Success
a : degree or measure of succeeding
b : favorable or desired outcome; also : the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence

That’s how Merriam-Webster defines it, and dammit, if it’s good enough for Merriam-Webster, it’s good enough for me.

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In no specific order:

- Drawing

- Videogames

- Music

- Cooking

- Eating

- Writing

- Archery

That’s my story & I’m stickin’ to it. XD

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

No.

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

So one day I’m helping my mom make meatballs and I have an epiphany.  Meatballs aren’t anything special anymore, everyone makes meatballs now a days.  We should try something different, like make meat-cubes instead of meatballs.  Upon hearing my suggestion, my mother immediately composed, edited and proof-read an entire essay on the cohesive properties of ground chicken-meat, and why we couldn’t make meat-cubes, in her head; and she was all too happy to recite her essay to me.

Needless to say, by the end of the day, she was eating chicken meat-cubes.  And now, you too can make chicken meat-cubes, the Incredibley Amazing Saad Azim way.  You’re gonna need:

A food processor first and foremost, and some chicken, obviously.  You can’t go wrong with a little bit of salt, either.

Anywho, take a few pounds of boneless chicken meat.  Last time I used two pounds, you can use more, you can use less.  I have a personal preference for white meat, so I usually buy a few pounds of drumsticks & clean them myself.  Add some salt & pepper , according to taste.  And if you’re in the mood for it, you can also try adding things like parsley, soy sauce & what not.  Whatever floats your boat.

Run the whole thing through a food processor until you’ve got a semi-consistent ground-chicken-mixture-type thing.  (If you feel like it, at this point you can add finely chopped peppers, garlic, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes… once again whatever works for you.  Experiment and see what you like.)

Once you’re done with the chicken-paste, pre-heat a frying pan and add a little bit of oil (or cooking spray).  Now fill the pan with a layer of paste, roughly one to two inch thick.  Put a lit on it & let it cook in low heat for a minute or three.  (The heat should start to solidify the meat into one solid patty.)  Check, and check often to see if the meat has just become solid enough to cut into cubes.

Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and cut into cubes.  Et voiala.  You’ve got yourself semi-cooked chicken meat-cubes.  Now, you can do a couple of things with your semi-cooked chicken meat-cubes.  You can:

Questions?  Comments??

=^^=

After mucho thinking & soul searching, I came up with a brilliant solution.  Avoid the computer.

Granted, it’s pretty hard to do, since I work as a graphic designer; but I should try and spend as little of the “me” time I have in front of the computer, and more of it on some of the things I used to do before the dawn of the computer era.  Read.  Draw.  Write.

Hope it helps.

My mother is one of those “early to rise & early to shine” type of people.  Every morning she’s up by 6:30-7:00 running around doing whatever she considers worth doing.  Which is perfectly fine by me.

Except on the weekends.  On the weekends, she wants to get me involved in things like laundry & grocery shopping.  Except for one small thing.  Whether for better or for worse, one of my favorite pleasures in life is Sleep.  Given the chance, I’d rather sleep than do anything else.  (This inevitably led to me developing a habit of staying up into the wee hours of the night and/or early morning.)  Needless to say, I’m not very enthusiastic when she’s prodding me at 8:00 in the morning on a weekend to get up.

Now, back in the days, my mother would try and wake me up at 8:00 in the morning because she needed something, like the laundry or grocery shopping, to be done by 12:00.  Except I couldn’t get up because I went to bed at 3:00 in the morning.  I’d tell her I’ll get up later and she’d be back at 8:10 telling me she needed something done by 12:00.  I’d tell her I’ll get up later and she’d be back, again at 8:15.

Needless to say, I couldn’t get up because I hadn’t gotten enough rest; and my mother, under the impression that the all-important laundry/shopping must be done by 12:00, managed to only deprive me of my much needed sleep for 6 straight hours, until I’d finally pull myself out of the bed at 2:00 in the afternoon.

This continued for roughly a decade or so, and needless to say, for exactly 520 weekends or so, the laundry or the grocery shopping never got done on time.

After that, I just started saying “NO” beforehand, i.e. I’ll do the laundry when I get up, and if you bug me I’m not gonna do it at all.

There’s probably a moral/lesson in there somewhere, but I’m to tired to write one up at this moment…

Simply put I’m burned out.  I’m burnt out and I have a butt-load of projects on my hands that need tending to.  The official projects come with their own group of client service executives & such to make sure the work gets done.  The not so official projects don’t.

Ya’know how people that work at a fast food place like, let’s say… Dunkin’ Donuts, for a couple of months would prefer to starve rather than eat donuts?  At this point, the last thing I want to do is look at the Photoshop/Illustrator interface.  Not good, especially considering my current occupation of a Graphic Designer.

Further complicating matters, I’m spending more and more of my ever diminishing “me” time looking for some sort of a magic pill or another.  Maybe I’ll see that one special movie, play that one special game, or eat that one special gallon of ice cream that will magically change my mind around 180 degrees and recharge my batteries.

The thing is, even though I do need to turn my mind around 180 degrees; the current circumstances in my life (job & what not) ensures that the straight & simple path is not available.  I have to figure things out, and I have to figure things out fast.

FEH.

For the past three months or so, my mind seemed to slowly continue towards shutting down.

It’s a tepid experience, actually, a nagging feeling in the back of your head telling you to do stuff later.  It’s a strange, yet oddly comforting to hear something telling you to just let go of all your worries… and seeing yourself going in that general direction anyway.  But that’s how it’s been for the past three months or so.

The conscious mind is an extension of the self, so understanding & manipulating it is akin to moving an arm.  The subconscious, on the other hand, is like a fully loaded freight truck.  Once it’s moving, it’s damn near impossible to stop; once it stops, it’s practically impossible to get moving.

What I didn’t realize until fairly recently was that I’d basically run out of motivation.  Most of the things I kept looking forward to were diversions that served to accomplish little.  It’s entirely too easy to blame any and/or all of it on depression; except, it’s entirely too simple an answer, and I’d prefer to think that I had atleast some contribution to my current state of mind.

Oh well.

More, later…

Okay, okay, so I’m not exactly what you’d call a full fledged cook.  I don’t recall having hosted any cooking shows either.  But a while back, purely by chance, I came across a cooking “show” that was so bad, it highlighted practically any and every thing you should avoid if you ever find yourself involved with the production of a cooking show.

The show featured someone who will be referred to as Mr. Big Shot Celebrity Cook, since I don’t really have anything against him, aside from his ass-hat cooking “show”.  Now, as I said, he’s a famous cook with a successful chain of over-priced restaurants across various countries; and since I’ve never had the opportunity to actually experience any of his cooking, which supposedly earned him his star status, I can’t say much about what he does.

However, as someone who has been involved in the production of content for television, the show practically screamed in my face to notice all the things wrong with it.  And good Bob were there things wrong with the show.  So much so, that it prompted me to write a lengthy article and post it in my blog. ;D

Problem number one:  Presentation.  The kitchen looked grimy; and the pots, pans & whatnots looked like they’d been in the cooking business a hell of a lot longer than Mr. Big Shot Celebrity Cook himself.  They were banged up, dirty looking and made me wonder whether or not health code violations played a large part in Mr. Big Shot Celebrity Cook’s …er… bread & butter. While looks don’t count for much; utensils are to cooking-shows what bikini-clad women are to car-shows.  They’re not the main selling point, but no one ever got anywhere with banged up, dirty looking bikini-clad women that made people think of health code violations.

The second and third problems were, not surprisingly, the presentation and the presentation.  Instead from working from a well made script, Mr. Big Shot Celebrity Cook decided to tell it like he usually tells it.  In hideously bad English.  “First I fish…er…have cut.”  Further more, if a cooking show boasts your name, you’d better be the one cooking.  Not so with Mr. Big Shot Celebrity Cook.  No sirreee…  While he delivered his lines with all the charm of the fish he’s cooking, the viewers were “treated” to shots of his assistants going about preparing the food in the aforementioned utensils.

Guess what registered as problem number four?  The presentation.  As Mr. Big Shot Celebrity Cook declared “First I fish…er…have cut.” with all the gusto of slightly moldy brick, the camera cut to the shot of a man washing chili.  Mr. Big Shot Celebrity Cook continued with “…then onion…fry.” as the viewers saw another one of his assistants chopping celery.  “Chop garlic…umm…and mix fish.” was accompanied by the footage of someone deep frying what is presumably one of the “I fish have cut.” in a old frying pan that could have doubled as an ancient family heirloom.  The footage of someone chopping Onions was impeccably described by Mr. Big Shot Celebrity Cook as “…mix with green Chili.”

All in all, Mr. Big Shot Celebrity Cook violated the fundamental rule of a show.  It’s all about the presentation.

Given his celebrity status, he could’ve made contracts with various companies to provide him with top of the line equipment.  He could have hired some to write and proofread a script.  He could’ve presented himself as someone who earned the right to over-charge for food at his chain of restaurants across various countries.  Instead, he looked like an idiot, and scared off a potential customer or fifteen.

So …er… if you’re ever considering hosting a cooking show, please consider one thing.  It’s called a “show” for a reason.  And if you’re still confused about what to do, or what not to do, look me up. =^^=