Jam, Shah, me, L.A.dan, Leila
Monday, September 26, 2005
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
My little brother Dylan wrote a play and gave me a supporting role. He is a knight and I am a werewolf. Mom observes/talks on the telephone in the background. Coda the dog also participated and is visible at the bottom of the photo. The play consisted of Dylan slashing me with his foam sword. I dragged him away at the end but he retaliated by decapitating me... I think we have a budding actor on our hands....
Monday, September 19, 2005
Saturday night we went to the Stanfurd/Davis football game at Stanfurd. I was rooting of course for Davis as it is of the illustrious University of California. It was a very exciting game (although I wasn't paying attention to most of it and only arrived a few minutes before halftime) and Davis scored a touchdown in the last ten seconds to win! Four of five Portillo brothers are pictured, see if you can pick them out. All star California Bahais - (from left to right) May, Britney, Kelsey, Maryam (2nd row) Devan, Neisan, Ryan, Josh (3rd row) me, Kasra, Roya. Thanks to Neda Maani for the photo.
Monday, September 12, 2005
Life after Haifa (Episode 1 - continued)
So my first adventure to 24-fitness almost deserves its own post... basically I weigh 200 pounds less than the average gym goer, and about 50 pounds less than my brother Devan. But I did my best to lift all the weight he put on my bar, but by the end let's just say I could barely walk... and there was this one guy who kept walking around saing "whoo!" every time he finished a set....
Okay, so back to London town! The night I arrived Manijeh and Vince picked me up and introduced me to the wonders of Tesco, the mighty English supermarket chain. I had a love affair with this wonderful store while I was there, and I recommend you all do the same one day. It is a beautiful, beautiful store... (with tasty chicken wraps!) The next day I met up with Dumazi who very kindly walked me past all the central London sights, inlcuding Big Ben and 10 Downing street (sorry, I didn't see Tony Blair). We also took a ride on the London Eye, which is kewl but at almost US$25, not that kewl. I also had fish and chips, and let me tell you, the fish is good, but basically tastes like fish stix... The next day we went to the resting place of Shoghi Effendi and later shopping for a new TV.... several stores later Vince and Manijeh purchased as sleek LCD television, on which we promptly began to watch Matrix .
The day after that I met up with Shahrooz Badkoubei and Seena Samimi and we checked out some museums. Next day we went to Cambridge with Ria and Evelyn. Ria is engaged to the famous George Costant, and the three of us (Evelyn, Ria and me) hit it off when we discovered we all went to Cal...Cambridge is beautiful! Everyone should go there, and make sure to go punting! Weather was so nice the entire time we were there....
The next day I met Vince for lunch then caught the Tate Modern, which was awesome! Then went to a park and then to Ria's place for dinner, where we observed the Greenwich Median Line, where time begins! The Royal Observatory shoots out a green light at night and there is a line drawn on the ground for nerds like us to photograph... :)
So then I went home in Virgin Atlantic airlines, which I highly recommend. Arriving in San Francisco, I noticed that my friend Badi wasn't there to meet me like he had said he would. I called him to find out where he was. He told me he had shown up to the airport an hour ago, but a cop pulled him over. Turns out his registration stickers were expired and the cop wanted to tow him. Badi, being the expert negotiator that he is, he was able to persuade him not to tow him, just to issue a fix-it ticket instead. But the cop wouldn't allow him to stay at the airport any longer, and told him, "if you don't leave right now, I'll tow you!" Haha, so Badi got chased away by the cops! (Badi, if this story isn't true..)
Okay, so back to London town! The night I arrived Manijeh and Vince picked me up and introduced me to the wonders of Tesco, the mighty English supermarket chain. I had a love affair with this wonderful store while I was there, and I recommend you all do the same one day. It is a beautiful, beautiful store... (with tasty chicken wraps!) The next day I met up with Dumazi who very kindly walked me past all the central London sights, inlcuding Big Ben and 10 Downing street (sorry, I didn't see Tony Blair). We also took a ride on the London Eye, which is kewl but at almost US$25, not that kewl. I also had fish and chips, and let me tell you, the fish is good, but basically tastes like fish stix... The next day we went to the resting place of Shoghi Effendi and later shopping for a new TV.... several stores later Vince and Manijeh purchased as sleek LCD television, on which we promptly began to watch Matrix .
The day after that I met up with Shahrooz Badkoubei and Seena Samimi and we checked out some museums. Next day we went to Cambridge with Ria and Evelyn. Ria is engaged to the famous George Costant, and the three of us (Evelyn, Ria and me) hit it off when we discovered we all went to Cal...Cambridge is beautiful! Everyone should go there, and make sure to go punting! Weather was so nice the entire time we were there....
The next day I met Vince for lunch then caught the Tate Modern, which was awesome! Then went to a park and then to Ria's place for dinner, where we observed the Greenwich Median Line, where time begins! The Royal Observatory shoots out a green light at night and there is a line drawn on the ground for nerds like us to photograph... :)
So then I went home in Virgin Atlantic airlines, which I highly recommend. Arriving in San Francisco, I noticed that my friend Badi wasn't there to meet me like he had said he would. I called him to find out where he was. He told me he had shown up to the airport an hour ago, but a cop pulled him over. Turns out his registration stickers were expired and the cop wanted to tow him. Badi, being the expert negotiator that he is, he was able to persuade him not to tow him, just to issue a fix-it ticket instead. But the cop wouldn't allow him to stay at the airport any longer, and told him, "if you don't leave right now, I'll tow you!" Haha, so Badi got chased away by the cops! (Badi, if this story isn't true..)
Life after Haifa (Episode 1)
So I have been out of Haifa for 2 weeks now, so thought I should get to documenting my life after...
A tearful week of farewells preluded my drop off at the Haifa Mercaz train station, where I had only a few moments to gather myself before catching the train to Ben Gurion airport... I made it there in about an hour and was pleased as always by how smooth the ride was, much better than the sherut! I then proceeded to El Al's rigorous check-in which seemed not that bad this time... I made it to the gate with a few minutes to spare before boarding started so I really couldn't complain. In flight they showed a horrible movie called "XXX: The State of the Nation" (which I recommend you never see) so I chose to catch up on my 2 and 1/2 year sleep deficit...
London was awesome! Loved it! Manijeh and Vince were excellent hosts, and I was the first guest to sleep over in their new apartment! It was such a nice place, totally reminded me of San Francisco - hard woord floors, large windows. So then.... okay, my brother wants to start me on a 12-week "get buff course" , also known as "fight the skinny", so we are going to the gym. Dear friends (smirking), I will finish this post a bit later....
A tearful week of farewells preluded my drop off at the Haifa Mercaz train station, where I had only a few moments to gather myself before catching the train to Ben Gurion airport... I made it there in about an hour and was pleased as always by how smooth the ride was, much better than the sherut! I then proceeded to El Al's rigorous check-in which seemed not that bad this time... I made it to the gate with a few minutes to spare before boarding started so I really couldn't complain. In flight they showed a horrible movie called "XXX: The State of the Nation" (which I recommend you never see) so I chose to catch up on my 2 and 1/2 year sleep deficit...
London was awesome! Loved it! Manijeh and Vince were excellent hosts, and I was the first guest to sleep over in their new apartment! It was such a nice place, totally reminded me of San Francisco - hard woord floors, large windows. So then.... okay, my brother wants to start me on a 12-week "get buff course" , also known as "fight the skinny", so we are going to the gym. Dear friends (smirking), I will finish this post a bit later....
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Back in Cali
I just got back into Cali last night and decided to plunge into the fray of blogging madness... Please have patience with me as I learn to express myself online. ;)
PS--MANY MANY thanks to all the kind, generous, warm hearted and beautiful people who made my stay at the BWC so special! I truly miss you and hope this blog helps us stay in touch...
Love,
Justin
PS--MANY MANY thanks to all the kind, generous, warm hearted and beautiful people who made my stay at the BWC so special! I truly miss you and hope this blog helps us stay in touch...
Love,
Justin
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