BUT

Now I can understand why I'm so disappointed. It is simply because I do not know myself. What are my believes? What are my positive and negative points?
You know, once a very good friend of mine asked me about himself. He said: There is a "but" in everybody's life and continued: "If someone asks you about me, what do you say? For sure you'll say the positive points don't you? But there is a "but" there. What's that one? I mean, you say: he is good in this and this and this...BUT he is ..."
And I'm looking for those BUTs. I sometimes even don't know the positives in me. Maybe they are negatives in someone's point of view.
I'm lost but have a proof here. A poem from Shel Silverstein again:

##########
I asked the zebra
Are you black with white stripes?
Or white with black stripes?
And the zebra asked me,
Are you good with bad habits?
Or are you bad with good habits?
Are you noisy with quiet times?
Or are you quiet with noisy times?
Are you happy with some sad days?
Or are you sad with some happy days?
Are you neat with some sloppy ways?
Or are you sloppy with some neat ways?
And on and on and on and on
And on and on he went.
I'll never ask a zebra
About stripes
Again
##########

Bad mood

I'm in a really bad mood. Very VEry VERy VERY bad.
Lost in myself, Lost my mind, Lost my feelings, everything.
Will try to concentrate to write a new post.

Lady in red

Chris de Burgh is known to all of us for his everlasting songs.
To me, it started with "Lady in Red". You know, I was always hearing about this song but had no access. Maybe the first complete album of Chris de Burgh I received completely was "This way up" released in 1994, thanks to my friend Arash.
So, I was looking for lady in red for several years and now...

Here is the lyrics of the song (released in 1986 in "Into the light") taken from the official website of the singer selected for this weekend:

##########
I've never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight
I've never seen you shine so bright
I've never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance
They're looking for a little romance
Given half a chance
And I've never seen that dress you're wearing
Or that highlights in your hair
That catch your eyes
I have been blind

The lady in red is dancing with me
Cheek to cheek
There's nobody here
It's just you and me
It's where I wanna be
But I hardly know this beauty by my side
I'll never forget the way you look tonight

I've never seen you looking so gorgeous as you did tonight
I've never seen you shine so bright you were amazing
I've never seen so many people want to be there by your side
And when you turned to me and smiled it took my breath away
And I have never had such a feeling such a feeling
Of complete and utter love, as I do tonight

The lady in red is dancing with me
Cheek to cheek
There's nobody here
It's just you and me
It's where I wanna be
But I hardly know this beauty by my side
I'll never forget the way you look tonight

I never will forget the way you look tonight
The lady in red
My lady in red
I love you
##########

Racism or ...

The image of Japan and its culture on the mind of many of us is the one shown in TV serials like Oshin which have been broadcasted worldwide; Kind and hard working. This, however, is quite far from the real values you see here.

You know, Japanese are among those nations who dislike other nations. The country, as a result, does not accept immigrants whoever they are. They were accused to follow racism as a result of this and were under pressure by international organizations and authorities to open the gates of the country to the foreigners.

On the other hand, the population rate has reached to its lowest level so far being around 0.05. So it means that there will be problems in future as the nationals are getting older and the working potentials decline (The rate for men is already negative being -0.01 according to the statistics bureau of Japan).

The authorities, however, refused again and said that they are willing to keep the nation intact. Instead, they said that they will give more job opportunities to the women.

So, what?

Mother's day

Yesterday, according to the I.R. calendar, was "Mother's day". I wasn't here to write a post or something on this issue. Today, however, I'm going to do it. So, sorry for delay.

First of all, congratulations to all Iranian mothers from the bottom of my heart. To me, everyday is mother's day since I'm sure that she is thinking to me everyday though we are far from eachother.

And I believe that nothing can compansate their kindness even if you name a whole year as mother's. Just think about it; They give you the most valuable thing they have. Yes, their life. Have you ever seen your mother with tears on her face? How did you feel then?This is beacause of the beautiful moments she gives you. She brings you all happy moments and gives you every single day of her life. Lets thank our moms again. Again and again...

Second of all, many bloggers have written some posts yesterday highlighting the bad situation of women in Iran. We all know the problems more or less but I'd like to say the following:
1- Why on this day? I mean, couldn't you find any other day to say those? Just think; this is supposed to be mother's day. So it is better to write our heartful greetings and congratulations. Then why turning happy moments to sad ones with our complains? We can do it another time, next week or whenever.
2- Those stuck in Iran think that everything is in its worse level there while they have no idea about the other societies. Japan is a good example to explain my opinion. Do you know that the situation of Japanese women is much worse than those in Iran? Do you know that here only a few women can have good jobs? Only a limited number may enter universities and higher educations? They have to clean and wash the offices (where they work) even if they are the boss? They have to follow men like...

Finally, what I wanted to say is that complaining about the problems is not a huge task; especially when we do not have enough knowledge on the issue.

And the last word: Do not find fault; find a remedy.

Fashion in Japan

Japanese, young generation specially, are big pro-fashions. If you've visited Japan, you can understand what I mean from the bottom of your heart!
You know, Japan has been trying to keep its culture through fostering people as of childhood. Kimono, Yukata, and other folk dresses are still in use specially during national events and or ceremonies such as graduation,...
But the young people you see in the streets are huge pro-fashions. They come into public dressed in western style and with colored hair. If you ask me, I'll tell you that above 90% of them colorize their hair. Once I asked a Japanese friend, he said that he is doing this for the sake of his job as a waiter in a wedding salon. And he said that Japanese look the same as western people with colored hair.
The problem, however, is that they have their special face and head physiology. You will never take a Japanese as a western guy. Will you?
The other thing I'd like to mention is their clothing style. Here, in the southern part of the country, they wear mini joups during the cold and freezing winter (the temperature does not fall below zero but the cold winds are really killing), and for summer? Yes. You can see many of them with coats and weaven textiles and pants. Why? They say ""It is fashion".

Who knows where I have been?

I know that I could not post anything as of last week and I've got an excuse.
Saturday was a busy day when I was helping a good friend to move to his new house. I was almost unconcious when arrived home.
Sunday was fun as I could get to Kitakyushu (a nearby city). Visiting friends is always nice. Isn't it?
Yesterday (Monday) was a real crazy. I was riding my bicycle almost whole day running about 30-40 km with ups and downs. I also took the train for 4 times (means more than 2 hours). What was it all about? Can't tell you for now. Just keep it in your mind. And when arrived in the university, it was almost 5pm with me as a dead body. The last scene was nice though. Anyway, I got to do some experiments till 8:00pm and went back with train at 8:10. The worst part was that my bicycle was far from the station and I got to ride for 30min more.
And at home: Pizza, Salad, Cola. That's what I can remember. It was 1:00am when I woke up you know...

Thanks to all of you concerned about my situation. I'll try to write regularly.
By the way, tomorrow (Wed.) I'll be off.

Letter

Once upon a time,
Not far behind,
There were letters to write,
White pigeons and flight.

Today, I was thinking to the letters and letter writing in its classic style which is leaving ourworld pushed by emails away. Before emails, messengers, and blogs, writing was a real joy, you know. And reading letters filled a part of our life with lots of unforgettable memories.
Even reading the sender's address (in a wavy handwriting) could transfer some feelings. And there was sometimes a message on the envelope: "Thanks to the dear postman".
You also could understand the feeling of the writer while seeing his/her writing. You know, everybody had a special font that was really truetype. It was not a "times new roman" but it could be a "times new romance" truly...

"From Sarah With Love" is today's song for this weekend. The song was released in 2001 in an album named "Geen-Eyed Soul" by the German singer Sarah Connor with her great voice.

##########
For so many years we were friends
And yes I always knew what we could do
But so many tears in the rain
Felt the night you said
That love had come to you
I thought you were not my kind
I thought that I could never feel for you
The passion and love you were feeling
And so you leftFor someone new
And now that you're far and away
I'm sending a letter today

[Chorus:]
From Sarah with love
She'd got the lover she is dreaming of
She never found the words to say
But I know that today
She's gonna send her letter to you
From Sarah with love
She took your picture to the stars above
And they told her it is true
She could dare to fall in love with you
So don't make her blue when she writes to you
From Sarah with love

So maybe the chance for romance
Is like a train to catch before it's gone
And I'll keep on waiting and dreaming
You're strong enough
To understand
As long as you're so far away
I'm sending a letter each day

[Chorus]
[Last chorus:]
From Sarah with love
She'd got the lover she is dreaming of
She never found the words to say
But I know that today
She's gonna send her letter to you
From Sarah with love
She's gotta know what you are thinking of
'Cause every little now and then
And again and again
I know her heart cries out for you
From Sarah with love
She'd got the lover she is dreaming of
Never found the words to say, ahh
But today, but today...
From Sarah with love
She took your picture to the stars above
And they told her it is true
She could dare to fall in love with you
So don't make her blue when she writes to you
From Sarah with love

[Coda:]
So don't make me blue when I write to you
From Sarah with love
##########

Cooperation

What I really like it here, is the cooperation of the people.

Let me bring you a scene: Last night, on my way home, a lady boarded the train with a big cup of milk & coffee. She was real unfortunate when found her cup falling down on the floor. Just in a second. So, ashamed of the accident, she left the train to carry the torn cup appologizing the man right next to her. Well, the train started to move and the splashed milk spreaded in a large area. The miserable man (with all his clothes dirty) started to clean the floor with tissues though it was not his fault at all. Then almost everybody in that area, started to give him a hand with bringing tissues, clearing the area,... It took about 10 min to get that cleared but you should be there to see how these people were helping to do the job.
And me? Yes, I'm familiar with these scenes and helped them through providing tissues, bags, ...
When the job ended, a lady (a passenger again) gave us wet tissues to clean our hands.

This kind of cooperation is a nationwide character here and can be seen in every aspect of their life. They help you even if they hate you from the bottom of heart.

And the last scene of the story: A man with all his dresses dirty...

Manga

Many friends have been publishing posts about Japan and life in here. They, however, have concentrated on the positive points mainly. I believe that both faces of the scene should be reflected in order to help those who are unfamiliar with this culture.

"Manga" is a good choice to enter the topic. As you man know, Manga are Japanese comics magazines published in their very special format. They come in colors and are printed on recycled papers. Magazines are full of images which make them easy to read.

According to "The Japan Journal, Vol. 2, No. 4", Girl Manga gained high art status during the early 90s with works of Okazaki Kyoko speaking on violence, betrayal, ... in his frames which were a substitute for the fantastical, sugary world of Japanese girlie-hood.

OK. Today, you can see many people reading Manga almost everywhere. The pictures however, are not suitable for the kids at all. So, I was always thinking why the Japanese are fund of these and how they are going to be a part of Japanese culture. Here is the reply: Manga are designed based on real Japanese life with all its problems shown in the drawing. For example (according to the same source again), one of every three Japanese women over 30 is now single, childless, and financially independent with a well-read mind and wealth of overseas travel experiences. Most Girl Manga stories are about these women, and how the definition of "girl" has less to do with age than a state of mind...

In my opinion, another cause should also be added to the above. Actually, Japanese are searching for the life in the books as they are always busy with their job. No time to rest, or even to think about other joys of life. So they just satisfy their thirst with these magazines.

Someone (supposed to be) a friend

I received an email from Irankhodro Co, several months ago wherein I was asked if I'm willing to cooperate with the company. The sender was a friend of mine whom I used to know during my BSc period in Shiraz University. He showed himself to be keen on this topic and I just replied as usual saying that I wonder if Irankhodro is willing to use gas sensors in its products. His reply was like that they are very thankful that the Iranians residing abroad are always ready to help them and also he mentioned that the topic is quite interesting (I knew this, by the way, as gas sensors are a must for all cars though Irankhodro is not familiar with the topic at all).
Anyhow, he asked me about the way I'm going to help and I said that you need to get to the topic first of all. So the best thing here is to have some kind of presentation at Irankhodro company emphasizing on the applications of gas sensors in cars and its huge market.
Well, he accepted and during my last trip to Iran, we started to arrange it. But after long discussions...

What do you think?
It was a shameful ending for him and a dissapointing one for myself as I found that all of these have been kind of trick and my friend (?) has been looking for a scholarship to study abroad according to himself (that's why he was contacting me at that time). Therefore, I refused to deliver the lecture though I've had wasted lots of time on it.

And to me, it was real dissapointing since I was hoping to introduce gas-sensor technology for free just for the sake of doing something to contribute the process of development there. Finally I found that there is no care about such things there and it was all about stupidity of the people there.

The story, by the way, was finished with a selfish email from him saying that the Germans have decided to award him with a scholarship and so on. I think he was unaware that everybody else could also get this without any difficulty otherwise there was no reason for him to be so proud of himself.

National core technologies of Japan

Among the articles published in the latest volume of "The Japan Journal" (Vol. 2, No.4, Aug. 2005), the one on National Core Technology attracted my interest and tempted me to put some words here.

"National Core Technology" projects, which are 10 in number, are recommended by an advisory committee for the Minsitry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, and are aimed to be pursued in advance of the third-phase science and technology plan to be launched in 2006. Objectives are: maintenance and enhancement of competence, ensuring independence and autonomy, and display of presence and appeal as a nation.

Here is a list of the projects:
1- Comprehensive observation and monitoring systems on a global scale.
2- Fast breeder reactor cycle technologies.
3- Marine exploration systems.
4- Space transport systems.
5- Nuclear fusion technologies.
6- World-leading next-generation supercomputing technologies.
7- The world's leading capacity optical analysis technologies.
8- The world's largest capacity molecular imaging technologies.
9- The world's highest capacity analysis and synthesis technologies for the structure and function of protein.
10- The world's leading edge measurement and analysis technologies that serve as the basic tool in the post-nanotech age.

Well. Now you can guess where we (?) are...

ATIONS

This bloggy world is strange. Sometimes you write something but the outcome is something you didn't mean it. So, it may hurt those who simply misunderstand and makes them think for a while and leave without notice.
This problem comes from the virtual nature of this world, in my opinion. I mean you make connections to those who you really do not know. In fact you have no idea about their feelings, their minds,...
What can we do when these friends do not leave messages to show their opinion regarding to that message? Even those who do leave a message, are not direct sometimes. Many of them just come and say: Hey you've got a great blog, or things like this. But as for the blogger him/herself, sharing the post and knowing the visitors' response is more important which can help 'em in writing.

I wish, someday it would be possible to transfer the feelings (in their real form) to the visitors via PCs...

So, here, I've selected this poem from Shel Silverstein:

##########
If we meet and I say "Hi"
That's a salutation.
If you ask me how I feel,
That's consideration.
If we stop and talk a while,
That's conversation.
If we understand eachother,
That's communication.
If we argue, scream and fight,
That's altercation.
If later we appologize,
That's reconciliation.
If we help eachother home,
That's cooperation.
And all these ations added up,
Make civilization.
##########

Killing me softly

The stressful life is getting complicated day by day.
And the life itself is killing me sofly with it's song.
So what I need for this weekend is a song.
And friends, to sing along.

"Killing me softly" was performed by Roberta Flack in 1973 and was on chart in US and UK for 1 and 6 weeks respectively. The song won Grammys in 1974 for the record of the year, song of the year, and best female pop vocal.

##########
Strumming dub plates with our fingers,
Eliminate sounds with our song,
Killing a sound boy with this sound,
Killing a sound boy with this sound,
Taking sound boys’ lives with this dub,
Killing him softly with this sound.
Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song.

[lauryn]
I heard he sang a good song,
I heard he had a style,
And so I came to see him and listen for a while.
And there he was this young boy, stranger to my eyes,
Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song.
I felt all flushed with fever,
Embarrassed by the crowd,
I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud.
I prayed that he would finish,
But he just kept right on strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song

[clef]
Yo l-boogie, take it to the bridge

[lauryn]
(bust it)Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song.
Strumming my pain with his finger, yeah he was . . .
##########

A week in the lab

Plasma sputtering, XRD measurement, Capacitance-Voltage recording, preparation of chemical compounds,... all and all are the things I was busy with this week. Things do not go well as "chemistry" is facing "physics" here and the poor "electronics" does not underestand what to record.
And poor me, the one who should repeat the experiments with some new materials. No way...

You know, with lots of stresses in body and soul, it is really difficult specially when you are in a transition. Maybe that's why Isaac Asimov says: "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome."

Meetings-Language problem

Here, you have to present your work (status, results, whatever) in regular meetings. Meetings, called KENTOKAI, are all in Japanese; and it makes them boring to the foreigners. They last for a long time depending on the number of participants; several hours, no way...

After each meeting, I have lots of printed papers which can be definitely useful but in fact they are not since I can't read those KANJI characters. One I suggested to my professors if the students can provide the figure captions in English and they accepted but no body did really care.

And here is the result: 2 days ago the secretary said that they can not reserve a hotel for the PhD student who is going to attend the conference in US coz the process needs to be done via phone. And asked me to call and make the reservation.

Sigh... That was what heard from the student when the reservation was accomplished...

A place not-called home

Japanese, you may know, have a great education system well-established after the second world war. They have adopted the system from the developed countries and modified it according to domestic cultural values.

The system is quite dynamic and self-updating one, revised in 2001 to achieve higher qualities.

The problem, however, is the endless work which leaves no time to rest. And the result can be seen in the university classes easily so that sleeping in the classrooms is almost a habit now. Many of the attendants sleep since they are simply tired of 24hrs working; a very familiar scene these days.
The problem will be doubled when the lecture is delivered in English where they can not catch many words. Remembering a class in which I was the only foreigner fortunately (or unfortunately), everybody was sleeping except me and a student of the professor (who had to stay awake).

And the result? Well, on the day of test ( I mean both mid-term and final), everybody was writing the notes in a dictionary (you know, they use dictionary during the test to get the test comprehensively). Cheating...

So, you may ask how the system works with guys like this? The answer is that the system is based on try & error here. Therefore, they just try those things suggested by professors and that's all. Here, actually, they do something and then they try to find a theoretical basis for the phenomena. No problem, after all they got enough money.
So the classrooms are mainly used to take a rest. Places not called home (or better called home)...

Important?

I read this from Shel Silverstein:

##########
Said little a to big G;
"Without me,
The sea would be
The se,
The flea would be
The fle.
And earth and heaven couldn't be
without me."
Said big G to little a,
"Even the se
could crsh nd spry,
Nd the fle would fly
In the sme wy,
Nd erth nd heven still would be,
without thee."
##########

So, how important you are? Is is really good to be important? Not sure.
Just remembered the quoatation of Churchill when he said something like "Most of the people want to be important instead of being beneficial" or so.
To me, being important is not that important though. Having some kind of contribution to the world (which has been created long before us and will last long after us surly) is my desire.

JIS

The story of Japanese standards is somehow fun but mostly problematic to us.

Here, everything is standardized, no doubt.
I remember the problems people had with hanging their curtains, for instance, there in Iran. People should waste lots of time and money on it. I mean it was a big project from every aspect. Here, however, windows have standard sizes and you can find your favorite curtain in that size with all facilities needed such as hangers and so on.

This is the positive side of the story. The negative side, unfortunately, is the size itself. Last month, when we were on a camping, the tent was supposed to be enough for 3 persons but it was even uncomfortable for just one.

The worst thing, is the size of chairs and desks. They all come in small sizes with a low elevation. I'm sure that you can't resist this for a long time. No wonder, this is JIS...

Called to say...

"Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung." - Voltaire (1694-1778)

I've no comment on this quoatation but am willing to breeze your mind with another nice song for this weekend.

Stevie Wonder is known to the people of our age with his very famous song "I Just called to say I love you". The song belongs to 1984 (album: The woman in red) musically but to all ages in the real world.

##########
No New Year's Day to celebrate
No chocolate covered candy hearts to give away
No first of spring, No song to sing
In fact here's just another ordinary day

No April rain, No flowers bloom
No wedding Saturday within the month of June
But what it is, is something true
Made up of these three words that I must say to you

I just called to say I love you
I just called to say how much I care
I just called to say I love you
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart

No summer's high, No warm July
No harvest moon to light one tender August night
No autumn breeze, No falling leaves
Not even time for birds to fly to southern skies

No Libra sun, No Halloween
No giving thanks to all the Christmas joy you bring
But what it is, though old so new
To fill your heart like no three words could ever do

I just called to say I love you
I just called to say how much I care, I do
I just called to say I love you
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart

I just called to say I love you
I just called to say how much I care, I do
I just called to say I love you
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart

Of my heart
Of my heart
##########

A busy week

This week was a busy one. Being in the lab everyday and processing new samples was quite difficult and boring to some extent. Seems that the new sensor is not going to respond. The problem comes from the reaction between the sensing material and semiconducting substrate or the resistive layer on it. No result anyway...
XRD results are also weird. I put lots of time to interpret those results though still not clear.

To tell the truth, there is lots of stuff circulating in my mind making it difficult to concentrate on my affairs. Most of all, my plans for future. Another transition, another step...

Maybe I should contact a chemist. Why? You know, "Everybody has a problem, Chemists have solutions", according to Albert Einstein.

I simply can't concentrate on my blog. Sometimes feel sorry for it which was supposed to be a good friend of mine...

Steps

Sometimes, when I'm far from my computer, I miss it a bit. you know, it has been a helpful hand in doing my career here.
And I'm sure that it misses my fingers to strike its keys to create some words to say. To stay up-to-date and to...

This reminds me a short story from Guliev in which, a step located in front of a building is the hero. How?
Well, I can't remember it perfectly but the environment is like this: Some day, the step was crying with tears on its surface. When it was asked "How come?", this was the reply: "I'm in love with those nice boots which where coming to the building quite often. But they are not coming any more...

If you were the God

"There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread." - Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

...And we are always complaining about our situation. Just imagine that you were the God of the world with everything in your hands. How will you treat these people?
If you give them all the same, I mean everything to everybody, then no body will try to get something needed. A lazy creature. Remember, all other creatures do something to own the things they are in need of and men...
If you give them nothing, then a tragedy will occur...

Daily life

The first day I arrived here, the research associate of the lab, Dr. Sakai, told me that I've to care about working hours of the lab, 9:30am-6:00pm.
To me, it was not so difficult. I arranged it to arrive here at about 8:00 and leave with the train on 6:10. Still I'm doing the same working from 8:00 till 8:00pm (or later, depending on the things I got to do).

In the case of Japanese colleagues, however, the normal schedule is:
11:00-14:00: Arrival (Those who got to attend a class, arrive earlier).
11:00-12:00 Smoking, turning on the devices, checking emails.
12:00-13:00 Lunch
13:00-15:00 checking emails, chatting, playing online games (Some people start to do their job).
15:00-16:00 Experiments and other stuff.
16:00-18:00 Soccer or Baseball (or part-time job).
18:00-19:00 Dinner.
19:00~ Experiments...

Normally, they start working when I'm leaving. This young generation is not hard working at all but they feel responsible to do their duty in 90th min even if they got to stay overnight.

Talking to them, some believe that their life happens here. No family,... So they feel relaxed with this kind of life. To them, visiting family members and relatives is enough once a year in a very formal way.
Can't understand...

Cinema Paradiso

"Cinema Paradiso" is for sure one of the greatest movies ever produced winning almost all awards in the world of cinema.
The story is about a kid who loves cinema. The venue is Sicily in Italy. The kid lives with mom and his little sister in a measerable way. Dad has gone to the (2nd world) war and there is no hope left to see him alive. The kid helps the priest in the church and also helps a cinema operator while free. Mother, bored of her hard life, is unwilling to let the kid work there in the cinema. His eagerness, however, motivates him to get there everyday. "This is not your place", says the operator to the kid and continues "You got to get there (Rome) where you can find your talent. I beleive that you can be the best in the world of cinema if you do your best there".

The kid is now growing up and still working in the cinema, and more importantly, in love with a pretty girl. Talking to the operator, as his best friend, he asks for some advice to get close to the love. "You know, there was a boy in love with a girl. He was asked by the girl to wait 100 days in front of her window. Then, she may reply positively. The guy waited for 99days and nights but on 99th night, he decided to leave..." Said the operator.

"So what? Why did he give up after 99days?", asked the boy and the operator said: " I dont know. Go and get it yourself".
And the young boy did the same. The girl replied positively after 100 nights and they started their connections.
The girl moved to a new city with her family and promised to come back with the bus at 5pm. But the miserable lover did not find her among the bus travelers. So, the operators said that she will never come back and you got to go. Get to Rome and do your best. Do not think about me and your family. We'll be OK...
The young man became a famous director and won many awards during his career. He, however, did not forget about his love...
One day several years later, at the age of 40 or so, a message from the old mom awakend him. The operator is passed away. We know that you are famaous, busy, and... But please come.
He went back to participate the funeral.
And unexpectedly, he found his love there in the city. She has been married to a school friend and had kids. They made an appointment for the last time though the lady was unwilling.
"Why didn't you come?" asked the man.
"I came but I was a little bit late. Not with the bus at five. And I came to see you but the operator said that you've changed your mind and do not love me any more...".

You know, the story is quite nostalgic especially when you watch it in Italian. But there is an important point in it: Why the operator, as the best friend of the kid, lied? Maybe he wanted to see him as a great director and not an ordinary operator. Or maybe he wanted to satisfy himself seeing a picture of himself in the kid. But there is something he didn't reallize: The kid was deeply in love and could not forget it. He could go on top of the world of cinema, but all of this was nothing to him. So, he simply destroyed his best friend's life...

Quiz

This post is kinda quiz!
There are two easy questions and I look forward hearing your answers.

1- What are the best creatures the God has made (in your opinion)? Please list three of them.

2- Among those you mentiond above, which ones do you have?

(Quize time is about as long as you are online. But please remember, you got to come back several years later, say 2050, to see if you have the same opinion as today.)

La isla bonita

Following the previous post, I selected "La isla bonita" for this weekend. The song does not need to be introduced as it is (in my opinion) one of the best works of the singer, Madonna. It was released in 1987 and was on top of the list for 2 weeks and on chart for 11 weeks.

I knew nothing about a place called San Pedro in this beautiful song until last year when a TV program introduced the area. San Pedro is located in Peru in south America and is kind of heaven on the earth.
I've a huge temptation to get there some day to see it by myself and feed my soul with the nice feelings of nature's harmony.

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(Spoken:)
Como puede ser verdad

Last night I dreamt of San Pedro
Just like I'd never gone, I knew the song
A young girl with eyes like the desert
It all seems like yesterday, not far away

Chorus:
Tropical the island breeze
All of nature wild and free
This is where I long to be
La isla bonita
And when the samba played
The sun would set so high
Ring through my ears and sting my eyes
Your Spanish lullaby

I fell in love with San Pedro
Warm wind carried on the sea, he called to me
Te dijo te amo
I prayed that the days would last
They went so fast

(chorus)
I want to be where the sun warms the sky
When it's time for siesta you can watch them go by
Beautiful faces, no cares in this world
Where a girl loves a boy, and a boy loves a girl

Last night I dreamt of San Pedro
It all seems like yesterday, not far away

(chorus two times)
La la la la la la la
Te dijo te amo
La la la la la la la
El dijo que te ama
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