Simplicity

This is just plain simplicity. But people's biases and familiarity and training with complex and complicated thoughts, behaviors, actions has made it so abstruse for them.

It's not complicated, it's simple. To get it, think less. Think clear. Think.

A walk in a partk

So once I was telling Wahaj on chat once about my morning walking/jogging I had started (and stopped) doing with Sharjeel; here's a small excerpt from the chat:

me: there is this mark
next to the munawwara part
first day we went to munawwara partk
but the next day the weather was to good to goto that part
so we went to this one
which we've been going to since then
Wahaj: in total you have tried to write park 4 times, but have failed to spell it correctly even once.

Kinds of people I hate

Asghar tells me that I've always said that there are four kinds of people that I don't like. Like   they really really tick me off when they're in my company, or more importantly, they're the people I have to deal with on regular basis. And, right now, I don't remember what those four people are. Actually, that's not what Asghar tells me, what he tells me is that I always forget the fourth one while enumerating the four types.

Well, let me try now, let's see if I remember any.

1) Arrogant people. 

This has got to be on the top. I will add the explanation later.

2) Fake people. 

Okay, so basically, everyone's fake. We all hide ourselves, which makes this this world a live-in-able place. So what we call fake are just the people who're faker than us. That's the case usually. But there are some people wayy off the median. The kind that will pretend to be sophisticated, educated, rich when they're talking to people of lower-class than themselves, etc etc. Their confidence rests on their gadgets, their hair color, their new slick first-copy of Gucci eye-wear, or their ability to cuss.

3) Dumb people. 

I always put them at number three, because I thought they deserved to be hated less than the other two... but do they? I mean, they are what you come across the most. A person who's arrogant, sure, but you don't find too many of them that are unbearable. A person who's fake, well, there are so many, that you get used to them, and after a while it's a nuisance. But dumb people? Oh... they surprise you Every Single Time. And they are a lot!

This hasn't got anything to do with IQ. This is sheer, absolute lack of desire to think! This hasn't got anything with the ability or inability to think. It's just that these people don't see things, don't get jokes, don't think before they make a joke, or say something blunt, or see the point unless it's presented to them on a platter, or keep arguing after they've been proven logically incorrect. They just start blabbering on about something else. God! These people have made me such a quieter person! This phenomena is also seen in the number one category, of arguing when the argument is really completed, but arrogants are the worst, because they keep arguing Even When They Know They Are Wrong! Sometimes, what they're arguing against is something they themselves agreed to, like two days ago, but now, since it's brought up in relation to their something they do or have done or have said, their arrogance binds them to disagree.

4) Stealthy people

Hey Asghar, guess what? I can finally articulately define the fourth kind here. These people, they don't give you clear answers. They don't say no. You can see through them! They would use lies, non-lies, tricks, jokes, all sorts of cunning to just avoid a clear cut talk. To not say what is the Truth. To not tell you they will break the promise they made. To try to appear nicer than they are choosing to be. If you're playing like a bitch, own up to it, bitch!

How I lost 12 kg

I have been on healthy diets, very successfully. And I have shown Drastic changes, getting stronger, leaner, over very short periods of time ( 90 days) and losing like 15 kgs of fat while putting on muscle.

Though it worked, I couldn't sustain it. Specially when life is filled with other moments, where your will is torn open, or simply because you travel a lot (I do), or have two families (I have :p), or when you are moving from student life to practical life ( I did, and that just took away all the free time I had!).

So now I am taking it easy. Really easy. I am not wanting to ( I am wanting to, even expecting, but I shouldn't) get impressive results. That's it. Not impressive. It will be so slow, and so natural, that even my folks won't notice. So Instead of working out 100 minutes a day, or even 60, I am just focusing on working out 15-30 minutes a day. Or if not that, then at least 30 push ups!

Regarding nutrition. Which prompted me to write this post. Well. I have done three successful diets in my life, and none of them was unhealthy. I got positive results from each of them, gaining muscle and losing fat with each (I rarely do anything without first educating myself about it, so I rarely follow fad diets, or buy into pre-packaged plans, I come up with my own stuff, mostly).

Let me talk about the 2nd time I took fitness seriously. At that time I ate two parathas in breakfast, along with two fried eggs. A cup of milk, a cup of coffee (I know, I know, stay with me, will ya?) and then for lunch, I had a corn cooked over coals, no oil or anything added to it, just some lemon and spices for taste. My lunch costed me 15 bucks! I was interning then, and was staying alone (without friends or family, since it was vacations) in LUMS over summer. So I could pull it off. I drank three of four coffees a day (two of them with sugar) because I used to feel very lethargic because of the diet.  Then by dusk I reached home, had a coffee without sugar but with a few biscuits. And went for a workout. This was a Really gruelling workout. Every session was painful. I was pushing myself in Every workout. Everday I did something more than last day. Either in running, or in weights, or in strictness of form. And then for dinner. I ate PDC ka salad. Now that's not real salad. The total is like 100-200 gm of chopped onion, cucunbers, tomatoes, carrots, etc. And it was So dull, that I had to have it with vineger. And some days, I was so tired that I didn't have the energy to eat this (the workout Was gruelling!), so I just went to bed hungry (Do you understand the breakfast now?). On weekends I partied. Steaks, burgers, milk shakes, ice creams. My every weekend was an outing with friends of eating crazy. I loved that time! I even got the bonus for performing excelling work at that internship!

Ramadan Schedule!

So Ramadan was around the corner, people were talking about it. In particular, one of my friends Waqas, told me, "Saad, is dafa Ramadan ki tayyari karni hai!" (Saad, this time around we have to get ready for Ramadan). Also, one day, while reading from a book, I stumbled upon a hadith that talked about Ramadan's blessings. So, all this is to say, that this Ramadan didn't catch me by surprise.


Anyway, when on Friday night, it was finally annouced that Ramadan crescent has been sighted, and I reached home after taraveeh, I sat with my sister and tried to come up with a Plan for this month. This was more of a schedule of important things, guidelines that I Needed to follow. So I wrote it down, and got my sister to sign it under the heading of 'Enforcer'. Haha... This was the plan:

1. No computer usage after coming home from work. As in no computer after 5 pm. Period. 
2. Meditation after Isha. 
3. Recitation after Fajr.
4. No fried stuff in aftaar. 
5. No coffee or tea. 
6. Workout after Maghrib. 

Well, it went great. Some things I implemented with great success, and some things I wasn't as successful. Needless to say, it felt great. The first week felt great. There were some issues, of course. Firstly, the shape that I am usually in isn't much kind to offering taraveeh. So I got a bad backache. Secondly, I got crotch itch. This wasnt a good experience really. I have the memories a bit hazy about which happened when, but they all happened in the first week. There was one good news in the first week too! Wahaj's visa got processed and he was said to leave on the second Tuesday of Ramadan. So he gave an Aftaar party on the Saturday before it. And I met all my friends. And while my shape had gotten pathetically worse over the last two years, I was very impressed to see that guys especially Hamza Javed and Danish Zafar were doing really good. They were working out regularly, and eating very disciplined protien based diets. I got a lot of inspiration and a lot of tips too!

So I was set that I would workout too! Just fifteen minutes. That's all. So I googled '15 minute men's home workout' and something came up. It was basically five exercises, done in a circuit of five minute.

So far it's been going great. I am sticking with it up till now, and I feel stronger now too. I complete this within time, as opposed to the first week, when it took me 20-25 minutes to do a 15 minute workout. I still pant like a horse, but I guess that's gonna stay for a while. 

So that's it for now... I am gonna plan a new schedule for normal days, which I will stick to too. And I am loving this thing. Usually, whenever I have gone healthy in the past, I have always given it my best shot. Done it with full focus. Lost a great many pounds. But that's what my aim is not. Now, I just have to do it a little. So little that it's easily managed with work and life, and so much that it's effective in the long run. I don't want to be 'jock' or the person whose only thing that he does is lose weight. I don't want to be just losing weight! In fact, I don't want to do that. This is not a temporary thing. It's gonna stay. Fifteen minutes? I can manage that. Let's see.

Saturday morning mango shake!

My baby sister made mango milk shake for me last night. But I had stuffed myself so much over dinner, that I could barely drink it, let alone enjoy it. So I told her to save it for the morning. And she saved it in a bowl, in the freezer. So basically, I am up at this morning hour, and I have a bowl full of homemade ice cream! But it’s totally creamy, it has little grain size bits of ice in it so it stays colder for longer in my mouth, which makes it all the more better! It’s like a child of a really elite Gola Ganda and really rich mango milk shake! What a way to start a morning!

Not to mention that the walk outside at this sunrise time totally means it's a coffee day! Coffee Day!

So, which of the bounties of your Lord will you deny? Hmmm?

Quote, Unquote

When their eyes met she said, “I am nothing.”
He made no reply at first. But he looked straight into her soul with an expression so peaceful that she could not resist its calming effect. Then she had seen the faintest of smiles steal across his mouth as he said the words again. “You are plenty.”

— Blake, Michael. Dances With Wolves. 1988.

Why Brishna doesn't save her work

I am not a graphic designer, but I do have some designing experience. And my sister is a designer. She is not a pro yet, but she's on her way to be. In her school, they teach her stuff like story boarding in Illustrator etc. And well, anybody who has ever done something like that, or has written long essays on a PC, knows that when it crashes, and you lose all your work, it feels like there is no point to being alive anymore...

*dramatic pause*

As for me, I have developed a habit of constantly pressing Ctrl + S, with my left pinkie and its neighbor, so much so that while filling forms in those websites that require you to sign up, I constantly find myself closing the Save as html pop-up which opens up when you try to ‘Save’ a web-page. 

Anyway, when my sister had to leave her computer in the middle of some designing and I started using it, she always asked me to first save her work, then carry on. And when that happened a number of times, I asked her why she doesn't save her work every minute, like I do. To that she said that Z and S are so close, that when she tries to press Ctrl S, she sometimes presses Ctrl Z, which makes her lose her work instead of saving it. 

She didn't know about Ctrl Y.

She is in debt to me since then :)

Monday Monday Monday!

So on Saturday night, while convincing Sharjeel that he should go to gym with me regularly, we decided that we will go for a morning jog/walk on Monday. What happened was that he tried to explain to me why gym wasn't such a good idea (*yawn*) and I, who usually listens to almost anything he says, did not budge. Well, cause I knewhe was wrong, I also knew that I had more reasons to work out than slim down.

Anyway, so while convincing me, he tried to be smart with me, said: 'If you go for jogging for one week with me in the morning, I will join the gym with me'. Now, the reasons I wanted to start working out at the gym, in the evening, by paying a fee, were served a thousand times better if I went to jogging in the morning with Sharjeel! So what did I say? That's right.

And on Sunday night, I made arrangements to sleep early. And for some of us, that's a risky thing to do, specially those who aren't that good with telling their minds to not screw with them. And so it happened. What followed was a sleepless night. And because I had woken up pretty late on the Sunday, this time is lasted till Morning. Though at 3 am I had texted him that I am not coming, at 5-ish I told him that yes, we are going. And so we did.

We had a great time. He had brought with himself Qasas-ul-Anbia by Ibn-e-Katheer and he read it to me after we had done jogging and had a sprint. I was very, very satisfied with my morning and till now had no plan of not going to work. At eight am, when it was time to get ready for work. I quit. I decided I hadn’t slept for the night, and had worked out in the morning, I decided I needed to sleep, take a day off. But, I was not to slack. I was to wake up with still some sleep deficit, so I could fall asleep easily Monday night. And I would go to NADRA office and get the process for my new NIC, the one with the beard, complete. And so I did that. I had a wonderful day! I made two trips to the place on foot, and thought, man we programmers don’t do anything physical on an average day! I got barley flour, so folks would eat that. And the nice walks in the sun surely had a soothing effect on the mind!

Thank Allah for that, and thank Sharjeel too. I hope this continues everyday.

The revered to-do list revisited

Before the last quarter of the last year, I published a to-do list. It was a list of things I wanted to accomplish before the year ended. Those three months passed, and then six months of the next year also passed! And I haven't completely accomplished those things :) Well - one reason is that though those were desirable goals I wanted to go towards, I wasn't really driven, because nothing visible depended on them. Anyway, I was saying, though I haven't accomplished those things, there have been other developments that I wanted even more badly, that I hadn't written there, that God made to happen! They were so unlikely, so impractical, that I didn't even write there. Yet they happened. More about them later :)

But now,  the list from last year:

1. Spend some time in tableegh
2. Make a facebook app
3. Learn C and C++
4. Write a Compiler!
5. Study Operating Systems
6. Learn to read and research
7. Lose weight
8. Read books

Okay - now that I think about it, it wasn't that bad. Let's take a look again:

1. I did go on two occasions and spend a few hours on each. Though it's less than the planned three days, it's still something. And secondly, I went for the annual ijtema at jhang, which is not a substitute for this, but it is time spend travelling for the same cause. 
2. Well no. There were two motivations behind it, first I needed to download all my previous data from facebook, actually just the status updates, and secondly, I wanted to develop the skills that are required for it. So - facebook itself developed a feature which allows one to download all of one's personal data as a zip file. So there you go. Secondly, the skills required to develop this are very specific, and it's very likely that I do this at my new job. So why do something for free, when you can get paid for it? ;)
3. Hmmm... I would say it's coming along nice. Though learning C and C++ is no more my goal, as of now. I am focusing on C++ - because again, though learning to write in C would make me an even better programmer, I would have to do all the effort once again for C++! So I am going in descending order according to the importance and value of the language here. 
4. This was more of an ego thing (It still is!) Since in my Compiler's course, I didn't really exert, and came out not much educated, I wanted to do this thing so I can both learn, and have a creation to my name. But again, I can do that, after I learn C++.  Because starting this before completing that, would just make this seem more daunting. As you require knowing those languages for writing a compiler. 
5. Nope. Wasn't motivated for it. Still a'int. 
6. I don't even know what was I thinking then! I mean duh! I worked  as a researcher! Got paid for it! I was low on self esteem that time cause there was a pile of books on my table that I had to read, and couldn't get myself to start. Which I have now started to read, so yeah, I know how to read for leisure, and how to read course books, and how to read research papers. Though I still take twice the time reading Urdu books and books that are written to train and educate, but that's understandable. They key is to go on. 
7. hehehehe...
8. Hmmm.... I can say I have started that. 

When I look at you

A thousand things go through my mind, when I look at you. Things of different shades, of different tones. I want to say them all to you. And every time, I say only one. And save the rest. And the next time, when I look at you, go through my mind, a thousand things. 

The revered to-do list

It's September 1 today. There are four months left in this year. It has been a very important year for me. In fact, last couple years have been the most important of my life. I have become the person that I am in last four years. But this year has special significance.

I became most sure of my values in this year. I graduated this year. I made a tough decision this year. I came back home from Lahore, where I have been living for past 4 years, to my family this year. I came back home this year! I got a job this year. I started working this year. My work life started this year! I got another job this year, as an instructor. Anyway, enough to establish that this is an important year.

When I graduated, I had made a goal list. I made a list of things I wanted to do in the next six years of this year. Two months have passed since then, and I haven't started to do a single thing!

This list that I talk of, is very ambitious. I know now that I won't be able to do all of them. But there are some things that I have to do, and some that are bonus. So for example, I have to lost weight this year. The have to part is losing at least four kgs, and bonus part is losing twelve kgs. Let's see where I can go.
Here's the list that I am talking about, as modified by my current perception of what is reasonable. I do admit I was very ambitious when I made the list.

1. Spend some time in tableegh.
 Ideally and practically ten days, but I don't think I will be able to manage more than three day trips.

1. Make a facebook app.
 Now I am not really passionate about it, and there isn't really a point to it. And I have made one during my internship already, so the excitement isn't as much either. But still, just for the fun of it, I wanna make a facebook app. Though I don't have any good idea, but I do have one. More on that later. But if you have any, please share. 

1. Learn C and C++.
 C I will learn eventually, as my profession demands it. Meanwhile, I am planning to learn C++ as well. Again, just to expand my arsenal. To become a hardcore developer, I have installed Ubuntu, but it's coming all well. Let's see.

1. Write a compiler.
 Now this is definitely a bonus task. I don't think I will be able to do this one, but if time permits, I would definitely like to. The thing is, I took the compilers course, and I passed with a good grade too. But I never really enjoyed the designing and writing of a compiler, so I am planning I will do it from scratch now. The language I am planning to write the compiler for is Tiger.

1. Study Operating System concepts.
 Again, a bonus task. The installing of Ubuntu was motivated by this as well. The same reason as the last one. I took a course, didn't study properly. Now going to learn to make up for that.

1. Study Computer Networks and Network Security.
 All bonus :)

1. Learn to read and research.
 This I guess I have already started, as I am a research engineer by profession, so this is something I do for living. But I wanna get good overall, not just technical research.

1. Lose weight.
 I already talked about this.

1. Read books.
 Yeah, there are a couple of books that I would like to say that I have read. So I have to start reading them. Another post on them soon.

Well, that's all folks! Probably I will post about my progress or how I plan to do them in the next post. Till then, have dreams, work towards them, and enjoy yourselves!

S.

Movie with the Geeks

Today is the second Saturday after I have started working. Last Saturday, I planned to write this blog, which I am writing today. *meaningful expression* I guess I am just too lazy (or I was really busy? Latter one, it makes me appear more impressive) to post this one. Anyway, so when the first four days of my job ended, I heard my office was planning a movie screening.
So the party management committee (yes, an office of 30-35 people has one) planned that we should go for Transformers 3, at Atrium cinema in 3D. I was not excited. I have stopped watching movies, but I felt like going for two superficial reasons. First one, it was my first week, and whatever I did, will be seen as permanent; if I chose to not go, then I could have been considered a boring person and not invited to further outings etc. The things is, I wanted to be in the 'in' crowd. Not among those people who just come and work and are boring. I wanted to make myself known. I couldn't suppress the desire to say, I exist! Secondly, I myself wanted to socialize. To know people, to see who was what kind, learn their names, make some jokes. Though I wasn't getting that at the movie, I was definitely gonna get that that at the dinner after the movie.
Also, everything was free. A 3D movie screening with glasses and popcorn and a dinner, it was all free. I went.
I can't say I enjoyed the movie. I am happy I didn't miss the maghrib, which occured during the movie, thanks to some colleagues who were going to pray, and thanks to my beard, because of which they asked me to come along. SubhanAllah! I can't say I enjoyed the movie cause I got so bored during it, that I slept. I slept during the movie, well not through the entire movie. But to some parts. Reasons were many, I realized I had grown out of lame movies, the didn't have any realism to it, the action effects defied physical reality, the plot was shit boring, the hero seemed like a looser, the dialogues were ridiculous sexual puns, the 3D was abused... or perhaps the actual reason was that I had been in  front of a screen All day?
and my eyes were too tired for any more shit? I don't know.
Anyway, the movie ended, and on our way to Food Center, the supervisor asked (all guys who were sitting in his car were from Research team) how could that guy break a 128-bit encryption in 2 seconds! That Is All They Had To Talk About After The Movie! Those Geeks! and then from there onward, that's what the 'Research Team' talked about. About breaking 128-bit encryption quickly. I was almost expecting him to assign me that task!

Anyway, I loved the talk. I loved how my izzat was once again saved (nobody had known about my illiteracy) and I loved the food and loved the gelling together with all.
Thumbs up!
S. 

Enough!

Okay. There's been enough bullshit now.
I am bored! Man I am seriously irritated.
I needed a place to share all my activities with someone; an opportunity for me to just pour everything out and get somebody's comments on that. As it turns out, there never really can be a person who can comment. As in, there will always be people who would comment, and people who would want to listen. And good people too! Caring loving people. But those will be wrong kinds of comments. And people with right right kind of comments, advice, would Never have the time to listen to all of my bull-shit.
So?

Here I am. I have made this blog private, and instead of sharing stuff in here for people to see and comment and get engaged with, I will just get my frustration out here.

S.

It starts this Monday!

So, instead of taking up the job as a software engineer at Goodcore Soft (which is a very good company), I took one up at Wichorus, because my instructor suggested there'll be more learning here. And so, instead of July 4, work starts from July 11. I am really looking forward to it :)

So far, that's what's been up. Finding where to work. Giving interviews. Waiting for responses, giving more interviews, hehe. And eating so much in between that my sister who doesn't work out herself started telling me to work out. It's only a few days till my whole family starts to push me to gym too. And their next step, yeah I do think situation will go there, will be to stop feeding me.

That's up so far, in next post, I will inshallah write what I have been meaning to share for quite some time. My goals for this year. I hope if there's any problems with them, I find them out now.

S.

Just Graduated

So, I have just graduated. It was wonderful, not the heat and the sweat, but seeing my parents faces glow. It was  wonderful to introduce them to my teachers, and my teachers telling them how good their kid has been (no I didn't bribe them beforehand, I just took them to one who doesn't know me at all ;)

It was on 18 June, and today is 29th. I had found a couple of jobs on Lahore, and one of them was Alhamdulillah a decent company, but mother insisted I come to Karachi and live with her. So I looked harder here, and by the grace of God, found equally great jobs here at Karachi. 4 July is the starting date.

Let's see how it goes from there! I am excited..

S.

The First