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The sunrise of Pakistan's Punjab.

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It's my 11 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

It seems like yesterday when my son turned two and I let go of my job and took care of him and started this blog.

Since then I got him to school , took him to South Korea, took him to Saudi Arabia for Umrah, got him into boarding, lost my nanny to breast cancer, lost my mother to brain cancer, got a job, travelled to 10 countries, lost the said job after 8 years and now starting a new one in a weeks time and bringing back my son from boarding to home.

wild ride.

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I think part of my problem is that this past year I got introduced to a lot of inside perspective on the daily workings of local government. So I know more than the average person in my town, but not nearly enough to make actionable change.

Like... little stuff!

This June, a drinking fountain stopped working suddenly, and people complain all the time that we haven't fixed it.

But I know that to fix it, it has to be taken apart and examined by someone in the water dept- and that the cost of parts and labor to do this comes both from the water dept and from parks and rec.

I also know that both departments only have a certain allotment of funds for unplanned repairs, and that the budget gets set in January. Which means that it can be folded into the budget for next year.

I also know that you have to make a case for every purchase made on behalf of your department, and that if the board of directors doesn't think it's a priority, they can deny the request.

But to the average person in our parks, it looks like we don't fix things.

Processes of government are slow-moving to make sure there's little room for error. A person who isn't involved in the process on a conscious level likely doesn't see the wheels are turning in their favor- reads inaction as apathy.

Can a city government be apathetic about certain things? Totally! But that's why local elections matter- they give you a chance to vote in more progressive people, even if the process of it is slow.

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A picture for geotag.

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Never under estimate the power of life!

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Meet Hiss and Diss ( Snake plant aka Mother-in-law Tongue).

Today was supposed to be a study day but somehow or the other I just got house cleaned , got this repoting done and just zoned out. May be after a quick dinner of Pakoras ( fritters) I will open up my python 4 everyone and AI courses.

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One of the common mistakes I see for people relying on "AI" (LLMs and image generators) is that they think the AI they're interacting with is capable of thought and reason. It's not. This is why using AI to write essays or answer questions is a really bad idea because it's not doing so in any meaningful or thoughtful way. All it's doing is producing the statistically most likely expected output to the input.

This is why you can ask ChatGPT "is mayonnaise a palindrome?" and it will respond "No it's not." but then you ask "Are you sure? I think it is" and it will respond "Actually it is! Mayonnaise is spelled the same backward as it is forward"

All it's doing is trying to sound like it's providing a correct answer. It doesn't actually know what a palindrome is even if it has a function capable of checking for palindromes (it doesn't). It's not "Artificial Intelligence" by any meaning of the term, it's just called AI because that's a discipline of programming. It doesn't inherently mean it has intelligence.

So if you use an AI and expect it to make something that's been made with careful thought or consideration, you're gonna get fucked over. It's not even a quality issue. It just can't consistently produce things of value because there's no understanding there. It doesn't "know" because it can't "know".

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My boss gave this to me for free today :D (battery and charger missing but I ain't complaining lol)

Can't wait to get the missing parts and put Ubuntu or Mint on this and bring it back to life lol

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TB to when fluffy got her annual haircut. She needs to be sedated ( hates baths) so her recovery is like a drunk maniac trying to find keys to car which they should not drive.

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Finally logged in to my tumblr again. Man I missed this hell hole! Meet Fluffy the cat.

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linkin park was right. i’ve become so numb

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*takes social media break, except from tumblr and pinterest* those are my visual diaries 😭

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Do you know how hard it is to live with a cat that has the intelligence level of literally like a 3 year old but the pure chaos of a high ranking demon?

He’s learned to open the lazy Susan and won’t stop clawing open the flour and rolling in it like a little chinchilla

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Assalamualaikum sister.

I don't know how to put this, I just hope I would get some help from you. Since past three years I've been going through a difficult phase. Actually I was studying for my entrance and I got to spend most of the time alone. So these years I used to study and think about my past, not purposely,but I kept getting flashbacks. And I realised how many mistakes I have done. Saying about myself I am not someone who prays 5 times, sometimes I pray and most of the times I don't, about which I feel bad everytime. I always want to change myself because I know I want to be closer to Allah, I want to pray, I want to learn my deen. When I was younger I used to pray, I used to recite Quran. I don't know what happened to me. I just want to change myself. I am getting depressed each day. I want to repent and I just don't know where to begin. I feel like I have no knowledge about my deen. I have done a lot of mistakes in my past and I still can't do anything . I feel so helpless rn. Please tell me what to do, and where to start. I hope u understood what I'm trying to explain. Thankyou ❤️

Salam sister and apologies for the delay,

First of all, you’re asking where to start but you have already started mashaAllah. The first step is acknowledging that you made mistakes, that your relationship with Allah isn’t where it should be, and making the intention to do better. The important thing is to review this intention every day.

Next you want to dedicate some time to just talk to Allah. If salah is difficult for you, then start by finding a quiet area where you can talk to Him like He is your friend. Be honest. Every friendship needs time and effort. So acknowledge that you have been lacking, that you have not invested the time this friendship deserves. But that you want to do better. Ask Him for forgiveness and for help so that you can do that. Ask Him to remove anything in your life that’s keeping you from Him, and to make this friendship with Allah your biggest priority. He will listen and respond to you. He is the Most Merciful and you will be forgiven, so long as you want to be forgiven. This is a promise that Allah has made us.

﴿قُل يا عِبادِيَ الَّذينَ أَسرَفوا عَلى أَنفُسِهِم لا تَقنَطوا مِن رَحمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغفِرُ الذُّنوبَ جَميعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الغَفورُ الرَّحيمُ﴾ [Az-Zumar: 53]

Say, "O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allāh. Indeed, Allāh forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful."

And the last thing I would advise you is to dedicate some time to these conversations every day. Just once a day. Just talk to Allah. And if you forget, or if you neglect your time with Allah for a few days, just try again. One day you’ll get it right. If you want, I would recommend having these conversations in the last third of the night (in the hour or two before fajr) because that is when Allah is closest to us.

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Our Lord Almighty descends to the lowest heaven in the last third of every night, saying: Who is calling upon Me that I may answer him? Who is asking from Me that I may give him? Who is seeking My forgiveness that I may forgive him?” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1145

I hope to hear back from you one day that you were able to invest more time in your relationship with Allah. I have no doubt that once you do this, it will be easier to make salah and truly feel like you have a friend in Him. May Allah make it easy for you sister. Don’t lose hope, because that’s what Shaytan wants you to do. Allah’s door is open for those who seek it.

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Scenes from Car Detailing 4

So finally after a through wash the compund polish with hand grinder started.

Apologies for bad picture but I do not want to disturb the gentleman working on it.

I will try to take a before and after picture of one door to get an idea lateron. They should invest in a light luminosity measurement gadget though.

...to be continued ....

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Scenes from Car Detailing 3

Finally car is getting its first wash. The three men were going nuts around the car in minute detail with a tooth brush each. Around the doors , door handles , rubber parts, plastic parts; now I am sure once compound polish starts then it will look much better.

I am not sure till then in the afternoon I will be here. I was advised by my colleagues to get compound polish on a sunny day. So that one can see the results. But I am confident that with the lights they have installed it will be sufficient.

If I am happy in the end then will ask the team to pose in a group photo with my car.

These men and their services do deserve our appreciation. An honest work done with hand.

You see our cars are an extension of our lives. With our commute and travel they are an epitome of our freedom. Some might argue that motorcycles give more freedom but I would argue that I feel safer in a car with a metal body. Not from the elements mind you, from other humans.

.... to be continued....