Author: Tarique Sani

Yesterday Aasim celebrated his 7th birthday in his usual “call everyone in the class” party, co-incidentally yesterday was also the last paper of the children’s first serious exam and beginning of the Divali vacation. This combined effect was no less than expected. The party soon lost all semblance to an organised gathering with the mob of children throughly enjoying themselves, thankfully the fun kept itself whiskers away from a food/cake fight.

A few pictures here

Special thanks to Mona and Khader for sending thoughtful gift which arrived right on time 🙂

In the morning as Aasim slept we were talking about how fast the time has passed… how tall he has become, not very long ago we used to say – it will be very convenient once he learns how to sit 🙂

Well convenience and parenthood are really antonyms. While that is true we very much love the synonyms – fun, pride, revelation, happiness.

Aasim is all that we could have ever wished for and more (one of the meaning of his name reflects this) about the only concern we have is that he does not stick to any of activities he takes up for long, Computers, Chess, Skating, Gaming, currently Tabla the list is long. In fact other than Lego there is nothing which has really held his attention for more than a month or two. Guess he is in a skill acquisition mode and in this case we like to believe that we are just his keepers. He will decide for himself when time comes.

Just got this in a mail

“Being known to a reliable source,I came to know that there do exist vacancies for the post of software engg trainees in your self esteemed firm.So being intrested in your firm as a first step, I would like to submit my resume to you, Sir.I can assure you that i ‘ll discharge myself with my duties, for the complete satisfaction of my seniors.
I am sure that if i ll be given a opportunity to work with your firm, i’ll definietly be able to get the ignite which is desired for a never ending journey towards success and sagacity.“

Have not had such a good laugh in ages

Things seem to be at a juncture where mathematics cannot explain the economics of things. I have refused cumulative freelance work worth nearly $3000 (modding Coppermine)

Why?

So that I can pay proper attention to my regular day job. Now a logical conclusion would be that my regular day job would be paying me more than what I have refused….

Oh no! not at all so – in-fact I do not take home (read in *my* back account) any salary from my regular job, this is where the whole thing gets P2C2E

Any way I have been considering two options
#1 buy a secondhand D70 immediately if it is around $700/-
OR
#2 wait till the prices of 10+ MP DSLRs come to around $2000 levels (I anticipate a wait of 5 to 6 months)

Do I need a new camera? no I don’t need it I however *want* it!

I have considered putting hi-res files of my pictures for sale on my site and considering the traffic I might as well get a decent amount of money – but this is one hobby which I am not going to use to make money.

My all time favourite photographer of nudes Eric Boutilier-Brown has started a photoblog at https://www.photoblog.net/photoblog.php?nickname=ericbb an RSS feed is available at https://www.photoblog.net/rss.php?nickname=ericbb

Just added a stylesheet to my RSS feed so that it renders a bit readable in Mozilla, I miss the nice tree that Mozilla use to make for XML documents.

Does not feel any older except when people 10 years younger want to take my jokes seriously…

So what does a man who perceives as having achieved all that he dreamt for do besides having a smug attitude?

I had two options – rethink my dreams and conclude I was in fact an early quitter who aimed too low – and – begin that cycle of dissatisfied stress which really drives most people around me

OR

Start seriously to think about ways to ward off boredom.

I know that stress can kill me so naturally am opting for the second option. I am seriously thinking of farming as a future option. I have photography as a hobby which by grace of god I have enough money to pursue with exactly the equipments I want, and also have people around to help me with it, lately I have taken up Origami as a cheaper alternative which is very rewarding in itself.

Thanks to for sending a thoughtful gift

Thanks to all you folks for hitting my site often enough – just in case you missed I have a RSS feed which shows the last uploaded pictures at https://tariquesani.net/rss.php

Yeah it validates and shows thumbnails as well which look pretty on a Bloglines page

Being able to shoot *indoors* at 1000th of a sec and f16!

eXpressive: 7/10
Practical: 6/10
Physical: 6/10
Giver: 6/10

You are a XPYG–Expressive Practical Physical Giver. This makes you a Roving Spouse.

You are magnetic, charming, and impossible to resist. You have no problem with approaching the opposite sex — it just comes naturally to you, and the thrill of warming up a stranger is one of your great drives. Still, very few people really know you. You don’t just *feel* misunderstood — you are. You are probably nursing a heartache that you never let on.

You’re calm in a conflict (almost *too* calm — a more emotional partner may wonder why you’re not more engaged) and quick with affection. Fighting makes you uncomfortable, but as you avoid direct conflict your frustrations can manifest in the cold shoulder and passive-aggression, which is no better! Still, you make a loving, doting parent — giving more love than discipline — and your children prefer you.

Like an XSYG, you put so much thought and effort in what you give to your partner that you feel dismissed and unappreciated if you don’t get the same in return. You also give and think so much that you can also talk yourself into cheating — physically or emotionally — and this can lead a cycle of conflict, guilt, conflict-avoidance, chilly atmosphere and then more cheating. But you’ll stay with your partner in the long run from guilt and a desire to please.

You’ve got to open up! You express and give so much of yourself in other ways — don’t be afraid to express what’s bothering you.

I’m only being so hard on you because you remind me of me.

Of the 21920 people who have taken this quiz, 9.7 % are this type.

https://hokev.brinkster.net/quiz/default.asp?quiz=Better+Relationship&page=1

Hmmm…. this reveals too much of me for my own comfort, and most readers can also forget about magnetic and charming part 😉

There was a programmer with PMS
Who to ease her stress was said “Code CSS!”
The harder she would try
The more she would cry…
And her pages always ended up in a mess!!

This limerick is inspired from real life that has been happening around me since past 2 weeks. Needless to add that I have been extremely busy, hassled and working hard.

But the real reason for this post is Aasim, he scored a whopping 91 out of 100 in his first ever written exam, the surprise he threw up was getting 25/25 in Marathi, he could have scored more had there not been deductions for his mirror image alphabets and numbers something which he does a lot if he is excited.

Also yesterday he pronounced DOOM 3 as boring after 30 min of play, his contention was that there is too much of a story to it for a good game. The current favorite continues to be UT2004