13 Days Out of 15

Yesterday I had my last day of jugging practice in Talisman for month of Dec. Although I was tired as that was the third consecutive day, I gained an almost alright time. But what I started doing after Dec.08 is instead of running the short lane which takes 12 laps to finish 2.4 Km, I performed the exercise on the longest lap and did only 10 lamps which makes 2.33 Km.
This month’s performance is not so bad but the question is how long I can and I should keep this up? CF answer to my application for that job in the Navy is very unclear. If what that man in recruiting centre said is true and the background check takes a long time, I think that’s just stupid. Thanks to Kamix who told me not just to rely on that job. I’ve applied for other positions as well and waiting for the holiday is over and then continue career hunting.
Anyhow this is this month’s performance. I’m not goin’ for work out and exercise today as I was up until 12:30 at Hodani’s place (Thank God he didn’t get drunk this time surprisingly!) and am very tired. I’ll have a complete multiple-month performance analysis soon.

(Photo: Chart of 13 days of running practice in Dec. of '06)

Christmas Eve

I was at Hodani’s place on Christmas Eve for dinner and Hojam was there too. We were almost done with our dinner and Hodani was almost drunk and started to act wired. I asked him to stop drinking but he was not himself. Then I grabbed his glass and took it to the kitchen. That drove him really mad. He then asked me to wrestle arm with him. Hojam quoted that he was very strong. I don’t know if he wanted to make me scared of him, boost his spirit or just simply prevent me from doing that. When I saw that Hodani was insisting, I thought it was better to give him a good piece of advice. I hoped that make him sober. We sat at the small dinner table and I easily defeated him but he got angry and said that I was cheating! Then I asked him to do that using the left arm and beat him again! This time he was really furious and said that I use my hand in an inappropriate way and also use my shoulder and everything! I think he didn’t expect that from me. He probably had thought that I was a weak guy because I work at a office and he does a labour job. He probably had forgotten that I go to the gym at least 5 days a week! After all as he’s shorter than me, I’m kind of over him when I’m doing arm wrestle!
Hojam stepped in between and acted as a referee this time. He set everything up and we started as he counted. It didn’t take more than, I’d say, 10 sec. to beat him again! His face was really funny while he was being defeated. He was completely mad at this time and started bullshitting me! I knew that he was not himself and is under the influence of alcohol. So I grabbed my jacket and left! That was our fun on Christmas Eve!

Faded, The Same or Increased?

I did the CF Aptitude Test today. It was harder than I thought but I passed. There was nothing to write or check. The test was provided through a computer based system. The vocabulary part was really hard and there was so little time to do that. The questions compare to the examples we have been given already were very difficult. For example they say " What is the opposite of sad? " and the answers are busy, happy, active and real. Every one is able to pick the right one easily but in the test they, for instance, say " What's the synonym for pseudonym? "

Anyhow I passed it but something else came up after that. An officer, a captain, a French-Canadian, I guess, because he had strong accent (I speak English better than him!) explained a form to me which is called Security Clearance Form. This is the way that the Federal Government scrutinizes your life in past 10 years in order to find out what you have done and whether or not you are clear. I don't have any issue with that at all but according to what he said as I wan't born in Canada and my background before my immigration must be completely checked and that is in Iran, that might take a long time to be processed. He said that it could be from 6 month to 2 years! But I don't believe that's that. May be he didn't like me because of my background or he's very pessimist according to the recent Canada-Iran conflicts. It's partially because of that idiot photographer, Kazemi who got herself killed by shooting protesters outside a horrifying prison near Tehran. There's a proverb in Persian: " One crazy idiot throws a small rock in a water well, 100 wise can't take it out. " That asshole made everything dark and gloomy by her stupid behaviour and thousands of immigrants and refugees are suffering from that.

But that doesn't hurt me. I provide them with all the information and wait. I understand that's a very important job I'm applying from them. It's a leadership position as an engineering officer in the Navy and I have a very big commitment and responsibility but I'll do my best and I'll be very proud and joyful to do that. I'm goin' to prove them that I can be a very good team player and team leader, a hard working, loyal and honest member of CF and I serve Canada responsibly.

(Photo: Canadian Navy or Royal Canadian Navy [although I haven't seen that] logo)

Stranger Than Fiction

I spent the last discount ticket from my previous job on Stranger Than Fiction tonight. First I was going to watch new Mel Gibson’s movie, Apocalypto or the new comedy, The Holiday. Then I thought it’s better to catch the movie I wanted to a few weeks ago. And luckily I didn’t get out unhappy. I was sad off and on during the movie but I was happy at the end that I didn’t waste my last ticket and time on some shit movie.
First of all it’s about average North American people movie, single, middle aged, doing the same shit every day, machine life. And that’s what makes me puke. And there’s how they fall in to a relationship, seeing someone regularly and then sleep with her or him which leads the person to a patron!
All of these are the things that you either might do or might see in your daily life in any corner of North America. But what is amazing about the movie, is the author lady who narrates this story and the way the main character finds out about the story and reacts.
Simply put if you wanna see something different and if you wanna laugh and also get sad, don’t miss it. Catch it before it’s faded from the big screen because it this time of the year many good and bad movies come up and it’s almost difficult to make a decision which one worth watching.

(Photo: Maggie Gyllenhaal plays a young bakery owner in the movie who is audited by an IRS agent. I saw her first time in Secretary, the movie which has made her notable. I, myself, didn't find anything special in the movie but a few erotic scenes!)

Luck and Chance

I never believed in luck before my immigration and living in this part of the world. All I always believed in was how hard I try, study and work. But that is gone now. What has happened after wasting 5 best years of my life here? Nothing actually! So many good opportunities and interviews are all gone and I'm at the verge of losing everything. Alfa, whom I wrote about his defeat and return to Iran, is back to the US and has a good job in MA now. He was completely broke and was using his credit cards and his visa was expired. Now he's back on track and got a visa for three years. When I was talking to him last weekend on the phone he was complaining of loneliness but he'll be fine. He's not a special guy. Even his language is terrible but ... you never know. That's where luck helps you.

I still have a few opportunities waiting for me, which I'll write about them in detail later but there's no guarantee. Besides that Dec. and Jan. are not hiring months. If I don't get EI, I won't be able to survive for a long time and I have to pack and go back. That's the truth and that's bitter but that's what it is and I accept that. May be I'm simply not good. May be I suck. I have been doing a lot of thinking, may be not a lot! but haven't found any solution.

(Photo: There are different signs of good luck in Western culture, including a horse shoe but I still don't believe in that esp. when there are a few rusted ones piled up together!)

Gift Cards

When I opened my mailbox today, I noticed there's a mail from my landloard. And as I'm most of the time and habitually a pessimist (damn me!) I thought that's a warning or something worse!

But what I saw was completely surprising: A Safeway gift card! Gift cards are common here and you can buy and give it to someone you like and he or she goes and buys whatever her wants and enjoys. Most of the famous franchises have gift cards with different values. I was really happy. It's absolutely rare to receive something like this in Christmas season from this cold people in this cold country. Although I'm sure the same thing has been sent to the other tenants as well (may be not) but I remember the people in Amhurst Property Management Ltd. have been always nice to me, esp. the lady who showed me the apartment at the beginning. There were at least 12 people and I was finally chosen to be the tenant. I guess the people in the company, I mean the main people are originally from India or somewhere like that. I say that based on their feature and names. But it doesn't matter where they are originally from. What matetrs is they are very nice people and I rocommand them in case you want to have business with them. But remember, it all depends on how you behave. They might not be nice to people who postpone their rent or damage the property or complain too much!

(Photo: The $15 Safeway gift card that I received from my landlord. Not bad ... Ha?)

The Real 2.4

I ran the inner lane of the track today and that was 12 laps. That was the real 2.4 KM and I didn’t better than 11:59:799. It’s quite far away from what I claimed in my application form for the position in CF. That’s 10:50 or 10:40, as far as I remember! Almost 1 minute longer! Hence I have to work my ass off to get as close as possible to that damn time. I don’t know my chances but what I know is I have to tell them that it was a syntax error!

(Photo: This photo, taken by P. M. months ago, shows track No. 1 of Talisman Centre and all its lanes. The closest to the guardrail is the one I'm talking about. It's 200 m long. If you have keen eyes, you'll see a shadow of a runner in lane 2! That's me and that's how a stupid takes a photo!)

Liberal Leadership Convention

The Liberals have been busy with choosing a new leader for themselves in last few months. There was no one as the head of the party after they were defeated by the Conservatives and Martin stepped down. It's being said that the Liberals has given almost everything to this country in last three decades including the Charter of Rights (that's the only thing I can recal and I thing is a very important asset) and all of a sudden the Conservatives took over!
Thus the Liberals tried to elect (yes elect!) a new strong leader who's able to defeat Harper. There were a few candidates of course and only one of them was known to me: Michael Ignatieff. He made a few comments during Israel-Hizbollah conflict a few months ago which was not wise, in my view. He once said that bombing a small village in southern Lebanon, where Israel claims that's where Hizbullah guerilla used to hide and ambush Israeli troops, was a war crime. That made him a bad guy in Jewish community of Canada and even a party member attacked him verbally. Then a few days after that he tried to rebuild trust with Jewish people and said he would travel to Israel but the contradiction diminished his attributes as a good party member and futuer leader and almost no one bought it.
When I saw him as a leadership candidate last week I was surprised and got more surprised when there was no sign of people like John Manley and Blinda Stronach and few others. But these are none an issue. The problem I saw here is if the Liberals ultimate intention is defeating the Conservatives and regain the reign, then why don't they consume all of their effort and energy on fighting with them (The Conservatives) instead of having internal clash for their leadership?!
They simply are able to have an election by their for example top 5 mebers (Let's call them leadership board of the party) and chose the person they believe is able to run their party toward a triumphal fight with the Conservatives. I don't know why that is not the way how the leadership convention works here. May be because it's a convention!
Anyhow Ignatieff was leading the leadership election with almost 29% of the votes in the first, I would say, round. Then all of a sudden a French-Canadian guy, with a strong accent and poor English won the leadership. It's said that Stephane Dion (I don't think there's any relationship between him and Celine Dion. The only thing in commen that I've seen so far is their rather poor English and ridiculous accent! Sorry. No offence to Celine! She's great. I'll write about her a little later) has had a kind of deal with one of the other candidates, Gerard Kennedy and that made him able to step up from the forth seat to the top and winning the election. We'll wait and see how he does and how he defeats Harper.
(Photo: The newly elected Libral part leader, Stephen Dion, is seen here with other candidates after his victory. He's the second from right)

Nov. is the Best So Far

I'm getting better at running and my total time is decreasing as it's shown in the above chart. That's probably because I'm losing weight. This month I got my best time and that was in Nov.30 as I wrote in the previous post. I probably start running in the inner lane this month because I know the exact length (Every lap is 200 m) and that helps to record the time. I have to make 12 laps instead of 10 that I have been doing so far in the second lane. Or may be I find out how to measure the area of that oval shape track and stay in the second. I will have a four months comparison at the end of Dec.

(Photo: The chart for running in Nov. of 06 shows a downward in the total time. Day 8 should be omitted based on special cause law. The number of days also went down due to my illness in this month and unemployment shock)