A smarter planet!

As we nearing to the end of the wonderful year and to the new beginning of exciting year, lets just pause for a second on our actions that may have saved the planet life.

Most of us didn't think each one of our action can powerfully influence the course of the Earth's life. Well, at least we're not aware of it physically. I recently got into quite a heated argument with my loved ones over the prospects of them wanting to get a new car on top of the already cars they've. If you want to know who lost the argument, well, I won't make it much longer for you to guess--I lost it.

You see, my arguments are based on preserving and preparing this beloved planet for the future generations. I say something like carbon footprints, effects on the Earth, global warming and whatnots. They sounded convincingly true to me, I mean I've all the facts and data backed up from my reading from learned journals. I've prepared list of pros and cons of the idea of a new car and the cons weighed more than the pros. Yet, it failed to impress them. On one hand I've been stunned by the overwhelming belief that scientists alone can solve all these problems for the entire human race.

Thus I turned to this blog and put an entry to call for opened hearts to gather momentum to save, even for a little, our planet. We know it's the only one the entire universe so far, and that it's the only place that we can be sure to be able to breath to live.

Take a walk when your destinations don't require more than few minutes drive. Perhaps, you may have just save the ozone layer from being botched. Cycle to and fro when the places you'd like to go to takes more than 10 minutes drive. Just maybe, you saved some remote islands in the Pacific from the rising seawater from the global warming. And if your journey takes more than an hour or even days to reach by foot or bicycles, maybe hop onto shared transportation. Or get yourself a hybrid car. While you're still puffing out gases that are killing our planet, your contribution percentage is decreased by the number of collective share. Perhaps, you've just saved a small area of productive land from being turned to another Sahara Desert. Or if you can't afford either the twos, grab a book and a hot chocolate. A page can take you thousands miles away from where you're sitting (or lying). I know this for real because I fall under this category.

Happy new year everyone! Lets make a smarter planet :)

Comment: Stumbled upon the best website in the world: http://www.aldaily.com/. Check it out!

Of Einstein and Physics

"The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before."

The above is a quote I recently came across while translating some quotes of the most famous physicist of our time, Albert Einstein. I really like this quote, I mean I like almost all of Einstein quotes but this one resonates more than the other emotionally to me. One should, I suggest, in spare time read his published revolutionary papers from the 1900s and I can guarantee you that his papers will not bore you down with equations and equations and more equations to explain not-so-simple things back then.

Why is it that such a simple, very obvious statement (I mean anyone, not only Einstein, is capable of thinking and blurting it out right?) affect my inner soul, I think comes to 2 points. The woman. No one has ever been before.

I'm partially feminist. What I mean by that is I'm supporter of women's right to say, do, think what's good for them. I don't agree with burning of bras' and whatnot. The latter looks like a messy politics to me. But that aside, I'm all in for a woman independence from being continually subjected to patriarchal hierarchy in the society (we see that everywhere still, even now). My upbringing started out with what looks like male-dominated family. I mean I can recall only small things where my mother, or sisters have a say on stuff. Be it opening your bank account to school report card signatures--it'll always wait for the alpha-males in my family. Of course, girly things like wanting a pink pencil box for new school term are in my mother's prerogative, subject to a nod from my father.

So when I was offered to go to a boarding school (which is just few hours away by water ferry), my mother was devastated. She changed her mind almost every time we speak about whether or not I should accept it. In the morning she'd say something like it's better I'd be sent to such school to straighten me out of my non-budge-ness waking up early in the morning. Later in the afternoon, she'd say something like she'd like to keep me around so that I can learn/practice cooking meals for my own future family. But (thankfully) my dad gave her the ultimatum: I'd be attending the school for the next couple of years for better education. I must say it wasn't very easy for her to let me go on the day we went for my registration at the new school, and she almost made me want to change my mind--to go back and practice my cooking for my own future family. But I didn't. From that moment, I'm all by myself. No familiar faces. No relatives. Just me and a bunch of other kids who look equally worried as me on the first day.

If there's one thing I really love about the school, I'd say it teaches me great value of independence. I mean to say that despite us being overly (sometimes excessively) protected from outsiders influence and all, we still have to work hard to adjust ourselves inside this cocoon. The atmosphere there wasn't very welcoming in the years I've spent my secondary education. Lots of stupid (both IQ and EQ), and even more alarmingly envious girls (oh, and boys too!) in the school. So when moments (sometimes months) I'm subjected to bullying and threats by the senior girls, I tell myself to upfront this and tie myself to a goal, not to focus too much on dwelling personal feelings about the evildoers. And thus, I'd like to always be on my own (sometimes with a couple of good girlfriends) doing things. True enough, the bullies go no further than their crowds, and they're a bunch of losers. Einstein quote is truly true to this part. And I, walking alone have seen myself in places no one has been yet, at least not for the losers.

Doing Physics for your tertiary education and getting your degree from it perhaps opens up only limited opportunity for money-making careers out there. I mean, the dozens of smart kids I've privileged to be friends with are doing something with the machines (engineers), preparing clients ledger accounts, cutting up bodies, and most popular ones running up and about courts. So it's a bit awkward going into a gathering and I hear my good friends talking about things that are real. They must think physicists in general worries about things that are not in the reality. So sometimes I do feel like an outsider, even on general things like American drama series, gameshows and musical idols, as I am admittedly too ignorant to spend my time on such things.

As it is sometimes hard enough to front the good friends I've with my dim career choice, in the department itself sometimes it can be overwhelming. I mean to say that I'm in a department that is 98% of the staff members are male (dominantly white), and male graduate students ratio to female graduate student is about 8:1. Surrounded by men 8 hrs a day, 5 days a week for several years makes me feel like I'm one of them already. It is a fact that I detest it very much when the time of the month creeps in and sometimes slow things down for me. I mean men don't have to worry about getting up from a white seat with some unintentional marks left there, right? But nevertheless, I've always been treated like a princess here. Because 1) I wear nice smiles that everyone love here, 2) My supervisor will lift up big things in the lab for me because he's worried I'd hurt myself. In summary, I couldn't imagine myself doing Physics and being treated with kind respect here had I stick to the crowd.

It's a good thing to wander off the crowd. Sometimes, in a crowd, one finds it hard to know where one is going.

Comment: I've never managed to straight myself out from jumping out of bed earlier than 8 am to this day, despite all the repetitive routine from my high school that starts at around 5 am.

Am I giving back enough?

They say you're the happiest when you give more than receiving abundantly. Some years back, or maybe even yesterday, I'd be the staunch supporter of rejecting this idea altogether. I'd say, this type of talk is cheap. I'd probably even call whoever utter such things delusional, a person mired with insanely unacceptable ideology.

Today, I've witnessed something that I think will forever change the way I view the world and I believe it'll have long-lasting effect, a positive one for that matter.

What did I see? A gardener attending his chores at a mini rose garden by my office. A little girl holding to her Mama (I've presumed anyway), passing by nearby. And an apple in her other hand.

Mama stopped short by the garden, smelling the luscious and bountiful roses. And that's when he saw the little girl fascination with roses. He scooted under the roses bushes not far away from the mother-daughter coordinates, disappeared for few seconds, and I saw his head buoying from the hidden rose bush. And,... when he appeared, he had a fresh bouquet of roses for the little girl. I can see her eyes sparkle like fireworks. Her ever beautiful smiles are even more pronounced at that moment. To you perhaps, this is just an act of people being nice to others. Well, that's what I thought as well for a few minutes after this occur, when mama showering the gardener with loads of thanks and gratitude.
What I didn't (perhaps) expected from the little girl is that after some distance walking away from the garden, she stopped, turned around, walked towards the busy gardener and handed over her apple to him. The gardener knelled down to receive the apple, and perhaps caught unaware that the girl is going to hug him and plant a kiss on his cheek. She walked away to her waiting mother, with smile even more prettier than when I saw her moments ago.

And the gardener? Lets just say the pretty girl, a kiss and an apple made his day today. Perhaps he wasn't aware that I've always been on the lookout at the garden from my office desk, stuck with problems that seems unresolvable. And yes, as he was leaving for home for the weekends break, his wide smile radiates as bright as the summery Sun. That, I saw, was receiving at heart's content.

The essence of being KaDus

Being a product of two different ethnics parents is probably one of the things that I'm proud of myself. It's widely perceived that Kadazan and Dusun ethnics in Sabah have no difference at all. In fact the name can only tell you which part of the land you're from. If you profess you're Kadazan, then you're most likely from the urban areas and most definitely won't hail from some villages in from some rather random jungles. It may be true to some people, but I beg to differ from this definition.

My mom's a DusunTatana while my pop's a Kadazan. I can relate their ethnicities from the geography alone, sure enough. Mom comes from a rather obscure village by a bush, and Dad was born and raised in a rather uptown village near the city that's once known as the Jesselton. And I'd like to stress out that they definitely speak entirely different set of languages, not just differences in dialects. They don't have a union in their vocabulary sets.

Now, I've not the knack for languages (no, not even English). I've always been on the average ranking when it comes to linguistics. I suppose when you've both mom and dad conversing in their own languages to each other, you'll just rather give up learning other new languages for fun. (I think if I try, I can probably explain myself better in numbers and algebras.) I can read and write comfortably with both DusunTatana and Kadazan, and understand perfectly well either language that ones use to speak to me. But there is one thing that I'm not so proud of when I say I'm a Kadazan Dusun girl: conversing these languages. Unlike other languages that I use at schools and later my student life, these languages fluency don't flow as smooth as waterfall through my mouth. Rather, I think it resembles more and more like mud flow, in that you've to provide enough force to jerk it out.

There are probably other things that I'm ashamed of (no, I don't associate myself with snoring with wild abandon, thank goodness!), but having to need sometime to construct sentences to carry on with the conversation in your head before spitting them out is definitely a sign of either rusting mother-tongues exercises or I'm simply no longer a KaDus girl!

I pray that, as long as I shall live, I will not ever become the latter.

Comments: In Mom's language, star is known as kudingking while Dad'll probably call the same thing romituon. (Didn't I warn you already it's not the dialects?)

Friends to die for!

Maybe one, if not two, people we met along the way destined to be the one that we would give our life for. I am sure wherever we maybe at this moment, however far apart, I'll occupy a part of her inner thoughts and I hers.

(Us, looking gorgeous in a high school farewell dinner, dated almost a decade ago)

There is such a thing called girlfriends. They're the ones who'd come to your rescue when 'that' time of the month button turned on accidentally. They're the ones that would certainly be there when you complain head-throbbing or even when your hearts shattered to million pieces. Yes, they'll put their hands around you, hug you close, shelter your face shameless tears destroying your mascara on your failed date. And they're there with kisses and joyful tears when you're at your best (yet).

(Sometimes, all it takes is several thousands miles to be grateful for the gift of best girlfriends)

I think, I believe, and I am sure of this one fact: Nothing I won'ttrade for a girlfriend, the best girlfriend. A husband may leave me for another woman/man, parents may disown me when they've given up hope on me, siblings may act like they don't know you once they got tired of you. But not a true, awesome girlfriend.

Why? It's mutual love I think. I love her because I can say out loud stuff to her that I cannot utter in the real world (like I've got a crush on my form teacher who's decades senior than me). I love her simply for being there--in trial and best moments. I am so blessed with many best girlfriends, who over the years, if not decades, despite being preoccupied with their own personal attendings to other stuff, will still call me in the middle of my nights to tell me they're elated or sometimes cry over the phone.

If you (man or woman) happened to find somebody that would lay their life down for you, I believe it's one of the best examples of God's miracles. Treasure them!

Comments: I read a quote about a mother relationship to her daughter somewhere before, but I think it's appropriate to dedicate this to my best girlfriends out there! "Walk not in front of me for I may not follow. Neither would you walk behind me for I may not lead. Walk by my side, and be my friend."

Classy Jazzy

Nothing very eventful to write about really, but only some perspective on music. I got hold of a very good Jazz album by Ahmad Jamal Trio, one of the people who revolutionize Jazz (instrumental), and I almost instantly fell in love with the crisp piano notes. Try 'The Awakening' by Ahmad Jamal Trio for a relaxing evening, with or without company.

There seems to be hoohaa around with the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, then this toxic mud in Hungary, at the same time the macaque killing a newborn baby news back at home. But I'm feeling, at the moment, very isolated with almost all of these. I think the only thing that got me jumping out of bed every morning for the last 2 days is the Nobel Prize awards. I'm very pleased that the graphene founders got the award instead of some random and yet to be experimentally verified (e.g. Higgs whatnot) things/assumptions. I'm not being cynical, it's just that I felt science should be awarded based on how it'll or has influence far-reaching community, not based on someone's quest to find the 'truth' to satisfy his/her own piece of mind. Last year was the year of Fiber Optics, this year was the year of Solid State physics... I stumbled upon an article in Nature recently that one of the winners for Nobel Prize in Medicine some years back had to retract 2 of her papers because they couldn't reproduced the experiments outcomes at all despite the identical background.. And no, the retracted articles aren't related to the Prize that she won, so that's phew...

A week or so ago, I've read some statement coming off from PM at Brussels meetings--something about Talent Corp. The figure that is going to be paid by the taxpayers isn't out yet, but apparently its task is to bring the Malaysian brains back home and help the locals. Incentives are there, bla bla... which almost made my nose bled. When I look into my situation with the govt at the moment, it's exactly the opposite of what they preach. They say, bring the talents home, make them grow here, give them enough space to conjure the magic and whatnot. Me? They close the door home right under my nose and left me out there in the cold. Yeah, so much for injustice rantings that I've to burdened you reading this that I think I should knock off already.

Comment: Surely the Malaysia Ministry of Education is shooting itself in the foot, nah?

The bitter pill: Rejection

Dejected. Angry. Frustrated.

If you've been rejected before, then the above three items are the emotions that makes us feel, well, rejected. I'm feeling a bit down at the moment, or I should say for the last 2 days. I maybe or maybe not reveal what are the things that bothering me, but I can assure you these are the moments when I feel even more desperate for God to grant to me patience.

Well, to start with I'm not really a very patient person. I usually make decisions on impulse, or blink if that suits me better, sometime act recklessly with myself. In a sum, you'd call me quirky.

Two things that are important in our lives (well, I believed anyway); dream and money. Tonnes of these, the better off our lives are. One of my dreams has been squashed and I'm fully loaded with huge debt (yes, money debt!). And those two things are beyond my control.

What do I do in time like this? My heart is heavy that it almost felt like it doesn't want to beat anymore. My head is, well, unorganized. Cluttered with the what-ifs and it's now reaching the point where it's rational to start a morally wrong blame game. My body refused to take enough liquid and food to keep everyday thing going.

Where will this lead me?! :(. God, grace me with some strength in this trial time.

Deception (it's not a sequel of Inception)

I read the book that everybody perhaps has read (I know I am a little way to belated), the best-seller 'The Tipping Point' by Malcolm Gladwell. It's an interesting book, intelligently argued while I don't agree to some of his points I seen as more market-driven. But my opinion aside, it's a well researched book. So today's entry will be about one point that Gladwell raise in his famous book that caught my brain wired a little longer.

Little things can start an epidemic. In his book, his clear example was fare-dodgers and grafitti vandals are the tipping point of crime rise unabated in NY 2 decades ago. Why such a small (if not petty) crime is responsible for the following and more serious criminal activities in NY remained hard to eradicate, you'll have to get your hands on this book.

Now back to the little things tipping the big turns to follow. I've always been a staunch supporter against corruption. It's not something that I can sit still after witnessing this heinous act. Corruption is equivalent to robbing others their opportunities and options. It's denying them truth.

From the looking glass, I've always believed that the most efficient way to end corruptions is by making things transparent. We hear about it everyday, especially so in Malaysia local newspapers (controlled by the ruling govt) at the national level. And all the talks about here and there... But really, will transparency tip the corruption balance downward when people in power hold dear to the 'tidak apa' attitude? After all, they're the guys who wield the most money, the most vocal voice, and some with hollow cranial cavities.

Comment: 'tsk tsk' and turned a blind eye.

In love with Linux!

Today has marked the 100 days I've survived without any Windows contacts! I'm one proud girl, yeah! I'm on Ubuntu Lucid Lynx--Linux for human beings!

Lemma 1: Linux for faster computational purposes.
I guess one big reason I've braved myself enough to switch to Linux was for the purpose of the simulations that are widely used by the scientific communities. My research requires a very demanding computational resource. Many if not all physicists around the globe share their research codes and most of them are designed to run in open source platforms. While, I've been a loyal wife to Windows all the way through my younger days in college, I'm finding it very inconvenient to dual boot the two OS when one is good enough (in fact better) to run things that I want. Undeniably, because of my incompetence in techie-stuff I've relied heavily on commercial solvers that have 'expiry date' on them. Once it's past the date, like bad bread, you just can't use them at all. So a safer route for continuing support will be switching to programs that available (and hopefully maintained) and easily coded.

Lemma 2: Linux for AWESOME GUIs.
It's mesmerizing to stare at your monitor, especially when viewing your simulated exciting optics theoretical behaviors (the things that I measured is not in the picture yet). Nuff said.

Lemma 3: The proud command-line user with Linux.
You think typing command on the black screen is cool? Imagine doing that in Linux? That's doubly cool! I'm in the process of abandoning my beloved mouse to do simple things like opening an Internet browser, playing my MP3s on a music player, even watching my movies on a video player. In Linux, all the effort goes as far as opening the terminal (command prompt for Windows users) with Ctrl+Alt+T then type the program that you want to open, like banshee.

Lemma 4: NO more death BLUE screen!
It's about time to forget about the blue screen that appears everytime you've touched something in Windows, and scrambling for installation CD afterwards.

All and all, my experience with Debian based Linux has been rewarding, and it helps me understanding the layers of the complex 'black-box' (where in Windows one would have to go to run, type e.g. regedit) on how a program should run. Well, maybe I should settle being a theoretician instead of an experimenter.

Comment: My history with free open softwares actually started years ago with RedHat and Fedora, but they never last more than 100 days and eventually my enthusiasm fade away because of the non-novice language that they speak. Debian based Linux (Debian, Ubuntu Xubuntu, Kubuntu etc) are good platforms for those who want to migrate from Windows. Plus, helps are abundant and most important of all, it's free!

Some like it hot!

On the account of this entry being posted on the 53rd anniversary of the Merdeka Day, Salam Merdeka, Malaysiaku!

In my humblest opinion, this year joyous celebration (albeit moderate one) is appropriate. It gives you a sense of pride without the excessive, over the top parade and all. I think I like it better this way, similar to my taste of my daily dosage of green tea drinks.

Now, the art of tea making is the seeping of the tea leaves. You just need the right amount of time dedicated for your brewed tea drinks. Of the most important ones is of course the quality of your tea leaves. Japanese green tea in particular can be very different in flavor despite the greenish colored tea. One of the highest quality (and highly valued) tea leaves is called Gyokuro. As I've just learnt, apparently the tea trees are put under the shade before harvesting. Such tender loving care gives the mild, yet bursting flavor of this tea making it quite distinct from the others.

Identically, similar analog can be drawn to what we as Malaysians celebrate today. That to be a highly valued nation, sought after and well respected, we must be shaded from 'privileged races beliefs', 'racial slurs' and 'religious bigots' amongst all other devastating ultimatums. Problems that facing us at our homeland today are borne out of our nation ignorance collectively. You can easily provide a statistical data on the country cleanliness by just sitting at the side of a busy road where humans can simply target spit where you sit. It's that disgusting, and if problem as small as this cannot be rectified immediately we can almost forget about the having our universities topping the TIMES chart.

And while we're at that, perhaps I should ask if our 'space tourist' experimental data obtained from the tax-payers funded flights (to and fro) to the outer space are available for citation by now. I've not come across them in Nature or Science yet, so if any of us have read it kindly direct me the link.

Comment: I'm cynical about what we've achieved actually. I'm acerbic. I like it hot. Oh! I forgot... Our 'astronaut' is so engrossed with his upcoming grand wedding!

Bending time..

I was just strolling down the park the other day when I witness the magic of spring...

Often, the everyday of my life consists of jogging up and down to school, trying to finish whatever I've left in the lab last night, have a light lunch and a nice couple of cups of tea, then continue with piling up works in the lab again before finally calling it a day around 8-9 pm. Well, you might as well say I've a very uneventful life and sometime I've to agree upon that myself.

Now, what inspire me jotting down my thoughts on this blog tonight was this recent occasion in which I looked up on the dull, bald stretch of oak trees on the way to school that filled me with vigors that I've longed for quite sometime. Yes, I saw little green cuticles sprouting off those branches that made me stopped and marveled at the sheer magic of it. How can I be so ignorant all this while?

It brings to one thing that I think especially resonate with my situation so far: that I've never been thankful of each of the failure I've encountered in my research work, that without each one of it I would never know how to get at least one thing right. Is it a wonder that we, frail human beings, seek solace and happiness in only the triumph of victory? How do we bend time to make it last longer?

Comment: Thomas Edison famous quote, ".. at least I know a thousand ways of how not to light a bulb", cannot be anything but the honest truth of one's reflection of the mother of success, failure.

Courage that's chickening out!

Well, in the past week I've been extremely busy with stuff that I think I should be busy with. The life of a student! You wouldn't expect less than that, would you?

So let me tell you 2 stories of my own, that have recently happened to me in real life...

1) Callous morning call : It happened this morning. Woke up in daze. Blinked one two times and jumped out of the bed. Planning to brush my teeth before hitting on the shower. Lo and behold! I can't find my toothbrush anywhere on the, next to, above the face basin! And I thought..where did it go?? I was certain I left it there last night before off to bed. I live alone, and I don't believe in ghosts works on shifting stuff in my domain! I search high and low, concentrating more on the basin area. 5 mins passed, and it's still nowhere to be seen!! I was furious..like..really mad that I actually lost my toothbrush in the duration of my sleep! Well, I quickly accepted that today is going to be a horrible one-off to school without brushing my teeth. Just make sure you shut your mouth all the time, I cursed myself. Oh I can't!! I've some lab tutoring to do in like.. 40 mins!! Screw this.. Got in to the shower tub, took the sponge and was dabbing the soap onto it just in time waaallla.. here's my toothbrush looking at me! Gosh.. whatever happened to the lapsed memories I've from last night to this morning! It's not stupidity--it's memory loss!

2) Nightmares in numbers : Happened a few times actually, especially so when I'm in the middle of analyzing data measurements period. But these recent dreams came when I'm still working out the theoretical portion of my work. I'm meant to write never-ending codes, debug them and make sure they, above all, work for previous published data. That's what I've been bogged down into these past 2-3 months. Ok, so after a tiring, unproductive day at school, the next thing you'd like to do is hit the bed and fall into a deep slumber! Instead, I was horrified that there are nights when I actually see myself in my dreams writing bullet-proof working codes solving problems that I've been wanting to solve since last week or so. Whenever I get these types of dreams, I just have to get up and find a pencil to note down just what I've just seen in my dreams as quickly as possible before I lose them! Yeah, I'm that desperate for a miracle! Surprisingly, some of these codes do work good, sometimes they're just plain useless because I'm just clueless as to what I've scribbled down on the sticky notes.

Comment: I believe smart people don't get their intelligence from their genes or miracles of some sort. Ordinary people who worked hard with what interests them are the prerequisite of endowment of faculty of reasoning gift.

Would you marry the same person again?

In a heartbeat.

But how'd you know if this person is the right one for you?

I guess I'll never know. I mean while you're married to this nice lad, why would you hesitate to say I do again in a breeze?

What about your wishful thinking?

Lets see.. Mine is walking hand in hand with this same old person in the park, maybe with some trotting dogs, in 50 years time from now. I'd have only two options to make it comes true: 1) Stick around a little longer enjoying this person company, or 2) Stay healthy and survive until that time is up. Obviously, the latter is out of my control (you know anything can happen to you unexpectedly) so I'm left with one option only: Be more patience with this person!

Tell me about all the pain you've to endure to get along with!?

It's possible to experience frustration and disappointments along the way, but it's not always constantly that. You've beautiful moments that you'd never trade the world for what each of them worth for. The likes of breakfast on bed, the act of bringing you pills for your headache, the arms that always hug you during your down time, the smile in the crowd cheering for you in your most defining moments. That's why they've a saying in English of "my better half". They may never complete you, but they can make you whole and that's what a better half should do.

What if you're not satisfied with just being together? What if you want more in your life?

I've read somewhere before that one should let the little bird flies and it's the only way one will know this bird will come back home. Don't be afraid to let go. If you want something more than anything, and your better half lets you have it you know that you owe it to him. And if he doesn't, then you know he owes you a reasonable length of explaining to do.

Again, how do you he's the one?

I don't know if he's the one at the first instance. I cannot predict the future by the first sighting. In time, it becomes more like faith. When you asked one person if God is there to listen to your everyday prayer, we don't know for sure. We can only have a little more faith each and every day. So, if you've faith in a person, then you know hopes are there to support you and love is always around to nourish you.

Can't enjoy nature in a crowd

(Lewis Pass is part of the Southern Alps, Canterbury, NZ)

I'm sure I'm not demophobic, but there's enough tinge inside me that can tilt my enjoyment balance with the surge of strangers crowding the very place where I've been breathing in the spectacles of nature. Of course, there are some that have the courtesy of enjoying quietly the majestic sceneries with me but most of the time I'm left appalled with the ignorance people manners. Shouting to the standing person next to them is one thing to endure in addition to this wallah stepping onto your picnic mat where you're lying enjoying the Sun. I can presumably tolerate their inability to say sorry in English, but horrible manners like those?

Yeah, I get to come across these types of inconsiderate people over the many picnics, trips, bushes walking, beach sun-bathings and other outdoor activities I've had. I'm trying not to generalized which nations weren't taught good social manners, but if you've been in the same situation as me before perhaps you know better than to write it down.

(Sumner range, Canterbury, NZ)

Despite this, the whole experience of getting in touch with NZ nature are above all, a heaven bliss! When you're lying on your back by the lake side across the ranges in a lazy afternoon in summer time and looking at the clear blue sky reflected off the water surface, it feels like there are two skies sitting on top of each other. Whether you're back-packing on a walking tramp in the forest where you can hear the echos of the running water by the rivers and the waterfalls, chorused with wild birds and insects emotional calling each other home or traveling along the long stretched mountains of white snow and glaciers where the bitting cold did not seem to bother you at all upon seeing the light rays seeping through the solid rock ice around you. It's a loving day, almost like you've never imagined you'll someday see heaven without dying.

(Lyttelton, Banks Peninsula, Christchurch, NZ)

About faith, hope and love..

(SMC-Macro 100mm, F2.8)

1 Corinthians 13

What more can one say after the most endearing, inspiriting piece of the Bible reading that is pleasing to the senses and mind aesthetically? It soothed the souls of the believers of love. Love, a mystery that modernization can neither corrupt nor erode from a human heart.

A secret passage of enduring a long distance love? An amulet to keep two hearts safe from wandering into loneliness? An incantation of psalms to sustain the magic feeling of 'love is in the air' when apart?

Infallable gastronomy

(Man swimming against the current on a near 0 degree water! Bethells Beach, Akl)

How do you welcome a bitter winter?!  I say; tucked warmly in bed, with a good book to read and a few cups of hot chocolcate drinks by the side.  Ah..  it almost sounded like haven, and sometime I wish winter is all year long.  Well, okay there are certain times that I don't wish to get wet and blown away by Akld's crazy wind like when I'm walking up and down to school, or when I'm on my way to my weekly grocery shopping or when I'm actually doing healthy walks by the park and beach with my awesome camera at hands.

It's going to get tough here in Akl in the months to come.  Already it seems that this year's winter has released all the power be by bringing 3 consecutive days raining in the city, and I'm missing the Sun terribly!  I probably can survive the chilly wind and temperature going down to 0 degree some other time, but certainly not without the Sun.  And in the middle of it all, there was water shortage (SHOCKED!) in certain part of this big city due to the pipes being blown off by the heavy flow of insurging water.

(No to Carbon footprint!  Bethells beach, AKL)

So, back to my winter hibernation program:  last weekends were spent reading books and getting hooked with a series of classical music listening.  To be specific, I finished a book by Vikram Seth "An Equal Music" and at the same time integrate me back to my favorite all time: Cello Orchestra.  I had so much fun with the book that I've to finish reading it or otherwise I'm not able think of something else.  Well, so there..I finished it within half a day (the few hours lapses were due to me attending some other marginal works like preparing lunch and stuff..).  My recommendation of the book?  It's a very good read, a must for music lovers, and yes, a mandatory for those who enjoy every juicy bits of Seth's composition.  It's such a beautiful book, and I'm not going to spoil you with what's in store.  You'll have to find that one out once you read it.  (I've similarly read Seth's "A Suitable Boy" and enjoyed it as much as the latter distinct themes)

(Hiking up this hill on a sunny day.  Bethells beach, AKL)

I will have to escape some weeks of this tortuous winter to a more equatorial sunny days from the beginning of next month.  I welcome changes, especially the nice ones and I'm certainly looking forward for this trip home for my brother's and my beloved friend's weddings.  Yes, many weddings to attend and I already planned what I'm going to eat every hour of the days of my holiday.  Thus the title of this entry...

(Welcoming sunny afternoon with flying kite by the shore.  Bethells beach, AKL)

Until then, these are some pre-winter shots around Akl's beaches that I've got from spectacular walks that I've done.  Winter walking on a wonderland, people!

(Sunset on Bethells beach, AKL)

Comment:  Wedding pictures will have to wait until I finish shedding off fat I'll earn from overeating during this holiday.  Until then, happy holiday to me! 

Happy Mother's day...

Here are a list of things of which I remember vividly about my MUM

1) Shopping: Nothing is better than shopping with your mum. From kitchen groceries to filling up my wardrobe to school stationaries, she's the one person I turned to when there's shortage (or not) of supplies in these departments. Mum always let me choose what I like and pay for them (but first she'll bargain from bottom to top of the items with the poor businessmen/women). Well, that's a pleasure of shopping with mum!

2) Cooking: My first cooking lesson resulted with burnt dishes were successfully transformed to something that looks brown-ish but edible! Thanks to my mum, it wasn't a nightmare anymore to gear up and chef all the way in the kitchen all by myself then. My failure in cooking was reduced to 3% by the time I turned 10 years old (note: I don't cook instant noodle for a family of 5!).

3) Heart to heart talk: When I had my first crush, I told everyone but my mum about it for fear of her disapproval of my puppy love. It went on as a secret for almost 2 years before I finally spilled the beans and have the courage to face the music for the girlish infatuation (instead of fully concentrating on my studies!) to my mum. To my surprise, but a delighted one, she went to talk to my then-boyfriend (now a husband-to-be) parents and started arranging stuff so that the families can get serious about it. I wished I didn't waste that 2 years worth of stealthy glimpses and chats when our family catch up every now and then.

4) Straight A's: Everybody is nervous about exam results and academic achievements back then. I'm nervous when it comes to checking my results despite the fact that I'm almost certain I got the questions answered well in the exam. But nobody in the family can fathom why my mum is marching back and forth in across the floor waiting for me to return with my exam slip. And when she saw that nothing worse than As popped out of the thin paper I'm holding, her jubilant and exaltation first go to the Lord up above, then hugging me with teary eyes mumbling "my girl passed her exam!". Hmm.. I don't think she knew the difference between getting a "Pass" or an "A", but that didn't matter to me at all.

5) Green hand: When I was a little girl (not so long ago), I always hate it when she called me up and bid me to trail her to her vegetables farm. Really!! Early in the morning and also when the Sun is shining its brightest in the late afternoon aren't the time I fancy working outdoor! The reason being I was made the 'peasant' is because my younger sister (and ultimately most of my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews) couldn't plant a thing!! Mum always believed that giving lives and taking care of them are innate skill. From rearing chicks, ducks to planting veges seeds, I've always been given the honor to do it. Oh but, when it comes to the profits made out of my 'hard work' I've got a third of the total amount mum made at the market and I get a 10 cent ice-cream if I helped her looking over the stall during the sale! Maybe that's why I crave for gardening and rearing animals these couple of years. Living in the city doesn't give you the luxury of one!

There are, of course, many other things that I cannot possibly write down in this entry about my mum. She's a gifted woman, sturdy but flexible, loving and graceful person. She's perfect inside-out that I cannot adore any other women on earth in my whole lifetime. I love you, Mum!

The science of love...

I've come across this situation several times. An awkward situation in which in a group of people in a social gathering, one person turns to you and asks "So, what do you do?". It seems an honest introductory, applicable question to get to know a stranger. Well, you might as well throw the bucket as you can be sure you're highly probable on not seeing each other again, or you might devise a plan on not ever running into this poor person all your might! But I digress... So I say, "I study Physics" with a wide smile on my face.

In that blink of a second, you could see the person's face turned white or something and you quickly adjusted your smile so as not to pin the poor person soul onto the wall and hear him screaming "Why, out of many people here, why me? There goes my one night of the week!". This tell you so much why scientists are rarely invited to 'social gatherings', except when the host is actually a scientist.

Anyhow, he'll go on on asking how my study of Physics can actually be applicable in real life out of courtesy. I learnt over the few parties that I shouldn't talk jargons or else I'll end up eating away with the chips at the corner of the space alone. You see, it didn't register to me that most people see Physics as something that is entangled with equations for questions that they didn't care to ask and by attending Physics it's simply diminishing the beauty of the object of interest. It's sad that it's (the belief that Physics is a tedious Math) becoming more and more widespread these days, but I believe that the maths that we uses in Physics are inevitable, especially when you're curious about what's happening inside an atom. We're made up of atoms for that matter, aren't you interested in learning how and why we're doing what we do now?

If we're to trace back in time the birth of Physics, we'll all come to a conclusion that Physics is the 'nature philosophy'. So when we talk about the Physics of something we naturally proposed our theories based on the observations. Now that is SCIENCE, a theory that can be tested with experiments (Math is not science as it cannot be tested in actual experiments, but I don't think it is bad if it is not science. There are many other good things that need not be proved through experimental setups, like LOVE. Love is not science, but it's a good thing).

So we come to an example of the way people see flower for instance to look at the nature philosophy. What can you see in a pretty flower, like a hibiscus or a rose? The colors? The textures? And some more? Now lets look at it through the eyes of a scientist. Sure what you see is also observed by the scientist, but wait, there's more to it in the eyes of the latter. He sees how the color of the pigments of the flowers gets to be there in the first place. The interactions of many atoms in the plants cells that give out the glaring red color reflected by the white light into the eyes. In the one of the many atoms, he can imagine the electrons buzzing around the nucleus that give off energy to sustain the one cell, and it's the same process for every other cell, and these make up the petals, the leaves. And there are many other aspects that a scientist can imagine that will add up to the beauty of the flower, in a way that other people cannot see further. I don't see how science can subtract to the quality of the pretty flower seen. It, in particular Physics, can only add up, but never subtract.

Comment: And love remains an observer at the outside of the science field. Should it wants to come and join in, its wonderful magic can only be summed up by infinite positive exponential terms.

Some elected politicians..(sigh)

Now this post is probably highly controversial, presumptuously will make me a headline in The Star even (remember what happened to the poor guy Wee who'd complaint about TNB terrible service in Youtube?)! Someone suggested I should've gone for the highest office in Sabah, yes, the CM chair!

It all started with one of the comments following a friend of mine, Nelly, blog post (here). It's basically containing a very honest, true story that she's experienced with one of the 'elected' politicians in Sabah. To give you a brief 'resume' of this particular guy, he's currently holding the 'tourism portfolio/ministerial' post in the state cabinet. Google that one up, and you'll be lucky to find this guy face on the web (yes, you're blessed to see him)!

If you'd read his email replies to one of my wise, highly intellectual friends (click on the link to Nelly's blog entry above), you can see a STARK contrast between ones that actually research a problem and try to find coherent solutions to solve the matter, and the ones that realized the problem but chose not only to tie hands and feet to nail the matter in the head but also are quick to shift the blames to others so as to save their own asses (please excuse the profanity as I find it's discomforting not to be able to express my freedom of writing).

That this is one example of the many out there (not limited to Sabah, but around the globe unfortunately) where elected leaders show uncharismatic values of a leader is very regrettable I believe. But, let me focus on this particular matter at hand that I find contemptible about this particular minister: 1) being aware of the pressing problem but doing nothing and 2) finding somebody for a scapegoat.

This particular minister, whatever his name is, I hope had been aware of the problem long before my friend brought up the matter to him, that the choking price just to climb the darn 4 km in height Mt. Kinabalu is killing the locals proud intention to see the sunrise on the highest mountain in the country. This same ministry is responsible for going out there to promote our untouched serene nature, majestic few of the many oldest rain-forests in the world, our dignified cultures and customs, but at the rate at which it's promoting 'our values' put too much emphasis on short term profit rather than a long term one. Charging locals a rate that's comparable to that of the international tourists, I think is too much over the top. Well, sure you'd like to say 'hey it's dog eat dog world out there,' but lets remind ourself that the mean annual salary for Malaysian par way below that of the Americans, Europeans, in fact most of the developing countries! We're also being taxed at a ridiculous rate in exchange to subsidized oil and some others. Shocking statistics? I didn't have to hold a degree in Economics to read with disbelief the numbers! So, dear minister, if you so wanted to charge us the same as our American friends, get our GDP running on the same speed as theirs then you can start the fair-play game!

Why, yes, I find it's disgusting for some leaders to call themselves leaders when they cannot take on criticisms with opened minds equally as they'll regard favorable praises for their works, and amazingly most of them are politicians. Whatever happened to that saying 'failure is a mother of success' that they speak with volume in their motivational speeches to the electorates? Some things didn't work out fine, be it your misjudgments or somebody (who happened to be in your team, predecessors) else's but was it necessary to explain who blew the shit up? It sure didn't reflect a nice impression of this particular minister, at least to most of us. Why would resorting to assigning responsibility for a fault to somebody else making it seems he's complete innocent is beyond any ordinary citizens, one of them is me. It only painted one clear picture of him, that is beyond that garlanded title, respect of his is an empty-headed guy of no talent whatsoever, not worthy of any admirations from whomsoever, and above all devoid of any dedications and devotions to his vocation. So, here's the dagger to bring this particular minister home: get your lazy bum out of that comfy leather chair that we paid for with our sweat and blood if you're not going to be serious about your job. Shape up or ship out, pal!

Comments: Thanks Nali, for the idea of me sitting in the CM chair. Politics are one of the careers that I'll be thinking when we're in almost in the brink of extinction from qualified leaders. Until then, we'll (yes, you and me!) have to vociferously voice out and stand for however little injustices trampled upon us.

Cookbook for a lazy student (er..I mean a cook'page')

(Strawberry cheese cake, f/1.4, 400)

Well, I'm probably not in a position to divulge or share any new attractive recipes since I hardly eat warm food for my dinner. If you consider microwaved home cook pasta and toasted bread with scramble eggs as hot food for meals, then I'd say I've that every a couple of days when I'm low on fruit, fresh vege for salad.

But here are several of my recipes that may make cooking an enjoyable 15 mins experience for those of you who are too lazy to prepare your dinner after a long, tiring day at school.

1) 'Fast' Pizza: You'll require a couple of things bought from a supermarket: Tomato paste for pizza base (if you can't be bothered with it, or you want something that can be used for other cooking as well, get a tomato ketchup or a barbeque sauce), Tuna or Salmon in the can, pickles from the jars (my favorite would be the sweet gherkins and capers), grated cheese (for rich flavor it'll be Parmesan, but Cheddar is not a bad choice as well), and stuff**.

Basically just like you'd prepare your toasted bread for breakfast, you'd do the same with your pieces of bread for this recipe. Toast the bread til it suits your liking with toaster, dabbed some tomato paste on it, pour hearty amount of tossed tuna/salmon, pickles and your favorite cheese over the paste and let it sit in the power microwave oven for 45 secs first. After this first step is done, with a fork stab the fillings and then put it in the microwave for another 45 secs. Your pizza is ready! Caution, the pizza topping is pretty hot especially the cheese bit!

2) 'Humus' dipped Baguette: You'll need chick peas from a can and unsweetened yogurt from your nearby supermarket. If you're the type who can't eat your food without vegetables in it, grab a bag of baby carrots on your way out. And of course, Baguette!

The 'humus' is simple, but may require some muscular intervention to squash the tossed chickpeas to almost paste-like (don't worry too much over the uncrushed ones, that's what your teeth are for!). Start adding yogurt with a spoon or two as humus generally is attractive when the water/liquid content is just nice. Some chickpeas are already salted, so depending on your taste bud, season it with grind salt and pepper. I like being colorful sometime, so I'll add some beetroot (from the can of course!) that gives a pink-to-violet look! Your French meal is ready now to be served, and your baby carrot dipped in this humus is a terrific salad accompaniment!

3) Salmon 'snack': This is a little bit more 'expensive' dinner, but it's worth every once in a month try! You'll need freshly packed salmon (smoked is sometime on sale, so grab that over the raw one!) and wheatmeal crackers from your supermarket.

This is as easy as ABC (I guess the price the salmon costs made it this way!). Basically it's just the matter of cutting the salmon pieces and putting it on your wheatmeal biscuits. If you happened to have some 'humus' from the previous recipe left, that'll just add extra flavor to your healthy dinner. Or maybe some spiced fruit chutney spread on your biscuits! Salmon (smoked or raw) goes extremely well with capers, believe me! If you're worried about salad, the cherry tomatoes should solve your problem.

4) 'Fruity' salad for vegetarian: Your favorite fruits (I never tried with banana yet) to go with a spoon or two of mayonnaise, cream cheese, raisins, nuts (unsalted over salted, hazelnut/cashew nut/almond over peanut) and lettuce, spinach (basically just grab a bag of green salad from the counter), all obtainable from your supermarket.

This requires a bit of cleaning up the mess, so I tend to prepare this only when I'm not physically challenged. Granny Smith apples make a good one, but mandarin, oranges and pears are as good for the 'fruity' bits. You'll have to peel them and dice them before you throw mayo on the salad bowl, or otherwise it'll be a bit chewy salad. Since I love nuts (and they drive me nut!), I'll be pouring a handful of nuts into the bowl. If time is not of your concern for now, chopping the nuts will help with the chewing job later on. I usually soaked raisins in hot water for a couple of minutes so that they bloated and entice your taste buds with an even more powerful sweetness. And finally craft your salad with greens and cream cheese! Some prefer goat cheese (feta) to cream cheese, but feta is a bit salty and I don't find salty and sweet taste rather that flamboyant.

stuff**: Other things that you'd probably would only need to have if you're a true fan of a perfect pizza. Olives, onion, mushrooms are among them that I know of. But I find onion is a bit rough to cook in a minute or so in the microwave. And no one would like the tanginess taste of raw onion I'm sure.

P/S: If drinks are a culture to you, remember this: Color co-ordinate with your meal. For recipe 1 and 3, red would do the job while white would complements recipe 2 and 4.

Comments: Supplying my picture of baking strawberry cheese cake to conjure the image I'm not a lousy cooker despite my lack of practice in the real kitchen (other than a microwave oven!).

Gone Surfing!

(The Lion Rock and its reflection on the wet sand at Piha, f/8.0, 1/225)

I'm posting some shots taken from my recent trip with the other avid photographers from our university Photography Club. I'm told that this club is one of the first clubs established in the university and it's suffice to say that it's been there since before I was born!

So the theme of the outing was something like water and waterfalls.. Oh! Behold.. We've got more than what we asked for (at least for me!). I truly enjoyed this trip since it's something I'm dear to: Hiking to waterfalls and hills and forests!

(Kite Kite Fall at Piha, f/16, 1/4)

These waterfalls are located to the west of Auckland, Waitakere, about 45 mins drive from the city center. They're truly amazing features of west Auckland, where the closest National Park to the city resides. Apart from this, this part of the city/region also offers one of the best trekking experience in the country, and I speak this from my experience of walking through part of the trails.

After exhausting most of the photographers in the group (I must admit that these guys are really soft bones!), we decided to spent our sunset in Piha, the surfers paradise! If you're an avid surfer, go brave the water in Piha or Raglan when you step to the country!

Most of the photographers had cool gadgets with them. Manfrotto tripods, several magic filters (blue, yellow, gradual, purple, sunset and even black ones!) that trick the cameras to produce superhuman shots. There's even a guy that owned a Canon 1D for Pete's sake!! I've to be contented with my UV filter and solely depends on the nature's friendly light to get the effect that I wish. Oh well, poor student! But nowhere it seems that my robust Pentax K10D failed me! Anyhow, I wouldn't want to end my post without a quick surf on the day's sumptuous outing treat! So, here we go...

(Looking down at Kite Kite Fall along the walkway, f/8, 1/400)

(NZ is famous for its ferns, f/8.0, 1/400)

(A stream along the Kite Kite Fall walkway, f/22, 0.3")

(Majestic view of the Sun crossing the horizon across Tasman Sea, f/22, 0.3")

Somewhere, out there...

(The beautifully lit Sydney Opera House--f3.5, 3.5secs)

Somewhere there's someone who dreams of your smile, and finds in your presence life that is worthwhile. So when you are lonely, remember it's true, somebody, somewhere, is thinking of you.

(The proud Sydney's Harbour Bridge--f1.4, 1/4000s)

Now that soothed my soul a bit after a phase of life where challenges never cease to cool down even for a bit. Well, that's a student life where you're constantly bogged down, or rather spent an eon figuring out how the heck my experimental data doesn't agree at all with the well-established theories. Ever felt being let down by inanimate objects? Go figure my plots of measured data!

(Martin's Place at Sydney City Center--f5.6, 1/30s)

It's not all bitter and sour, this life of a research student I'd say. On the plusses side, I'd say I've lead a comfortable if not luxurious life with the research stipend. Oh, never forget about the free tickets for conferences and seminars around the country and the world! Of course, you're supposed to be there introducing and presenting your skills in your area to your fellow researchers, but it's never a crime to bite the juiciest part of the travel intent; travelling itself!

(With the first guy who invented THz Pulsed Time Domain at IBM, Dan Grichskowsky [center]. Here we're taken around a cruise ship sailing around the Sydney's harbour before the dinner function.)

Anyhow, since I've been talking about sponsored travel, it's about time to display my ostentatious my pictures of Sydney visit for another conference that's heavily attended by the 'gods' of the microstructured fibers field.

(Stoked with the award!)

Comment: The visit to OZ wasn't very eventful at the first arrival. Holed up at the waiting area with an Immigration officer interviewing your purpose of visit isn't really something I've had expected. Lost my way to the conference hall the first day (and missing the best bits of keynote talks!) adds several exasperating unnecessary stress! But the most shocking but pleasing surprise that I've got was the Best Student Award (for presentation) at the conference, despite my stammers and some bad English pronunciations at the beginning of the talk.

Too many women!

I cannot contain my enrage upon reading an article ('Cuepacs concerned about 'female dominance') on the online newspaper TheStar about the 'worrying trend of women dominance in decision making posts'. The article claimed that Cuepacs is anxious about the 'long-term implications on the progress and growth of the country'.

First thing: Everybody can make stupid, ridiculous decisions without careful thought and planning. Men do not qualify to exclude itself from the blame or responsibility at being wrong and at fault, neither does the opposite sex. Fullstop. This chauvinist who identified itself with the name Ahmad Shah Mohd Zin, a secretary-general of the concern Cuepacs, believes that gravity of making absurd conclusions and resolutions is greater if a woman hold the steering rather than a man. Such a claim should, at first, be corroborated with a firm, thorough, bullet-proof evidence that his assertion that women leaders hinder development more than their men counterparts. We have seen it through the looking glass of what, when, which, how our men commands, conducts themselves at the national level at late. Oh who can forget about the 'bocor' issue, sharp and loud cry of 'monkey' in the parliamentary sittings, derogatory remarks of 'pendatang' etc? And from whose mouths do such moronic verses echo? I don't have to add that some countrymen (and women) lauded such grotesquely comments coming from their men bosses. Yes, men.

Second thing: While they support that government quota on women as the principle players in charge of coordinating the best options available, why should we (men or women) approve of the quota in the first place? The best should be selected, and their sex should never be tipped as one's lack of leadership quality. Rather it should be embraced as one gives her/his best to take control and work as a team that is also consists of men and women having the same vision. Harping on the issue of gender inequality in certain sectors, this guy not only demerit 'itself' as a clueless leader but also a 'lapuk' (i cannot find a more sweeter insult) domineering boss. This guy see leader standards in a polarized way such that it distinctively attributes its own race superior judgement. I do not deny for once some men made some decisions that changed the entire course of history, but let us also recognize the equal, if not more contributions from mothers and daughters that empower nations across the globe. Why is it hard to understand that the combined effective improvement of the country comes from both men and women, and not exclusively from one sex? When more pressing issues should have been worked out together collectively, why are they so persistent about who's leading who when all have the same visions and goals?

Comment: I wonder if this guy can face the music if he's been put into women's shoes. Or even more drastically, that it's always been the environment that women take charge of anything and resolve everything, he was born into since the dinosaurs ancient time. Or maybe if the religion books state that the forbidden fruit was first touched by Adam, this guy would not be so critical and discriminating against women. Sigh..

Poetry in Motion

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,

if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

If... by Rudyard Kipling. A beautifully composed guidance..