Im a Grey's Anatomy fan. Season 1 2 and 3 leaves me touched, moved and usually, in tears after every episode. Im not a fan of crying. Believe me but i cant help being emotional when something on a square box is capable of making me rethink my ways and deliver powerful messages. My dad always said i dont have common sense. the truth is, i dont. if you have ever met me,and got to know me, you will know that im anything but normal. im a little this, a little that, but never normal. so when u say common sense, it doesnt hit home with me. what is common? what is normal?normal is determined by society.is it a common sense to know what to do when there is a snake in the room? africans would tell you yes.
i grad next year. technically i grad next next year but after my 6 months internship i start work and i have to wait 6months before i get my ceremony so....i actually stop being a student next year. time flies. i have worked so hard into getting myself into a local university, i somehow feel cheated because 13 years of work seems alot for only 3 years of reward. which includes a year of hell so... the reward pales in comparative to the work, dont you think?
if i were fate, i would have the best job ever in the world. i get to throw bones at people whenever i like it, only to take them back later on. i get to reward good people cos they deserve it. i crush them when im in a baddddd mood. i let evil people run amok. probably because if i kill them their ghost will just reincarnate and do bad somewhere else. its easier for me to keep track of them if they stay the same person. i would also have to be very dead in the heart because innocent people die everyday, leaving more innocent people around to be exploited by the crooks of the world. and i do nothing to change that fact.
i am quite happy with fate actually. it has done me more than justice. but the world has a bone to pick with fate hehe.
most of the time,we make our own fate. where we are, how we got there, its all us. theres no one to blame. theres no one to control things. we make our fate.
i make my own fate.
sometimes i wish someone else would make it for me
And thats how the cookie crumbles.....
Posted by 1n$aTiab13 Adventurer at 11:04 AM | Saturday, March 28, 2009My Thoughts on 27th Mar 09
Posted by Reign226 at 5:37 PM | Labels: AGIP KCO, CBR, university, work Thursday, March 26, 2009On Work: New project, AGIP KCO Cantilever Barge Rig (CBR)
Today I am starting to help the lead engineer on this project which is a cantilever barge rig for AGIP KCO, which will be operating on the Caspian Sea. Two of these will be built by my company.
This is a really interesting project. When we think of drilling rigs, there are tons of them but in Keppel FELS, we are only doing jackups and semisubmersibles. The Koreans corner the drillship market and that's that. Other drilling stations like TLP, gravity platforms, etc, don't really come up, either because they are older or because it's not commonly used.
However, a drilling barge? That's something entirely new to me and I haven't come across it in any of the literature that I have read extensively before coming here. What does it look like?
Not very impressive, to think of it. It's basically a barge, with provision of a moving cantilever allowing it to drill holes in the ground. The engineer told me the size of the hull is about that of a semisubmersible, meaning it's pretty huge. The way it drills is also similar to a semi, by taking in ballast water and letting the entire barge rest on the bottom of the sea to provide a stable drilling platform. The sea isn't very deep to begin with.
Naturally, one would wonder...why is something so mundane looking so terribly expensive?? Well the answer lies in the conditions of the Caspian Sea, of which a little National Geographic lesson is required. The Caspian Sea has been referred to as the largest lake in the world. It is a landlocked body of water supplied primarily by the river Volga, and it is surrounded by Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran and Turkmenistan. All the -stans. The unique thing geographically about this lake is that the northern area is shallow, about 5 to 6 meters, but drops off to about 190 meters near the middle (so the top part forms the 'shelf'). In the south, the depths go on to about 1000 meters and more! As such, the northern part only accounts for about 1% of the total water contained in the lake.
This area is particularly important because that's where the drilling barge will operate in. Typically jackups operate in water depths of up to 300 feet (about 100 meters), while the drilling barge will have an operating depth of where around 10 meters, sufficient for these waters.
Initially I thought the reason for such high costs is due to high salinity of water there, but apparently unlike the Black Sea, the Caspian sea only has an average salinity of 1/3 that of normal seawater, or 1.2%. The reason why it is so expensive is due to the harsh environmental conditions, with temperature of seawater ranging from -35 degrees in winter to 40 degrees during summer. The cyclic thermal stress and embrittlement presents a challenge for any man-made structure to operate here, let alone for years on end. On top of this, the water will actually freeze during winter, so there is a provision for an IBEEV, or Ice Breaking Emergency Evacuation Vessel.
The field to be developed is the Kashagan field, heralded as one of the greatest finds of this century. The harsh conditions however meant that the recoverable oil might not be as high as initially thought.
Bringing it in.
The second question that occurred to me was...how are they going to build this thing? The Caspian Sea is landlocked...but not completely. It is still possible to access using canal routes but it would mean the size of the rig is limited. But not completely. The analogy here would be like assembling a ship-in-a-bottle. Sections will be build (like the cantilever, living quarters, etc) then transported into the Caspian Sea to be assembled and commissioned. In this way, fabrication can be carried out off-site in places like Keppel FELS.
All the big oil companies like Shell, Exxonmobil and Conocophillips have a stake in this project. The drilling itself will probably be performed by AGIP KCO, with professionals brought on board since there is no dedicated drilling company like Seadrill or DDI for these waters.
So far the project is still in the FEED stage (Front End Engineering & Design) because it's a technicaly challenging project involving people from more than 50 countries. The initial planning stage started back in 2004 (the field is discovered in 2000), so people have been sitting around and thinking for a long while now.
Use and function of glycol injection
The project also allowed me to explore the use of glycol in gas production. It is used mainly to prevent the formation of hydrates in water-saturated gas once it is drilled out. Hydrate formation can cause the lines to become plugged and introduce all sorts of problems, so it can be elimited by either heating the lines or to introduce drying agents into the gas to remove the water; one of them is glycol, the other methanol.
The drying agents do not completely dry the gases though, that job is done in a central location. What they do do is prevent formation of hydrates long enough for the gas to reach the drying station.
Some of my thoughts today are on plagariasm and detecting it, including a free online checker for such purposes, and some thoughts on a discussion I had today with Leonard regarding the riser tensioner system found on board semi-submersibles.
University: On Plagiarism
Free plagiarism checker: http://www.dustball.com/cs/plagiarism.checker/
Pretty nifty tool. From personal experience, students here (my uni) love to copy and paste. I think even other universities are the same. There's nothing wrong with taking text from other people's website, but at least have the decency to use it as a paraphrase or quote rather than passing it off as your own work.
It doesn't help that some lecturers here love to look at quantity of writing rather than quality. So students are sometimes forced to pad their work with superfluous material that do not add anything other that dead weight to their reports. I try not to copy and paste, but sometimes we have to give in due to page minimum quota that have to be reached! However, I do take pains to indicate which parts of the report is quoted, and then work on original material that add my view and opinions to the quoted text. But I am sure there are some reports which can end up as a huge 'quote' after 'quote' copied from resources like Wikipedia.
I think lecturers should enforce a MAXIMUM page limit rather than a minimum because in doing so, they are actively encouraging students not to plagiarize and pad. The above tool can be immensely helpful to quickly weed out errant reports that takes material from online sources (frequently wikipedia) willy-nilly. After a few times of getting caught, most students will quickly wise up.
Imposition of maximum page limit will also focus the student on producing quality and concise writing, rather than encouraging them to talk at length producing text which end up more confusing than interesting.
I hope more lecturers can take advantage of this free tool and try to root out plagiarism as it is absolutely not doing any good in helping to raise the standard of English in students and the quality of their reports.
Work: On Riser Tensioner systems
Had a discussion with Mr Leonard this morning regarding the riser tensioner system. He's the Principal Drilling Engineer of my section and very knowledgeable on all sorts of offshore related equipments and functions, since he has been working on rigs for a major part of his life.
The riser tensioner system is unique to semisubmersibles and drillships in that they are needed only when drilling in extremely deep waters. In such conditions, the BOP stack along with christmas tree is usually installed on the sea floor. Then a riser (hollow pipe, essentially) is connected from the seafloor to the drillfloor on the vessel. The distance separating the two extremes can be in the order of thousands of feet. In such distances, the weight of the riser pulling down can be enough to cause it to buckle under its own weight.
Thus the top of the riser needs to be kept in tension (the vessel has to pull up on it) in order to keep the whole assembly from falling apart. Thus the riser tensioner is used, which consists of hydraulic sheaves connected to some wire line that is attached to the riser that pulls upwards on it. The hydraulic system allows the vessel to heave without affecting the tension too much.
Leonard commented that even the system is still quite new, as people explore deeper parts of the ocean, it might be possible that some day, we have to abandon the riser system as the depths are such that even with the riser applying tension, it will still collapse as it's just too heavy. He also commented that the riser system installation can take up to ten days, a significant amount of time for just a single operation!
I am reminded of how drillers can float drill casing by corking up one end and lowering it down the drill hole and when in position, drilling through the cork. Is it possible that one day the riser will be installed in such a way? Of course, there would have to be a system in place to admit water into the riser as the depths increased, although in such a way we could conceivably control the overall buoyancy of the riser leading to a faster installation? Currently the riser is lowered down after the BOP stack and assorted equipment is installed then guided in place using an ROV.
Will keep this in mind for future references.
im having a little..... friendship crisis here.... when people know each other for a long time, you know when someone has changed for good. it is not a phase. it is not a mood swing. its change. what we can do with the change, is entirely up to us.
So now my friend has changed. in a totally opposite way of who i am. yes, we have always been day and night but somehow, we clicked and we are best of friends. but lately she has been doing things that is opposite my principle and perception. call me close minded, call me old fashion, but when you start to practice what i percieve as bad judgement, that means you are bad influence. and i cant have that. i cant have someone who is so close to me to be doing things that i loath. thats right. loath. you cant ask an animal lover to be friends with a poacher. no way.
so you usually will grow apart and find new friends.
what happens when it is family? no matter how, you cant turn your back on family. you cant just ignore that you have a loony aunt. or a pig of an uncle. or a grabby grandpa. they are family. okay,maybe not grabby grandpa. but no matter what, you need to be there for them. its even worse when it is someone who used to be very close to you when you were young. someone who is..... important. you have a sense of duty towards them. what happens then?
what happens when it is down to duty and your life's happiness? everything you have worked for against the very reason you worked so hard?your dreams against duty?
life sucks when shit happens.
all you can do is hope that fate makes it the hard decisions for you. but they never do
So fast...3 weeks d. although time cudnt have dragged on slower if it wanted to. 3 weeks without seeing my darling.....i applaud those who are comfortable with long distance relationship. this is by far,the hardest thing i have ever done. i hope i am never in this position ever again. but today's post is not about him.today,is about bugs.
everyone knows that bugs like beetles who has hard shells are protected. the rhino beetle is awesome. i think if you step on it it wudn't break also. But the past 3 days i've been saving this particular beetle. at first it was annoying but then tis morning i started looking forward to it and....well...i didnt see him anymore....=(
when they get turned onto their backs, they cant flip back on their own unless something helps them. i have been turning that beetle back up every morning for the past 3 days. its really silly to be found at the same spot, wiggling its legs up the same way every morning. it got me thinking about nature. i am a firm buddhist believer thus i believe we are all born to reap what we sow....i believe the beetle's anatomy was made with this particular predicament maybe because in the past this particular soul has left someone to die before and this is his reward. to be born to carry a heavy heavy shell above your head all your life, restricting your growth, thus limited food intake, means the constant need to feed but limited, leaving you a strong defense but once something happens and you flip over, you will be left to strugggle, like someone drowing, arms and legs thrashing about in vain, until you are exhausted, only to try again later. your defenses are down to nothing, anyone walking by either steps on you or your prey would eat you. the ants can simply pick you up and eat you slowly... if none of those horrifying endings come true, you probably will be starved and die of exhaustion from trying to get up. horrible. i feel bad for these souls. even the turtle. once on its shell, it can never get up again.
then i got to thinking about evolution. if Darwin was right, beetles used to be as big as houses. or was that cockroach? anyway, its been so long. i haf come across more dead up turned cockroach than i have seen alive ones. why hasnt evolution given something to these creatures to be able to help themselves up again? its for survival purposes. i saw the beetle fall from a wall. it ended up on its shell. like a shuttlecock, the heavy part falls first.i just turned him back up. =.=
even ants can fall off the wall safely without having to die! had i walked away before he fell, the beetle would have died. stupid isnt it?
all these thoughts done in 5 minutes on my way to the loo. hehe. sometimes i wonder if i should write a book like jeremy clarkson or not. afterall, his books are just sarcastic rambling.
I'm coming back to Melaka tomorrow! Can't believe it has been so short a time and i'm already so anxious! Going to Jogoya this weekend and I hope to get lots of pictures to upload both here and on Facebook. Maybe i will upload to facebook first so that it's easier to link it back here.
Whee!!
Type rest of the post here
Sometimes,you have to wonder. is life worth it all? when i ask people that question, they gave me this look that says " of cos it is! what is the matter with you?"
when i talk about giving up, people brush it off as just childishness. that maybe true. only a child would give up when the going gets tough. im not mature enough to shoulder the responsibilities like an adult.
but honestly, are you telling me that none of you judging me now has ever thought of giving up? never needed a pep talk? never at a place in your life when you just feel like saying " fuck it. im done"
me still being around proves that im just all talk when it comes to quitting. in fact, this blog is proof itself. i have wanted to shut this blog down more times than i want to eat in a week. but it is still here.
sigh
its 5am in d morning and i cant sleep.
i cant sleep because my brain is too full with thoughts.
i cant sleep because i cant stop thinking. cant relax.
when i have too many thoughts, i have to babble to get them out
hence, i ended up here.
you know what i love? there used to be something that i love doing. that i would pick a day, set it aside, and just do it. most people call it waste of time. i call it people watching.
for those of you who dont know what i mean, its a simple act of sitting in a public place and watch the world go by.
i challenge you to think of an even more interesting specimen than the human race. not even animals are that interesting. because animals cant think totally for themselves. no matter how diversified, they always still have a pattern to obey. thats how we classify them.
but humans, dont. we dont. we may have the general appearance, but thats about it. no 2 mothers are the same. no 2 twins are the same. btw can u imagine how freaky it is to date a twin? what if u kissed the wrong one? what if...you fell for both? or what if u started to date one, but then actually fall for the other? complicated mess!
i just had a 3hr lunch with my girlfriend and..... well..basically we gossiped. about everything and anything. and anyone.
i am on the end of my 2nd year here in malacca and.... i see how people change from the first time i met them and now. some change for the better...well, most of them. and some became monsters who.... how DID this people get like this????
its like theyve never socialized all their lives!
i pity people like this. i try to like them. but i just cant help it. scums and troublemakers and inferior people..... the lesser the better
smart alecs are......sigh.
people watching are very interesting. very relaxing too. they take your mind off things and open up your perspective.
for instance, quite the contrary, people who attend local university are not all poor. i admit there are. but half of them are actually from well to do families who just dont want to pay exorbitant amount for a degree.
people who live in a civilized part of malaysia for example, putrajaya, doenst mean that they are more mature in thinking. people whose house is surrounded by paddy fields.
upbringing is soooo important. yet some people who has perfect parents can turn out to be so shitty.....i guess sometimes people are who they are even before any influence has touched them.
lol its 6am and i am still up!
so gonna pay for it tmr....lol lucky thing my 8am class on monday is cancelled
i always wonder how can people leave the country they grew up in and go help built some foreign country. dont you love your own? if u dont like it, you should stay and make it better. you dont abandon it just because you think it sucks. its where you grew up for heavens sake!
but now i know how they could do what they did already. its not that they cant stay because they want to earn more money or shit. we all know that our currency is smaller. but when u are nt a citizen they treat u like shit too. so whats worse than to be a second class citizen and treated like one? it is to be a first class citizen but treated as a second class citizen. i know understand how they all can leave their love ones behind, leave everything they love and start anew in a foreign land. at least there they know that it is their place and they accept the treatment for it is appropriate. here......
sickening. people keep talking about social contracts, status quo, special priviledges,bla bla bla. both ends are breaking rules. no one is playing by the rules anymore. what makes u better than anyone else?
everyone has a personal agenda. a political gain in everything they do. all want to go out with a bang. NO ONE IS DOING THEIR JOB!!!!!
wtf
we did not elect you into the highest council of the country to put on a show. to make pigs who jump ship millionaires. to spend millions to buy votes. dude, if the people dont like u, u make their lives a living hell while u wear imported shoes and tailored suits, a billion also would not buy u ur votes. ok maybe a billion would but even you dont have that kind of money to spend on a by-election. theres spending the countrys coffers and stupidity spending the countrys coffers. i mean, the money spent is not even on yourself! its given to lay people who takes it, then goes in and vote for the opposition. u PAID them to embarass YOU!!
fools
perhaps working like a dog for redhaired baboons is better than working for morons like our politicians
Its the weekend!
all week i have been looking forward to the weekend. that was what kept me going all weeek. the vision of the whole house empty,just for me, everything to my whim and fancy, with 100mbs streamyx to my disposal. think of all the downloads.....no one to care about. no consideration needed. i feel like blasting my music, i just do it. i want to cook, i just do. i want to eat crap,i just do. whatever i want to do, i just do it. theres not a soul around to be mindful around. fuck politeness and manners. its so....liberating. my responsibility for 2.5days is just to eat,sleep,online and my 4 assignments. maybe take the initiative to start revision. thats it. no appointments to keep. no obligations to honour. this weekend is ALL about me!
yet i keep pining for someone. i crave company. why is our own company not enough? alone time is all i wanted but when i get it i get bored after half a day. what is it about us human that just cant live alone????
from time to time i need to indulge myself in selfishness. i spend all day trying to please others its tiring. gotta complete this assignment for this lecturer. that lecturer want us all to do that. my friends want to do this project this time. we need to leave at this time. its all so.... i feel suffocated. not that i dont enjoy doing all of them. i love my friends. they are a good bunch of people. i just need balance. i used to have my own room. indulge everybodys whim during the day and indulge my own at night. theres balance. but i havent had my own room in a long time. hopefully when i move out next semester i will have my own room. if i dont...i wudnt know where to get my alone time already. we all need alone time. time to unwind. time to sort out our thought. time to recollect ourselves. time to clear our head to make room for new bullshit. alone time. havent been getting that in awhile ady and its driving me crazy. this weekend was suppose to be my alone time weekend. the break i have been looking for. but.... now that i have it, all i want is my darling. my comforter. my hug pillow. shucks.
WHY CANT WE JUST ENJOY OUR OWN COMPANY???????
loneliness sucks. its the worst feeling. its not even a real emotion.
loneliness is just another word for pathethic. i think little of people who cant enjoy their own company. those who can never eat alone. those who can never watch a movie in a cinema alone. those who must have a friend to do a thing together. like join an activity. who wouldve thought that someday i cant handle my own company too? sigh. im pathethic.
Those on a crash course diet, please read this. i guarantee you do NOT want to eat anything anymore after you read this.
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/18824/84/
Sick. That's what this is. So sickening. every man and woman is someone's mother. someone's son. someone's daughter. HOW could you treat a human like that????
he died of kidney failure because the body cant handle the amount of waste that it is caused by the torture!!!! literally, beaten to death!!!!! wtf????
we dont even treat dogs like that! stray, no owner dogs have SPCA. we have this and that NGOs to protect ANIMAL rights and we KILL a man in the law custody over CAR THEFT????
ARE YOU FUCKING JOKING WITH ME???!!!!!!!
since when has animal rights higher than a detainee's life?
i feel sick to my stomach and i could not eat the rest of the day. i had no appetite. usually im the one who cant look away when a movie scene is gore but this, this is too much even for me. picture Kugan as your son. Your father. Your brother. then tell me you can live with it
