Araz Gholami

For over 12 years, spend your days learning programming. sit at your stone age computer during all the times others are enjoying age-appropriate leisure, and spend all the nights others are asleep wrestling with code you barely understand. spend the days when others share romantic memories reading h... Read All

Dual-belief jealousy you think you’re enlightened, that you approach everything with logic, and that archaic, outdated thoughts have no place in your mind. you believe people have the right to do whatever they want, to have any experience they wish. but then, someone touches your lover, even just a... Read All

It’s been 8 months and 8 days since i started my migration. on my trip back to iran, i convinced sasan to come along with me and experience new things. a few days before his return flight, he asked me, “what should i take with me?” so, what should you take? what are the most important things i... Read All

Another year has passed, and it’s time to weigh things up—what i did over these 365 days. how much progress i made on the path i had mapped out. how much i stood still. what experiences i gained, what my failures were, and how i can learn from them. this time last year, i wrote: 2018 for me is... Read All

With the holidays and leave over, yesterday i packed up my heavy suitcase (i mean it) to head back to ankara. back? or go? it felt strange not feeling any sadness when leaving tabriz. even stranger was the “home sweet home” feeling when arriving in ankara. for now, i’ll just leave this here to remem... Read All

More than 7 months have passed since i started my migration, and i finally managed to arrange a short trip to tabriz. although the main motivation was to visit someone else, i still had plenty of reasons to give myself a break and spend some time in my hometown. since all flights to iran depart f... Read All

Success: setting an achievable goal based on your abilities (and slightly beyond) and reaching it. sleep less and wake up early. call your girlfriend and break up. quit smoking. quit social media. stop following the news. give up salt, sugar, flour, oil, tea, and even coffee. e... Read All

I always thought the reason my birthdays tend to be boring, disappointing, or upsetting was my fault. that i didn’t value my friends enough or invest enough in them. so this year, months before my birthday, i decided to make my friends' birthdays as important and meaningful as possible to me. i spen... Read All

I work 5 days a week for 9 hours. after 7 hours of sleep, the rest of my time is mostly spent thinking. and if i don’t, i at least make thinking my primary activity during those hours. the things i ponder range across all sorts of human and non-human issues, to the point that my brain locks up and i... Read All

Years ago, when i went to a fast-food place with my mom, i noticed a board in the corner covered with stickers. many people had written related and unrelated messages on them and stuck them on the board. following their lead, i grabbed a sticker to write something, but not a single word came out. th... Read All

Preface: the previous version of this post was written during a mentally tense moment, and neither its tone nor its message was right. i disabled it to later rewrite it in peace. this is the rewritten version. for me, gaining control over my thoughts and assembling them into a coherent piece is s... Read All

December 3, 2018, ankara tonight i went to the barber, and while getting my hair cut, i noticed a familiar banknote on the counter. it took me a few seconds to realize it was that same 20-toman bill. the barber said one of his iranian friends had given it to him as a keepsake. when i told him i w... Read All