Farzaneh at Twenty-Five

I turn 25 today, so here are 25 random facts about me!

I take my birthday cakes seriously :-)

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1. My name is Farzaneh Foroozan. When I was in the 7th grade, I kept a notebook with a list of dozens of ways people have mistakenly pronounced my first name. Examples included: Farzanya, Franzanya, Farzana, Feysan, Farazana, Frasaney, Fazeney...

2. I'm a halfie - My mom is Filipino and my dad is Iranian, and just as life couldn't get any simpler, I was raised in Nigeria (lived there for a total of 18 years).

3. My favorite book is Clockwork, by Phillip Pullman. I came across it when I was in the 3rd Grade, and I'm still in love with it. It's an easy-to-read short children's novel with elements of love, horror, adventure and mystery. Many years after high school, I went on a crazy search through bookstores and libraries in the Philippines, and even got my friends in the USA and Canada to help me search for the book, but we couldn't find a copy anywhere. When I was 17 years old, during one of my summer holiday trips to Nigeria, I travelled with my Dad to Port Harcourt (the city I grew up in) and went to my old school just so I could check if the book was still in the library and it was! The new Principal was kind enough to photocopy the entire book for me, and it's now one of my most treasured possessions.

4. Throughout junior and secondary school, my favorite subjects were Literature, Fine Arts and Geography.

5. My all-time favorite food is lasagna (especially the lasagna I make😊). In fact, my very first blog post here was my lasagna recipe.




6. I love cats. When I'm driving or walking, I tend to spot cats very easily. I also like to meow when I see one.

saying goodbye to Limu, before heading to the airport

7. I have a healthy obsession Classic Hollywood Films from the 1930s - 1950s. I enjoy both black and white silent films (featuring Charlie Chaplin) and musical films (featuring Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire) and I can watch Gone with the Wind over and over and never get tired of it. If I had to recommend one movie to you, it would be Twelve Angry Men (1957).

8. My biggest fear is the dark. I just feel very uneasy when I can't see well.

9. My favorite dessert is ice cream. I'm not so picky with flavors; I just like my ice cream plain (no nuts/fruits/etc).

10. My favorite color is brown. Any shade of brown... light brown, reddish brown, yellowish brown, walnut, caramel... Next would be grey. Boring, right? 

11. I'm not into music. No favorite song or singer, and I don't sing or hum either. But if you really need an answer, I still enjoy Britney's Oops I did it again, and everything by Backstreet Boys and NSYNC up to this day :)

12. Apart from water, my favorite drink is orange juice.

13. So far, I've visited a total of 15 countries. The UK was my favorite because the cities are modern and old at the same time. Everything seems to run efficiently (offices, transportation, basic services)... and not far away from each town you'll find serene countrysides.

One of my favorite places - Bakewell, Peak District

14. My religion is the Bahá'i Faith. The Bahá'i Faith emphasizes the importance of independently investigating the truth - so we don't have a clergy because each person is responsible for reading and reflecting on the Holy Writings (of all religions) for themselves. We do have study circles and deepenings where we come together to study and reflect, and these gatherings are guided by the spirit of consultation, respect and patience. Even though I was born to Bahá'i parents, they never, not even once, told me hey attend this, memorize this or this is how you should think. The Bahá'i Faith is very social-action oriented, so as far back as I can remember, I always took the initiative to nurture my own spiritual life and knowledge by joining teaching campaigns, animating junior youth groups, sitting through reflection meetings, engaging in social discourses, etc. I know that being a Bahá'i is a life-long process of learning and doing. When I turned 15, I signed the Bahá'i declaration card after carefully listing down reasons why I want to be a Bahá'i. See, even though my faith is very important to me, I always remind myself not to follow blindly, but to also ask questions and search for answers, and lucky enough the Bahá'i Faith has a vast ocean of literature.

15. Whenever I ask my friends what their first impression of me was, majority of them say that they thought I was a very serious person, then go off to say that after a short while they realize that I'm the opposite - as I turn out to be funny and extrovert. I always blame this on the natural sharp/downward curve at the start of my eyebrows and the dark edges of my lips which always make me look pensive.

16. My favorite quote is "I am a part of all that I have met", from Alfred Tennyson's poem Ulysses. This quote was hung in my Principal's office, and I would see it all the time from 1st - 9th grade. I like it because I absolutely agree that all the places I've visited, the people I've become familiar with, the experiences I've had... all these little bits add up to making me who I am. They reflect in my opinions and bias, my habits, preferences, my language...

17. Okay, I'll try to keep the next few points shorter. Can't you tell, I LOVE writing. Apart from blogging, I write news articles. I used to write news reports and success stories (in schools and for work) over the years. I enjoy reading the news, so that's probably why as a writer I also prefer working with facts. I'm not good at creative writing/fiction. I find it very difficult inventing stories, or using my imagination especially in a science-fiction way.

18. I used to be very much into horoscopes and interpreting dreams, when I was a junior youth.  I used to write articles about zodiac signs for my highschool magazine, and had a few hard copies of dream dictionaries. But then...it was just a phase :))

19. No birth marks, no allergies, no tattoos, no surgery, no scars...

20. I like making things with my hands. For example, every year I draw my monthly desk calendar; I cut and paste into scrap books; I turn shoe boxes into little organizers (for cosmetics, stationeries, etc). I like challenging myself to creatively re-use things around my room. Everyone in my family is like that - my brother is amazing at breaking toys and machines and turning them into something cooler; my mom sews, bakes and decorates cakes... she's our home's painter, electrician, plumber... she can fix anything, and my dad's an Engineer - all through my life I've seen him build dog cages, bamboo huts, and he even built my mom's shop out of 40ft shipping containers.

21. My hidden talent is belly dancing....and I like to keep it hidden.

22. Either/or

• Mountain or beach? Beach. 
• Summer or winter? Summer. 
• Coffee or tea? Coffee
• Singing or dancing? neither. 
• Pancakes or waffles? Pancakes
• Marvel or DC? DC! [insert heart] Batman
• Big party or small gathering? Small gathering
• Football or basketball? Football all the way
• Heels or flats? Flats
• Crossword puzzles or sudoku? Crossword puzzles

23. A life changing experience - Of course there has been a lot, but here's one I'll share. One winter day, while walking the streets of Sheffield, I suddenly slid and landed on both my knees (the pavement was icy), and my phone fell on the ground. A lady walking by just looked at me and didn't even stop to see if I was okay or help me up. Then suddenly I had this crazy thought that maybe she thinks I deserved to fall because I wasn't paying attention to the street; my eyes were glued to my phone! I must've been browsing while walking. I saw this as a wake up call - to be present and more cautious and observant of my surroundings. My attitude towards technology drastically changed after that incident (i.e I don't use my phone when I'm in meetings, when I ride the public transport...) and I'm very thankful for it.  We live in an age where we are sitting next to people, and instead of talking to them, we're busy chatting with people across the world. I've really learnt to keep my phone usage to a minimum.

24. There's only four of us in my family; I have a younger brother. Even though I'm not into music, the best bonding moments my brother and I have are always over music. He's very passionate about music - he's a very talented rapper and learns lyrics very quickly! Sometimes he comes over to my room with his speakers and he just starts rapping along to Nas or Lil Wayne, or sometimes he sings along to some dramatic John Legend, Labyrinth or Michael Bublé song and changes the words as if he's trying to send me a hidden message (it's always hilarious!) I always appreciate how very persevere he is in proving to me that even though rap tends to contain a lot of profane language, the artists are very creative in addressing themes of human struggles, discrimination and injustice in society. I feel like music is my brother's way of expressing himself, so I just listen. Sometimes it gets very emotional.

25. The story behind Farzaneology. So, I invented the term "Farzaneology" way back when I was 12 years old. 12 has got to be my favorite age, so many personality-defining things happened to me when I was 12 (junior youth!) I was 12 years old when I got a hold Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. Through this book, I developed a keen interest in art history, specifically of course, the works of Leonardo da Vinci. Beyond his science and art works, I was intrigued by his way of thinking... his "philosophy". That was around the same time I grew fond of zodiac/astrology and dreams interpretation. At the age of 12 I started writing a book... on pen and paper. I don't have it anymore, but I remember writing chapters like "the Mind", the "Existence of God" (I'm having a good laugh remembering all this!). Since everything was about my ideas, I thought that Farzane-ology, like biology, astrology, etc would mean "the study of Farzaneh's mind". That name has stuck with me ever since.