Land Rig again.

 Salam wbt and hi everyone,

2020 is approaching the end and 2021 is around the corner…Time flies..

I am currently writing from the same rig I was previously at..I have been here nearly 2 weeks, another 1 week to go hopefully. 

This is how land rig looks like. The box here we call it Logging Unit, that's where I spent my 12 hours shift.

The window with bar, looks like jail right? It is basically 12 hours or even more of jail time everyday. This is taken from inside the logging unit

Last Friday, 18th December was Qatar National Day basically like a Independence Day for the country. It made no difference to me, as I am at the rig. From time to time, heard the fighter jet in the sky made a flying practice whatnot. 

Here at the rig, initially service company personnel like me, we can eat in the galley. Now, as some third party crew got Covid19, the client imposed the protocol we can no longer eat there. The thing is, we still mixed around with all the crew and land rig is not a control environment. People come in and out. Although it is ridiculous protocol, I had to bear with it. 

We had to pack the food, eat inside the logging unit. At the same time, working and entertaining the phone calls received.

This was a nice surprise. I bought the Starbucks cookie on the day I departed to the rig. I placed it in my bag, and forgot about it. After 4-5 days, I opened my bag I saw it and I was so happy! Like a nice gift to myself for having decent food 😆😆😆.

Some colleagues shared the picture of food fiesta they had at offshore rig during Qatar National Day celebration. Looks like very nice food.

At this land rig, I don't get the fancy food or 5 stars room like offshore rig. However, I felt the personnel at the rig here - like kitchen Chef, helper, housekeeper, and rig crew are very nice. They are working very hard and do the best with what they have. I can feel their warmth and sincerity. Even though I am telling you, the conditions are way out of conducive and everyone have their rights to lose their mind. For me, I always thanked them very much with whatever they provided. 

It is ok, I can cope with it for 3-4 weeks and it should not be a problem. Imagine all these people has been working at land rig for 10-15 years doing the same thing, facing same not conducive working environment. And, going home meeting their family every 2 years. 

That's tough.

Take care and Salam wbt.

P/S - Does not mind, does not matter. I think that's the quote or book title. Don't ask me in details, I haven't read anything about it but it reflects well with me now.

I am not a tree but my mind is and it is a problem

Good Evening all,

How are you all doing? Things have been tough lately right..With what is happening in the world, in our lives, everything look hazy. 

Same for me here. I am at the rig, another rig at land this time. I got off from Rig Halul last time on 8th November. Managed to get some rest and immediately had to depart to GDI-1, land rig on 14th. 

Between 9th to 13th, a lot of things I had to do like just to be normal person. I did laundry, home cleaning, some shopping, watching movies and had to do swab test and renew my medical checkup as well. 

Me on this side, Claudia on another side

I cut my finger as well, no actually I spliced my fingers. Two finger, left and right but the worse was left. It was at night and I wanted to cut ginger, I just hold it and not using the chopping board. Booom! I cut left one, and during that time I did not know how the right finger also got cut.

It was scary as fresh blood coming out from both hands I did not know what to do. I tried walking calmly to my room to get minyak gamat but the one on the table was finished. The blood dripping all over the places in the meantime. Another bottle of minyak gamat was in the closet. I ended up had to call for Claudia from her room. 

This is what I have got and used for two nights, wrapped with kitchen tissue and rubber. I wet the tissue with minyak gamat so the wound will be wet with it at all time while sleeping.

She surprised and helped me to open the minyak gamat. I was shaking as well at the same time because of shock as well as pain. That happened.

Next day I had to do medical checkup and swab test. I was thinking I will get the proper wound cleaning there.

I wrapped like this before going to medical check up and swab test. It was too bulky and I cannot hide it.

On 13th morning around 10am, I was told all the crew will depart to land rig at 3pm on the same day. I was not happy at all, as my finger still wounded and I limit the pressure I put on my hand. So how come I can pack my bag and carry it to the rig..So I said I will need 24 hours' notice as I was thinking to go to the clinic later in that same afternoon. 

I managed to stay one more day and departed to the rig on 14th.

Claudia has been taking care of my plant since I left. She even bought this spray to water the plant. It is growing big and I am thinking to rod to make support when I am back in Doha.

For me, at that time and even now I feel disappointment. I don’t know, I feel disappointed with myself why I still in this situation when I hate it?  

This quote regarding tree came to my IG timeline from Fynn Jamal couple of weeks back..I have been thinking about it most of the time.

I have no guts to change I would say and it is very disappointing.  

Publicly, people has been complaining about the jobs, workload, and how are things being done but none decided to move on. Even encouraged others to cry out loud. I spoke to my colleague, in reality none put a bullet in our head to stop us from walk away. However, why we complain so much?

I have been stop whining publicly since May or June. I don't find it anymore fun when I complaint and nothing happen. Because in reality, it is me who make a choice of doing what I am doing. 

I know it is dumb, but I just swallow for now and in the meantime working on the plan.

That's the update I have now...I will see you all next time.

Salam wbt and take care.

P/S - No P/S this time.

Sorry for neglecting you

 Salam w.b.t and hi all.

Well, it has been a while I write any updates on this blog. Seriously, time flies really fast. Let me give quick updates what's going on with me.

On the last update, I was writing from the quarantine facility in Kuala Lumpur, right..

Now, in this entry, I am writing from the middle of the ocean somewhere in Qatar water. How did I end up here..

-     I finished the quarantine at home on 31st August and returned to my mom's home afterwards

-     I stayed at home from 31st August for four weeks

-     I travelled back to Qatar on 5th October

-     I did home quarantine in Qatar for 2 weeks from 6th October until 20th October

-     On 26th October, I departed to the rig which I am currently at, Rig Halul

Time flies really fast. On 1st September, as it was a public holiday we visited Fraser Hill as it was close to home. When I was at home, the first three weeks was really hectic. I went back to my hometown, Kg. Chemomoi, Bentong, Pahang. Visited my paternal grandfather as he was getting old (uzur), then followed the visit to my maternal grandfather. We picked him up from Kg. Chemomoi and returned to my mother's house in Batang Kali on the same day. So he can just stay with us for couple of days as we will bring him to visit his sick brother in Kajang.

On the next day, as planned, we went to Kajang to visit his sick brother. They haven't met each other for a long while. Then visited my mother's siblings live in Kajang and Puchong before headed home. It was crazy.

During the weekend, we went back to Kg. Chemomoi to send my grandfather. En route, we visited again my other grandfather who was sick. All three of my siblings were there to visit him. We returned to Batang Kali on the same day.

On the second week, I was busy. I did my yearly medical check-up and also bekam for the first time. I forgot to tell you, I bought a sub-sale house, around 6 houses from my mother. In the meantime, every day I will visit my house as it was under renovation. It supposed to be completed when I returned to Malaysia, but it was behind the schedule. Very, very busy. 

The house is not yet done. No gate, grill etc. I took this before I left for airport.

On the third week, the folk in Qatar asked me to standby to return to Qatar as they are waiting for my re-entry permit to be approved by Qatar  government. I was hoping and praying it is not approved for the next 2 weeks as it is too early for me to return. I barely breath at home. In the meantime, I just continued staying at home helping my mother. I am telling you, being a housewife is very exhausting. I woke up at 6AM and suddenly it is 7PM. I don’t even realise the time passed just like that. 

Sometimes in the fourth week, we received the news that my grandfather's brother lived in Kajang passed away. On the next day, another news that my paternal grandfather also passed away. We did not go for their funeral but I am grateful that we got the chance to visit them while they were alive. At the end of the fourth week, I was asked to travel back to Qatar immediately either the next day or the day after tomorrow. My presence was needed on urgent basis. I was like ok………. Regardless I travelled two days after. 

Then in Doha. I was grateful as Qatar listed Malaysia as low-risk country so I can do home quarantine, only 6 days. However, as per SLB rule and requirement before going offshore, I will need to complete 14 days. Anyway, I was fine with it since I am doing quarantine at my apartment. I can do whatever I want.

Well, not really. One my housemate at the apartment, so I need to take care the social distancing. She spent most of her time in her room and I like staying in the living room at dining table. 

I stayed low profile after 2 days of my arrival, on the third day I just sent email and suddenly the managers woke up and realised I am back in Doha. So a lot of things need to be done. I did two virtual classes and some presentations etc. The presentation was part of the project for my promotion. It was interesting project, at the start I had urge to complete it then now my motivation flatten.. Especially when I am at the rig now. 

In effort to spend money wisely, I found that the small tomato is cheaper than actual fruits. I bought it after I finished my home quarantine. Also, it is tasty. 

I did not know this plant is called as Money Plant. I bought it to have something fresh to look at in my apartment. 

That’s the current update about myself. 

Thank you for those who are reading my blog. Using blogspot, it is very old right. I am not used to write on Facebook, and for Instagram I will update it from time to time. 

I will update you all again. Take care and stay safe all. Salam w.b.t.

P/S - Hi all, if you want, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. I spent at least 70% of scrolling time on the LinkedIn.

New Normal of Travelling Home

 Salam w.b.t and hi dear readers, 

I am back in Malaysia, since Monday. I am still in 14-days quarantine in Kuala Lumpur, the result of the Covid-19 test is negative. Alhamdulillah. Today is Awal Muharram, 1442 Hijrah also. I hope we will become a better person every day.

 

What I want to write this time? Honestly, I have two ideas to write this time; (1) Journey of travelling back to Malaysia and (2) Review about two books recently, When to Jump by Mike Lewis and latest one is a very lovely piece, War Doctor by David Nott.

 

So, which one first I should write? Well, let's go by sequentially then - Journey of travelling back to Malaysia. The second idea, I will share it in the next entry - soon, InsyaAllah.

 

Let me start to the time when I decided to go home.

 

I was at the rig and I was hoping to have two months continuous hitch, so it will end sometimes end of August. Thus, I requested for vacation starting early of September. Off course, the work coordinator was quiet as he cannot plan anything in advance as usual. For me, it was expected reaction and it happened all the time so no-brainer. I have my timeline in place, and Malaysian government also already opened the country for returnee with strict SOP in place. However, it was just drilling one well and took only one month. Then by early of August I informed the coordinator, really I don’t mind going home early after that job finish. There is no point of me rotting in Doha waiting for nothing, at the same time spending money on food. I also take into account my mental wellbeing, if I stay I will be alone with none in my apartment and exploring out in Doha alone is really boring. At the same time, I really don’t want to go to the office or base and meeting everybody with fake smile as I was burnout already. Better to stay put at the apartment, minding my own business rather than lashing my attitude and affect others. Finally, I booked my flight home early August and decided to travel on 17th August.

 

I got off from the rig on 10th August, and I spent me-time in Doha for one week. It was just nice as I got time to adjust my sleeping time, packing my stuff, shopping for things I want to bring home, ensuring all the departure procedures are cleared, and finally just relaxing at my apartment. I was called (actually emailed and asked) to come to the base for basket test (tools preparation) but I declined to come as I decided this week is me-time. I did the routine dental check-up, all good.

 

Sometimes on 24th July, new announcement from Malaysia government that we will not require to perform the Swab test at the departure country. Before that, it was mandatory and I was ready to do it. Then, cancelled as it is no longer required.

 

So, what to prepare before departure?

 

Book your flight ticket

This is basic, but be careful when you book your flight ticket especially during this pandemic time. I am used to book through the travel agent website like Skyscanner and this time I was a bit hesitant because I was not sure if suddenly the travel route got cancelled for any reasons. I did comparison either to book directly to the airline website or via travel site. I ended up using the travel site because the risk of travel cancellation was relatively low for Doha-KL route. The thing is sometimes, if you book via travel website, when the flight is cancelled, you will not be rescheduled automatically unless you paid for extra option. It happened to me before, despite the extra service I paid, it was really time consuming process and to many terms and conditions that I did not meet. So I ended up buy another flight ticket.

 

Letter of Undertaking (LoU)

Right, this is very important. You can find the details here. 

You will need this and fill it up, send it to the embassy before they issue the Permission to Travel. Otherwise, you will not get the letter that approved your travel to Malaysia.

 

Permission to Travel

This is a letter issued by the embassy. It mentioned here that the letter is valid for 1 month period, so traveler can make a journey within one month. At first, I did not know this because I thought it was valid for one particular day. So I booked my flight before sending the request to travel to embassy. After I sent the request, it only took me one day to get the reply from them.

 

Basically, I am all set to travel now.

 

Install MySejahtera

It is advisable to install MySejahtera in advance prior travel, let say you can do it at your home. I installed on my phone and activated it via phone. Afterwards, I logged in straight away and kept getting error. I thought I did not install it correctly. Eventually, it took some time for the app to be activated on your mobile. If you install, then activated it on laptop via website, it said the activation will be straight away. That’s the workaround suggested. Anyway, try your best to install and ensure it is activated before start travelling.

Otherwise, you probably will be struggling later on.

 

Food in hand carry

My flight was after midnight, so I went to the airport around 8PM. At the airport, there were still food and shops available and you can buy there. No issues.

The flight duration was about 7 hours and 40 minutes. In the flight, 1 hour after we took off, we were served with a light meal - Chicken pie, and juice. I was sleeping after that and woke up about 2 hours before touch down. I was really hungry, I thought I missed the big meal that normally served in the middle of the flight. I checked around at other passengers seats, I saw the leftover rubbishes of the light meal we had earlier was still not collected. Therefore, I believed I did not miss the meal and actually they did not serve it. Normally we will have the meal but I guess in this Covid-19 period, the airline no longer served it. I don’t know what is the different though, because they still served another light meal. 1 hour before touched down, we were served with a breakfast and luckily there is option Thai Fried Rice. I took it as I was starving.

 

The dumb thing I did was, I did bring some bread BUT I put it in my luggage. Lesson learned, put some food in your hand carry.

 

Extra clothes in hand carry bag

I did not think about this initially. I had a phone call with my mother in the morning of travel day. We were discussing about cases in Malaysia, travel restriction, and viral news in Malaysia. She mentioned briefly about there was one flight arrived in Malaysia but all the passengers in that flight was not allow to disembark. The reason was the authority was not informed about this flight arrival. As a result, they was put on hold probably hours before proceed to disembark.

 

I don’t know the real details or if it is actually true news. However, my mother advised to pack extra in my bag. She mentioned about food. I only remember about cloth. Afterwards, I immediately packed one pair of cloth in my bag pack. Long sleeve shirt, tracksuit, and head scarf. Suffice for one day if I happened to get stuck anywhere in the process.

 

Enough money

What is this money for in particular? This is for swab test and hotel quarantine. The payment for the swab test at the airport was RM150. Whereas, the payment of the hotel for the quarantine. On the website, any announcements I could find said the cost for 14-days at designated hotel will be RM1,050. Also, mentioned here at the embassy website. I was expecting that figure, but at the check-in it costed RM1,890. RM135 per night for 14-days. My local debit card got rejected at least three times, so I had to use Qatar card. I find it is weird because the same card worked just fine when paying for the swab test at the airport 4 hours earlier. Anyway, when we lined up at the hotel check-in and first thing they asked was how to make a payment. I saw several persons struggling. For example, I think she was a student and she said the cost will be paid by the sponsor and even showed the email. Yes, in the email mentioned about the sponsor but still need to pay in advance. Basically, pay first and claim later. At the same time, another foreigner guy wanted to make money exchange probably he had another currency.

 

Oh, and one more thing. We did not know in advance which hotel we will be located at. I only know when I arrived there.

 

Personally, I would say it was stressing situation. Even for my card has been rejected after three times, I was starting to feel annoyed. Imagined the others who experienced worse than me. You know, after arrival everyone just want to go home and lay down in bed and rest. Not to go through these situations.

 

Therefore, it is better you ensure have enough money to pay upfront.

 

Face Shield and Face Mask at all time

Finally I checked in and lay down in the be, Alhamdulillah.

 

So yeah, hopefully this will give insight to you about the process of travelling back to country. Towards the end of my quarantine, I will share the details of the quarantine, result of the test etc., daily routine etc.

 

Take care and see you guys next time.

 

Take care and Salam w.b.t.

 

P/S - I asked a question to my colleague after she shared her achievement. I was happy for her of course. "What is next?". I did not expect anything solid from her. Actually, this question is more direct to me, "What is next?". It is a broad perspective but I need to figure it out.

It is all temporary

Salam w.b.t and hi dear readers,

Thank you for keeping up with me so far. I am grateful for that.

 

You know, as for now I have been sticking around with this Blogger though not many readers or attention received. I could have tried using other platform and make money out of it through writing (I wish).

 

A while ago, I studied the Wordpress and the possibility to switch/transfer all Blogger content to Wordpress. It requires a little bit of payment though. Honestly, payment for that platform is not the main issue. The issue is I don’t feel what I share from being me and all the contents I wrote so far can be commercialised. In conclusion, I haven't found my niche yet thus it will be difficult to be consistent.

 

Therefore, I decided let's keep going on with the Blogger to pour my heart out.

 

What's going on with me? I get off the rig last Monday after 4 days of rigging down all the surface equipment. The client is no longer wants SLB onboard, and bring in the competitor to the rig. So, me and another engineer, Kiran did the rig down. I am grateful I spent my entire hitch with best crew - Kiran, Gagandeep, and Adnene. I would say, from management perspective we are just underdog. Underdog here means we are not that fix crew stick together all the time and work for the highest paid client. However, that does not matter as nearly 39 days it has been the best hitch in the year. None acts like a jerk unlike my previous hitch at the "expensive client". Everybody cooperate well with each other, helping each other out and not acting like a passenger. I am really grateful with that as 39 days hitch did not go in misery direction. I rigged down with Kiran, he is super senior engineer. It is been a while I have a senior with me. I have enough sleep throughout the time, none woke me up, and I don’t disturb him. We took care of our shift accordingly.

 

We also had meaningful conversation from time to time about life, personal development, work, family, future, and hope. I appreciated it as it has been a while I have meaningful dialogue. 

 

Overall, it was great time.

 

I want to tell something a bit embarrassing and personal here. Hahaha….

 

I had a crush to one of the personnel at the rigsite. I don’t say anything, not a single word, not try to have a conversation, hardly pass across each other. But, I had a crush.

 

Normally, this crush feeling is just a false alarm and not last long. Well, I don’t remember when was the last time I had crush actually. However, I know myself very well. It is just random crush. So, I did not make any effort to talk to the person. I just looked and it will go away after some time :)

 

You know, how come I can have a crush?

 

It is easy. I am compelled to a quiet person. Not that quiet, quiet type when the people is shy and hiding in their shell. No, not that type. It is like a mystery type, where I really want to ask a lot of questions to uncover the mystery and for some reason, I believe it is interesting to know about that mystery person. Off course, I don’t ask.

 

It is difficult but over time as I am getting older, I am able to manage myself and consciously recognised what and how I feel.

 

It is normal but in Islam, "haya" which means humility, decency, shame is the one character can control ourselves. If human does not have humility in their self, that can lead them to do unethical things.

 

It will be over soon anyway.

 

That’s  all I want to update this time. I will be going home on Monday early hours, all set. Please pray for me that all will be well.

 

As usual, take care people and see you in the next entry. Salam w.b.t.

 

P/S - Finished watching Umbrella Academy Season 2 last night. If I can have a superpower, I will choose to be Number Five.

Kisses story

Salam w.b.t and hello all..

 

How are you guys been doing? I am still at the rig.

 

Few hours ago, I shared a story with my colleague, G who is on the same shift with me about a chocolate.

 

Let me give you a context. 2-3 days ago, G asked me if I have chocolates. He knows I have chocolates because I eat it all the time, and I offered him and other colleagues. It has been nearly 1 month we are working here together. So, I find it is weird when he asked me if I have chocolates as he knows I have it.

 

Anyway, I said "Yes, I have chocolates". At the same time, immediately reached the fridge to get the chocolates for him. Then he said, "No, no it is not for me. It is for the guys in the doghouse". Then I stopped and I said, "If it is for them, nope, I don’t have any chocolates".

 

Then about 5-6 hours ago, I shared to him about "Kisses".

 

You know about a chocolate brand Kisses, right? Here it is the picture.

 

 

#Throwback

 

About four years ago, I was at the land rig known as GDI-8. I was trying to be nice to the rig crew for helping me out in physical stuffs. As you all know, all are males. It is normal to give them anything like chocolates, candies just to make them happy so they will help us again in the future.

 

At that time, I have chocolate Kisses packet. It is small and easy to pass around, right. Besides, it is economically cheap for me to buy one packet which probably contains 50 pieces. Then passed it around. So, I passed several Kisses chocolate to the guys. One of the guy, he took the chocolate's name as in literal way - kisses.

 

I don’t remember the exact word but the gist was, "I should not give kisses to random guy" or "I should not give random kisses to guy". Something like that…it was awkward. Krik krik krik..The same guy, he was trying to get kind of closer to me, try to talk with me, digging my background, asking me weird questions, family etc. The problem is, I passed to others as well, not just to this dude. The rest of the folks were fine, except this dude. I did not know why he was acting weird.

 

Since then, I hardly buy this chocolate Kisses to pass it to the rig crew because of this. I don’t want to go through this awkward situation and misinterpretation.

 

I shared the story to my colleague, G. He was laughing about it.

 

In retrospect, it was funny when thinking about it. Males are weirdly creative.

 

I don’t have much to write about this time.

 

Eid Adha Mubarak all.

 

Take care and Salam w.b.t.

 

P/S - I will be going home after this job, InsyaAllah. Looks like a lot of procedure to go through. Will see how it goes.

5 stars to 0 star

Salam w.b.t and hello all,

I hope that whoever come across my pit stop is doing well. I don’t know you, but I wish you very well in whatever you are in now.

I am now at the rig, but this time it is not yet at the ocean. I will explain the details in a bit.

As you all know, I was in Doha from early May until July 2nd. Before going to the rig, I had to go through several processes - quarantine, swab test, then depart to Ras Laffan to get to the rig. I went to quarantine on 30th June until 2nd July at Crowne Plaza. It was 4 of us planned together, unfortunately one of the crew result is reactive. It is not positive, but reactive so as a precaution measure, he needs to be quarantined for 14 days to be sure. So he cannot join us for this job.

It was first time I quarantined at Crowne Plaza, it was really sophisticated hotel, 5 stars maybe. Well, I don’t know. See the video below, I took it after I checked in.

The meals are all provided, so I received the menus and I can order it and they will send it to the room. Similarly, laundry I just dropped it outside the room and they sent it after washing. Good thing also it has a bath tub, and I haven't dip in the bath tub for some time. It was 3 days of pampering.

Then, departed to Ras Laffan by bus on July 3rd. The rig name is Emerald Driller, its operation has been suspended from March due to Covid19 and the rig sailed back to the port. Now, it is at the port since March. The operation will resume and the client requires all personnel and equipment onboard before sailing. When I arrived at the rig, it was horrible because upon arrival at the rig onboard area, observed the height of the port wall that we have to climb down is nearly 60-70ft before reaching the flat ground, and need to climb back up to the rig nearly 100ft height, of scaffolded stairs. All while carrying nearly 20kgs offshore bag and laptop bag during mid-day.

I had to do twice. First to send the bag to the accommodation and then go back to the training center for safety briefing. Second time after finish the training, paperwork etc. then go to the accommodation for good. It was horrible because it all happened in the afternoon between 10am to 12pm, and summer. Hot and humid, really bad. I was disoriented for the rest of the day, body especially shoulders hurt really bad, headache, nausea, hot, sweating and all. Also, for the first 2-3 days I thought the A/C in my room was not working, so I slept and sweating. It was really bad. On top of that, the water from the tap at this rig is yellow in colour. It looks like rust or urine colour. I know already because this is what I experienced last year. So, from the 5 stars hotel of Crowne Plaza to zero star of the rig.

These are the bags and laptop bag (not in the picture) I had to carry myself

This is my hitch after 2 months of idle. Not a great start though.

Today is my sixth day here and this job probably will be 2-3 weeks, I hope 1 month so I can cover the salary cut I had last month and idle time for two months. Will see how it goes.

Alright, it is nearly 5pm here and I want to go for dinner. I will update again sometime soon. Also, I am working on something but I don’t want to share about it yet as it is still early. I will share it when I am ready, let me know if I forgot.

Thank you for reading all.

Take care and Salam w.b.t.

P/S - Remember in my previous entries in May, I mentioned in the footnote that my company does not mention about Mental Health right? This time, the managers mentioned it. Although not in a specific meeting discussing about mental health awareness, they started mention it now in the job meeting. That’s a good start.

What I have been reading for the last two months

Salam w.b.t and hello dear readers,

It has been nearly two months I have been staying in Doha (I am used to the solitude now). I went to the base for two days sometime last week to do some tasks. That’s all.

Claudia came back to the apartment two weeks ago and she stayed here for about 5 days. It was good to have a mate to talk to. Then she left last Friday to go back to the designated hotel for the 14 days self-isolation before going to the rig. For me, well I am lined up for a rig and it will happen at the end of this month. Will see about that. I am not interested to write anything related to job now.

I would like to share what I have been reading throughout my time in Doha for the last two months. I think sometime end of last year, I decided to read more fulfilling and complicated reading materials instead of easy going  or cheesy materials. Let me give you a context. Since I was a kid I love to read mysterious, investigation, horror genres both in Malay and English language. Towards high school and university, I included the love, romance, fantasy genres. One of the reasons I remember was these book genres price were quite cheap to buy and also easily available at public libraries.

It went alright but after some time, then I felt bored. I kind of get the idea most of the storyline and there was no value added to myself.

So, I decided to make a shift to what I fed to my mind. In the meantime, I advised my sisters to stop buying these genres and try to change to more advance topics. I did not want to jump straight away to heavy materials, otherwise I will easily get bored. For a start, I looked for reading materials that were trending at that time, recommended by people, wrote by personalities I recognized.

My book collection in my closet. Yep, closet.

If you remember in one of my old post, I mentioned that bookstores in Qatar is not as many as in Aberdeen. However, I found one bookstore in Doha Festival City. It is known as Border. It is not huge, but it offers many motivating and different reading materials. Ranging from biography, businesses, motivations, guidance, self-help, and of course all these romance/fantasy/mystery genres.

It is open! In normal situation, Starbucks inside it will be opened. They are close now due to Covid-19 

 

I came to know the existence of the bookstore probably mid last year when I came to the mall just to watch a movie. I strolled around the mall and Voila! I saw this book heaven. Since then I have been coming back again and again to buy books. From the visit last Sunday, below is the books I bought and I am excited to read these. Although some of the books I already had I haven't finished or don’t even start.

Catch from my recent visit to Border

I spent nearly three hours to decide what books I wanted to buy. Initially I roamed around and collected all books I interested in. Nearly 10 books actually. Mind you, the price is quite expensive if I don’t be careful. Average of the book costs is QR100. There is no way I spent QR1000 to buy all these 10 books. Then I sat down to filter which I really want to read and beneficial for me. I need to save money as well, I cannot spend recklessly. Finally I ended up with these three books.

That’s good for now.

I understand, I can actually just Google all the books I interested in, download it for free and I can save money there. However, I still strongly incline towards the physical books. Reading the digital materials do not give the satisfaction or pleasure feeling. I managed to finish one digital book, but really my eyes were sore.

As for now, I will keep going on with conventional way of reading materials.

Okay, let's share what I have read for the last two months. 

• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, downloaded from internet

I did not know who is Trevor Noah initially but I came to know him from Youtube. I watched most of his hilarious videos, shows and immediately admired his confidence in public speaking as well as his knowledge on many things in the world. Then I kept digging his background, that’s when I realised he wrote a book. I was intrigued, thus immediately search on Google if there is a soft copy. Indeed, it was. I downloaded and finished reading in less than two days.

• MBA Day by Day by Chris Dalton

I bought this in Malaysia during my last vacation. The reason I bought this book is not because at that time I want to do MBA. The reason I bought it because several of people I know always said they want to pursue MBA. I always heard MBA, MBA, and MBA. Honestly, I don’t understand what is it with this MBA.

I skimmed through all the books related to MBA in the business sections, most of them are too thick, too details and too complex for a beginner like me (See how many toos here). On top of that, they are very expensive. For me, I just want to understand "What is this MBA about". That’s all.

Then I saw this. It is not that thick, it does not use too much jargon, and importantly its price is reasonable. So I bought it.

Now after finishing the book, I have basic idea what is this MBA about and better understanding why people said they want to do MBA.

• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

I know, I am not an extrovert personality but I hardly say I am an introvert. Although people who thought they know me claimed I am an extrovert. How come other people can describe me but I cannot describe my own self? So, what am I? How am I going to describe myself? That’s why I bought this book because my goal is to understand myself better.  This book is rich with researches, journals, findings, theories. It is quite heavy subject. I believe this is the first time I read a book full with scientific research and findings. I read it last year then I stopped not far from the first page. It was too much information and I got bored.

Then, in mid-May I tried to open my mind and pushed myself to read it. I cannot just let people freely define and categorize my personality. I said to myself, let's read even 1 page per day but don’t stop. It was difficult at the beginning, I put a target to finish it by June, then slowly I flipped the pages and Yes! I finished reading it.

Through this book, it helps me to understand the types of personalities available in the world, the arguments and examples to support it. It is not simple as I thought; A or B, White or Black, Introvert or Extrovert. No, it is not like that. In some parts of the book, I felt like the author is describing myself in real detail.

I will revisit this book to collect and note down all the information.

• The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

I brought this book from Malaysia last year, I think one of my sister bought it. After reading Quiet, I was thinking to read some light materials so I chose this book. I started reading it about 3-4 days ago and finished today. Yes, it is a light subject about mother-daughter love. Not just that, it is also include the real dictionary of flower definition at the end of the book as well as the interview with the author. I would say is not a cheesy book about love, but it is good light reading to understand about flower, foster care system, personality of adopt daughter.

Overall it was a good reading and I enjoyed it.

So, now I am planning to read the recent book I bought, When to Jump by Mike Lewis. When I saw this book on the shelve it resonates very well with the current state of myself. Therefore, I am excited to read it.

On a different note, I have set a target to read more and reduce the screen time like Social media, Youtube, Netflix. I want to do different this time. It will be tough because it is so much easy just to click the button rather than flipping the page. But I need to do differently in order to enrich myself with knowledge.

I hope you enjoy reading this post. I would like to encourage you, let's start reading if it is not part of your habit. Read. Anything. Let's build this habit together, shall we?

Take care and Salam w.b.t. Hopefully I will see you in the next entry.

P/S - I have this ambition to have a mini library and cozy reading corner in my dream home. I will have variety of books arranged on the shelves, a medium-size couch with pillows, a little coffee table at one end of the couch, and small open area on the floor to lay down. The best case is to locate it nearby the balcony facing the lawn. Well, if there is no balcony, I can settle with a wide horizontal window facing the sky. I would say, I am in a mission of collecting good books to put on the bookshelves in my mini library 💖💖💖

Scout Mindset

Salam w.b.t and hello all,

Recently I watched a TED Talks video about Scout Mindset. You can watch the video here - Scout Mindset.

It is interesting information, I never heard of this before. So after watching this, it opens another dimension of how I should think. I will refer to myself as an example because I cannot talk for others. Most of the time, when I ask questions, I normally want to;

1. Know the answer as I genuinely don’t know
2. Double check my understanding
3. I know /don’t know the answer but I want to test the knowledge of the person I talk to, either the person knows what he/she is talking about or no idea at all and how far they know/don’t know
4. Implicitly say, I am right and I am not stupid as you think

In some circumstances, this can lead to zero knowledge of information exchange or worse, argument. Especially in point c and d.

I have a person who always start with the conversation, "I heard,…..(enter the information here)…". This is basically the start of gossiping and discussing about rumors as well as speculation. At the start, I was okay with it. Then, over time I kept hearing, "I heard…", I find that this is not good and useless conversation. So, I started asking more critical questions to the person, implementing Point C. Often times, I asked the second follow up questions the answer I commonly received is "this is what I heard".

Let me give you a short example that relevant to the current market situation.

A - I heard from my friend they lay off the people in Country XX.

ME - Yes, it is the news and it happens everywhere. Tough times now.

A - We will be lay off as well.

ME - Who told you?

A - It happened everywhere, we will also be lay off

ME - How do you know? Did you confirm with anyone? Our situation in the country is slightly different from others, and each market has their own way of tackling this tough situations.

A - No, this is what I heard.

ME - Fine.

This conversation has zero information exchange, and more towards speculation. I don’t like to engage in this kind dialogue when there is no support apart from "I heard…". I normally end it up with OK or Fine.

Point D, I always used to the managers who shows micromanage behavior. Yes, we have it. So, from time to time, micromanage can be such a pain when the person always highlight things I already know or keep chasing me to make sure I do my work. If you ever work with me, you know how I operate. I am not a kind of person requires babysitting to carry out my task. Whenever this happened, I utilise Point D to shut the personnel out and most of the time it works.

I think I have been deviated from the main point here. Scout Mindset, it is good start to retrain our way of think and manage ourselves, especially when managing our ego. Sometimes, when we are wrong, we always associated it with losing thus scratching our ego. This is unhealthy especially when we work in a group/team or interaction with any person.

I started to think consciously and asked myself this two questions; (1) I want to prove I am right or (2) I want to understand the truth? It is a small start to exercise my way of thinking, however it is better to start rather than staying at the same spot. 

That’s all for now. See you in the next entry. Take care and Salam w.b.t.

P/S - I felt the earthquake last week. It was originate from Iran, 5.7 Richter and the tremor felt in Doha. I did not know it was earthquake, because it only lasted less than 10sec. However i felt the floor, window, ceiling shook. I thought I was maintenance or imagining because i did not expect the quake. Alhamdullilah, no damages here in Qatar, but for Iran don't know the effects.

Hello June

Salam w.b.t and good day readers.

How are you guys doing so far? I am doing alright :)

It is nearly 4 weeks I have been standby in Doha, and I am used to it now. The silence and routine I have so far. I am using this opportunity to Qada my fasting and fast for additional 6 days in Syawal. Yes, still in progress :)

How about you guys?

Did you see the recent news around the world? Many things has happened and looks like world is going crazy. Good news and bad news both happened simultaneously.

• Malaysia cases remained low after Eid, only 2-3 days after that a big spike then it came down. The death cases also  not increasing. Well done people! However, at the same time the death of the people who got hit by the drunk drivers increased. What happened here guys? It looks like the death due to hit by the drunk driver is higher than Covid19.
• Covid19 cases in Qatar has been skyrocketing since Eid. The positive cases increase by 1500-2400 every day. For the death, it is increasing as well around 2-3 deaths every day. We are still cannot leave the country. I heard the sound of flight from time to time.
• The launch of astronaut on US soil using the first commercial rocket made a pretty big deal in the history. At the same time, it is stained with the news of death a black guy while in the police custody. People there is still rioting these days to show support to stop racism in US. Unbelievable, the racism towards black people and white supremacy is like a ticking bomb in US, waiting to explode. I wish they will stay strong, safe, and reach the solution for this prolong problem. On a different note, I am grateful Malaysia is a peaceful country regardless of the various races that build our country. We need to keep the peace.
• I have been watching Youtube from time to time. Looks like they put useful contents in it nowadays. The latest news, short movies, documentaries on top of typical contents. This is good to watch it from time to time, but could be a distraction for me as well. Hehehe…for example, I want to watch one short video that is 15-20 mins long, end up 1 hour on Youtube. Sigh…

Not much to write about this time. As I said earlier, just a random thing.

Well take care guys. Probably I will write something useful next time, as usual empty promise.

Salam wbt and take care.

P/S - Currently listening to Fynn Jamal recorded live. Started off with the Juna's meltdown, nearly 10 minutes now and still ongoing. It is so sad. This is her IG link. https://www.instagram.com/fynnjamal/

It is Mental Health Awareness Week in UK

Salam w.b.t and hi all,

For me, there are days where it is sometimes it is going up/positive, and sometimes it is going down/negative. Recently, with this isolation due to Covid19, the situation is getting more frequent.

I will give you my example.

Yesterday, I will work for long hours and get many things done. I had my day like, "Yes, I am going to nail this!". It was like the motivation was really good. Finished my day with the sense of accomplishment.

Started today, "Well, I am not sure what I want to do…" I ended up like doing nothing, shifting through my random stuff - clothes, papers, books, foods, cabinets for hours. From 7AM to 1PM to be exact. No, I was not looking for anything, just browsing hopefully I can find my mood to do something. Netflix? Nah…similarly, browsing, browsing, and browsing the list of shows but not interested to watch any of those.

The cycle repeats. It feels sucks.

Scrolling the media social, news, and do some random reading on internet. After some time, I scrolled in LinkedIn, and a lot of sharing about Mental Health Awareness week.

Eventually, it is Mental Health Awareness Week in United Kingdom. It is from 18 May to 24 May, so this topic has been brought to surface. 

Like it or not, this topic is not always become the subject of discussion. We always hide our mental state from others, reluctant to talk about it. So we will not look WEAK. I am not excluded. That’s why after hours browsing for random things in my apartment, I decided to share briefly this subject on my blog.

Let's look at the diagram below, I think you can relate right.

Be aware of which zone are we at all time. We all been through days where it was full of colour and some days it is gloomy. 

Apart from that, somebody on LinkedIn shared an article written by Malaysian international student in UK. She shared some tips to overcome the loneliness of being away from home. Most of the time, public always have the perception of how lucky the person to be able to study/work/live away. In this circumstance, out of Malaysia - more money, can travel, meeting different people and many more. Believe me, all these mindsets are outdated. It is always a lonely road when you are away from your loved ones. This definitely affect your mental wellbeing. Please read the article here.

This is where I spent most the time during day. 

It is a tough situation for everybody. However, please try to keep yourself healthy and occupy. Call your family, and keep in touch with your fellow friends, better call them. My other two housemates are in the isolation at the client's designated hotel. So, I am alone here. Honestly, it is lonely. From time to time, I texted them individually or in our Whatsapp group. Just to say hello and if they need help of getting their stuff from the apartment to their isolation place.

Hopefully, my entry this time will be beneficial for some of us and encouragement to talk more about this subject. The main idea is, no, having mental issue does not mean we are crazy. It can happen to anyone and it is important to look around us and recognize this.

I am ending this entry with a song from Demi Lovato, I Love Me.

Stay safe all. We can do this!

Salam w.b.t.

P/S - So far, my company does not bring up this topic. Quite unfortunate because it is actually a good time to bring up this topic at bigger scale as it is relevant to the current situation. They do talk about the importance of work safely, Covid19 prevention, STOP unsafe job etc. However, none touch this topic even a slightest, unfortunately. Regardless, look after yourself, your friends, family. 💓💓💓💓💓