Friendship and short stories
3 letters sent so far
A confession first
Friends! Have you ever watched this series? Honestly, I only watched 4 or 5 seasons. And I want to admit that this show is not interesting at all. At least for me. I prefer The Office.
I don't know why I started like this. Maybe it's just something I wanted to say to all of you: I really don't like this show. A few times I've admitted it, and the reaction of the people around me was not really good. It was like saying you hate trees, or dogs. Nowadays people have to love everything that looks cute.
If you don't like it, you become a serial killer.
So, what is a friend?
Honestly! Enough. Back to the subject. Here I want to show off my friends, and of course admire them and show them some respect and love. Why? Because they are my friends.
Do I get paid for this? I don't know, maybe I'll ask them later. Or I can simply say: can you give me money, my friends? And they simply say: YES! OF COURSE! That's why we are friends. And this is what really defines a friendship: asking for something for free.
But remember, sometimes they say no to you. That's when the arguments come up! With the guys? It's really easy. You say “fuck you”, they say “no, fuck you”, maybe a few punches in the face, and the next day everything is okay.
Easy Mode on!
We boys have this option. And I want to say that for girls, in most cases, this option is totally broken. That's the reason most boys and most girls have so many never-ending arguments. So please, God, if you read this: in the next update, develop this feature for them.
Armin, the inventor
This is Armin. I met him when I was 8. We moved to a new neighbourhood, and we guys found each other.
A great neighbourhood. Seriously, at least in this case I promise I don't exaggerate. It's so fucking true. The neighbourhood we grew up in was really, really awesome, in every way you can imagine. Lots of trees, lots of kids, lots of playgrounds and fun. We had everything we needed for fun 24/7.
The alley
Imagine: in our alley there were about 12 or 13 boys and 7 or 8 girls. That was really rare. There was internet back then, but not much of it. You had to go inside and struggle for ages just to get connected, and, well, everyone knows how that story goes. Maybe kids born after 2002 won't get it. So we spent most of our time out in the alley.
12 boys was more than enough to play football, hide-and-seek, go to the pool and play dozens of those old-school games.
And Armin? He was kind of the manager, because he had been there before everyone else came to the neighbourhood. But the lovely thing I want to say? He was very productive. He was always busy with his little projects. And guess what? He couldn't do them alone, because some of those little projects were not that little. So he needed someone else to help him.
So he tricked me. Instead of signing a work contract and paying me for all the work he got out of me, he said: “Come on, let's be friends.” And, well, I was a kid. So on day one, I said okay.
We made a pool, safety boxes, and the most interesting one was our tradition: every summer we built a treehouse, with wood that Armin's dad or my dad brought home. And what a feeling that was! We watered the trees in the yard until everything cooled right down and the smell of the plants came up, and then we went inside our hideout.
And of course, there were always neighbours who complained about all of this.
Amir
Amir and I met at school when I was 12. It took a while before we got really close. He was a bookish kid, and a really funny guy called Karimi always sat next to him.
Back then I had my own gang, with Alipoor and Rahmani. Rahmani's dad had a truck. A few times his mom asked me to explain some school stuff to him before an exam, and well, I enjoyed being good enough for that.
Alipoor didn't like Amir much, and the two of them fought a lot. Amir was really headstrong. He still is. Amir, you admit it, right? Alipoor, on the other hand, was very tall and broad-shouldered. So it was always funny to me that Amir saw himself as his match. Even now, as I write this, it makes me laugh.
The day a friendship was sealed by a devilish bond
By devilish bond, I mean World of Warcraft! Amir played video games. So did I. I'd played since I was a kid, since I was 6. I think I got a Sega from my cousin, and it was a whole world of its own.
Long story short, one day I gave Amir 6 DVDs and said: “Come on, install this.” You needed an ordinary computer to run it and an ADSL connection. And, well, for 4 whole years that's all we played. It got to the point where on holidays we ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at the computer. That's how addictive this game is.
Whenever Amir and I talk, we still bring up the same theory: if it weren't for this game, we'd be much more successful now.
Amir and I still play games together and enjoy being together. In a virtual world, each of us becomes the demons and angels who are saving the world.
Gaming still gives me the greatest joy. But, well, it's been a long time since I had time to play like the old days, now that I'm a so-called grown-up.
Farzam
Well, this is Farzam. Whenever photography comes up, I drag his name into the conversation. He also has an Instagram page full of photos he's taken of lots of beautiful girls. And, well, what could be better than that? I've shown it off plenty of times too. Of course I have other artist friends, but none of them come close to him.
Our friendship started in the neighbourhood, back in high school. In those days Farzam only came out now and then, and he wasn't a permanent member of our gang.
Better to say: unlike me, he didn't know how to waste time.
He was pushing his own plans forward, while we were busy with the first love of our lives, rap music and all that.
Long story short, keep an eye on this guy: great taste, stylish and a real pro. We were invited to his place on lots of nights, and we ate his cooking too. At the end of the night, when we left the cafés and restaurants in our part of town, he'd host me, and with a movie, some grilled chicken thighs and whiskey we'd stay up until morning.
You can find his photography page here.
The birth of the LuKSuri
This is the name of the gang. Seriously. The story is simple. We were a bunch of teenage boys in our first years of university, and because our pockets were empty, we picked this ridiculous name for our Telegram group. Spelled exactly like this: “LuKSuri”.
Of course, our friendship goes back to high school. The Salam Sadeghiyeh kids. So I have to say that the average IQ in this group is higher than in any other friend group you have.
Although, I admit that I brought the average down all by myself. But now that I've gone down this road, I want to say it: Amir Pooya, you brought it down too.
Well, I don't have much more to say. With these guys I went out into the world, I got to know love, I studied. And now they're all scattered somewhere around the world, busy with wives and kids, homes, work and university.
