A lil somthing to think through

Somethings in life are meant for you to hold on to, while others are supposed to be let go of,
Others yet are meant to hang onto you, while the rest are supposed to let you go!

—Abd elAzeez

[Current Thought: That’s a quarter of a century's experience speaking… more updates/refinements expected as the years keep on ticking :-) ]

And it's been a while...

The fact that this place hasn't been updated for quite sometime might seem like too much of a hiatus to all you ardent readers out there. (Well NO, the author is still alive... although not 'kicking' if you were to consider the literal sense of that term :D)

BTW a few days ago I was actually thinking of what would become of this blog in case I happen to 'move on to a better place', and the answer that came out after some amount of self-deliberation was simple: 'It would be the same thing that would become of all the other stuff that was a part of this life of mine'.

You see, when the 'time is up' for people in this world, everything that was part of this life no longer binds or matters, and the only things that matter are those that have been 'sent forward' by them (if you know what I mean...); and hence I've started concentrating more on the preparations these days. And that's because I believe the smartest of people are those who begin preparing for the afterlife as early as possible... [NO, my doctor hasn't perused through my health checkup reports while telling me that supposedly ill-fated Bollywood movie line that most 'Bolly-docs' are supposed to tell the protagonist, if that's what you're thinking having read this far :)]

Yes I've been busy for some days now and the fact that we're passing through (or rather, 'piously observing') the Holy Month of Ramadhaan, has made updating this place a kind of rarity for me. I do however promise InshaAllah that I WILL be posting more stuff here soon and also hope to keep the audience (that I feel honored to have) out here, hooked to the place as always.

Please do keep visiting back again and again and again and again and again and again... (OK, I guess you got the point! :-)). And in the meanwhile please also feel free to browse through the archives that we have created out here over the months.

—Abd elAzeez
[Current Thought: Maybe I should be sharing the password to this place with someone :D ]

To Destiny!

I met somebody today who made me realize
That in being not a fool, lies the essence of being wise
LORD I’ve been brought to understand and I can only thank THEE
For making me realize all that happens is simply destined to be!

—Abd elAzeez

[Current Thought: Subhan-Allah! The LORD sure works in mysterious ways!]

The 'Right' Time!

Quite contrary to popular belief, there ARE some times in life when things go just right! Fathom this, you half-wake up in the morning (we all know that state of waking up :) and as always recollect the events of last evening to know what to expect next… you realize you’re expecting an important call at 10:30 AM… and its 9:30 AM already! Besides you also have to reach office (where work starts at 9:30 AM incidentally)… realizing you haven’t got much time (to get late by?), you decide you’ll take that call via your trusty cell-phone head-set en-route to office (so you can finish the call, as well as reach office by 11). Your morning routine surprisingly takes away quite a lot of time and you realize its 10:15 already… AND you are yet to have your breakfast (the ONE meal that’s designed to provide the start to most of your day’s energy)! In between minds you decide you’ll skip breakfast and substitute it with an early lunch… 10:26 and you’re still at home, so you decide that you’ll take that call before you leave for office… 10:31 and there’s no sign of that call… being the devout person that you are, you say a silent prayer asking for only what HE thinks is right for you… Your favorite wrist-watch shows 10:32… The ring-tone of your cell phone breaks the silence of your mind (those sound drivers that you’ve put into it play pretty loud and clear :)… It IS the call you were waiting for (talk about punctuality)! The call goes very well, you get EXACTLY what you wanted out of it… last night’s dream come true you call it… you thank HIM for HIS never-failing mercy. You share the good news with your family whilst having a quick bite, and they are all ecstatic.

 

It’s 11:25. You’re worried about the consequences of reaching work after 12… you recollect that your bike is punctured from last night’s ride and so you have to use the services of an auto-rickshaw for conveyance. The journey seems never-ending, and you reach work at 12:15 (having encountered one of the worst traffic jams of your life… and praying all throughout the way). You step into office, apprehensive of facing your boss, and Lo! he’s right  there near your desk. You begin to think of an explanation, and before you can utter a word your boss starts off “It’s a very great thing you could make it in by this time, I was afraid the large oil tanker spill near office would keep you stuck in traffic for more than half of the day! I AM impressed by your dedication!”…

 

Before that big smile of exhilaration manifests itself onto your face you recollect the subtle choice of the rickshaw-driver taking a slightly longer route to reach office saying it’ll avoid more traffic (and you’d thought he was doing it just so he could get a bigger bill out of your pocket)…

 

Things do go right at times, and when they do the feeling of joy is just un-describable! Though the first impression of a certain situation might make it seem otherwise, things eventually fall into their proper place… in fact they sometimes fall into place so well that you just cant believe it were possible that way too!

 

—Abd elAzeez

[Current Thought:]

I don't get no TV!

I wonder why they put those flat television screens inside elevators anyways. You know, the ones that are fastened to the elevator wall with steel fittings and they keep playing random channels all the time… I wonder if it could be another of those silent invectives that are hurled at us every single day by the system that we all live in.

Seems like with these TVs they (the diabolical beings running the system) mean to say to us “Sure this TV’s got a clear screen, amazing picture clarity coupled with superb surround sound… Besides there’s an awesome episode of your favorite program coming up next on this channel. But YOU (Mr. regular-human-being) are NOT going to get to watch it! AND that FACT is reinforced, coz we’ve made sure the elevator is fast enough to reach any floor before you can even get a small peak at the first scene!”

The point is, I don't get what a person is supposed to do with that TV anyway... He cannot watch his favorite show, he cannot talk to the person next to him because that darned TV is blaring right behind his head, and he certainly cannot change the channel coz the buttons are just not there on that TV! Which should also remind you that the TV remote is not inside that elevator! And that at times makes me speculate, could it be that the remote has been (cunningly?) placed in another elevator where there is no TV at all?...!!!

—Abd elAzeez

[Current Thought: Now that's called taking the Idiot Box to an all-new level (via the elevator!)]

---

The copyrighted [mini?] series titled Abd's takes, is a collection of humorous blog posts comprising of completely original but wierd/ obnoxious/ unfathomable/ and seldom-light-hearted tid-bits of humor that are a product of my own twisted mind.

Feel free to use them where-ever you want to, just don't forget to 'quote the author' (in simpler terms, mention me!). Coz if you don't, then bad things might happen to you; things like forgetting the punch-line when in the middle of an elaborately told joke, or meeting an audience-member who knows the answers to all of your original 'amusing-riddles'.

:-)

---

A little medical terminology - by Jerry Seinfeld

Jerome “Jerry” Seinfeld is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning American comedian, actor and writer. (One of my favorite stand-up comedians of all time, I might add.)

I'm Telling You for the Last Time was one of his most famous stand-up performances, which was recorded at the Broadhurst Theatre, in New York during August 6-9, 1998. Here's a hilarious little snippet from the same:-

---

A friend of mine is going in for a nose job next week. Guy.
You know what the technical term for a nose job is?
Of course you do... Everybody...
Rhinoplasty! [is the name of the term]
Rhino!
Now this guy is aware he has a bit of a problem… he's obviously sensitive about it, that's why he made the appointment. Why do we need to compare him to a rhinoceros?...!!!

When you go for a hair transplant the docs don't say: "We're going to perform a cue-ball-ectomy on you, Mr Johnson… We feel the chrome-dome-ia has advanced... to a level we term skin-head-ia… These are all medical terms, if you don't understand…"

—by Jerry Seinfeld
[From I'm Telling You for the Last Time, Live on Broadway, 1998]

---

—Abd elAzeez
[Current thought: ROTFLOL]

Slow down [that camera! :) ]

Well, by ‘popular demand’ [you won’t believe how many people actually asked me to do this!], let me present here another of my collection of tips for the everyday photographer! This time we’ll see how to take an interesting picture in an otherwise mundane setting.

Now we all know that there are a lot of situations where you CANT really figure out a decent enough object to snap your camera at. The roadside is one such example, and it is even more of an example if it is not properly lit [thereby making it almost a pain in the photo-clicking-finger to even think of taking a picture there]. But fear not! (for you are a reader of this blog :P)…

A different angle, coupled with a simple setting of the shutter speed + ISO and off you’re ready to go. We’ve already covered ISO in an earlier post, and this time we’ll hint upon ‘shutter speed’.
In the most layed of man’s terms shutter speed is simply the speed at which your camera clicks a picture… a (s)lower shutter speed thus could mean you’ll probably get a picture that’s got a blurry or in-motion kind of effect.

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL (2-megapixel) SIZE]

Check this out. Picture 1 above was taken on a dimly lit road, (at an unusual angle) with only the ISO set to 100. We’ve got a fine looking picture of a car’s headlights there. Now add to this combination, the power of a slow shutter speed and the next car that passed by (in the opposite direction), seemed like more of a rocket in action in Picture 2 below.

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL (2-megapixel) SIZE]

As always. the results ARE but interesting :-)

—Abd elAzeez

[Current thought: Could I be good at this? :D]

Talk 'bout da good times!

Life’s going good I always say and a lot of my friends wonder why…
There’s just so much pain and anguish in my life at times that they just can’t help questioning me why I still smile and say “Things aren't as bad as they seem to be!”
Well the answer is simple I say; sometimes you HAVE to go through adversity and brave the odds without complaining. Sometimes its best you walk the narrow thorny path rather than sit down and weep over your freshly wounded feet.

You NEED to go through hard times just so that you can realize how gifted you are when you go through the good times again. If life were just a bed of roses we’d all eventually start taking it for granted wouldn’t we?

A few really painful thorns in your way today, and tomorrow when you cross a rosey bed you KNOW you’re having a great day!

—Abd elAzeez