Monomyth

Have you come across John Cambell's 17 Stages of Monomyth before? Have a google around, and see what you can come across with.

A good friend of mine often shares interesting books and stories with me. We two have an almost synchronized book cycle every time. By the time I finished my Figes' "Russian revolution: A people's tragedy", he's just wrapped up his Gaiman's "American gods". While I'm still struggling with my 1200+ pages (solid 8pt font, at that)  of MacCullough's "A history of Christianity" at the moment, he's just embarked on Applebaum's 800+ pages of "Gulag: A history". I've not decided on which book I'd like to concentrate on after MacCullough's, either Blatt's "The Swerve" or Esposito's "Islam: The history", though my friend has already listed Cambell's "The hero with thousand faces" in the queue.

So we're talking about monomyth, and it's quite interesting to reflect this on oneself.. The stages of becoming a Hero.Why don't you find out at which stage are you at the moment?

The END is nigh!

This entry will be dedicated to the years spent waiting...and waiting!

After the submission of the thesis, one has a window of "uncertainty" before the final showdown comes around. Yes, a PhD means one has to defend their years of hard work, days and nights spent in the lab and in front of the computers. I have a total of 4 years of work compiled in a 280-pages thesis, to be defended intellectually in the coming months! The first two weeks after the submission, I felt a huge relief, a mountain nudged off my shoulders. In the last week or so however, the jittery feeling started haunting me in my waking hours. I hope this does not descend into my sleeping hours too!

Let me explain why I think I am at this stage. I see no rocks left unturned in the last years of work. I did everything I can to my best in all the works I performed. It is probably a cliche, but I honestly did all of it because I need to satisfy my curiosity. Logically, one should not be bothered about the viva, even when the thesis is examined by the people who revolutionized/found my field of research, since this is Physics, and every argument is backed with most basic laws of nature. This flutter I feel in my stomach originate from the scary stories from others who had graduated and were given a ride through hell during their 6 hours (some even skipped lunch & dinner) of viva. One bright person that I know of has it reduced to being stumped (in his own words: looked like an idiot) when some members of the jury vehemently disagreed with his theories. Others, slightly more fortunate, were asked about whether or not any Nobel Prize winning works somewhat related to their works, and if so, how, justify and elaborate those connections.

This-the power of scary stories-I learnt is not confined to PhD vivas. If one cares to have a glance at the Malaysian newspapers (mainstream or alternatives), there are strings of ridiculously incredulous scare-warmongering stories remarked by the politicians from both sides of the divide. On one hand the incumbent government goes around towns to poison the wells; apparently, and unknowingly to me, voting for the people other than their kind would stamped the entire country voyage to the rough sea of ruins. Much like "Mariana trench" during huge thunderstorms scenes in the "Life of Pi" movie. And oh, I forget to mention the classic one: the country will descend into chaos because everyone will be doing demonstrations. I give such talks the benefit of doubt. The Penangites that I have met and spoken to have expressed better satisfaction with its current state government now than ever. Plus, if the authorities care enough to listen and mediate the citizen's grouses, there is no need for mega rallies. 

On the other side of the coin, the Opposition pact is hell bent on ..oh well, everything really. The best one I read was that the BN copied PR's manifestos... And here I was thinking that it should be I, the citizen, that matters. Manifestos, regardless of where they come from, must serve for the benefit of the citizen. So what if BN copied PR? The fact that these manifestos are good for rakyat is all that counts. That BN copied PR only amplify how incompetent BN is and therefore there is no need to character-assassinate BNs. So, I don't understand it why PRs are making a mountain out of a mole for this. There are other things more important, more urgent to be attended decisively. Like make our education free of politics, and get those racists eat their own words, etc.

Coming back to my experience with the thesis, what do I do with these scare stories, then? Despite Physics laws being the most consistent, objectively derived with deliberate might of minds over centuries, the interpreters are human in any case. There are biases, and yes, polarized views on the interpretation of the laws. I probably see my work as objectively as I could, but my examiners will be seeing the work perhaps in a different light than mine. I believe in the importance of being earnest to myself; if I didn't know it, then it will only serve as a catalyst to learn better. I must have reasons that are logically backed with well-constructed arguments to defend what I believe, and emotional pleas have no place in this process. I think the same can be applied to May 5th too. I must have informed decisions not base on emotional attachment to any of the parties. If the person is competent and capable, he/she/it will get my vote! I hope you, my fellow Malaysian, will make an informed decision.

Comment: The end is nigh, BN! :)

The Converts

Easter Triduum has been concluded last night. It was a beautiful ceremony, to celebrate my Saviour resurrected and conquered death. Saturday Vigil has always been my favorite mass of all the masses held in Church. It is the time when I feel tremendously moved by the music, chants, and words that hung in echo of the Cathedral. The awesome time of the year!

Speaking of which, just today I have finished watching a soul-searching movie by the late Yasmin Ahmad, Muallaf (The Convert). I have always been an adoring fan of Yasmin's movies and ads (she did quite a lot for Petronas). There are always fresh messages in her creative works; something untangible that one has to contemplate the meaning of it all. It is always surprising at what each one can come up with.

In any case, Muallaf: I learnt many lessons from the movie alone. How my belief and others, Islam and those who do not believe in God or prophets, have so much in common. In my case, I strive to find God in some ways. Solace, peace, you name it. Being a scientist does not add to the ease of taking a great leap of faith. I constantly find Science that I believe (of course with the advent of many irrefutable evidence) at logger heads with the Faith that I embrace. Big Bang and Darwinian school of thought make more sense to me than what Genesis gives in the first 5 chapters.

A conversation in 'Life of Pi' between the mother and the son gives assurance: 'Science can teach us what's out there' (mother's hand stretch to the sky), 'but religion teaches us what's in here' (mother's hand gesturing to her chest). It is an apt conclusion.

I personally knew people who have grown cold to religions, shrugged it as ignorance, and to a certain extent criticize and mock those who'd done the unspeakable in the name of Lord/God/Allah as the representative of that religion itself. On the other end of the spectrum, I knew as many people grappling to latch onto any beliefs that make their hearts flutter. 

Ignorance is the first step of descending to hell, I believe. Be it towards other faiths or towards what we professed. Once one stepped onto this stage of hell, there it will roll downhill. Hatred snowballed, what started to be a jest becomes a cancer that doom to damn one's soul. But amidst the fog of damnation, one can reach out his/her hand for help. For I am sure, there is always an Angel hovering next to the cliff where we have fallen from.

Comment: Just as much as I would like the authority to stop playing the bigots on the "Allah" issue, I plead my brethren in faith and those I have known from other religions to exercise grace. I am quite sure we'll share the same Heaven as my Father promised us, just as Allah has promised you too. And who knew, maybe we even see the God's/Allah's prophets and messengers playing Chinese chess together?!

People of subtance

This video is the second part of the 16 mins long clip. For some reasons, I couldn't get the first part of the video up here. The link to it is Global Witness: Sarawak CM's expose.

I feel sick to the stomach listening and watching these people treating the Sarawakians. These 'pengkianat' should be sentenced the strictest law we have! You make your own judgment. Share this with your lovely Sarawakian family and friends!

Comment: Accusing the indigenous of 'squaters' in the land where their ancestors have thrived and evolved is one I cannot stomach!

Back, for the adventure!

Oh ho!

How long has it been since I last wrote a piece here? July 2012!! It felt like many light years ago. The good news is that I am back, not from the land of the dead, from the land of adventure!

Even a briefer introduction of what I've been stealthily doing the last year of silence is appropriate here. The last 6-7 months had been hectic: thesis writing, conference's invited speaker, another collaboration with a lab in Frankfurt, writing up an article for journal publications.  All of these are in no particular order. Now, the thesis has been submitted, the article is published, the collaborators offered me a job in their lab, the speech was overwhelmingly received and since then I have a barrage of emails asking for a position in our research group. People say I am more famous than my supervisor. I say it's luck. So lets stop self-glorifying here, I felt a somewhat narccistic promoting what I did in the last few months!

Lets talk about now! At the moment, I am learning how to canoe, and sew! These two are unconventionally put next to each other, I agree. The first, canoeing, is really a fashion to do in our department. Being guys, my friends had been nudging me for hours to join the fun. I always have a reason to back out: I've got experiments to do in the lab. Now that the thesis had been submitted, I ran out of luck, and so I am joining the guys tackling the rivers (and at some point, waterfalls!) in NZ with a canoe. Unfortunately, despite having learnt to swim properly and overcoming water-phobia (I actually think it's not the water/current, but more of the flash of memories I have from watching Hollywood's Jaw 1-4!), I am still a novice in the water. So, in the next couple of weeks, I'd be spending my time with my canoe in a swimming pool (boohoo!) practising for real stuff. So far, nothing exciting yet happening in the pool (there's nothing 'adventurous'!), therefore I've got nothing to report on that.

The second, sewing lessons, are awesome. I picked up sewing after accidentally clicking on one of the most cutest skirts I've seen on the web. And the tutorial about how to go making it is superbly easy to follow, even for a noob-sewer like me. Mind you, the last time I tried my hands on needles was...10 years ago? And that was for a school project making a pouch (which I got rated a B+). I hated sewing then, it takes up too much time when I rather do calculus! It's a different feeling now, because 1) I do it with a machine, 2) I sew what I want. So in the past few weeks, I was learning from the pros' posts in the internet on sewing terms and tricks. I am proud to say, until now, I have 2 dresses, and 1 skirt made from scratch by myself! I've worn 2 of them to school, and the compliments I have received ("Wow, that's a nice dress you've got! Where'd you get it?", "I love your dress!") have been flattering. Perhaps, it was because people rarely see me in girly dress. It's always khakis, jeans with wacky printed T's back then, you know, those apparels that help you move faster and tackle 8 flight of stairs easily.

So, there. A good start of blogging this year.. Well, stay tune for the next post. I've not decided what I want to put up yet, but maybe my new summer dress? I should go shopping for fabric then!

Comment: 2013 is going to be a superb year to accomplish things that I never imagined I could do! I hope it's going to be a fabulous year for you too, be it for a career, family or personal achievement outlook!

Soldier of Love

Fingers flexed? Yup..

It's raining hard outside, and it's foggy. I am of course viewing this wet Sunday from my office.. Yeah, some people do work 7 days a week.

Now, before you say in disbelieve 'WORK?'; lets settle on the 'light editing' job. Thesis writing is time consuming, I'd rather go back to the lab and do more experiments with the time I spent on writing. It's ridiculously intense; don't let anyone tell you PhD is as easy provided that one work hard enough. It's NOT good enough to work hard. One must put their mental agility on the chopping board to deal with the frustration and contemplation, ever moving effervescently every time one thinks about his/her PhD projects. And sometime, it can be a little frustrating to see some people strutting around with the Dr. (PhD) title, but talk nonsense (a kindergarten is a much better articulate person to me). An example of this is one guy called Ridhuan Abdullah. I've no problem with him being a racist in the closet; what happened in his mind is his own business. It's what he spit out matters because it degrades the entire institution of academic, the learnt scholars. Here's the first thing he said that I read (Ridhuan Tee's BS), and I promised myself I will NEVER waste my time ever again on reading his crap. For those who aligned, or very much would like to read more of him, he writes blog. No, don't ask me where is it; ask Google! (My faith does not condone bashing people because of their race, color or whatever. I find Dr. Asri Zainal Abidin's coretan interesting and intellectually stimulating to read and take perspective on)

Enough of stomping on stupid remarks from a self-claimed learnt person like Ridhuan. It ruined my mood. Lets talk Physics instead... Before someone's mind go to hibernation upon seeing 'Physics', I'd like to share this interesting paper from a group of fun physicists in the UK.. The paper is about Batman! Batman and batcape...This is what I found on GoogleScholar... Yeah, some work on Sunday right? It's not much, just 2 pages. Minimal equations, you can even skipped them if you want because the idea is not revolved around the equations (FYI: the sets of equation are the well-known Newton's 1st and 2nd Law. We knew them like the back of our hand while we're still at high school..). If you're an impatient person, like my type, go straight to conclusion. I find it hilarious to read and get some new overview of things I take for granted. In this case, I take Batman flying for granted. This reminds me to share another article (this year) about the physics of coffee handling... If only I could find the open-access reference for that!

Meanwhile, let me share a picture I've got from trekking the Great China Walls. It's done about a year ago while I was in Beijing for a conference. Love the trek, and I will tell more of Beijing/Great Wall in the next post...

'The key to lasting union...' Juyongguan Pass, Great Wall of China

Comment: What's with the entry title-content?

Euphora of THE General Election

Politic? Stay out of it!

That's what my mother often tell all of us, my siblings and I. She's admonishing us when we talk about blatant corruption going on in the district governance, she'd scoffed us even more when we intend to join in the solidarity of marching in the name of freedom rights. And she still does it over supper talks when we get together, chit chatting about BERSIH and the intention to join NGOs such as that. Although I do not know the political leaning of my older siblings, I am quite certain of that of my father's. ABU. Anything But UMNO.

I won't rant about who is what here, that'll be for another story on another day. I've my own preferences, it's suffice to say I'd rather gamble my future on a clean slate government than being continuously dogged into bribery and corrupt government (of the day).

I just wish to note down here that I've applied to register as a voter for the coming GE, about a month ago. I was so elated that when I checked my name this morning, my application has been received and is now being processed. Have you registered to be heard? Check here: Semakan Daftar Pemilih SPRM

Comment: UPKO? STAR? PKR? or PAS? in Kuala Penyu? I long for the day when someone who's as bright as Rafizi Ramli, as compassionate as Kamalanathan, as the ever more humble as Tok Guru Nik Aziz, as courageous as Ambiga to take charge of my district.