An Inward Journey

In a hand-built cabin deep in the woods, time moves slowly — and so does grief, healing, and love. With her aging dogs, five spirited cats, and the silence of nature as her only company, Afarin Rava traces the rhythm of a life shaped by caregiving, solitude, and unexpected strength. Written with honesty and tenderness, this memoir offers a window into the inward journey of survival, the quiet endurance of the human spirit, and what it means to stay until it's time to go.

Pens & Perspectives

Writing under different pen names is like trying on new glasses. Each lens brings the world into focus from a slightly different angle. As Afarin Rava, I reflect and remember. As Noosha Ravaghi, I guide and teach. As Pishi Pooch, I play and pounce. These names don’t just mask identity—they shape voice, purpose, even posture at the desk. The same hands type, but the heart behind the words changes with each signature.

Quiet Quarters

 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FB3QBV63

The Weather...

The weather had other plans...

For days now, thunderstorms have rolled in one after another, halting the outdoor project I’d just begun. Even for the brief moments the storm stopped, the ground was too wet to work, so I packed away my tools.

Sometimes, when the world outside turns electric and gray, it opens up a different kind of space, the kind where memories stir, so I stayed inside... and wrote.

Seven years ago, on May 29, 2018, I arrived here, into the woods, into a life I didn’t yet understand. Tomorrow marks the full seven. I hadn’t planned to write about it, but something about the stormy stillness invited me to look back. 

I gathered my scribbles and shaped them into a tiny memoir... and on May 27 I pressed publish — hoping it will be available on the 29th, right on time. 

Fingers crossed.

Parts of Speech

Some words take on multiple jobs. Light can be a noun meaning soft glow, a verb, as in light a candle, or an adjective, like in a light touch or the opposite of heavy. Run might describe a jog, a business, or what happens to ink in the rain. I like noticing these hardworking words. They remind me that language doesn’t have to stay in a single lane. One word can belong to several worlds, depending on how it’s used.

Rainer Maria Rilke

“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.”
Rainer Maria Rilke

Hazel

I’m seriously considering learning how to sew... just so I can add tiny kitten-sized pockets to all my clothes and tuck Hazel — a.k.a. the tiniest, floofiest purring marshmallow — right in and take him everywhere, like a living lucky charm.

May 24, 2025

A New Book

A new book is in the works.
It’s personal, quiet, and close to the bone.
I’ve been writing my way through it slowly...
and it’ll be out very soon.

Hello

If you want to feel more global, start by saying hello in ten languages. It’s simple, but each greeting holds layers of culture, rhythm, and respect. 

Book Review

Languages

Every language has untranslatable words.
In Filipino, gigil means the urge to squeeze something cute.
Take this as a reminder that not everything fits neatly into English.

Grammar & Glamour

The words grammar and glamour were once the same word. In medieval Scotland, grammar (Latin knowledge) was seen as magical. Knowledge became charm — literally.

Seriously...

Both grammar and glamour come from the same root: the Greek word gramma (γράμμα), meaning “letter” or “something written.”

In the Middle Ages, particularly in Scotland, grammar referred not just to language rules but to all scholarly learning, especially Latin. Since most common people couldn’t read, anything written —especially in Latin — seemed mysterious and even magical.

Over time in Scottish dialect, grammar took on an altered meaning. It began to refer to arcane knowledge or magic, because the learned (grammarians) seemed to wield supernatural power. This altered meaning gave rise to a corrupted form of the word: glamour.

So by the 1700s, glamour in Scots meant a magical enchantment or illusion. Later, it evolved in English to mean charm, allure, or an enchanting appearance — often without actual substance behind it. Think: a spell cast by style.

grammar = knowledge of letters, language, learning

glamour = a magical charm (originally linked to scholarly mystery)

Different Shades

“Synonym” sounds harmless, but no two words are exactly the same. They carry slightly different shades. That’s why writing feels like painting — word by word, tone by tone.

Verbs

Verbs carry the weight.
"She walked slowly" is fine.
But "she crept" or "she strolled" says more, with fewer words.

Book Review

Tittle

The dot over the letters "i" and "j" has a name: a tittle.
This may seem like a tiny detail, but its presence in print since the eleventh century proves that even small marks matter.

The Perfect Reply

French has a phrase: l’esprit de l’escalier — literally translated as the spirit of the staircase. It means thinking of the perfect reply... too late. Language has a way of capturing our regrets.

Deadline

The word deadline once meant a line around a prison.
If a prisoner crossed it, they'd be shot.
That deadline was dead serious.

Writing deadlines today?
Slightly safer.

Living Passport

Words like shampoo, robot, and kangaroo show how language is a living passport, stamped by every place it visits.

Tone

Tone is everything.

“Sure.”

“Sure!”

“Sure...”

The same word can give three different feelings.
Punctuation is the body language of writing.

Emotional Fluency

In Korean, there’s nunchi — the art of reading the room. It’s emotional fluency, not spoken fluency, that often helps us connect. 

Framing Life

There are over 7,000 languages in the world. Each one is a way of seeing, feeling, and framing life. Writing — even in just one — lets us glimpse the rest.

Family

PSA

I was planning on posting something else today, but this is more important. 

I just spent the last hour with Amazon customer service, first by chat and then by phone. I received an email yesterday, telling me "a selling partner" that they could not pay me. They said this is due to one of several possible issues (bank, credit card, account, ...) and to click "here" to get more information. 

Obviously, I didn't click. I checked the sender: Amazon (with a blue checkmark). I checked the sender's email: all correct, amazon.com. Everything looked legit, but...

Finally, after talking to an actual representative, I was told that the last email I received was when my last order was shipped and that they had not sent this email. 

All Amazon customers and writers who publish on Amazon already know not to click on any link ever, even when the sender's info looks right, but this sender was specifically targeting Amazon selling partners. 

Just be careful.

Leonardo da Vinci

"The smallest feline is a masterpiece." 
Leonardo da Vinci

Book Review

This Sunday...

Steve Jobs

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do."
Steve Jobs

English Evolution

English has evolved through several stages:

Old English,
barely recognizable today,
was spoken up to around 1100.

From 1100 to 1500,
French and Latin influences
shaped Middle English.

Then came Early Modern English,
starting in the 1500s —
marking the beginning
of what we now call
Modern English. 

May 2025