Language

A lot of people were amazed with me be able to speak so many languages. Norwegian was shock that I can speak Mandarin, Malay language and English. China chinese was amazed with me able to speak and understand Teow Chew, Hokkien and Cantonese. Besides that, I speak much formal and better Mandarin than most of the China Chinese.

They get even shock when they know that I am able to read and write too. Although I had explained to them, at Malaysia, everyone can speak few languages. Malaysian who are able to speak as many language as me are everywhere. Nic's mum can even speak Tamil! One more language than me.

Still, in this country, Norway, no matter how many languages I know also useless because I don't speak Norwegian language. The sentence that I used the most at Norway is : '' I don't speak Norwegian language. Can you speak English?''

I think it is time for me to learn some Norwegian language or French or Spanish. Because.....

There are 12 different languages in this instruction label, among 12 languages, I know none of them!

Har? What is this?

And...situation like this...happen all the time. Haih...

empty canvas

white is the colour of purity

white is the colour of innocence

white is the colour of lost hope

are you with me?

red is the colour of passion

red is the colour of strength

red is the colour of arrogance

are you with me?

blue is the colour of calm

blue is the colour of peace

blue is the colour of depression

are you with me?

black is the colour of tranquility

black is the colour of the universe

black is the colour of mourning

are you with me?

what is the colour of your canvas?

what is the colour of your life?

what is the colour you woke up to?

are you with me?

my canvas needs to be completed

my canvas needs the right touch

my canvas needs a plethora of colours

are you with me?

my canvas needs the colour of desire

my canvas needs the colour of hope

my canvas needs the colour of love

are you with me?

from west setia with love...

how many posts have i written with that title on?

anyway, i'm currently writing from a rig called the west setia. it's running a murphy operation at the moment and i've been here for 6 days now and will probably be here for another 2 to 3 days (i think). i've gotta add that i dun sleep on the rig since the accommodation here is full. so every day and night, i get transferred to and from a supply boat (NOR Star) like this...

pretty cool huh? i've seen it so many times on videos and stuff but i've never actually been on one of those baskets before... and the boat with the huge flare that you see behind, that's an fpso... the flare is huge! and loud! the supply boat basically picks up personnel from the rig and also from the fpso... so every morning, when we get close to the fpso, i'll need a ear plug and i'll try to stay in the shade as i can feel the heat from the flare... yes, it is that hot and loud!

and every morning, i'm greeted by this view... breathtaking ain't it? well, it'll be nice and cool for the first few days, but after 3 days of the same thing 360 degrees around you, it gets pretty boring... =P

ok, now to the highlight of this post. let me introduce to you - west setia!

if you look at the pic above, the structure on the left is the west setia rig and the structure on the right is the kikeh spar platform. it's a relatively enormous structure (not gigantic but you get the idea) and yet, on a relatively calm day, it still rocks gently. i've gotta admit that i can't stay indoors for too long - on the rig or on the boat... makes me feel kinda sick... so every few hours, i'll just go out and have some fresh air...

and this pic is the pic of the rig and platform taken from the heli deck at night. it was after one of the pumping job and i was waiting for my ride back to my "hotel room"... =)

that's pretty much all the pics that i have right now. i've actually taken more than 300 shots but most of them are experimental, so they're either over-exposed, under-exposed or pretty blur... hahaha... i'll sort through them again and see if there's anything else worth posting here...

btw, it's been a pretty good first time experience for me here on a rig. it's not as bad as i thought, but then again, it's not a full fledged frac job so i still can't judge based on this trip. but i'd say this was a good introduction to the offshore environment for me.

ps: i saw a couple of baby dolphins last night (i assume they're babies since they're much smaller than what i thought they'd be) - another first for me... =)

time for some fresh air...

My Fishing Diary

Since the first week I came Norway, I had been following my colleagues to go fishing. Although I do not have my own fishing rod, still, every time when I go, I will use their fishing rod to fish for some time. Anas, even that fellow who only follow them go fishing once in a blue moon also manage to get 3 fishes! 3 fishes, ok? He never go fishing at Malaysia, me too. Both of us consider beginner. Some more I start fishing 1 month earlier than him! Besides that, I went fishing once every week. But, him?! Once in a month? And sleep in the car while waiting others to finish fish? Seriously, I am really unbalance and don't understand why he manage to get 3 fishes instead of me.

Yes...I know. A lot of people told me that fishing sometimes is depend on luck too. But, comon! I went much more than him. Even my luck is so so 'soi' (bad luck), according to probability, the chance of me getting a fish is still higher than him.

However...the real point of this post is......=)

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I got my first fish at Norway on 10 August 2008! Finally...

Wah hahaha...couldn't stop jumping around when I got the fish.

Ya. I know that it is small...Still...better than nothing. =)

My little cod fish by measuring with my hp.

finally...

i'm finally going to go offshore for a job!

it's going to be in the west setia rig and it's just gonna be a short stint - probably about 5 days but nothing is guaranteed here...

i admit i'm kinda excited to taste offshore environment for the first time. the fact that it's not going to be a long stay probably eased any fears of mine.

anyway, i've tried living in the desert for some time so i guess this time i'll get to experience for myself the difference between seeing sand all around you and seeing water all around you...

i'll try to post some pics if i get internet connection on the rig. if not, the pics will come in a week or so.

all right, i've gotta go. got a chopper to catch!

=)

Norway Folk Musuem

I was back to Malaysia and return to Norway now. Time flies. Time to gather with family and friends is so little. I didn't waste any day at all, spend all the time to meet as many friends and relatives as I can. But, I am greedy, I don't feel that l have enough time with them. As I am back to Norway now, my feeling of return to Norway is blue and heavy. It is not good. This feeling will make my time here clicks slower. I need to be cheer up!

I went to this museum before I went back to Malaysia. No time to online at Malaysia, so I am updating it now. And recently Nic is updating a lot as well. I shouldn't be so lazy anymore. There are many museum at norway. From Viking museum to whaling museum to bla bla bla museum. However, this Norwegian Folk Musuem is always one of the must visit. By visiting this musuem, you will be able to understand the general history of the whole norway. It is an open air musuem, we spent the whole afternoon in the musuem. They actually relocated all the old building from different centuries and location at Norway and reconstruct it at the mususem. In this museum, you can see all the Norwegian building from 13 century to 19 century.

They built this without any foundation down into the ground. So that the whole house can moved whenever they want to. (there are more reason behind it, but I forgot =P)

Inside the museum, there is a Stave church. AGAIN, Norwegian relocate the church from Gol into the musuem. The church is dendrochronologically dated to 1212. I didn’t spend too much time in the church since there is a wedding going on later. =) The church is attractive to me not only from the over all structure but also the craving on the wood. Unlike Balinese craving, Norwegian craving got their own style.

Zaitul and I

Anas always said Norway church design looks like dark age building. scary...

For reader who had read my previous blog about the flåm trip, during that trip, we saw a lot of house’s roof with some small plant. At that time, we were just curious about it. From the musuem, we knew that this so called green roof is very useful and common for norwegian house. It has been around for centuries. For norwegian, the major function of green roof is to cool down the house during summer and to reduce heat loss during winter. It looks cute and new to me.

Houses with green roof (alto it doesn't look green in the pic)

Since the trip was really too long ago, so I can't really recall much things anymore. Although I can find the booklet I got from the musuem if I want to post more information about the musuem and Norway history, but kinda lazy. I guess, not many people are interested to know it as well. So, let's this post be general and light for you guys to read.

fading dream...

i used to think that challenges and obstacles are there for us to conquer. i used to think that i could reach for the stars if i just aim high enough and i work hard for it with the right attitude. i used to think that when i put my mind and heart to work a cause, nothing could stop me from achieving my target, my goal. i used to think...

but my dream is slowly slipping away from my grasp. i can feel the hope fading. from a burning desire in my heart, it's now merely a flicker waiting for a whisper of a wind to end any desire i might still have lurking in the dark corners of my mind.

ladies and gentlemen, may i present the new look for owrc001! (one year too late)

speaking of dreams, this new look will probably remain a dream as well as i doubt the university would raise the budget to manufacture this body according to specification. i've had high hopes of seeing my baby manufactured and put through a series of wind tunnel testing and stuff as projects for future final year students. but i highly doubt that scenario would materialize.

pictures were taken from the pdf copy of my final year project thesis hence the poor quality. apologies for that. looking through the 168 pages of effort, the memories just came flooding back. i'm not sure if it was a good project or not, but i'm mighty proud of the results.

so the purpose of this blog. this is the fading dream. for a while there, it really did kill my confidence. i started to doubt everything i did and everything that i worked for. thought it wasn't good enough. it probably is, it probably isn't. whatever it is, i guess i did all i can at that time to achieve my dreams but it just wasn't enough. as a consequence, the dream is slipping further away with each turning month. and i'm in a position now where the risk to pursue my dreams is much greater. and it's a risk that i do not dare to take.

anyway, i vaguely recall that i wanted to write about my final year project here. but after delaying it for so long, i guess these pics will have to do. anyway, if anyone out there is doing a similar project or if anyone is interested to talk about stuff like this, leave a comment and i'm more than happy to get back to you.

ps: not sure if you understood what my fading dream is all about. but too lazy to explain it further. =P