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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Swap Craze: A Short Story by Payman Akhlaghi


 Swap Craze
A Short Story
Somewhat Inspired by Sort of True Events

By: Payman Akhlaghi
© 2010, Payman Akhlaghi. All rights reserved.
Read Swap Craze on Scribd!




"Status: Bored With My Glasses! Fancy Yours! Care to Swap?!" -- I typed and clicked Enter. Two hours later, his reply came up with a bleep: "Likewise! Affirmative! Opt for Overnight Delivery!" The next morning, I appeared before my class in a pair of golden retro pince-nez. My students ogled. One finally broke the silence, "Professor, are those Jimmy's, too?" I smiled.

As everyone knew, Jimmy had been my number one eSwap pal for the past six months. I knew very little about Jimmy, except that he lived somewhere far in northern Canada, and that we both had an apparently insatiable craving for anything that belonged to the other one. Since we had discovered each other on eSwap, we had exchanged many things via this online bartering service, from books to pants, to furniture, or to whatever else which we'd suddenly found boring. Swap-wise speaking, Jimmy was my soul-mate, and eSwap, with its revolutionary regression to the early days of bartered goods, was the Heaven, where we had luckily found each other.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Life's a Sweet Melody...


Life's a Sweet Melody...
Old Thoughts in Fresh New Words

A Selection of
Original Ideas,Observations, Aphorisms & Humor
By Payman Akhlaghi

Previously Scattered on My FaceBook Page (2008-2010)
Awaiting Categorization & Extended Application
(All material: © 2010, Payman Akhlaghi.)


Life's a sweet little melody: Sing it well!

Don't be blinded by Centuries: Human life is measured in Seconds...
(June 24th, 2010)

A good memory is a gift, only if you can forget -- and forgive, when you can't.

What if life had an Undo button...how far back would you go?

The 11th Commandment: "Thou Shall Back Up Your Data on an External Drive at All Times!"

I wish myself the truth, no matter how sweet or painful. I wish those I love peace, more than truth, but no lies. So I won't ever try saving you, if you find peace in self-deception!

Life Is Beautiful -- because of the first man who said, "Let there be music..." -- Or was it a woman?!

If there is any meaning to life, it must be The Fifth...

Monday, June 7, 2010

Be Fair and Kind in Your Criticism…‎

Be Fair and Kind in Your Criticism…‎

This past weekend, upon invitation by Koorosh (Kory) Yazdani, I attended the June 5th, ‎‎2010 gathering of “Daftarhaye Shanbeh” to speak about his debut music album, “Mahi”, i.e. “The ‎Fish”. As I understand, “Daftarhaye Shanbeh” is an LA-based Persian Camerata of mostly ‎literary professionals, amateurs and enthusiasts. The meetings take place on the first Saturday of ‎each month, hence the name, during which both members and guests are allocated some time to ‎discuss, debate, analyze, criticize or simply opinionate on, preferably original works of art, ‎particularly poetry and short stories. It's a rather famous series, about which I had long heard, but ‎to which I had never been. Naturally, I was nervous.‎