"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful".
.
.
.
.
Or will you ?!

Shot in Shemshak ski resort about an hour drive from Tehran city, Tehran province, Iran. Another shot of Shemshak village is here.

According to Wikipedia, Shemshak is the second largest ski area in Iran after Dizin and came into operation in 1958 (8 years before Whistler and 8 years after the world's first double chair at Grouse Mountain, both in BC, Canada). It includes two ski lifts, three dish teleskis and two Hammer teleskis. The slopes lie at an altitude of 2550m to 3050m above sea level and are mostly quite steep and many of the runs are mogul runs. The resort includes two main slopes each with a chair lift that apex at the top and several lifts. There are also lighting facilities for night skiing.

"Where does the white go when the snow melts ?"

Second shot, taken at Alangdarreh forest, Gorgaan city, Golestaan province, Iran.

This year, the drought throughout the world is catastrophical and the forests in the north of Iran are surviving only thanks to the humidity coming from the Caspian Sea. Most rivers are dry and the bottom of the seemingly green forests are covered with gray colorless dry leaves (yes, that's right, I'm not considering gray as a color, at least as far as a leaf is concerned).

"Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times".
- Mark Twain

The last photo is being shot half a block away from the parade at the exact same time.

On a side note, if you take a hot bath about 90 minutes before you go to sleep, you sleep better. It's the cooling of body after the hot bath that causes sleepiness and a more relaxed body condition, says Dr. Cynthia Dorsey, director of Sleep Health Centre at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusettes. A hot bath also works for night shifters and transmeridian (east-west) travelers who try to sleep during the day.

The old lady in the first photo is saying to us (visitors at her village in Kurdistan province, Iran) an expression that literally translates to "You belong on my eyes" or "You can step on my eyes", showing that she's considering the highest level of respect for us as guests of her village. She invited us to her house to have some tea, unfortunately we didn't have the time to accept her kind offer and had to leave.

On a side note, the longest possible journey on one train can be taken between Moscow and Vladivostok in Russia, on the Trans-Siberian Express. The journey is 9,297 kilometers (5,857 miles) long.

More photos of the Vancouver Gay Pride Parade. You can see a short clip here (about 7 minutes and 16 m ga bytes).

On a side note, Canada's crime rate fell last year to its lowest rate in 30 years. According to SFU criminologist Neil Boyd, an aging population and changing attitudes towards violence are likely part of the reason the crime rate has continued to improve on a percentage basis since its peak in 1991.

Vancouver Gay Pride Parade, a march from Robson and Denman to Pacific and Thurlow streets, is a celebration for everyone, but specially homosexuals, transsexuals, bisexuals and well, heterosexuals. Gay, literally meaning happy, is a well-put name on this parade, because everybody tries to be happy, wearing happy colors, acting happilly and listening to happy music.

On a side note, on July 8, 2003, the province of British Columbia became the second province in Canada (after Ontario) to legalize same-sex marriage. A few hours later, Antony Porcino and Tom Graff became the first two men to be legally wed in B.C. In 2008, Tourism Vancouver has allotted about 100,000$ to promote gay tourism from the U.S and advertise Vancouver as a gay-friendly place.

"I wanna live 'til I die, no more, no less".
- Eddie Izzard

Don't you sometimes wish you could go above "life" and just observe it for a while and not be part of it ?

"And if life is like a highway, then the soul is like a car"
- Meat Loaf (Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell)

Second shot, is where this path leads to. And whether you're wondering or not, that's me in the photo, being successful....or at least pretending to be (after all, having the attitude helps a lot).

On a side note, now that I'm at it, here are a few good-to-know facts about Canada (although some of them might've changed a bit):

Canada is the second largest country in the world, with 9,971,000 square kilometers of land. However, with only three people per square kilometer, it has the fourth lowest population density in the world. Vancouver city has the highest quality of life of any city in the world. According to the United Nations Human Development Index, Canada has the highest quality of life in the world. Although Canada does not own the North Pole, it is believed that Santa Claus is from Canada.

Canada has the world's highest tertiary education enrollment and it has the ninth biggest economy of the world. Canada is the fifth largest energy producer, it is the world's eighth biggest trader and of all of the world's producers of natural gas, copper, zinc, nickel, aluminum, and gold, it is in the top five.

Second shot, shot in Soobaataan village, Gilan province, Iran. Take a look at its map from satellite here. That's where this shot was taken too. Many better ones will come soon....

The pose in the second shot is representing the Semaa' dance of the Sufi-s.

On a completely irrelevant side note (as if the rest of the quotes or side notes on this photolog are completely relevant !), the USA buys more oil from Canada than from Saudi Arabia.

Second shot, shot at Oroomieh Lake, Azarbaayjaan e Gharbi province, Iran.

On a side note, according to BBC, prior to a few thousand years ago, no European adults could digest milk. Scientists from the University College of London say that a gene spread through the population allowing more than 90% of Europeans to digest milk. Since milk intolerance is still common, the scientists believe it to be related to this "milk gene." This gene produces the lactase enzyme which breaks down the lactose in milk.

Second shot, shot at Neor Lake, Ardebil province, Iran.

On a side note, TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

Second shot, shot on the way from Fooman to Maasooleh, Gilan province, Iran.

Little houses like this are used by farmers to take a rest when they're tired. The bottom of the house has some distance from the ground so that when they fill up the rice fields with water, the farmers can still have a "dry" nap.

"A beautiful woman should break her mirror early".
- Baltasar Gracian

Second shot, shot close to Aastaaraa, Gilan province, Iran.

It's been a while that I haven't posted any portraits and so to make up for that, I'll be posting a portrait (or a photo containing a human being, or at least a creature with some physical relevance to a "human") along with another photo for a while, same style as "once upon a time", not too long ago....

"Since desire emerges in the gap between demand and need, it is conceivable that pictures could desire nothing".
- W.J.T. Mitchell