure…. Call me weird, but I kinda hope it does get darker… Either way I’m happy though.

18. She was talking into a play phone the other day saying “I miss you… I miss you”… I asked her who she was talking to and she said “Papa”… her maternal grandfater.

19. Several of my students have gotten into the practice of begging me to bring her to my school.

20. If you sneeze Navab will say Bless you. If you cough she will ask you if you are okay. If you are close to her and cough she may pat you on the back while asking.

90. I have a highly developed sense of smell and taste. I can smell things most of the time that other people can’t. I didn’t notice this when I was younger because my nose was always stuffed up due to consuming dairy and being around cigarette smoke at home. When I was in middle school I was diagnosed with asthma. Once I stopped being around cigarette smoke my symptoms mostly alleviated, then I fully got clear of mucous when I stopped eating dairy. To be honest. Its kind of weird being a teacher and knowing which kid smokes, which kid smokes pot. Now comes the gross part: I can often tell if a woman is on her period or having a yeast infection if she is within ten feet of me. That is more of a curse than a gift. Like I said… My sense of smell is good… extra ordinary…

I believe this is why I’m usually pretty good at cooking..

91. I’ve been practically living off of young coconut water lately. I just really really like it…. It is so natural… and I think I have a hard time keeping potassium in my system (I am a major muscle cramper..)… so it’s definitely a good thing for me.

92. The worst cramps my swim coach in high school ever saw were from me… Once I crawled out of the pool and my leg muscles practically tried to exit my legs. As soon as one side relaxed the other opposite muscle cramped up worse. I’ve had cramps happen like this many times in my life and that is why I try to keep 1 or two bunches of bananas in my house (potassium). As I mentioned in 91 I’ve also been drinking a lot of young coconut water lately…. It’s good stuff straight out of the coconut, but you need to buy a huge knife to get it out.

93. I often try to mentally come up with solutions to problems I have no business trying to solve just because thats they way that I think.

When I was young I read history books and as a patriotic American I dutifully thought Socialism was akin to the devil. Now I feel responsible and ethical governance includes a balance between capitalism and aspects of socialism, where there are certain social guarantees for all people but an individual may soar to whatever heights based upon their own hard work, and ingenuity. The Red Scare is over people, we have to stop allowing people to suffer (and die even) because we are selfishly clinging to old ways.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDdxY3tXHt0

It’s funny. I am really digging the band Chevelle lately. Lets take a look at some of the lyrics for the song “Send the Pain Below”

“Send The Pain Below”

I liked having hurt,
So send the pain below where I need it,
You used to beg me to take care of things,
And smile at the thought of me failing.

But long before, having hurt,
I’d send the pain below,
I’d send the pain below.

Much like suffocating,
Much like suffocating,
Much like suffocating,
(I’d send the pain below…)
Much like suffocating,
(I’d send the pain below…)

You used to run me away,
All while laughing.
Then cry about that fact,
’til I returned.

These are the kind of lyrics I used to really identify with… Don’t get me wrong… I get it… I dig the song..
What’s interesting though is that while I appreciate the sentiment of a lot of lyrics by Chevelle and a lot of other bands, I can’t identify with many of them anymore unless I think back to past failed relationships. I have absolutely no complaints about my wife… Yeah.. Yeah.. I know.. you don’t want to hear that… lol.. “Great… Myk is going on about how happy he is.. well GOOD FOR HIM..the Asshole!….. I know I know….

but anyways… I used to really FEEL song lyrics about messed up relationships in the past… lol.. now those kind of songs take me on a stroll down memory lane, but the bite isn’t so bittersweet anymore.

Lacey came to my school today during lunch and we ate lunch together. It was a small thing but it really added to my day.

Dreams are one of the most interesting thing about life. In their lies and fabrications they often tell us more truth than our daily lives and the “truths” we adhere to in our surface reality. In our dreams we realize the judgments we make of other people and ourselves. I try not to consciously judge others but I realize that this happen subconsciously irregardless of my intentions. Perhaps it is best not to act on those judgments that happen serendipitously (for lack of a better term). From a dream I had tonight I realize I had made judgments about the character of myself and two others. Part of me wants to garnish the ideas that presented themselves in the dream as some sort of psychological and moral insight into myself and the other people. Part of me wants to reject them as merely fantastic mental storytelling exercises. What I have learned is that I have unresolved feelings of neglect, rejection and betrayal, and regardless of how I act and carry myself based upon my beliefs on how one should live, these emotions might be my true reality bubbling under the surface of my consciousness.

I firmly believe that heart disease exists because we are not true omnivores. We are herbivores. I’ve done a lot of reading on the subject. True omnivores and carnivores do not get heart disease. Heart disease comes from going against our natures as herbivores and consuming animal fats. This is proven by peer reviewed studies. For social reasons I find that I’m saying I believe this as if it were some moral or philosophical statement, but in actuality its factual.

Even the consumption of milk has proven unhealthy. Governments, corrupt scientists and special interest groups have caused a huge confusion about what is healthy and what is not for economic and sociopolitical reasons. Most American’s believe they need to drink milk to get healthy bones when in fact the milk consumption probably leads to their bones being less healthy. Milk, meat and many other foods in our diet actually cause our bodies to become acidic. To correct our blood’s pH balance, the body leaches calcium out of our bones. When someone maintains an acidic bloodstream for years it depletes the bone’s supply of calcium and the person gets osteoporosis. Japan and other countries that do not consume milk do not have an osteoporosis problem.

All of this considered, I feel people should be free to eat which ever way they desire.

“In this great dispensation, art (or a profession) is identical with an act of worship and this is a clear text of the Blessed Perfection. Therefore, extreme effort should be made in art…”
(`Abdu’l-Baha: Bahá’í World Faith, p. 377)

There is a sacredness to putting forth effort to specific goals every day. I’ve been thinking about that a bit lately and I think I need to approach teaching in a more sacred way. I am serious about teaching. I would do anything for my students, I deeply care about them and teaching them, but has it been sacred to me? I’m not so sure. I’ve had 2 prayerbooks right on top of my computer every day for the past 3 years but I’ve probably prayed with them possibly 20 times at the most. I’m going to start to get to work early and have a little time to focus on the fact that what I’m doing is sacred. I’m teaching. I’m performing an act of service to my community and that service is essentially the same as the worship of God. So I think I’ll say a prayer each day at the onset of my work day and try to stay mindful of my purpose, and dedicate these actions to God. I can’t think of a better way to improve myself professionally than to consider everything I do in my employment as an offering to my creator.

65. I also have a really poor sense of direction. This is coupled dangerously with a enjoyment of exploration. Ask my friends… not good.

66. I am the complete opposite of a morning person. I hate mornings. The only time I’m cranky is when I’m tired. I am not a good person when I’m sleepy. I tell my wife that I am not myself till noon.

67. Because I’ve probably worked midnights a total of 8 years in my life I can stay up all night at the drop of a hat. Any brain stimulation whatsoever can keep me up all night. It’s funny because I remember a when I was a kid that I couldn’t do this if I tried and I know a lot of people that can’t.

68. I’ve always wanted to live in a foreign country for a year. I don’t know if this will ever happen.

69. I’m a cancer. I’m a Dragon. I don’t believe in Astrology.

70. I have workaholic tendencies, but my habit of procrastination often cancels that out.

71. Although, I do have years of experience working with children at all levels and ages, and I am also very intuitive with them. I have an ability to almost go back and think in the mode of any age. Still though, I’m reading multiple child psychology and parenting books. I want to raise Navab as lovingly and as intelligently as possible.

72. I do a lot of research for many things that I do. For example…I have read dozens of books on teaching and I consider myself a lifelong learner. I own thousands of books, and I reference many of them quite a bit.

73. Sadly, I haven’t been reading as much fiction as I have wanted to over the past 10 years. I feel I must change this very soon.

74. I used to be a major computer geek, but teaching has been so time consuming I haven’t been keeping up. I had to rely on my friend Greg to help me choose most of the parts for the new system I just built. This bruised my ego quite a bit. It’s my belief that pretty much everyone has some techie friend with superior knowledge of computers that can get them out of a bind, but I also believe that you should never really bug that person. That person should only be bugged when you have tried and tried and tried again, are at your wit’s end ,have completely exhausted yourself and googled like crazy searching for answers, and just can’t continue…. If you don’t do it that way, you’ll never learn and you’ll never develop the problem solving capacity to be a power user, and you’ll irritate your friend having them think that you only use them for their knowledge of computers.

75. I worked briefly as a model when I looked like this:
Hopefully I’ll be in better shape than that in 6 months.

76. I plan on writing a few children’s books. I have some ideas related to my cartoon pitches.

77. I have one graphic novel idea based upon one of my cartoon pitches

78. I love coaching the swim team for my high school. I wish the kids showed appreciation for my hard work more though even though I know they do appreciate it.

79. I’ve decided that this year or next year will be my last year coaching for awhile. I really will miss it but I have other things that are a higher priority right now.

80. I’ve done some work with voice in the past. I did voices for a television show called Fighting Foodons for 4kids Entertainment. I voiced 5 characters. I’ve also Deejayed for college. I did a voice demo CD years ago. I got the idea from my former roommate David Johns

81. My heart goes out to gay people that want to be in a lawful union. I think it should be legal… Now I don’t think the Government or anybody wants to go into anyone’s church and make them perform gay weddings (and I don’t think anybody is asking for that)… No one can redefine your church’s definition of marriage… But the law should support everyone. I’m not a very political person but I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately.

82. This summer we got a family membership to the Houston Zoo. I love the idea of spending all that time at the Zoo and having Navab learn about all of the animals. I think it will also help in many ways since a lot of the educational materials are based around zoo animals. I love animals. Navab can now recognize and do the voices of many of them after going there once a week this summer.

83. If you haven’t talked to me in 6 months I get pretty annoyed… Peeved…. I don’t know why I have expectations of my friends like this. A lot of men can go years without talking to friends and be fine.

84. I have always disliked xenophobia. In other words, I don’t think people should dislike others because they are different or “weird”. I try to be nonjudgmental. I might just be the opposite (a xenophiliac?)… someone who loves what is different….

85. I have a tremendous sense of hope for the Obama administration. I could be wrong, but I think that Obama is a highly intelligent guy with a good sense for problem solving. It kind of bugs me that it seems that some people want to see him/US fail. I don’t think he is a miracle worker, but I hope that he can help put us in a much better place than we were at when his term began.

86. I wish Abortion didn’t exist. The idea bothers me so much, at the same time I kinda understand why it exists. I wish we just lived in a society where there was no question… I don’t have the answers for this argument… I see both sides… I’m glad I’m not a decision maker… This issue makes me very sad on both sides.

87. When I was in kindergarten- age 10 Michael Jackson was my idol. I convinced my Mom to buy me red vinyl pants like the leather ones he wore in the Bad and Thriller videos. I wore them to school. I tried to learn his moves. I wore the knees of the pants out by spinning on my knees because I wanted to break dance. to this day I really want to believe in Michael Jackson’s innocence. I never want to judge people for being odd or eccentric. He may have been taken advantage of because of his money and weirdness. Making him out to be a child molester wasn’t much of a stretch in many people’s minds who suffer from Xenophobia. Still just to be safe… I wouldn’t have allowed my little brother to stay at Neverland Ranch… You never know.

88. I fantasize about freezing time and reading all of the books I want to read.

89. I think that our medical industry is deeply flawed in its organization and many Doctors are unknowingly continuing a flawed system that contradicts their Hippocratic oath. It should be considered “healing” and not “medicine”. Doctors should go to “healing” school and not “medicine” school. The focus should be on the prevention of disease and the healing of it’s causes rather than the drugging of people to treat symptoms (which happens to keep people sick and buying expensive prescription medication for their entire lives making tons of money for the big Pharmaceutical companies which directly and indirectly are responsible for the curriculum of medical schools. Did you know that Most Doctors only get 3 credit hours of nutrition in medical school?

44. My first visit to NYC was to see the swans Michael Gira The second was to work on a show for the Oxygen network as a “hunk”.. lol. for hunk models (who I worked for in the late 90’s early 2000’s). Eventually I took an intership there working on the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles cartoon on Fox Box. I love NYC like no other town.

45. One of my mottos is that it is better to aim at the stars and miss and land on the roof than to aim at the roof and hit your head on the ceiling. I believe I heard this saying from a Cabaret show by Tovah.

46. For awhile in college I lived in a warehouse full of artists in West Philadelphia. It was a somewhat infamous underground venue known as the Fake House. It was bohemian in a way, but AC and Heat are definitely not overrated.

Front Door and Mural to the left


Mural to the right of the front door


The Gym Where I used to keep my music equipment (Chainwheel)


The Kitchen


My Room

47. I have so many things that I love to do that often I don’t do anything because I can’t decide which thing I would rather do. Lame huh?

48. One of my most favorite things to do in Philadelphia was to skateboard late at night (or early in the morning depending on your perspective) when the streets were empty. It was beautiful.

49. I feel that computers have simultaneously given me wings and chains.

50. Having ADHD, sometimes I greatly envy the focus of some of the people I know like George Hatcher and Kristoffe Brodeur.

51. I can probably make over 500 distinct voices come out of my mouth. Sometimes I dream of being a muppeteer or just doing voiceovers for a living.

52. I can sing in over 30 distinct voices. I’ve done pretty good in Kareoke competitions. I should do more of that.

53. I make fun of hippies.. but I love to grow my own food. I’m a vegan. I don’t shower enough (but my biochemistry and flora are good enough that I rarely even smell.. even when I’m sweating), I like to burn incense. I recycle. I love riding bikes.. I like 60’s music, I often have a tremendous emotional attachement to social issues even though I’m non-partisan…. I lived in a communal warehouse in Philly… umm Kinda ironic? maybe I just don’t like the whole drug element they are known for….. because otherwise I share a lot of hippie like qualities…lol..

54. I am very good at arm wrestling. I almost always win. There are only a small handful of people that have beaten me in my life.

55. I always try to see the good in others. I feel that we all try our best and do what we can based upon what we are given and what has happened to us. No one is evil, but we all do selfish things at times.

56. I’ve had a mostly sedentary lifestyle for the past few years. I used to be extremely active. I was highly athletic. I let myself go pretty badly in both diet and exercise. Now, I’m pulling out all of the stops and using everything I know about losing weight (which I’m pretty good at when I do it) and exercise and I’m also trying a lot of new things. I’ve tried P90X, but it is very painful to me and I’m having a hard time recovering so I’m going to modify it some and take another go at it full force after I build up my basic fitness level.

56. I like to hide my intellect behind a goofy demeanor. Lately though I’ve become a little more serious and less goofy because I’ve run into situations in the past where people didn’t take me as serious as I wanted them to. For awhile being goofy and joking all of the time served me well, but in a lot of ways it doesn’t serve me well to be as silly as I used to be.

57. In the past, I have often dance on the line of what is appropriate and inappropriate to say because of humor. Lately because I’m a teacher I’ve been working on not doing that. For instance, If I were with my friends and someone’s butt crack was showing inappropriately I might say crack kills, but it would be inappropriate to do this if one of my students is showing. In the students case I would have to remain professional and just ignore the problem, but it is always difficult.

58. I typically am very critical of anything paranormal and kind of a non-believer in psychic and ghostly stuff. However, I have had a few times where in dreams (either mine or someone elses) I communicated with my brother and sister who are dead or they communicated with me.

59. Even though I am a nutritarian which is very close to vegan, I am using Glucosamine chondroitin. which is partially from fish and I also take 2 EFA supplements one of which are from fish for my ADHD. I’ve been using the GC for a few days and either I’m having a crazy placebo effect or it’s really helping me with my right wrist overuse injury (which I used to think was carpal tunnel). When I went to school for animation I would spend upwards of 10 hours a day on the computer working on projects in addition to working midnights using a computer terminal. My right hand/wrist got really shot from all of this overuse because of the mouse. Now I try to use a wacom tablet (pen), and trackball as much as possible. For awhile I was using a pen exclusively, but I’ve become a little lazy because I use so many different computers (and it flared things up again). I’ve found a vegan version and I’ll be ordering it soon.

60. When I speak of my father I am talking about my adoptive Father John Ranger. I have been looking for my genetic Father for 10 years. I have a recurring Backpage Ad looking for him here. He does not know I exist. I just ordered a yearbook from Wayne State University from 1975 when he was enrolled there off of ebay. When it comes I just might see my genetic Father’s picture for the first time ever (update… He was not in the book… Looks like I’m just going to have to break down and hire a private detective in Detroit).

61. I love dogs. I don’t like taking care of dogs and their hair and dander though. I think it’s gross. However I would do just about anything to make Navab happy and I am completely amazed at the sheer joy they give her.

62. While I love dogs. I think that there should always be a distinction between them and people. I call people that treat their dogs like humans “dog dumb”. I think often a lot of people can’t relate or have effective positive relationships with other humans and instead try to obtain this with animals. I think our culture anthropomorphizes dogs too much. A stroll to the dog sweater aisle in target or the doggie costume section in Halloween are examples of this. I’ve watched some episodes of the dog whisperer lately and you can tell that the people that let their anthro dogs run their life don’t really want his help. The man is a dog genius, they should listen to him.

63. I really really love cats. I love cats a great deal more than dogs, however my wife is allergic to cats. I can never have a cat again. I really really really (3 reallys) love my wife.

64. I have a very poor internal sense of time. My distractability from ADHD is a liability at times causing me to often be late at getting things done or getting from “A” to “B”. It’s a good thing I’ve created many coping mechanisms from working with people with a Type A personality. Conversely I am dedicated and a hard worker and at times have workaholic tendencies myself. I might be 5 minutes late but I’ll spend 2 more hours on it than someone else would and when I’m done it is perfect and my very best..

36. My favorite things to do in high school were swimming, making art, and making music. I wanted to be an olympic swimmer, a rock star and maybe a comic book artist.

37. Having a daughter has made me more meditative in a way. I found that my natural tendency is to always think of the past or the future. There is nothing to keep you in the moment you are living in more than a baby.

38. It is my goal to always love everyone. Help me with that.

39. Navab looks more like me than any person ever has. I’m happy to finally have family that really looks a lot like me. I mean my Mom and I sort of look a like but I’m slightly jealous of people who have a lot of siblings or parents that look just like them. I feel like there are not a lot of people in real life that I can identify with physically and so having a child that looks like me is really cool.

40. When I was a freshman in High school I was kind of a weird outcast. I liked weird music. I said weird things. I was artistic. I had long hair. I dressed funny. I didn’t care what people thought. As time went on more people tended to begin to think independently and I went from being considered weird as a freshman to being considered cool as a senior.

41. I consider myself a nutritarian

42. I tend to get overly emotionally involved in movies. Interpret this how you may. Lacey thinks it’s hilarious.

43. I had planned on doing at least two triathlons this year but it didn’t work out. I’m hoping there still might be a chance. I want to do another sprint triathlon and hopefully move up next to an olympic distance one. For that I’ll have to get in very good shape. Olympic are 2-3 times the length of sprint tri’s and the one sprint tri I’ve done whupped my butt.. Olympic tri’s are Swim 1500 meters, Bike 24.9 miles, Run 6.2 miles:

23. My students often tell me that I am the weirdest person they know… and I take that as a complement… To me weird = interesting.

24. I plan on having some surgical augmentations in the future… First is lasik…. It will be nice to wake up and see. This woman at a store told me about this guy in Houston and that her LASIK costed only $1200. Then perhaps I will get a hair transplant in 10 years when I’m seriously balding… My hairline is slowly creeping up. I know you can’t win in the war against nature but sometimes you can win small battles through science. They are perfecting techniques to clone your own hairs right now. This would remove the final stigma of scarring from the donor areas that makes Bosley hair transplantation not so cool… Hey… I like looking like Superman rather than Lex Luthor.. I think in 10 years hair cloning/transplantation will be cheap and commonplace. I’m told that my genetic father was pretty bald around age 20. Thank God my hairline is creeping up slower (yes… I have a little bit of shallowness to me in this respect). Yeah… this is a manifestation of my conceit.

25. I went to elementary school with Eminem but never met him. My cousin Cece was in his class but does not recall the drama he alleges happened in his rapping nor do any of her friends from school.

26. When I was first in college I became an electronic music snob for awhile. I was very picky about music. I eschewed anything with a real drummer.. lol.. Now I listen to almost everything. I still can’t stand most modern Pop-country or really twangy stuff.. but I’ve opened up my life to some reggae which I used to hate. I also used to also have a tremendous dislike for pop music which grew from my 90’s grunge anti-pop high school years.

27. Sometimes I wake up and still can’t believe I’m married. I wake up and look at my daughter and can’t believe how much of a miracle from God she is. I probably think of that every day at least once.

28. I would like to someday do the IronMan in Hawaii. I will probably do a marathon on the Great wall much sooner though.

29. When I say I’m going to do something… I mean it. Pay attention to little things I say. It may take me longer than I plan, but I’m driven.

30. Sometimes I wake up and realize I’m a high school art teacher and I can barely believe that. I love kids and I wish more people had respect for teachers and what they do. I also wish more people thought of the arts as important. To me art is just as important as Math although standardized testing puts my courses on the backburner as far as HISD is concerned.

31. I really identify with a lot of Trent Reznor’s (Nine Inch Nails) lyrics at times, even though I don’t consciously agree with them. I wish I didn’t. It’s a little scary to admit that.

32. I have 4 cartoon pitch ideas that I can tell you about if you want to know.

33. I would love to cowrite an animated Glam Rock musical that takes place on another planet. I have a rough idea for one. Any composers interested?

34. I feel like MP3’s have made music feel cheap and disposable. I wish it didn’t… but I can’t stop downloading, and ripping CD’s… probably ever… The upside is so great though isn’t it? Mp3’s have made life so much easier and more enjoyable for a music lover.

35. People I look up to: My Mom (for her perseverance and strength despite all odds), My wife (for her character) She is the best person I know and for always doing what’s right, ‘Abdu’l-Baha’ (for being a perfect example in how to live), Atoosa (for her heart and she always seems to do what’s right for others

I’m already a vegan for the most part…Although if you were to ask me for a label I’d call it nutritarian. I’m thinking about going completely raw for a month to see what it feels like.

17. I am not very interested in team sports although I can get into Hockey if I have friends around that appreciate it. I really appreciate the Detroit Red Wings because many of the players used to visit my younger brother in the hospital, and they would also take him to games and have him sit with their wives. He would even go in the locker room. Former Captain Steve Yzerman and a few others came to Joey’s funeral. This is why I will ALWAYS root for the Red Wings.

18. My brother Joseph has now been dead for 18 years, and a day does not go by that I don’t think of him.

19. When I was in middle school I read a story about how in 30 years we’d probably colonize the ocean floor and told my dad I’d move there. He still teases me about it.

20. I wrote a fantasy/adventure novel in 5th grade. It was very derivative of Lloyd Alexander and He-man. I then recorded about half of the story on tape. Unfortunately I have neither book nor tape now.

21. I have really long eyelashes. When I was a kid this was torture. People would always tell me how pretty I was! This is a terrible thing to say to a little boy. At least some people specified just how pretty they thought my eyes were. I took a pair of scissors to my eyelashes at least a half a dozen times as a child in order to feel more masculine… lol… When I was 5 and under my Mom would often let my hair grow very long, and everyone would ask her about her daughter (“I’m a BOY”! I would yell). This would really frustrate me. Now I’m happy that Navab has my eyelashes.

22. My cousin Robert was the closest thing I had to an older brother. We actually lived in the same house twice. He would torture me when we were growing up. Here is just one example: he had given me so many wedgies at one point that I didn’t even have one good pair of underwear. His favorite thing to do was to pull them so they went over my head. It sounds funny but it was really painful. I used to want to beat the crap out of him when I was older, but I’ve forgiven him instead. lol.