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

Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.

— Christopher Morley

Dua

Every night, without exception, I get blessings that I'd be so lucky to deserve.

I come home to see happy loving faces that I have done nothing to deserve.

I eat delicious food every night, daily it feels like I am invited to a feast. I do nothing to earn or deserve that food. This is sheer blessing!

After I eat to the brim, I have a bed ready to sleep on, with a fan going over it despite the electricity shortage in my country. A bed that is not dirty, or stinky, or ragged.

The moment I hit the bed, sleep comes easy! In my entire day, I never do anything to deserve such a peaceful sleep. I don't work too hard, I don't exert myself, I don't suffer. And the conscience that doesn't bug me, I have done nothing to deserve that either.

In the morning I wake up with an energy of an unburdened boy. Thanks to Allah who takes my burdens away from me, and gives a fresh and easy morning.

I wish I deserved the the blessings I already!

Dear God, make me of what you are already giving me!

Quote, Unquote

When I'm not doing something that comes deeply from me, I get bored. When I get bored I get distracted and when I get distracted, I become depressed. It's a natural resistance, and it insures your integrity.

— Maria Irene Fornes

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.

Quote, Unquote

I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly.

— Michel de Montaigne

Quote, Unquote

In answer to the question of why it happened, I offer the modest proposal that our Universe is simply one of those things which happen from time to time.

— Edward P. Tryon

Test Post

This is just a test post to test out the functionality that blogger offers me to put in headings in my posts. I hear it's a good practice to use heading tags instead of simply styling your text. So let's see whether pretty too or not.

This is Heading. 

This is some random text. Boy I hate it when I have to put in some random text!

This is sub-heading. 

Really I do, unless it is random talking, then I am a champion.

this is a minor heading .

I would have even said a professional .

I don't want to, what I want to

I want to do what my instinct tells me. I don't want to do what I feel like doing. I don't want to do what I can do. I don't want to do what I am allowed to do. I don't want to do with I can get away with. I don't want to do the natural or the desirable or the comfortable. 

I want to do what is best. What is needed, what is beneficial. I want to be patient, not hurt. I want to be tolerant, not angry, even when I have every right to be angry. I want to be kind, not sad, even if I have born losses. I don't want to watch out for myself, I want to see where most can be gained for everyone.

It's not about nobility. It's about not being merely instinctive.

It's about love. I don't want to do what I would like to do, but what my beloved would like me to do.

RATS

I and Asghar and Talal went to LUMS as friends. There my roommate, Russell Anas, became our close friend too. We were a group of many friends, but perhaps because on one or two occasions, someone's father just noticed us four, and decided to name us STAR (Saad, Talal, Asghar and Russell). A loving father, gave us a loving name. But, we being ourselves, changed it to RATS. Not because of the sequence of initials, but because the other meaning it gave. It was, and is, how we called our group. That kinda thing seemed childish. But well, we were all Rats, not just the four of us. And when Rats hung out together, there were Ratisms. So here are a few for you:

Russell: So you know she says to Asghar “Oh my god you’re the MAN!”
Saad: Look Russell don’t insult Asghar. He’s the ANIMAL.
Asghar:(sarcastically) No commentssssss…
Saad: See? Animals don’t comment.

— Rats

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 :)

Don't give me a designer's job

I am a programmer by profession. It’s the job I applied for; it’s what I have studied for, for over four years. It is also, what I am ‘good’ at; I think I am a natural programmer: the kind of person who naturally thinks methodically and doesn’t make assumptions, a person who feels comfortable only in definitive, deterministic circumstances. It is also, what I like. I would solve a programming problem just for fun, I would use programming to do petty (hehe…) real-life tasks, and on any given day, I would rather solve a programming puzzle than write an essay.

But, I design too.

Narcissism aside, I am really good at design too. I love typography. Beautifully set books literally turn me on (take that to mean what you may, but they actually raise my heartbeat, make me excited). I can look at font specimens for hours (and can spend more hours on the internet ‘finding’ them). I have produced some much appreciated artworktoo. I have been known to express complex mixtures of ideas through my designs. And I spend more time at this than any other activity that I don’t get paid for (save for sleeping, that's still a winner).

But, that’s not what my job is. It’s not my profession. It's true that I have done free-lance graphic designing in past, but even if I was offered a full-time job at the place where I currently work, I would not accept it. You see, I don't like to design what I am told or how I am told. They say that the mastery of the art is to work with constraints. As the constraints become tighter, skill is needed even more. And I agree with that. But for me, designing is not a task, it's not work that's to be done. I can't design for a paycheck. I can't take guidelines from someone when designing. I can't find the sweet spot between unbound artistic expression and deadlines. I design for myself, to give form to my feelings. I can't design to please anybody.

When I did freelance, I enjoyed what I produced. But the journey to that end was very tiring. It was exhausting, consuming, sometimes, even frustrating. I get obsessive about little details. And so, after hours and hours of judgment, I would settle on something, and just for a second opinion, show both versions to someone, and they couldn’t tell the difference. That part was very frustrating. Also, because I lacked the formal training in this field, I had to read so much just to get one theme in line with color harmonies, or one layout in line with natural design. And guess what? My clients couldn’t tell the difference. So I thought I couldn’t design for money. Or for people.

Don’t get me wrong, I like appreciation. I like it when others like what I do. But that’s not the reason I design for! It's true that if I came up with a ‘masterpiece’ and Asad comes along and says, ‘err… Saad, the tracking on this one's a bit off…,’ as much as I would like to tell him to go screw himself for belittling my child, I would not. I would probably think, ‘My boy does need a haircut’ and I would adjust the tracking. But Asad's approval is not why my child came into the world. That happened cause I wanted to make love.

Trebuchet, Tahoma, Verdana

Some things gone wrong with me past couple of days. I guess it has to do with having a blog. I have gotten even more obsessed with fonts! Not just that, while earlier, the fascination was just with finding and downloading free great looking fonts, now it has become even deeper. Now I want to search for great serif fonts, that can look good on screen, great serif fonts that look good in print, I mean, in all these. More about that later, write now I am no mood to write, just present. So wash your eyes, and then look at ...

Trebuchet MS

TO THE RED COUNTRY and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth. The plows crossed and recrossed the rivulet marks. The last rains lifted the corn quickly and scattered weed colonies and grass along the sides of the roads so that the gray country and the dark red country began to disappear under a green cover. In the last part of May the sky grew pale and the clouds that had hung in high puffs for so long in the spring were dissipated. The sun flared down on the growing corn day after day until a line of brown spread along the edge of each green bayonet. The clouds appeared, and went away, and in a while they did not try any more. The weeds grew darker green to protect themselves, and they did not spread any more. The surface of the earth crusted, a thin hard crust, and as the sky became pale, so the earth became pale, pink in the red country and white in the gray country.

An excerpt from a Book

TO THE RED COUNTRY and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth. The plows crossed and recrossed the rivulet marks. The last rains lifted the corn quickly and scattered weed colonies and grass along the sides of the roads so that the gray country and the dark red country began to disappear under a green cover. In the last part of May the sky grew pale and the clouds that had hung in high puffs for so long in the spring were dissipated. The sun flared down on the growing corn day after day until a line of brown spread along the edge of each green bayonet. The clouds appeared, and went away, and in a while they did not try any more. The weeds grew darker green to protect themselves, and they did not spread any more. The surface of the earth crusted, a thin hard crust, and as the sky became pale, so the earth became pale, pink in the red country and white in the gray country.

And now, Tahoma!

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.

Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.

Verdana:

In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army. Having completed my studies there, I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon. The regiment was stationed in India at the time, and before I could join it, the second Afghan war had broken out. On landing at Bombay, I learned that my corps had advanced through the passes, and was already deep in the enemy’s country. I followed, however, with many other officers who were in the same situation as myself, and succeeded in reaching Candahar in safety, where I found my regiment, and at once entered upon my new duties. 

Vladimir Nabokov

In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army. Having completed my studies there, I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon. The regiment was stationed in India at the time, and before I could join it, the second Afghan war had broken out. On landing at Bombay, I learned that my corps had advanced through the passes, and was already deep in the enemy’s country. I followed, however, with many other officers who were in the same situation as myself, and succeeded in reaching Candahar in safety, where I found my regiment, and at once entered upon my new duties.

Quote, Unquote

Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.

— Walt Whitman 

Words with voices

Every word has a sound. That's obvious. Every word has a characteristic sound, that's understandable too. Some people, like linguists, poets, writers, or the like, even fall in love with some words just because of the sound of them! For example, I like the sound of beautiful -- the way your lips curl while making that eau is just, beautiful.

But this post is not about words having sounds (Another post may be). It's about words having voices. I feel words have voices. I hear them! I wonder if you have noticed this, but I some times do. Let me put this way, sometimes, when I read a paragraph, or a sentence, I hear that said out in a voice, but that voice, and perhaps the tone, is actually the weighted average of the individual voices of those words that I read (and no, the voices of the words are not because letters have voices too). Let me give a few examples.

So for instance, whenever I read the word 'exquisite', I hear in the voice of 30 something white american woman. I mostly get this voice when I am reading Apple product's feature list too. You know, the kind of voice that wants to sell something? in an alluring way? That voice. You probably guessed I hear the same voice with 'alluring' too. I could never imagine these words in the voice of a black person, or a Pakistani villager, or an Indian. This has to be white Caucasian, and female.

'Clarity' -- just close your eyes and say that word. Clarity. When I do that, I hear this in the voice of 20 something young woman. Intellectual, honest. One with a honey-thick voice. I didn't say honey sweet voice, and I didn't see thick voice. It's just, the voice flows, slowly, like honey does.

Another word, 'I', It's a complete word, mind you. A very powerful word, and according to some, even dangerous too. I always hear that in a voice too. In my own voice :) Same goes for a lot of other words too, like 'Hahahaha!', but if that 'HAHAHAH' is in all caps, or all lowercase, I don't hear it in my own voice.

Another example is 'guilty' - whenever I read it, I hear it in the voice of a 12-15 year old boy, who is a debater, delivering some speech. Trying to look like he is making a point. I can't imagine this word in the voice of any 40 year old or something, and if in a story or something, it is said by someone other than the said teenager, I don't usually hear a voice.

Another word is 'seminar', I hear this in the voice of that sophomore girl who is doing really well in AIESEC.

That's just me. That is to say, that's just the result of picked up biases, prejudices, experiences etc.

But, like I said, that's just me.

Know your breakfast!

■ What is barley?
Barley is just another cereal, another grass which we humans cultivate to eat its seeds, in Urdu it's called جو.

■ What is Porridge?
Porridge is when you mix any cereal (any mixture of its components, inner seeds or husk or whole grains) in water or milk. You can add seasonings to it too. In Urdu it's called دلیہ.

■ What is cereal? and...
Cereal are just those grasses which have edible grains. Which humans cultivate for their grains mainly, like rice, pulses, wheat, oat, barley etc. In Urdu: غللا

■ What is oatmeal?
Basically it's just porridge made from Oats.

■ What is oat?
Oat and Barley are parallel. They are two different kinds of grain, each comes from a different plant. They are what you would broadly call Cereal. Oat is a cereal, barley is a cereal, corn (Maize) is a cereal, rice is a cereal etc.

■ What is bran?
So when you take the grains from cereal, it's a whole grain. Meaning it's complete, it's what's good for health. Mostly, it's refined, and the outer layer, the husk, is separated from it. And the inner seed is ground or milled to produced flour, while the husk is separated. This one is the husk of wheat. I don't know what are the names of husks of other cereal though. In Urdu: چوکر.

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.

Quote, Unquote

Double Bluff:

Said Watson to Holmes, “Is it wise –
Such false whiskers when hunting for spies?”
Said the sleuth, “I’m afraid
You’re as dense as Lestrade:
I’m disguised as myself in disguise.”

– R.J.P. Hewison, Punch, Nov. 21, 1951

source: http://www.futilitycloset.com/2012/06/06/double-bluff/ 

How to not do what you love

Today I was reading a really good blog post, titled The Three-day Monk Syndrome. It was about how when we dearly want to do something, we start if off with great dedication and passion, effervescing with energy like poured coke, and then lay it down flat after a few days.
The post argued that it's like being a monk, i.e. giving it your best shot and everything, but only for a few days.

We all have had our monk-periods, and we all know that despite we get quick, even encouraging results in those periods, somehow those activities never really hit home. Why does it happen? Because important thing is to stick with something for longer, and I don't even need to argue about it. But then, how to that? Well, for that, you need to stop being the monk, and, like the article says, say your good twenty minute prayer everyday! (metaphor alert!)

I am not going to reiterate what the post said about preventing the syndrome, but I will copy one thing that I absolutely loved, one of the points said:

Remind yourself of what you want. You’re doing the activity (exercise, language learning, meditation) presumably because you want to do it. When we stop doing something, it’s because we’ve forgotten that we wanted it. We start to fear it for some reason, and try not to think about it. Instead, think about it, but remind yourself of why you started doing it in the first place. That might mean reading some motivational articles, watching some videos that motivate you, looking at some pics that motivate you, referring to a vision in your head.

 That there, the underlines part, is what hit home for me. When you were beginning your endeavour, did you really want something? Or was just a whim? You saw somebody do it and thought it was cool? Or did you see someone have something, and decided you wanted it? Well, do you still want it? Remind yourself, you want it! It's not a chore!

source: http://zenhabits.net/3-day-monk/

---

When we stop doing something, it’s because we’ve forgotten that we wanted it.

---

Lonely, Not!

When I foresee something difficult, or start to indulge in depressive thoughts, and I say to myself "I have no one to turn to!" and just before I begin to worry, a voice in my heart says, "Don't be deluded, you will always have Allah to turn to!".

Alhamdulillah! Thank God for that voice!

Islamic Pick-up lines

Okay so the idea is nothing new. We've had numerous bloggers and comedians come up with the cheesiest of lines for our brothers in deen to say to their sisters in deen, so they don't remain sisters any more. And it so happens, today in the shower, in the half-asleep (more than half, actually) state that I was in, these lines just started flowing in :)

But these are for the already picked-up 'sisters' than they are for proposing marriages:

• When I looked at you, I almost thought the fajr time had passed!

• You look so pure, I feel I should make wuzu before meeting you!

I think I should post these for now, and let more come as they do. Note to self: Shower more!

How to do anything

Lewis Carroll's guide to doing anything:

'Begin at the beginning,' the King said gravely, 'and go on till you come to the end: then stop.'

— Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll.

And this, though the King said it to the rabbit regarding some verses it has to read out, holds true for almost every thing in this world.

I have found this to be the best advice that can be given to anyone about anything. It remains as the most effective way to do anything. 

If it doesn't offend, it isn't arrogance

“It’s quite exciting,” said Sherlock Holmes, with a yawn. “What happened next?”

— A Study in Scarlet, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Quote, Unquote

And the only reason this text is here, because one of very special friends, would like to have it here. I would have called him my saviour, but that would have seemed like I didn't mean it.

It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.

— Agnes Repplier

But I mean it. See what I was saying? Still don't get it? Well, that's the way it rolls, cookie-wise.

Guide to Thinking Hard

The Cycle of concentration:

Phase 1: Blood Rush Alert
Phase 2: Find and Execute
Phase 3: Disengagement

8 Things Everybody Ought to Know About Concentrating

1. You can’t start concentrating until you’ve stopped getting distracted
2. Just do one important thing per day
3. Chunk into three’s
4. Questions that kill procrastination
    Question one: Does this really need to be done?
    Question two: Can I delegate this?

5. Be Smart With Your Time

A Sage is one that doesn’t involve themselves in dopamine-driven activities; instead, he or she is very selective about what they do. They have a habit of asking themselves questions that most people are too busy to ask. They pre-occupy themselves with the unspoken, yet meaningful assumptions that others fail to address. Sages ask questions about the meaning behind any activity that they embark on. They view turning down work as a logical decision, not an emotional one.

6. Mind Maps

Whenever you’re feeling overwhelmed, it’s critical to allow the mind to disentangle itself by mapping out your thoughts on paper.

There’re two types of maps:

(i) Problem-Solution Map
Top half of the page, write the problem. Bottom half, the solution.

(ii) Fear Map
On paper, map out the following formula “if x, then y.” Where “x” is the fear, and “y” is your estimate of the fear’s result.
Through mapping out your thoughts, you can calm the racing mind, which will free your mind to focus on the task at hand.

7. Blame something

You can reward your mind for concentrating by saying, “OK, mind, here’s the deal–it’s hard to concentrate on this right now, but I’ll pick up a bonsai tree, which will create a more compelling environment to concentrate.” You’ll find that this object-based motivator actually works.

8. Interest

Researchers found that concentration is not a gift. It’s not about intelligence. It’s not about being a prodigy with a gifted memory. It’s not about possessing the ability to recall an insane amount of facts (That’s what Google’s for). Researchers found that concentration is driven by interest, and interest is driven by attitude. If your attitude towards a specific project swells with interest, intrigue and passion, concentration is astonishingly easy.

source: http://howtogetfocused.com/chapters/8-things-everybody-ought-to-know-about-concentrating/