Eid-ul Adha and Paper Collection

Yesterday, we celebrated Eid-ul-Adha. We went to our local surau for our 'Eid prayers. After the 'Eid prayers, I had to take pain killers for my back pain since I can no longer stand it and I was already feverish. The current bad back episode was with for a few days already but I went on without any pain killers until yesterday. So, my plan for 'Eid visits with the family had to be cancelled and I rested for most of the day. My other half and the rest of the family proceeded without me to visit my sister-in-law in Bandar Tun Hussein Onn.

Since my 'Eid was rather uneventful, I will post on something different. Since end of last year, I have been busy rearranging my collection of papers. When my house was renovated more than a year ago, a lot of my papers was packed, bundled together (irrespective of the physics topics; I did some form of rearrangement while I had an attic before and thus there is some residual pre-arranged in the bundles). These were placed at my son's balcony (lacking of space within). Little by little I throw away some stuff away (mostly minutes of meetings and paperwork that I consider will no longer be of use). I planned a little about how to arrange the research papers. Those that fall under quantum topics, I decided to store them in the store at our balcony (attached to our room) and hence will be of easy access. Those that are in use and related ones, are kept in my room itself. Gradually, the whole store was filled up.

For other themes, I thought of using the top of the cabinets that I use to store the books. As such, they will be harder to access since it requires me to use a stair to reach them. 

Thus, the topics will have to be of less relevance to my current work. They are Complex Networks & Related Topics (including scientometrics), Relativity & Cosmology, High Energy Physics, and of course Mathematics. Complex Networks was one topic I tried to pursue while I was at INSPEM. The reason was that I find this area has wide applicability and is based on (purely) graph theory. But my real interest stems from a paper of Aste & collaborators on complex networks on hyperbolic surfaces, having done some research on hyperbolic geometry before this (quantum theory on punctured surfaces). I was curious to see other applications of hyperbolic geometry particularly real world applications. However the graph-theoretic aspects are harder to do research on and most students opt for applications of real networks. I gradually left the topic for others to explore as they can be computer labour intensive (not my real strength). Being the latest to be explored and had left it to focus more on quantum research, I thought I could fit the papers in the leftmost part of the cabinet (which is smaller and of one 'column' space). I was wrong (see pic below; note there are two layers, the visible front and the back).

The next category is Relativity & Cosmology. I had quite an interest in mathematical cosmology (less on the speculative topics) but this is not quite my specialization, despite my interest in geometric ideas. So when I had Hassan Amirhashchi as a PhD student and he insisted to do this in cosmology (my suggestion was more on quantum stuff), I told him then that we need to appoint an external supervisor who has expertise in the area (Prof. Anirudh Pradhan). My view is that one could try to explore new areas at MSc level but for PhD, one need a true sense of direction (normally comes with expertise). So during this time, I accumulated quite a large number of papers (including observational ones particularly one that points to accelerating cosmology and dark energy). Read also some alternative ideas on the back reaction due to inhomogeneities. This, too almost filled up the space allocated (see below).

The next category would be high energy physics but this was not filled up. I thought I had a lot of high energy physics papers including 'pre-arXiv preprints) accumulated during my PhD years. I must have either thrown some away or was left for my students to pick up during the move from the old theoretical physics at the ground floor (now used as a store). A possibility is now to swap this space with that of Complex Networks.

The final category is mathematics, which quickly filled up the allocated space. Have yet to figure on how to rearrange the spaces for Relativity & Cosmology. My other half has offered the upper cabinets in our room but let's see.

There are some leftover papers that I have yet to place systematically somewhere. This will need the second rearrangement when I am up to it. For now, I have plenty on my mind, even causing nightmares[ perhaps another post to tell) and will need to rest.

When I showed the first pic of the quantum papers store, someone made the remark that I should be storing these papers in the cloud. This was indeed the suggestion of my sons and some 'unread' papers have been stored electronically. It would have been the wish of my other half and the family to throw most of these away but somehow I resisted that. Mathematical papers are best read in hard copy where one can scribble on them, and brought anywhere for reading. You can of course do these too with electronic files on the mobile phone, but the experience is different (limited). I will start to throw them away once I have decide that I have no use for them, not even for reference (and most probably this is when I give up on science but that time has not come as yet).

Follow-Up At Ara Damansara MC

Yesterday, my other half went for another follow-up at Ara Damansara Medical Centre. It was pushed a day earlier than it was scheduled perhaps due to the incoming 'Eid holiday. This time around, my youngest son came along (back for a week long 'Eid holiday) while my eldest stayed home due to some other commitments.

We went to Ara Damansara the day before as usual and stayed at Z Hotel. My other half herself drove there while I helped look at the directions. Had myself do the self-check in at the hotel's kiosk (usually it was my eldest son doing it). There were step-by-step instructions; seemed easy but need getting used to the slots and stuff. One needs to have the booking number in hand; not sure what happens if one does not have it.

We mainly got ourselves a rest that night. Initially, my third son intended to join us at the hotel and have dinner together, but unfortunately he was busy that evening. Finally we just had dinner at the nearby mamak restaurant.

We went early to the medical centre the next morning, hoping to have breakfast at the usual cafe at the basement. It seems the canteen operators had its staff reduced and there were less food there, perhaps preparing for the 'Eid holiday. So we went to the posh cafe (slightly expensive) in the lobby instead and had 'light' breakfast there.

On seeing the doctor, my other half explained her conditions. Since the first & second follow-ups, it was already the case that part of the turbinate had fell from its position in the nose. Given that my other half has started to pray normally with the usual prostration, she complained about some discomfort and sometimes slight pain during prostration. My other half asked if it's ok to remove the fallen turbinate. The doctor replied that this would require another minor surgery and this has to be done at another later time. For now, the doctor (after checking the nose), he advised her to apply nasal spray to reduce cyst development in the nose. My guess then, we will have a few more future visits here (initially, we hope that this would be our last). The next appointment will be on 25 July.

Back home, I had to get myself rested as I was developing a headache (still having it), while the rest of the family went out to get something to eat. Also, my other half has been complaining my youngest son's hair (to her seems untidy) and thus, he went for a hair rebonding. His pic before:

His pic after:

The Wedding in JB

Last weekend, we were in JB for a wedding of my other half's niece. Apart from our youngest who will soon be facing his exams, all of us were there in JB. My other half ensure that all of us to be there for the wedding since this would be the last wedding for my sister in law, Kak Chik (her youngest child, Najwa passed away due to a brain tumor). Also her husband Tn Hj Shafie has not been well recently; fell down a couple of times. 

Ihsan (our second son), who was already in JB intended to go back home in Seremban a few days before this wedding. Unfortunately, he had food poisoning the day before and cancelled this plan. So it was good also that we get to see Ihsan in this trip to JB, We started our trip on Friday with my other half driving all the way. My eldest was down with bad fever some days before the trip and I was already suffering from back pain for quite some time (had to take up Tramadol). However, I was willing to drive for some relatively short distance if she got tired but this did not happen. We arrived at the Molek Garden Hotel sometime late afternoon. Ihsan came later in the evening to meet us before going back to work. That evening too, my other half went to her sister's place in Taman Molek.

The next day (Saturday) was the big day. We went to Bizmilla Grand Hall quite early, thinking of giving a helping hand but it seems everything was taken care of. So here are some photos.

That night, we also take the opportunity to go to my other half's (wealthy) nephew.

The next day, we checked out from the hotel and began our journey home.

We decided to stop over in Kulai to meet some relatives.

This time, my son Izhar was driving the car all the way to Ayer Keroh where he then hitched a ride to KL with my sister in law.

We reached quite late due to the usual weekend traffic congestion.

On Monday, we went to send our Chevrolet Malibu for service and check-up. It took the whole day (more than six hours), much due to the needed checks. One of the headlamp needs to be replaced (costing more than three hundred ringgit). Again, we arrived quite late at home and was very tired.

Music Interest and Discovering Putri Ariani

This post will be different, prompted by my discovery of Putri Ariani who had won a golden buzzer in AGT and became an internet sensation with reaction videos mushrooming. I quickly shared her audition video on FB just a few hours after it was released. I will not be doing any reaction video but I will 'react' in this post. I don't normally do this (I hesitated a few times, composing and deleting) and prefer to post things on what I am involved in personally. Perhaps what I'll do first is to write on a side of me that many do not know, namely my musical interest.

My music interest largely stems from my musician brother who introduced to me, many non-commercial musicians/groups, while I was in school. Even before my teens, I was already listening to avant-garde music groups like Henry Cow. I do listen to commercial music as well, but there is a tendency to like more progressive music. I do not have any music training at all; tried learning guitar up to the point of learning scales but ability-wise I just strum chords. My musician brother too was mostly ear-trained, though (I believe) he had some lessons from Yamaha and had followed courses by snail mail. My other brothers too had some musical interests. Sometimes, I was asked to sing at early age as one of my brother was learning guitar, but I don't consider myself that good. Here is a picture of my family band called De Keluarga 65 (65 was referring to our home address) in Tanjung Malim (at the time I was either 7 or 8 years old).

It was only in high school that I took up the drums (with no training at all apart from drumming on tables) and we formed a band called T-Blues Band to compete in the school talent competition. We didn't win at first but for a second competition, we did win.

I remembered initially, I need to get the hands-feet coordination right first, and thereafter learning how to make them independent. I wanted to play in a more progressive setting, which was not there at the time, despite blues band is considered 'underground' for a school band (as opposed to popular songs cover band). For that, I have to go elsewhere.

I had fond memories of seeing my musician brother play in his band. At one time, he had (if I'm not mistaken) build up a 12 piece band (with horn section). The band took up the name of Bolts, Screws & Nuts, in the fashion of well-known band of Blood, Sweat & Tears and Earth, Wind & Fire. When the group members became fewer, the name was shortened to The Screw, but some found it offensive. Finally, he had a three-piece band and he called it Sour Grapes (in contrast to names like Sweet 'something'). During this time, I remembered sneaking into the room where they practiced and played the drums (attempting to play jazz). Later, I was scolded by my brother for fear of damaging the instruments (which I understand the concern), which are not ours. I remembered the first 'real' instrument that he had personally was a Yamaha electric guitar, bought by my parents after some years (before that it was just merely the Kapok guitar). At some point, he had a Roland keyboard but I wasn't sure it was his. I brought this up merely to state that one has to be well-off (not just mere talent) to get a good start of a musician career and income is more often than not, uncertain. This will have a bearing with what I can assume of Putri Ariani's entrance to the music world. Right now, he is joining Kamarul's group (husband of my niece), Geng Wak Long. Had the pleasure to bring him to one INSPEM event (SEAMS School) and like our staff was saying, it was jaw-dropping.

My music exploration continued while I was studying in Adelaide. During the holidays, I would hire drum set to play along with records and sometimes with friends.

The first picture is during a jam session with guitarist Mustafa Ramly and Haris (bass). We played some Police and Dire Straits songs (if I remembered correctly). Mustafa later played for Zainal Abidin of Hijau fame. By the way, I should say that Kamarul is a professional musician (percussions & traditional instruments) who have played with famous pop stars like Siti Nurhaliza.

Even during my PhD, I got the chance to learn and play gamelan from Simon Steptoe and Margaret (also learned mbira from Jackie - see https://www.facebook.com/profile/1355208706/search/?q=mbira). The Durham Gamelan played at a few local events. The biggest event that we had joined was the Island to Island Festival in London (see pics).

Back in UPM, some people found out I could play a little guitar and sing (I guess others could too but did not want to show their talent) and was invited to perform a few times in some local events. The last one was during a farewell dinner to our second director. I hesitated most of the time to play because guitar is not my main instrument. I did play drums once in UPM but there were no pics or (published) record for that performance.

Now, to the main subject of this blog post. It was by accident, I saw Putri Ariani audition video on my (personalized) YouTube page (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyb0ExKOE4w). She sang and played piano (despite being blind; I realised that she preferred to be identified as a musician rather than as a blind person) beautifully. During her introduction to the judges, she mentioned her dream being a diva and winning a Grammy, Simon Cowell's face changed a little, perhaps apprehensive on this big dream. But the next thing she said was her wish to go to Julliard College of Music, Simon nodded, understood that it was not just an empty dream. She performed well and has quite a vocal range, but the ones that got me are her riffs and runs. When Simon asked for a second song, she sang Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word, which to me is really appropriate as the song starts off with "What (have) I got to do to make you love me? What (have) I got to do to make you care?". Perhaps asking Simon in a way. After her performance and during the judge comments, it was then only known that the first song is her own composition (entitled Loneliness). See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFwkAOmEKSk for a live performance with a band, which has a different feel. The song is catchy but perhaps the English lyrics can be improved (just a friendly constructive criticism). I also looked up her other performances. The one that got quite a positive reaction response is her cover of Bohemian Rhapsody (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex86OdnRSp0). Her take and twist on it was really tasteful, making it a really good ballad - love the phrase "Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters" and how she ends with the last phrase. I have also checked out her cover Brian McKnight's song "One Last Cry" (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouPqUyKQ26Q). The video is a duet with Claudia Emmanuela Santoso, another Indonesian and a winner of The Voice of Germany. Too bad, no one has reacted to this as yet; they are both great singers. Now, if you think that she can only sing ballads, then one should check her cover of Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven" - see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZ3VITouf0 - the band has great sound. Again, too bad that it has yet to receive a wider attention. She has also not forgotten her roots; here she is covering an Acheh folk song - see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm0Ae1hCqyk. She has also covered some Islamic songs (see e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB5cKbR64rg) and recited al-Qur'an on her channel. I hope she can really win AGT. She probably needs a new edge to outcompete other talents; just today, I saw Roland Abante (from Philippines, with a story) and Alfie Andrews (from England, 12 years old) and they are good. Personalitywise, she is very positive, bright and cheerful (see her podcast interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOwP531XfwM). An important fact, is her parents' full support and they must be quite well-off to have her started a music career (as I pointed out earlier). On another point, we were told that she has already got a scholarship to go to Julliard. I hope she learns more from there, particularly on keyboards and on composition. May Allah guide her and give her the success she wants and continue to inspire people (like me).