Understandable Hiatus

Author: Ben <benk@tilde.team>

Mon Mar 14 09:19:36 AM +05 2022

If anyone has been bothering to keep up with my gemcast and gemlog, there hasn't been a whole lot of activity recently. A lot of things have been happening in the past several months which I think are too various to explain here. Some highlights include getting sick with what I think is Omicron (I'm better from that but as of a few days ago have a cold with a hacking cough), graduating from university (an as of yet ongoing bureaucratic process), and relocating to another country while my wife is pregnant with twins.

As far as the sickness goes, I still get a little bit short of breath at times, but compared to what I experienced two years ago it's very mild and I dare say tolerable, although it is the most hateful thing for me. Unlike two years ago, I can sleep alright, and I can still enjoy food. A recent blood test has shown that I'm slightly "pre-diabetic", which is just one more thing I have to worry about along with my high triglycerides, which I've had for years anyhow. This was the first time my fasting blood sugar has been this high, but both of these things need to be dealt with with diet and exercise. I personally don't feel that I'm a bad eater. At least, I don't have horrendous habits that some people (especially in the USA) do. One can hope that it's just a temporary blip.

University is another issue that would have gone smoothly, except the administration at the last minute decided they wouldn't accept my high school diploma because it's not stamped by "my embassy". The United Stateas has no embassy in Iran, which makes this request absurd, but the ministry of education promised to resolve this issue, except they haven't done so in a timely manner. I left Iran having given power of attourney to a relative and close friend to finish the paperwork in my absence. I'm sure it will get done, even if they decide to force me to try to get my diploma stamped by an embassy or some other official body outside the country. Other than that, I successfully completed all my courses and am just waiting for the university to give me my certificate. Finishing all my courses in time was stressful, and I nearly failed one course, but in the end I succeeded.

Regarding the move, that was an entire bureaucratic can of worms that occupied us for weeks along with the other issue. Probably a short novel could be written about this, but in short I needed a stamp in my passport allowing me to exit the country, and the process took longer than expected even though we had to fly by a certain date and had already purchased our tickets, otherwise my wife would not be allowed to fly if she were too late in her pregnancy. As the process dragged on we got help from the university staff involved in applications relating to students' passports, and managed to successfully follow up such that my passport was supposed to be issued days before my flight. At the last minute we were told that they would not hand over my passport until Iranian intelligence services had talked to me, which then had to happen the literal day before my flight.

That sounds scary, but as an American living in Iran I had already been interviewed by them multiple times. Considering the fact that I lived there for five years, it happened only infrequently. Thankfully, this particular one before exiting the country appeared to be more of a formality. It was short, routine, and friendly. Plus you can imagine my joy when I got my passport back finally with all the stamps in order.

After weeks of preparation and some last minute packing problems, things miraculously went perfectly on the day of our flight. Most notably, this includess the baggage check-in staff (for not apparent reason) randomly decided to waive our extra baggage fees, even though we must have been like 50kg over. When we arrived in Tajikistan, the KGB, who routinely confiscates the passports of Tajiks who visit Iran, decided to let her off easy. (In fact, they've never done anything to her personally bsides annoy her.)

So anyway here we are in the great city of Dushanbe with my wife's family. This will likley open a new chapter in my Gemini content, since it's a new chapter in everything. In fact, I lived in Dushanbe some years before going to study in Iran, and we visited more than once during that time, so it's not that this place is unfamiliar to me, but of course I am entering a new phase in my life.

As far as Gemini Radio goes, you are going to have to wait a bit longer than that because I left my broken headset behind as I said I was going to. I tried to record an episode a week before my departure from Iran, but I scrapped that recording because I didn't feel it was good enough. Also the war on Ukraine started around that time, and that affected me as well. I still haven't gathered my thoughts enough to respond to it in writing yet, but perhaps that will be the topic of my next gemcast, whenever that will be.

There's still a lot more to say, but I think this is enough for now. Thanks for Reading.