Happy Persian New Year!

This past weekend was awesome! I spent it in Panama with someone very special to me. Excellent trip, great food, nice weather. Somehow in 3 days we never found time for any tours. This was one of those weekends where everything was fun but little can be said. ;)

While gone, I received an email informing me that I was not selected for Round 3 of the Charlie Sheen's TigerBloodIntern--yes, I was one of the 74,000 people who applied. LOL.. However, I figured at some point they would check my blog and disqualify me. No big shock.


March 20th was Persian New Year. They celebrate for 13 days.

Some Nowruz celebrants believe that whatever a person does on Nowruz will affect the rest of the year. So, if a person is warm and kind to their relatives, friends and neighbors on Nowruz, then the new year will be a good one. On the other hand, if there are fights and disagreements, the year will be a bad one.As a extended tradition to the holiday, men may or may not choose to shave their faces until the night of the "New Day" as a sign of removal of old habits and tendencies and the rebirth of their faith and being.

The other ancient symbolic representation of NoRuz is based around the idea of the triumph of good over evil. According to the Shah-nameh (The Book of Kings), the national Iranian epic by Ferdowsi, NoRuz came into being during the reign of the mythical King Jamshid; when he defeated the evil demons (divs) seizing their treasures, becoming master of everything but the heavens and bringing prosperity to his people. To reach the heavens, Jamshid ordered a throne to be built with the jewels he had captured. He then sat on the throne and commanded the demons to lift him up into the sky. When the sun's rays hit the throne, the sky was illuminated with a multitude of colours. The people were amazed at the King's power and they showered him with even more jewels and treasures. This day of great celebration was named NoRuz, and was recognised as the first day of the year.

I am still trying to stick by my Lent rules. While I did have 2 Ginger Ales to calm my motion sickness from the tiny plane, I consider that more medicine than soda. Also, yesterday I had a brownie which was almost cake-consistency. I didn't know it would be that way before ordering and I did eat it. Other than these two circumstances, I have stuck by my Lent sacrifices: no masturbation, no soda, no cake. :)