Being away

At times I feel the need to catch up with life. I need to be living! But sacrifices are no laughing matter; thinking that with some loss there is something to gain.

Of course there is, I kept telling myself. Others would not understand! And yet I'm juggling things from afar; wishing time is not ticking too fast to catch up with me.

Nonetheless, I can steal time. Catch on all the things I missed, like reading. Simple, but believe it or not, it makes me whole again.

It goes a long way

Say I were to organize a concert at 8pm featuring some awesome artist. Because of this, many who attended it skipped Maghrib prayers and involved in maksiat, then I will be holding the sin for all who attended. Ouch.

And say you are a newbie to concerts and I invited you for the first time. If you begin to love it and go to more concerts in the future, then I will be holding the sin for you for as long as you love it. Ouch.

Of course this is just one scenario, but I can transpose this to so many other situations. The bottom line is, a small sin goes a long way. Let alone if it involves others.

Got myself some nasihat few days back. Just a reminder for myself.



p/s: I haven't been to any concerts lately. The last one was Dave Matthew's Band in 2010 and I kinda enjoyed it. Ooops. 

Eid Adha

Salam Aidiladha to all. Well, after missing Eid Fitr last time around, I'm not about to skip Eid Adha as well. My plan today was to eat a lot and so far, I did just that heee. I had lontong, nasi lemak (somehow my aunty always make nasi lemak for raya) and then, another round of lontong and nasi ayam. Happy!

Have fun all. I'm going back to KL soon and these 3 days break thing don't feel enough lah.

:)

Ambition to a job

You know, today I feel like putting up lots of pictures. 

When I first say I would like to be a geologist 10 years ago, I had in mind a job where I will be in outdoors and not bounded by four concrete walls. I thought I will an explorer and see the wonders of nature as it is. Oh boy I was wrong, at least a tiny bit. The challenge is different now and when we say we are getting you the oil, we are getting you the oil. It is not a cheap business and my eyes still go @_@ whenever I see the money we spent to find oil. So guys, please be wise when consuming fossil fuel...it is not easy to find and definitely not that easy to get it out of the Earth, too. 

Then, I dreamed of becoming a gemologist cause I like my gemstones. That's a long and different story altogether... 

Back in university days we had field school and it was great! At times, I still feel like I want to be back in school. Maybe for masters? Hehe. 

Some field camp pictures cause I miss it so bad! Why? Here you go...

At Sunday Point, Nova Scotia. I liked it when my professor
would asked us to draw the outcrop we saw.
I would put my best drawing skills on the paper! I could just
sit down forever (If I could!) just to make it very realistic.
Well, note that I'm no pro, but I am quite okay :p

At Dinosaur Park, Alberta. We got a private hike into the park. Absolutely
worth it. This is a dinosaur graveyard; their bones were everywhere!!!
Definitely a chance of a lifetime for me.
Well, I just had a dino burger here, hehe

Not to forget, super tanned skin and road side lunch break or perhaps snacks.
Somehow I miss sticking in my Swiss Army knife into that brie to spread it onto
my bread. Since we eat on sharing basis, I don't share my knife cause I don't
want to get it contaminated with some ham or pastrami etc...

Missed getting all gross out when I took a jump and simply landed my
feet on the wrong ground... 

SubhanAllah. Just gorgeous view of the Rockies

The thing is I love mountains. So, a view like this could just nail me to the
bench for as long as I can stare. This is at Waterton Lakes National Park. 

Of course, it was a field camp afterall, we are bound to see interesting
outcrop like this! 

And this! and many more...

And being a field geologist, you get to use these gadgets! Some of which, just
me and Izzy's additional items like that lip balm and lotion hehe.
I miss it so badly!!!

And now life gave me a new twist, that is to be a wellsite geologist in an Oil & Gas industry. It is a man's world out here, but shall I say, they do have space for some chicks to join in.

Well, it was not my intention to turn this walkway into a runway, but it just
did. Thanks to my green crossovers for willingly becoming my audience...

Of course, the-no-obstruction-view of the sunrise and sunset. Everyday, this
is the view to die for...fishes as well...

Well, when we want to find for oil, we don't do it on our own.
It's called teamwork. This is me with the mudlogging crew in offshore Vietnam.

And in case you are wondering what I do offshore... here's
a sneak peek. One of my main job is to look at the sample in
the tray under the microscope, see what it is made of and
check for any oil presence under the UV light! 

Sure, it was not as what I intended 10 years ago, but what matters the most is I enjoy what I do. You got to love what you do, be sincere when you do it and that itself is rewarding. 

Going into 2013, I may switch to a department where I will be in the office all the time. That's a new challenge and let's see how hard will it be. I just pray to Allah that it will be a smooth sailing for me from here onwards. Amin...

Comparing subways

I was browsing 9gag (on daily basis of course!) and saw this this picture "Toronto subway fail". It is just too funny not to post it! Even Kuala Lumpur has a more "complicated" subway/train route that this.

Somehow, despite this, I don't find it hard at all to commute in Toronto. It is much easier to walk (and save money) around downtown cause it is not as big as London, Paris or NYC. Having said that, I had been on all four cities. May I say I love NYC the most? It is the most convenient, love their cheap 4-days (or 1 or 8 days etc) pass system, it takes you everywhere and most importantly, it is not confusing. With Paris, I like their cheap day pass as well, but it is a bit tough to get around Paris as there are quite a few transit we need to make before reaching our destination. I'm not a fan of London's Oyster card system (oyster for subway, really??) cause you need to refill as you go, much like our Touch N Go; and since it is in pound sterling, my eyes goes @_@ very fast...Hmmm, for Toronto, it is quite expensive and as you can see, it doesn't take you to many places heee.

From 9GAG

Our very own LRT/commuter/monorail system, from here
(not that you didn't know yet)

Oh well, I need to find a house near an LRT station, so this is my main map hehe.

Exaggeration

Well, one thing that is no surprise is one's tendency to follow the heart, rather than the brain. It controls everything it is in your judgment that it may seem preposterous at times. Somehow, one would just go to the extreme and follow such path. It is an understood extent and shall I say we get embarrassed once we get ourselves straight again? Just laugh at yourself, I guess. Haha.

Myself included. 

True niche

I don't think I'm far from my true niche. I just need an inspiration; an audience to feel reborn. 

Books

Well, I'm away again. Nothing new there. 

Going back to my book dilemma, I'm done with Animal Farm and now I'm reading Wally Lamb's I Know This Much is True. That book is almost 1000 pages so, I cannot count the days until I'm able to finish it! 

Nevertheless, given that Animal Farm was written in 1940s, it is really quite a revelation. It is almost certainly mimicking the state of Russia during Stalin leadership. I'm no historian, but I get the message from it. What is more interesting is the fact that some "animals" (or people in real life) can blindly follow a leader without arguing what is right or wrong. Can one forever be so naive? I can only wonder so much. I can already see that happening right now. I guess if I were to choose this book back when I was doing critical literature review in Grade 12, I would have been very analytical about it. 

Apart from that, I still have Che Guevara's The Motorcycle Diaries to continue reading as well. I read it halfway back in 2010 and now I need to finish it! Well, thesis was in the way of reading other materials. Hmmm, I know I have a quote from the book somewhere in this blog. Haha.  

Ok, back to work for me here. 

Cheers!

With and without

I never pushed away love, I just chose to wait.
'Cause when it finally came to me, it made me complete.
Without love, I am my own self.

With love, I am us.

No white flag

I was once content with simple things like t-shirt and jeans to the mall, but soon enough, they become clothing only to the market near my house.

I realise while we are all trying to grow up, there are things that we soon can afford to lose for ourselves.

Sometimes, it is a good thing. And sometimes, not.

Surrender not yourself. For what is lost is everything thus far.


p.s: I am debating which book to continue reading: 
i. I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb
ii. Animal Farm by George Orwell
iii. Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara

p.s.s: why in the world would I start to read all three of them at the same time?