2013 Diet Diary Note

Only lost 2 pounds in 2012. 2013 will be different; expect a big weight loss.

Weight 31/12/12 = 21st 11lbs.

Target Weight Loss =
End of January = 19st 11lbs
End of February = 17st 11lbs
End of March = 16st 7lbs
End of April = 15st 7lbs
End of May = 14st 7lbs
End of June = 13st 12lbs
End of July = 13st 8lbs
End of August = 13st 4lbs
End of September = 13st
End of October = 12st 10lbs
End of November = 12st 7lbs
End of 2013 = 12st 7lbs.

2013 Diet - Actual Weight Loss

3rd Jan = lost 9 lbs already.

Farsi : Building Terms

Account = hesab
Additional = ezafe
Adjust to = ta'dil kardan
Adjustment = ta'dil
Architect = me'mar
Architecture = me'mari
Bath = van
Bathroom = hammam
Bedroom = otaqe xab
Breadth = pahna
Brick = ajor
Brick-layer = banna
Bridge = pol
Bucket = satl
Budget = buje
Build = bana kardan, saxtan
Building = emarat
Buy to = xaridan
Calculate to = hesab kardan
Calculation = hesab
Carpenter = najjar
Carpentry = najjari
Carpet = farsh
Carpet to = farsh kardan
Ceiling = saqf
Certificate = tasdiqname
Chair = sandali
Chimney = dudkash
Circle = da'ere
Claim = talab
Clay = tin
Complaint = shekayat
Complete = tamam
Completion = etmam
Concrete = siman
Connect to = mottasel kardan
Corridor = dalan
Cost = qeimat, xarj to cost, arzidan
Craft = pishe
Craftsman = pishevar
Damage = xesarat
Damp = tar
Dangerous = xatarnak
Decorate to = arastan
Defect = eib
Defective = ma'yub
Demolish to = monhadem kardan
Demolition = enhedam
Depth = goudi
Description = ta'rif
Dig to = kandan
Dimension = andaze
Document = sanad
Door = dar
Durability = davam, durable badavam
Edge = labe
Electricity = barq
Employer = karfarma
Engineer = mohandes
Entrance = vorud
Erect = rast
Estimate = baravard
Excavate to = hafr kardan
Excavation = hafriat
Exit = xoruj
Expenditure = xarj
Factory = karxane
Floor = tabaqe, zamine
Garden = hayat
Grass = alaf
Kitchen = ashpazxane
Plaster to = gac malidan
Plasterer = gackar
Plumb-line = rismane kar
Ply = la, 3-ply = se la
Profit = sud
Programme / Plan = barname
Prolongation = tamdid
Quality = khassiyat
Quote to = naql kardan
Quantity = qadr
Roof = bam
Sand = rig
Soil = xak
Stair = pelle
Stairs = pellekan
Steel = fulad
Table = miz
Toilet = tualet
Wall = divar
Washbasin = dastshuyi
Water-pipe = lule
Welder = rixtegar
Welding = rixtegari
Window = panjare
Window-pane = shishe
Wood = cub
Worker = kargar

Me (5th December 2012)

Best Television in 2012

London 2012 Olympics
The Killing 111
Secret State
Mariella's Book Show
Dragon's Den
Grand Designs
Young Apprentice
The Review Programme
Idiot Abroad 3
The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler
Grand Designs

2012 Diet Diary Note

At one stage (i.e. April 2012), I'd lost 3.5 Stone. Unfortunately, my gluttonous nature got the better of me and I'm likely to end the year 1 stone lighter. At least, I won't have put weight on. Still, 1 stone weight loss for many would be a success. By my normal standards, it has been a "failed" diet. Mind you, I'm on a downward curve; 1 stone a year for the next few years would lead to a big weight loss.
Saying that, I intend to lose a considerable amount of weight next year but not stop in April ! I expect at least a further reduction of 3.5 stone by April 2013.

Books To Read 2013 (& end 2012)

The Fear Index
Mao The Unknown Story
Two Brothers
Foreign Country
Arguably
Bed of Nails
Enoch at 100
Spies of The Balkans
White Noise
Umbrella
Wolf Hall
Wild Swans
Savushun
Double Cross
Bring Up The Bodies
Malcolm X
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Miracle In The Andes
The Knowledge of Good & Evil
The Liars Gospels
The Railway Man
Missing Soluch

Books Read 2012

The Colonel
The Blind Owl
A Tale of Two Cities
The Prague Cemetery
Sisters Brothers
Metamorphosis
Iran Awakening
The Psychopath Test
The Old Man & The Sea
Pompeii
Dodger
Sweet Tooth

Lists of Favourites

Television

1.The Singing Detective (UK BBC)
2.The Killing Series 1, 2 & 3 (Denmark)
3.Curb Your Enthusiasm
4.Dragon's Den
5.Prime Suspect
6.This Life
7.On The Buses
8.Question Time
9.Porridge
10.Edge of Darkness

Films
1. The Lives of Others
2. The Long Good Friday
3. Taxi Driver
4. A Moment of Innocence
5. Devdas
6. Memento
7. The Seventh Seal
8. The Reader
9. At Five In The Afternoon
10. Waltz With Bashir

Albums

1. Swoon - Prefab Sprout
2. Blood & Chocolate - Elvis Costello
3. Physical Graffiti - Led Zeppelin
4. Hounds of Love - Kate Bush
5. Dummy - Portishead
6. Ocean Rain - Echo & The Bunnymen
7. Abbey Road - The Beatles
8. Led Zeppelin 3 - Led Zeppelin
9. Plastic Beach - Gorrilaz
10. Revolver - The Beatles

Books

1. The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
2. My Uncle Napoleon
3. The Blind Owl
4. The Colonel
5. Crime & Punishment
6. A Tale of Two Cities
7. The Prague Cemetry
8. Holy Blood Holy Grail
9. Pompeii
10. The Da Vinci Code

My Twitter Account

https://mobile.twitter.com/SimonZohhadi/tweets

Goodreads

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5073918-simon-zohhadi

Places, Organisations & Movements I Support

The Catholic Church
Islam
The Labour Party
The British Army
The Iranian Army
England Football Team
Britain (England)
Islamic Republic of Iran (Persia)
Asia
London
Yorkshire
Scarborough
Surrey
The CIOB
Palestine
The NSPCC
London South Bank University
Hammersmith & West London College
NHS
Public Sector
Private Sector
Trade Unions (excluding the GMB)
Respect Party
British Monarchy
Withdrawal from Europe
British Culture
Persian Culture
Indian Culture
Chinese Culture

President Obama Re-elected

Obama has just officially won the 2012 US election with 275 Electoral College Votes. It is 4.30am UK time. Congratulations.

Iran Awakening by Shirin Ebadi

Just completed reading 'Iran Awakening', the autobiography of Shirin Ebadi. An amazing women and Iran's Nobel Peace Prize Winner.

Birdsong

Looking forward to reading the classic novel 'Birdsong' which will remind me of the sacrifice of my Great-Grandfather William Cullen who was killed in action in France in WW1. What a hero, dying for our country.

Books 2012-2015 (Read/To Read)

The Blind Owl - Sadegh Hedayat
The Colonel - Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
Umbrella - Will Self
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Marcia Marquez
Into The Darkest Corner - Elizabeth Haynes
Soldaten - Sonke Neitzel / Harald Weltzer
Who I Am - Pete Townsend
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
The Railway Man - Eric Lomax
Missing Soluch - Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
Bringing Up The Bones - Hilary Mantel
The Garden of Evening Mists - Tan Twan Eng
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
Arguably - Christopher Hitchens
The Spanish Holocaust - Paul Preston
Charles Dickens A Life - Claire Tomalin
Malcolm X - Manning Marable
Life - Keith Richards
Money - Martin Amis
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
The Knowledge of Good & Evil - Glenn Kleier
Spies of the Balkans - Alan Furst

Family Photos 2012

Book of the Month: The Blind Owl

Just finished reading 'The Blind Owl' by Sadegh Hedayat (translated by Naveed Noori). A masterpiece of Persian literature. A book to be read.

http://therumpus.net/2010/10/why-i-love-sadegh-hedayats-the-blind-owl/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Blind-Owl-Sadegh-Hedayat/dp/9186131443

Favourite Football Teams

Favourite Football Teams:
England (1st), Brentford F.C (local), Leeds Utd (Childhood team), Scarborough F.C. & Iran national team.

Favourite Football Teams (as a neutral): West Ham Utd, Liverpool, Barcelona, Brazil & Spain.

For domestic reasons, now only watch on TV. Always support British Teams in European & International football. Don't hate any football team (not even Manchester Utd).

Battersea Power Station

Shilpa & Aishwarya

The Truth

What did we learn from yesterday? The truth and how important the truth is. We should never give up seeking the truth until it is revealed.

Good people make sure the truth is told. Bad people conceal the truth out of self-preservation and fear and moral cowardice !

Favourite Novels (September 2012)

1.The Heart is A Lonely Hunter
2.My Uncle Napoleon
3.Crime & Punishment
4.Holy Blood, Holy Grail
5.The Prague Cemetery
6.Fatherland
7.1984
8.Pompeii
9.The Colonel
10.The Old Man & The Sea
11.The Da Vinci Code
12.Animal Farm

Over the next 3 months, I will be reading:

* One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
* A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.
* A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

* Expect this list to change over the next 12 months. Reading some good books.

My 10 Favourite Foreign Films

It's Winter (Iran)
Devdas (India)
The Seventh Seal (Sweden)
A Moment of Innocence (Iran)
Bicycle Thieves (Italy)
Women Without Men (Iran)
At Five In The Afternoon (Iran)
The Secret In Their Eyes (Argentina / Spain)
Broken Embraces (Spain)
Waltz With Bashir (Israel)

Books on Iran (Persia)

My Uncle Napoleon - Iraj Pezeshkzad
The Colonel - Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
Colloquial Persian - Abdi Rafiee
Modern Persian - Narguess Farzad
Savushun - Simin Daneshvar
The Shah's Last Ride - William Shawcross
Persian Vocabulary - A.K.S. Lambton
The Devil We Know - Robert Baer
The Longest War - Dilip Hiro
Guests Of The Ayatullah - Mark Bowden
The Ayatullah Begs To Differ - Hooman Majd
In The Name of God - Robin Wright
The Septembers Of Shiraz - Dalia Sofer
Iran Under The Ayatullahs - Dilip Hiro
The Persians - Homa Katouzian
Patriot of Persia - Christopher De Bellaigue
A Beginner's Guide To Acting English - Shappi Khorsandi

My Politics

Just joined 'The Respect Party'. Now a Member of 2 UK Political Parties: 'The Labour Party' & 'The Respect Party'. Not sure whether you can be a member of 2 Political Parties. Probably can but not permitted if you stand for election as a candidate. In any case, I will remain a member of both until or unless 1 Party expels me!

I have always supported the Labour Party and always will. I started out supporting the Left Wing of the Labour Party and Tony Benn best represented my views. I would now describe my views as being in the 'New Labour' wing of the party. I have consistently supported the Labour leadership from Harold Wilson (can just about remember him or maybe it was Mike Yarwood !) through to the current leader Ed Miliband. The transformation of the Labour Party by Neil Kinnock & Tony Blair was necessary to make the party electable. A Left Wing Labour Party is unelectable. Ed Miliband should take note.

As far as Iran is concerned, I support a united country with all fractions coming together for the greater good of the Nation. I look upon all Iranians as individuals & do not judge them on their political or religious beliefs. If I had lived in Iran, I would have supported Grand Ayatollah Montazeri & his natural successor Grand Ayatollah Yousef Saanei. Imam Khomeini was a great revolutionary leader and firmly established the Islamic Republic of Iran. Montazeri would have been perfect as the leader of the second phase of the Islamic Republic. I would now support Yousef Saanei.

I am 100% patriotic to Great Britain & Iran and am proud of my English-Persian bloodline. I will always defend and promote Great Britain & Iran.

Career Minded Women v Single Mothers on a Council Estate

Single mothers with several children are often stigmatised & ridiculed by society (often tory voting snobs). But who are the winners & losers, career-minded childless women or single mothers with several children living on Council Estates ?

Th hard truth is that the most profound decision a woman can take in life is to have or not have a child. In reality, career-minded women who have chosen career over children have quite simply taken the wrong decision in answering the most profound question. After all, nobody gives a f--- about somebody's career position except the individual & after retirement, that high career position (if it means anything to anybody) disappears. In other words, it was completely irrelevant. Therefore, single mother's with several children got it right. So society should think again about who it should mock ! For some career-minded women, it is not too late for them to change their minds on having children. If they don't they will regret it.
As an aside, the idea of having more children appeals to me.

Early Years

English Grandparents & Great Grandfather (WW1 KIA)

Pictures:
1. Grandfather (WW2)
2. Welcome to Scarborough.
3. Grandparents with Wedding Anniversary Card from the Queen & Message from the Vatican.
4. WW1 Memorial (Great Grandfather).
5. Family.

Persian Grandfather (His Memory Lives On)

Mum's Painting in her early years

Persian Grandmother (Her Memory Lives On)