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. 💓💓💓💓💓

Extra measures to travel offshore

Salam w.b.t and hi all,

I am in Doha now. Get off the Rig Lovanda last Saturday, 9-May and I am so happy.

The trip from the rig to Doha took quite a long time, I don't remember I ever experienced this long before. I took off from the rig about 6AM and arrived in Doha approximately around 8AM.

Actually, the chopper travel from Doha - Rig Lovanda - Rig Mick O Brien - Rig Al Jassra - Platform North Field Alpha - Platform Rasgas Alpha - Doha.

Quite a journey.

These days the travel of offshore is pretty strict actually. With the current Covid-19, extra measures are in place.

• Some of the clients will require the personnel going to their rigs to be quarantined at their designated place for two weeks. 
• At least two days prior departure, the personnel is arranged for the Swab Test to ensure they are negative. Why two days? The result of the test comes out within 48 hours via text message I believe. I haven't done it but that's what my colleague told me. If the result is negative, then you are clear to go to the rig.
• Mandatory PPE - Face mask, hand gloves are now part of the mandatory PPE that need to be utilized while going to/off the rig. These will be provided by both rig operators and our company. Like me, most of the time I have extra in my possession to last for some time. 

Here in the chopper about to touch down in Doha. Well, phones are not allowed in the chopper. So this picture is illegal.

Now it is nearly 10 days I am in Doha. Been relaxing, do the online training. Well, nothing fancy. A bit bored as well because I did not go out since I am in Doha. I have been ordering food outside and cook myself with whatever groceries I have in the fridge. All my housemates are away. 

That's the update for now. I will keep you posted. 

Take care and Salam w.b.t.

P/S - When you say, "I don't give a sh*t", do you guys really mean it? Or is it depends on the situation? Or is it just a way to vent your frustration at that point of time? I would like to know the definition when I heard about it.