I have not blogged in a while, seems like the norm now is a post every year. I am now living in Houston, TX. Have been here since early 2015. So what's new. I still work full-time at an oil and gas manufacturing company and am doing my PhD. on the side. I have submitted my PhD. and have been provisionally approved by the reviewers barring their comments which I have to address. The comments are reasonable, just that it takes some time to work through them and address all of them.
I am still not used to working in Houston, especially now that my new workplace is near IAH airport which is 25 miles each way. That is around 30 minutes to an hour commute each way, so about 2 hours driving to and from work every day. This has been so draining. I definitely love the work I do, it is very rewarding and it relates to my PhD. and engineering expertise. But the commute is absolutely killer.
We will be moving to a nearer location in December, so it will take 20 to 30 minutes to get to work which would definitely be great. And I definitely love the apartment location of having a park right behind it. I think it will be pretty great. Hopefully my expectation of the place is how it is when we actually move in.
We also have a baby on the way, so I am definitely very excited for that. I do not regret not having kids earlier and waiting to when we think it is right. It will be a great adventure and I look forward to raising a lovely child.
This year has definitely been a very bad one in many respects though. Things that come to mind is the election of Donald Trump, as well as Brexit. It just seems the world is getting more and more isolated and people are moving backward socially. The unrest in the Middle East and the refugee crisis there is also very worrying. When will there be peace and people can just get along. Right now, it just seems we are just drifting further and further away from this.
One of my best friends from secondary school, Sylvia, has also passed away from cancer. She leaves behind her husband and three children. This is the saddest thing for me this year. She was a beautiful person, inside and out. Always positive and optimistic and always seeing the best in people. The world really is a worst off place without her in it. I always thought I would meet her again and we could talk more, but I have always put it off. The time is not right, or I have to complete my PhD. then I will have more time. But our time is short in this world. And the world moves on whether you like to or not. And now she is gone.
I really have to finish my PhD. soon and put more effort into things that are of value to me. My wife, our soon-to-come child. Family. I would like to write more, which is what I am trying to do now. I am definitely very rusty in the writing department. Hopefully this is not another one a year deal. I would really like to write more, I hope I do...
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Thursday, April 9, 2015
The Time Machine
by HG Wells
This book must have been sitting in my Kindle for ages. Anyways, I got around to reading it whilst the wife was shopping. I finished this book in one day, because shopping is soooo boring and I just was hanging around the mall reading this the whole time whole wife was shopping.
Anyways, a classic. Very good read. It is a story about a nameless time traveller, who journeys into the future. A lot of interesting things happen, where humans are not humans and there are a lot of strange beings around. To me, this is a great achievement in the writing because the author still manages to capture my imagination even though this story is so old. What I mean is, with Sci-Fi sometimes as time past, it gets dated. But not this. There is a fine balance of detail on the write aspects, and vagueness in others. There are several points where the author extends the political ideas and extrapolates it into a very strange projection for the distant future though. Though a bit odd, it is still not completely weird even today to have those points of views. Anyways, I am rambling, because I'm sleepy. I enjoyed this book. I actually watched the movie with Guy Pearce in it before I read this. I liked that movie, and I am pleasantly surprised that I liked the book too, since they are not really the same story. Usually I do not like when the book and movie depart from each other. But both these work good stories.
Anyways, a classic. Very good read. It is a story about a nameless time traveller, who journeys into the future. A lot of interesting things happen, where humans are not humans and there are a lot of strange beings around. To me, this is a great achievement in the writing because the author still manages to capture my imagination even though this story is so old. What I mean is, with Sci-Fi sometimes as time past, it gets dated. But not this. There is a fine balance of detail on the write aspects, and vagueness in others. There are several points where the author extends the political ideas and extrapolates it into a very strange projection for the distant future though. Though a bit odd, it is still not completely weird even today to have those points of views. Anyways, I am rambling, because I'm sleepy. I enjoyed this book. I actually watched the movie with Guy Pearce in it before I read this. I liked that movie, and I am pleasantly surprised that I liked the book too, since they are not really the same story. Usually I do not like when the book and movie depart from each other. But both these work good stories.
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
by Haruki Murakami
Read this book because my wife introduced me to it, saying it was quite well known. Well yes, it was quite engaging and I stayed up a bit late for a few nights just to finish it. It was a really interesting read. The story was simply about a man's life from a small town then moving to Tokyo and the occurrences as he grew up, the friends he had and the life he led. It was really a simple story but well-written. I guess the last time I had this sort of feeling was when I read Knut Hamsun's stories. But I think Hamsun's was better. The ending was open-ended though. I would have liked a bit more closure. I know this is not a very good book review, I read it about a month or so ago. I should probably write these when they are fresh in my mind...
Read this book because my wife introduced me to it, saying it was quite well known. Well yes, it was quite engaging and I stayed up a bit late for a few nights just to finish it. It was a really interesting read. The story was simply about a man's life from a small town then moving to Tokyo and the occurrences as he grew up, the friends he had and the life he led. It was really a simple story but well-written. I guess the last time I had this sort of feeling was when I read Knut Hamsun's stories. But I think Hamsun's was better. The ending was open-ended though. I would have liked a bit more closure. I know this is not a very good book review, I read it about a month or so ago. I should probably write these when they are fresh in my mind...
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