another from 'lolita'

"you get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place, i told him, like you'll not only miss the people you love but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you'll never be this way ever again."

yes

from 'reading lolita in tehran' - reading it now and getting into it:

"Art is no longer snobbish or cowardly. It teaches peasants to use tractors, gives lyrics to young soldiers, designs textiles for factory women's dresses, writes burlesque for factory theaters, does a hundred other useful tasks. Art is useful as bread."

good stuff

i had lunch yesterday with my friend steve- i told him if i could interview any celebrity, it would be tracey chapman. he was surprised- he reminded me that in college i was swooning over cat stevens and bob dylan too much to contemplate singers who were not 70's icons.

don't know if this post is about good lyrics or good memories, maybe both... lunch was nice, just having someone who knew me when i was at that stage, at that age- made me remember what i was like 5 years ago, made me remember how i dressed and what i loved and who i was- kind of like looking at my brother or sister in law or uncle and suddenly realizing, "hey, you knew me when i was a tiny pink newborn! or when i was only 17 years old, awkward and high-schoolish! or when i was five and loved it when you pushed me on the swings!" it's a good thing, it's good stuff. having people around me who remind me that i am a big old composition of all these other, former-yet-still-present zahras.

and then throw music into the mix- hear some lyrics and feel a rush of associated memories. i can still smell my apartment in cairo if i hear tracey. i can still feel angie's down comforter under my feet and playing cards in my hands if i hear leonard cohen.

oh, leonard! must dedicate a post to leonard some day soon. he is a too well-kept secret.

i luvvvv u

for the following people, i give my sincerest thanks to fate:

(tis hep hhp ahp tap md dkh aaa hdsa asp fha)

for keeping me feeling sane and lucky.

these people. some of whom finish my sentences for me, others who know what i am thinking before the sentence is spoken. others who just get me- who give me peace by meaning it when they say "i know exactly what you mean", and by saying it often. it is good, very good, to pick up the phone and be laughing together already. it is very, very good to be very, very loved.

these people are the smartest people in the world. and they are all gorgeous too.