A talk with my professor

After we came back from the dealership, I went to the school. I decided to talk to my professor. I didn't know what to talk about, but it turned out to be a fruitful conversation.

Professor: "If you work with me in this project, I make you a millionaire!"
Me: "I need only 1 million dollar"
Professor: "OK. You can make it."
Me: "Deal"
Professor: "Deal"
Me: "How long does it take? I need 1 million dollar in one year." (I really don't need this amount of money, but if I could make it, I had a good reason to talk to Taylor after that)
Professor: "In one year? No, what about two years."
Me: "It might be late, but OK."
Professor: "But I don't give you more than 1 million after two years."
Me: "I need to think about it :)"
Professor: "Why do you need one million."
Me: "I can get my green card. My grandmother is sick, and when I wanted to leave my country, she said, 'I never gonna meet you again', and I promised her to come back soon."
Professor: "Oh, I see. Isn't there any other way?"
Me: "I need to be full-time student, so there are not so many options. One is NIW that I talked to you last week."
Professor: "What if I hire you in my own company?"
Me: "In that case, it might take only 7 months."
Professor: "Are you sure?"
Me: "I am pretty sure." [Not completely]
Professor: "I don't know anything about it, let me ask and think about it until December. But I don't promise you anything now."
Me: "OK. Thanks."

These conversations seem to be very dreaming. When I said about it to Henry, he asked, "Was it a serious conversation?" "It might be." I answered.

Henry bought a car

We saw a 2007 Corolla yesterday from the same dealer that I bought my car, and Henry called him and schedules an appointment to go and see and buy the car.

When we got there, the car was sold. It was a good car. Then, Henry decided to buy another car. He showed us a 2001 Acura, and Henry really liked it, and it was a super smooth car. But Since the price was higher than its KBB value, Henry decided not to buy it.

Then he decided to buy a 2006 Altima. We had a test drive, and he liked the car, and we got a discount for the price, and he bought the car. Since it doesn't have any inspection, and the trunk lock needed to be fixed, we left the car at the dealership to bring it for us on Monday. I unintentionally knew that Henry will buy this car when I saw it that time that I wanted to buy my car, but I didn't know how. I though that it never gonna happen because there could be so many better options for him to buy, but it doesn't happen.

I saw her with another boy

Sometimes events are strange. I came out of my office a little later tonight. I saw that girl in front of our department going to the activity center with another boy. At first, I was not sure because of the darkness, but when I looked her closely, I became certain. Maybe I was too old to be friend with her. Maybe she was not really interested in me from the beginning. By the way, it is over. I waited all these days to get her call, but she didn't call me.

irrational dreams

I talked to my mom last night, and she was very sad. Someone referred a guy to marry my sister, but he didn't like my sister, and my mom was sad. I chatted with my mom for more than three hours yesterday. I suggested her to expand her social activity. I don't know what can I do here for her. I am like a death who can't do anything in the other world. I didn't get any call from Lily yesterday, too. And it was so disappointing. I expected her to call me. I thought that she was interested, but it seems that she was not. She is living on-campus, and she has a class everyday, and there are many events this weekend in my university that we could go together, but she didn't call me. I wanted to go today to the cafe and meet her, but I don't know why didn't I do that.

I said that to say I had a bad dream last night. I saw my car had been stolen, and Ryan brought me to the school, and I was very unhappy because of that. I tried to call the insurance and police, but I couldn't because I was in the school to the night because I couldn't take any bus to my home. Then, I saw another dream. I saw my friend in San Diego had stolen a Camaro. Then we went to a shop to buy something, and he stole some medicine, and ran away. The shop owner noticed him, and ask me to give his contact information, but I didn't have. Then, I went out of the shop, and another guy chased me, and asked me to give his number. I said them, I didn't have it. They need to call the police. Then, I ran into a neighborhood called Pyramid that was like Egypt's pyramids inside to lose them, but they found me again. I said them, If I see him again, I ask him to give back all things that he stole.

I see bad dreams anytime I am unhappy. When I am happy, I see good dreams. Why is it so?

Marriage Problem Analysis

I chatted with my mom several times this month. There are always two major topics in our conversation. First, she is concerned about my sister who has not married yet. Second, she wants me to marry an Iranian girl from her friends or someone who she knows.

I thought about it, I can't marry someone in my home country because of several reasons:

1- My visa in single entry. It is a big risk if I want to go back to Iran now. I may not get visa again.
2- I need to know someone before marriage. Even though I took the risk and go back there, I can't stay more than 3 months. How can I know someone and marry her in this short amount of time?
3- Let's suppose that I could marry someone where. What if she couldn't get visa then?
4- If I get my degree, I can't go back to my home country because I need to server two years in military. In fact, I loose all my advantages of getting a degree here.
5- Even If I marry one of them, I can't go back to my home country because of military services, and she will need to visit her family in Iran, and I can't go with her. It may cause lots of problems in the future.

I have two options only; either find someone here, or go back to my home country forever. I don't want to go back there without getting a GC here because I loose many things. A degree is not enough for the things I am going to do. In addition, I am here, and I am 30 now, and it takes at least three years to finish my degree. So, I have three years to decide about staying here or not. Therefore, I just need to focus on the first option, finding someone here.

If I want to marry someone here, I have three choices. First, I can choose an American girl because there are so many of them living here. Second, I can find an Iranian second generation. They are the best because they are both Iranian and American. Third, I can marry an Iranian student who has the similar situation like me.

Since there are so many American girl here, I need to know whether I can live with them or not. I can't start with Taylor definitely, but I can meet any other girl. Second generation Iranian are rare to find. If I could find, I seriously consider her. Iranian students are good, but there are not many choices again, and it should be hard to find a match. So, the first thing is to know about American girls.

I pushed the accelerator more than I should

I went with Martin and Henry to see another car, a Honda Accord 2005 - 93K 6500$, for Henry. We checked the carfax, and it had only a minor accident reported. When we saw the car, the accident was more than a minor one. It had a severe front damage. Although they tried to fix it, but it was not fixed completely. We decided not to buy it.

I made a mistake tonight, and I pushed the accelerator more than I should when I wanted to park my car in Martin's house parking. I don't know what's happened that I did that, and the car went up the cement block there. I and Martin got shocked after that. I wanted to adjust my parking, but I made that mistake. I felt very very sad after that. I was happy from the morning because of finding Lily, but this made me so sad. Why should I be that careless? Fortunately, nothing happened, and the car didn't get damaged a lot. Maybe I was hungry. Maybe I was thinking about Lily. Maybe I just wanted to stop the car without thinking about what am I doing. I don't know, but I hope that this never happen again. 

I met a pretty girl today

I went to my university cafe today after my class. I saw a pretty girl who was ordering a sandwich from Subway. She had a white skin, beautiful brown hair and gray colored eyes. Her hair was like Taylor's hair style (fearless Taylor obviously), and it was attracting to me. Her dress was also beautiful, and it sounded to me that she was a good girl.

I sat somewhere, and I waited for her. I was far from her, and I couldn't see her. It took ten minutes that she got her food. She sat somewhere that was not far and not near me. It was a few tables away, but I could see her. I wanted to go and talk to her, but I didn't know how to start the conversation. I played with my cellphone to pretend that I am reading something or doing something. Then, I decided to take her picture. I made mistake because its flash was on, and I don't know if anybody saw the flash or not. After all these efforts, the picture quality was not good because she was farther than I expected.

I didn't know what to do. I opened my laptop and started to write my time-sheet.

A voice: "Why don't you go and talk to her."
Me: Because I can't.
A voice: "Why? Are you looking for someone better than her?"
Me: "Let's see. No. She is good enough. I think that I like her."
A voice: "See her. She is alone as you asked for. She doesn't have a boyfriend because of she is sitting there alone. She is friendly, and she may want to make a friend and that's why she is here."
Me: "I know, but what can I do?"
A voice: "She may leave here soon. If you don't talk to her, you may never see her again."
Me: "OK. What should I say her?"
A voice: "Anything. Just go and say hi."
Me: "Let me find something to say first." (I started to find something to say, but I couldn't find anything.)

Me: "But look at that girl who sat near her. What if she hear me. I can't, if she stays there."
A voice: "OK. I ask her go, so you can have confidence."
And that girl went.

Me: [O God, I know that it was you. I know that you made everything for me to make it happen, but it is tough for me.] I decided to go and talk to her anyhow. I left my seat, and I walked a few steps toward her. Then, I stopped and stared at the TV near me.
A voice: "Why did you stop? Go. You already went half of way. I believe that you can make it."
Me: "OKKKKKKKKKKK. I am going."

She was reading or writing something. I walked a few more steps and reached the table that she sat there. I wanted to pass the table without talking to her, but I changed my mind in the last step.

Me: "Hi."
She: "Hi."
Me: "Are you grading something?"
She: "No, I don't."
Me: "I saw your papers, and I thought that you are a TA here and you are grading something."
She: "No. I am used to use different colors for my notes."
Me: "They look beautiful!"
She: [smile] "Thank you."
Me: "You are so pretty. Where are you from?"
She: "I am from here. I am living on-campus now" [I am an American, can't you really see?]
Me: "I know. I mean your origin, your parents."
She: "My parents are from Finland."
Me: "Oh, so you are European, that's why you look different."
She: "Thank you. Maybe."

Me: "What is your major?"
She: "I am interested in History, but I am studying biology now."
Me: "What the relationship between these two?"
She: [smiled] "I don't know."
Me: "If you are interested in History why are you studying Biology." (She smiled; it means that she liked my humor. so, I can give her my number.)
She: "These are core courses that every student need to study. This is my first semester here. Is it your first semester?"
Me: "No. Actually it is my second year, my third semester. Previous year I was very busy, but this year... well... I have more free time. I am looking for a friend to spend my time with her. I would be so happy, if you could accompany me."
She: "Do you have a meal plan here?"
Me: "No. Why?"
She: "I usually go to the dining hall everyday with my friends. You can join us if you would like."
Me: "I don't have a meal plan, but I think that I can pay for it daily. OK. Let me give you my number."

She: "You can write your number here." (she pointed to her notes)

Me: "No, wait. Here it is." (and I gave her my business card)
She: "So, next time I call you for it."
Me: "Thank you."
She: "I have a class, and I need to go."
Me: "I am also have a class, but not now. maybe an hour from now, but I go to the library to study."

Me: "I am Woody by the way."
She: [Should I say my name to him? Maybe.] "My name is Lily."
Me: "Is there any relationship between you and Lily in "How I met your mother""
She: [Don't be gross, but OK, it was a little funny, so I smile] "No, but I like that show" [not that much.] "Sometimes my friends call me Lily pad because of that :)"

And we walked together. I started to talk about my thesis and some differences between here and Iran. I wanted to go to the library, but I thought that she was OK to walk with me, so I went with her to near her class. I probably talked more than I should because I didn't let her say anything.

Me: "OK Lily, it was very nice to meet you."

I left her, but I was so happy because she was a very nice girl. How soft her hand was when we were hand-shaking. Later, I thought that she should be very young (maybe 18-19) because it was her first semester, and she still didn't decide about her major. I don't know if I gonna date her someday, but I know that she is a very good friend. She is also a very wise girl. I don't know if she calls me again or not, but I wish I could marry a girl as nice as she someday.

I waited all the time after that to receive her call for today's lunch, but I didn't. I couldn't even understand anything in my classes when the professor was teaching. I talked to Martin and Henry about her. They were both excited. They called me "groom" when I went to Henry's lab, and we laughed a lot about it. They may not know that I may just want to have a friend. She may not even call me again.

Another car for Henry again

I found Henry a good deal in the cars.com. I thought that it was similar to my car. The price was very good, and it doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the car. We went to see the car with Henry and Martin. It was a good car, but it had an accident (or more than one) in the front. They even leaved the engine on the fly. So, we decided not to buy it.

A car playing day :)

That Altima owner called Henry last night and cancelled the appointment they had to sell the car. He said that the company plan had changed, and he needed to stay more in the US. Therefore, we decided to go and see other cars.

At first, we saw a Civic 2004. The Korean owner of the car was not really reliable. He said that he bought the car from the dealer one month ago in the name of his niece, but he didn't get the visa to come to the US. Because of that and because the car had an accident, we decided not to buy it.

Then we saw another Altima. It was not far from there. It was a good car. But the seller didn't want to give any discount for it. In his ad, it was mentioned that the price is plus the tax and registration fees, however, he said that he meant that the buyer should pay it. I tried to explain it for him that the ad was not correct, but he couldn't understand. By the way, Henry couldn't afford the price. It was 7000$ before tax.

Then, we went and see another car. It was another 2006 Altima 100K. When we started the car, there was a noise in engine. We said this to the dealer, but he said that it was OK. Later, we checked the carfax, and it had two accidents. The dealer was Iranian who came to the US thirty years ago. He wanted to sell this car to us, but it was definitely not a good car. Henry was tired, and they had a party at night, so I brought him to his home.

It is fun and driving experience and a good thing to help Henry to buy a car. I am happy that even though I am learning how to drive, I can help others.

I am happy because I found a direction for my thesis topic

I talked to my professors yesterday. I talked about a paper that used machine learning for diagnosis of COPD. They agreed that it could be a good topic to work on it. In addition, I found a very good news about a telemedicine platform developed in Temple University that focused on this disease. If I can duplicate their work with my own method, I am done with my thesis. And it would be very useful one day.

The only problem is that I don't know anything about this disease and I am not a doctor. In order to do this project, I need to read many medical documents and papers full of medical jargon. It should be very hard for me, but I am going to give it a try. I talked to my friend last night, and he said something that encouraged me to start working on this project. He said, "As a computer man, we need to learn the domain that we are going to work on that. If you are going to develop an accounting software, you need to go and learn accounting. It is also true about this medical software. Hopefully, you need to learn only one disease that should be tractable, and the results could be amazing." I am completely agree with him. It takes time, but if I can get satisfactory results out of this project, I did something special. It is something that I couldn't even think about it in Iran. It is something that can make a big difference. My results can help millions of people who are suffering from a disease. I can't cure them, but I can help them, and what can be better than this?

I am very happy that I found an interesting topic to work on that. Now, I know what am I going to do in my PhD, and it was a very big step for me. Although I don't have a thesis topic yet, I know what the direction could be, and I may find a topic as soon as I know more about the problems and have a hypothesis about a solution to those problems. I am happy that I am forwarding toward my goals.

She was ugly :(

I did my best to be prepared me to meet that girl that I saw last week, and I liked her. I was very confident in the morning, but 30 minutes before going there, I had lots of stress. I don't know why. I went to her class, and I saw her. I don't know maybe I didn't see her, and I saw somebody else. I tried to pretend that I wanted to know about the class. I approached her, and tried to ask a question.

Me: "Hi. Is it Dr. W...'s class?"
She: "Yes. It is." [So what?]
Me: [Oh my god how ugly is she. Is she the same person or she is another person.] Do you know the topic for today's class?
She: No. I don't know, but the TA is standing there. You can ask him.
Me: Which one is the TA?
She: That one. [Now go].
Me: Is he teaching or the professor? [Let me see you more, is that you or you are another person?!]
She: I don't know. Go and ask himself. [Leave me alone.]
Me: "OK. Thanks."

And I left her. I asked TA about the course, but I really didn't want to know that. When I came out of the class, I tried to look at her again. I don't know if she was the same person or not. I looked at her several times, but I couldn't remember the girl that I saw last week. She put her hand under her chick, and I realized that she should be the same person. Maybe she wore another shirt, or had another bag, but she had the same habit of putting her hand under her chick.

"What a mistake I made. She was ugly. She was completely different from last week. Maybe it was not she. Maybe I met another girl. I was interested in a wrong girl, and I thought about seeing her all the week. I liked the girl that I saw at the library today, but I didn't talk to her because of this ugly girl." I thought to myself. Maybe she was not ugly, but I didn't like her. This was the story of my potential girlfriend.

Talking to my cousin

I had a long conversation to my cousin today. She wanted to refer one of her friends to me for marriage. At first, I was interested to know about her. But after a while, I figured out that there are so many problems with a girl who lives far from me. How can I know her? How can I meet her? ...

I talked about Ella to her. I told her that if I wanted to date an Iranian girl, I prefer to date someone here. At least, I can talk to her, and go out with her to know her. I send one of the Ella's photos to show her that Ella is much better than her friend. I gave myself two weeks to find an American friend. If I couldn't find, I decided to go out with Ella.

Changing the tire and First meetup

I checked the meetup.com website, and I saw an event near downtown. So, I decided to go to that event and get my tires changed.

Then, I went to downtown to experience my first real meetup. GPS really made me mad to find the address. It suggested me so many wrong paths. I don't know what was wrong with that. Finally, I found it myself. In addition, it was my first long distance (not that long!) journey alone with my car.

I hope to meet a good girl there, but there were so many middle-age people there. There were some young people as well. A 30 years old girl sat next to me with one seat distance. I wanted to talk to her, but another guy came and sat next to me. I decided to socialize with him. He was a programmer who developed games for casinos. He said, he could make 15 million dollar out of one of his games. He was not satisfied, however, and was looking for more opportunities to make money.

The meetup was mostly advertising some startup companies in the field of healthcare. I went there because it was related to my field. I didn't learn many things, but I learnt a few important points.

The meeting lasted two hours. I drove to home in the night.

Raina Crying and second cooking experience for them

I spent lots of hours today to update my blog. Then I decided to cook something for all of them. I cooked a Persian food called "Fereni".

Me: "Don't put that in the oven. I am cooking food for all of us."
He to his girlfriend: "No, put the chickens in the oven. Children likes to eat that."
His girlfriend: "You know, children are picky."
Me: "OK. I know."

I don't know why they don't want the kids to eat my food? In the dinner time, her child wanted to eat my cooked food, but she didn't allow her. She even hit her because of that. I really couldn't understand the reason.

Since it was the first time that I wanted to cook it for five person, I put a lot of milk and it caused to pour out the pot, and I burnt my finger. It was such a painful experience. I should be more careful next time.

His girlfriend didn't like it at all. "It is too sweet for me as a food. I could have it as a desert." she said. She ate nothing tonight. I offered her to prepare soup or even eggs, but she didn't want that. He, however, liked it, and eat the plate of his girlfriend, too. They didn't thank me after the dinner. I don't know if it is related my Persian culture that I unintentionally expect somebody to thank me after doing something or it is nature of human. I was washing the dishes, and I was thinking to myself not to cook them any food at all because of tonight experience that he said, "Thank you for the dinner. But know that American don't eat just Gravy for dinner. We got more food like Gravy and chicken." His girlfriend also thanked me before leaving the house.

I didn't see Raina this weekend as she was in her room all the time. Tonight I saw her crying. Her father was also there, and I asked him implicitly to go and talk to her. I didn't know that why she was crying. She asked her father to let somebody go. Maybe she was not happy that I was there, and she didn't want to see me anymore. Then, she said that she missed somebody, but she didn't say anything about who was he or she. I just heard this part of their conversations and then I went to my bedroom. Tomorrow, she looked happy. I even tried to scare his father falsely to make her laugh, and she laughed. I really like her. She is just like a little angle. It makes me happy when I see her and hear her laughter.


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Update after a few days:
Later I asked Kane about the reason and he said it was because of the lizard. She got a lizard that night, and she let it go because she wanted to make it free, but she missed the lizard after that. See how awesome is this girl. Kane was somehow embarrassed when he was talking about it because he thought Raina was too emotional. I, however, think that she is amazing.

Ella got a full-time job position in Microsoft

I sent Ella a message yesterday to know what did she do for her interview with Microsoft. She didn't answer me. She, however, sent a message to Henry, and told him that she got the job. I was happy that she got the job, and unhappy that she told Henry but she didn't tell me.

She sent a text to me, and said, "Uncle bill is now my uncle, got the job." I am so happy that she could get this job. Maybe I could get a good job someday.

Flat tire

The pressure of one of my car's tires went low. I brought my car to one of the DiscountTire branches to get a free check. They checked it, and said that it was needed to be changed because it can't be changed. They said I needed to pay 220$ for both rear tires. I didn't want to pay it because I got the tire recently, and it was the tire shop's duty to change it for me. However, the tire shop was very far from here. For me, 220$ is a lot of money now. It was also a waste of money because I don't drive this car that much, and I don't have a plan to go to a long distance travel with it.

Another car for Henry

Today we went to see another car for Henry. It was 2005 Altima 100K. It was a very clean car. The owner was an Indian person who was going to go back to India. He was as young as us. We liked the car, and we wanted to buy the car. However, he said that he couldn't sell the car because he would go back the next week, and we need to wait for it. Henry decided to wait for him.

I asked Henry to go and see other cars, but he decided to buy this car.

Aurora night - First Meetup experience

Kane suggested me a website called "Meetup.com" a few days ago. I joined the website to find new groups and meet new people. Henry and Hanson wanted to go to a opera performance tonight, and since it was near the meeting place, I decided to go with them, and experience my first meetup.com meeting.

I got there, but I couldn't find the group. In fact, they were supposed to update their position using GPS accessible by an app called Glypmpse, but the app was not working. So, I was alone all the time. I saw a few good girls there, but I couldn't talk to them. It was boring to be alone, but what else could I do?

Since the sculpture museum was free that night, I went there. It was a good one.

Then, I went to an Asian art museum.

This car was amazing. It was painted all in Chinese painting style.

The most amazing are out there was this place. There was a blue light with lots of smoke. And a light that was moving from right to the left.

I went to that blue light and stand there. The feeling was amazing. It was like limbo.

There was a show about a self-repair chair. I liked the show.

Hanson's birthday

We wanted to surprise Hanson in his birthday. So, we throw a party in a cafe and a friend of us brought him without telling him. The cafe was very beautiful inside and outside. I drove all the way myself.

One of the most surprising thing was a dance that was played by a guy when we were sitting there. I always wanted to see this dance, but I never had a chance to see it. Even when I went to Turkey, I couldn't go to Molana's city to see this dance. I really enjoyed it.

Later, a woman came there, and she danced with a knife.

We also danced together near the stage.

The cake was the most delicious cake that I have ever eaten.

I couldn't eat anything there because I had Pizza in Henry's house. It was a very good night.