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Omid, Where Are You?
Montreal, QC - EvilGentleman - Sunday, April 8th, 2007 : goo
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Six weeks ago, there was a fire in the building next to the bar where I hang out. It started in the Chinese restaurant on the left. The building housed the restaurant and a convenience store that was owned by my friend Omid and his father. There were also a half dozen or so apartments on the upper floors.
During the warmer months, I would often be standing outside the bar having a cigarette, and Omid would be outside doing the same. We would often wind up having long conversations outside, talking about everything under the sun. Sometimes I spent more time outside talking to Omid than I did visiting my friends in the bar.
He told me of how difficult life was in Iran, how hard he and his family had worked to build a life in Canada, and how grateful he was to have a chance at a decent life over here. He always spoke respectfully, and with intelligence and a wisdom beyond his thirty-something years. He worked incredibly long hours, yet almost never complained. To me, he is the perfect example of all the positive aspects of immigration.
During the colder months, he would stay inside, so I always made a point of sticking my head inside and saying hello whenever I passed by. Sometimes, I would stick around to chat with him inside the store.
After the fire, I saw Omid on the news, stating that he had lost everything, and that as a tenant, he had no insurance, but he was thankful that nobody got hurt. This was just another thing that proved to me what a selfless man he is. He has to start his hard journey all over again, and I know he will succeed, but I feel so bad that a good friend has suffered such a difficult setback.
The bar was closed for 10 days, and then it re-opened. The 12 apartments above the bar remain empty, awaiting reconstruction after the massive water and axe damages suffered during the fire. The restaurant on the other side of Omid's store, which sold $95 bowls of shark fin soup is still closed, perhaps for good. The restaurant in Omid's building where the fire started had some half-decent General Tao chicken that I will miss.
The worst part of all, though, is that Omid is no longer around the area. I never knew what part of the city he lived in, but I often saw him riding a bike to work. Now, he has other things that he must do, so he is gone. Without Omid, the neighbourhood is just not the same. I hope he is surviving ok, wherever he is.
I miss you, my friend. Good luck to you and your family on the hard road ahead.
This article has been viewed 1138 times in the last 34 months
CartLegger: 8th Apr 2007 - 23:08 GMT
I know how it feels, EvilGentleman.
[[www.citynoise.org/article/6597/]]
EvilGentleman: 8th Apr 2007 - 23:21 GMT
Thanks. Here is a functioning link to that article: Losing Soup
upfromflames: 9th Apr 2007 - 15:58 GMT
Evil: how do you do that link style? You can get back to me on gmail or here...
EvilGentleman: 9th Apr 2007 - 21:42 GMT
Well, for citynoise articles, best spot to find info is on the "What is Citynoise?" page located at the leftmost position on the shortcut bar tucked under the banner header on this page. There are formatting FAQ's and a whole bunch of other stuff there. The one you want is this one, I think...
www.citynoise.org/about.php#faq11
For the links, CartLegger almost had the formatting right for external web links, but there are a few spaces in what he typed and web addys do not have spaces in them. Just enclose a web addy in double squared brackets.
But an easier way to do it is to use the double square opening brackets, then the citynoise article number, then a colon, then whatever text I feel like (spaces can be used in this part, cuz it is a plain text field now), then double square closing brackets.
For an example a link to your "Bushwick: The Fire Woman" article shouuld look like this:
Bushwick: The Fire Woman
except of course, I added a space between the double ['s and the 6605, so you could see the formatting. I will now remove the space, and you should see a working link (although I am unsure if the colon in your article name will cause confusion using this method, and I have been wondering the same thing myself, cuz many of my own articles have colons in the titles as well)
Here goes...
Bushwick: The Fire Woman
EvilGentleman: 9th Apr 2007 - 21:45 GMT
LMAO, not only did my second attempt work, but the space used in the first example was ignored, causing that link to work as well. Best to check the FAQ's cuz it's always so hard to type demo formatting without it the formatting taking effect. I think only the editors have that particular ability, or there may be some special formatting characters that allow exclusions.
EvilGentleman: 9th Apr 2007 - 21:48 GMT
And I was just playing with CartLegger's attempted link, and there are noty actually any spaces, so the last / must be the culprit. Lemme check...
[[www.citynoise.org/article/6597]]
EvilGentleman: 9th Apr 2007 - 21:49 GMT
Ahhh, right, the http:// was missing...
www.citynoise.org/article/6597/
CartLegger: 9th Apr 2007 - 22:18 GMT
hah! Spammer! Thanks, I understand now. I am actually upfromflames as well, but only when I write about Bushwick. Thanks for the help EG!
EvilGentleman: 9th Apr 2007 - 23:44 GMT
No problem. Glad I could be of assistance.
Wow, I sure had a lot of typos up there. Oooops.
CE: 10th Apr 2007 - 15:56 GMT
What a sad story. I have photos of the actual fire that I will post soon.
EvilGentleman: 8th May 2007 - 15:44 GMT
This satellite shot is centered on the relevant block of Sainte Catherine Street. Omid's store was the one located two doors east of the black roof on the N (actually, NW) side of the block. The black roof is Sexe Cite.
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