Oh jeez! I'm so sorry for the late letter!!

I've been so busy lately and I remember

taking like a day last time to type out mine, then write it out xD. You even sent
two letters at this point, so I have so much to reply to! This will be a two-fer!
Addressing both letters haha.

I'm just going to start off with... Omg... another Malazan reader!! >__< I know you
don't quite remember the plot (Nor do I for some of it) but I can't help but smile
and feel really happy about that =')

Also I hope Seth has recovered well! It must've thrown you into a loop when you
found out. If it was me I'd probably be worried, while laughing a bit, and say how
silly that was. I can definitely relate... I've made some questionable decisions
that have ended horribly @_@ One in particular ended with broken bones and a month
of surgery xD

Okay okay, so much to respond to! *Eyes rolling through all your pages*

Right now, I'm actually pretty alright. I've sort of been in limbo career wise the
past 4 months, though come April, things will most definitely start speeding up.
The long and short of it was, I was miserable in the trade I was being trained to
do, and I had a senior instructor who wanted me out, so I ended up dropping the
trade and have been waiting between fiscal years for the trades to open up again
(in April). It was... one of the low moments so far, but it was an experience so
that's something I suppose, and it's been a while so I'm moving forward now.

I was an Air Combat Systems Officer (or ACSO) and was an aircrewman tasked for
leading air operations, but essentially backing up the pilots in the aircraft
systems and radio comms. A lot of the initial training is about air navigation,
meteorology, and some basics of flying a plane (I landed a couple, but it's not
officially part of the training). It had some fun moments, but I realized during
the training I did not enjoy flying, and I hated a lot of the other aspects of the
trade. It didn't help that we had a Major that seemed to be a little prejudice
against me and another friend for being Muslim (I really didn't want to say that..
but the "abuse of power" was so clear, even the other instructors were questioning
what was going on). It wasn't the worst work environment, but I was happy to get
out of her sphere of control. Since...

Hahahah xD My Captain just called my friend and I into his office because he
dropped a security class B USB document behind his desk. Because it's considered
classified at that class, he had to ask us to move the table to reach for it, but
couldn't ask his NCMs to help as they don't technically have the clearance to see
it... 5 minutes later he called us in because he dropped it again xD (Yes, I'm
writing at work... no one's looking o_o) It's still amusing to me some of the
smaller traditions and customs with being in the military. Like for example, you
SHALL always wear a headdress when in uniform while outdoors. If you are wearing a
toque, you SHALL wear gloves as well. You can literally get jacked up for not
wearing your gloves with your toque! Btw a lot of the rules are separated between
what you "shall" do, and what you "should" do. Always follow the "shall"s o_o ...
and the shoulds... >__>

Typical days have been pretty casual as I'm just on OJT (on the job training) until
the new fiscal year, and so am posted to more clerical type work until then. I was
working at a recruiting centre the past few months where I assisted with
invigilating applicant tests, processing applicant files, and doing security and
background checks. I was moving the previous week (part of the reason for being
late with the letter I'm SORRY!!) so I'm back living on base now working in my
squadron's orderly room for this month. I was living in downtown for some time with
a roommate, and the lease ended, but I also decided I was done with roommates. At
least with a stranger anyway...

Let's see, my initial contract with the military was for 9 years. With ACSO, i also
had a 4 year compulsory term, but since I didn't stay with the trade, my terms may
change. The 9 years is more akin to "having job security for 9 years" rather than,
"I signed my life up for that long" because I completed my degree on my own dime.
ACSO training is really expensive and so they take a chunk of time to guarantee
they can use you for at least one posting. I'm from Ottawa, Ontario originally, and
I had a chance to go back during the Christmas holidays which was nice. But we
start with 20 days of annual leave, so there's usually times when you can travel. I
was in Singapore last August visiting my brother and his family (his daughter was
born around the time!) I'm thinking of visiting North Africa this year if the
chances arise. I'd love to travel through Morocco, Tunisia, Cairo... I haven't been
in that area before so I'm sure it'd be an interesting experience. A cousin of mine
who travels a lot every year (his sister is a flight attendant for Emirates and all
her immediate family gets two tickets per year 70% OFF!!) said Cairo was his
favourite place he's been also. Including you, so many people I've talked to said
the same, so I'm sure it'd be quite a fun trip. He also said Thailand, but for
other reasons...

There's a military gym we have that can be used for PT, but it's not mandated to
exercise actually, at least unless you're army. Although it probably depends on
which squadron you're in. Winnipeg IS cold!! Last week was still -40!! There is
survival training that can be done, I haven't done the arctic survival but.. lol
I'll get back to something related to that a bit later... I've done the sea and
land survival courses though. Land survival was still quite cold, but was an
interesting experience. They teach you how to survive in the wilderness, catch and
skin animals (Poor rabbits >_>) and all that jazz. The final test was leaving you
alone in the forest for 3 days to survive, meant to simulate a plane crash and
being the only survivor. It was an interesting experience... by the last day of the
test, the forested area I made my shelter in, I had cut down every tree in the
entire area trying to keep my fire going xD The quiet is really something else...
Absolute dead silence. Apart from hearing one of my friends screaming and going
mental kilometers away near the end of the second day...

The keeping the beds squared and proper was for basic training. ... And army >_>
Army =/= Military. Thank goodness xD Basic training was enough of an experience.
Army life isn't quite the same, but in some respects definitely more arduous. I
guess that's probably the biggest misconception. People think military, and they
picture basic training (can probably blame Full Metal Jacket for that!) but the
majority of the people in the military are not in combat arms trades. A lot of them
are simple clerks, administrators, logistics, cooks, etc. It's bureaucracy at its
finest @__@

Also I'm not surprised about the high maintenance with the American ships being
escorted. There's a lot of combined operations between Canada and the States
actually. That land survival course, we had a couple American marines with us. At
night we were swapping stories lol. I found it interesting that they'd take our
training courses for survival, but I suppose it makes sense considering they
probably don't get as much exposure to the cold. The arctic survival course
involves being up there for 2-3 weeks, surviving alone for a few days, with
temperatures below -50.

Food wise, it's alright in the military, apparently it's better than most other
militaries, but when I was on full rations, I dreaded it most of time since I can't
eat their meat, and so ate vegetarian (religious reasons). Their veggie meals
weren't great, so I got off rations completely and started cooking for myself.
Uh... favourite food >_< That's a hard one. Maybe because of my living conditions
(i.e. not having a kitchen!) I really miss some dishes I learned from my parents.
There was a Chinese based beef dish that I loovvveeddddd. I also love soups of all
kinds, Tom Yom Soup is one of my favourites. It's a thai based soup, but I also
enjoyed making a Singaporean styled ver. of it as well. Mmm I wouldn't consider
myself a foodie (I can enjoy eating Kraft Dinner and instant noodles if I have to
for weeks) but I can totally understand the joy of eating fine cuisine :) Singapore
is a mecca for it...

Story time! Last time I was there, one of my cousins from Australia came by as
well. First thing he says to me and my brother "Alright guys, my goal this trip..
Gain 10 kg O_O" I"m laughing my ass off, my brother is like '... Alright then.
We'll go to a buffet every day" And so we did lmao. We were at an 80$ per person
buffet almost every day, (my brother does well. then again my cousin is a doctor,
so so does he) and there was a section with a guy cutting beef ribs of wagyu kobe
beef from Japan at one of them. It's out of this world @_@ and I remember just
going back over and over for more >_< We'd go to cheesecake shops and my cousin
would point at one declaring to the staff "That one! Price is not an issue!! O_O"
He's a character... actually all of my cousins in Australia are...

I don't think I mentioned my background before, but I'm half Chinese actually. And
half Malay. (I look pretty oriental) My dad's from Singapore and my mom's from
Macau. My name is Arabic. Darimi Nabil Johari. Darimi means happy or happiness.
Nabil means noble. Johari means jewel. I went to pretty ghetto grade schools, but
because of the small Malaysian community in Ottawa, I had a lot of rich family
friends as well, so my upbringing was sort of a mix match of all kinds of cultures
because of that! I'd say I'm better for it though.. Also my name and background
usually throws people I meet into a loop and that's always sort of amusing!

I have one brother, four years older than me. We're not very close either, and we
had a terrible relationship as kids. We're better now, and we get along great, but
we're by no means friends. Honestly was always a little jealous when I'd see my
friend's who were close with their siblings, but I suppose our relationship is
special in its own way. We are quite different. I sort of wanted a sister too I
remember! But my sister in law sort of worked out haha, we get along great :) I
remember when they were living in Ottawa for some time, we'd huddle in a blanket
and watch horror movies all the time.

I LOVEEE horror movies. Good or bad, I enjoy them all the same. THe last movie I
saw was Happy Death day 2U. It was sort of a horror, but more mystery thriller. And
I thought it was HILARIOUS! My friend and I were laughing so much. It was also a
sequel to a movie we hadn't seen, so it was fun piecing things together, especially
going into the movie not knowing a single thing about it (other than it was
apparently horror). There was a quick hiccup at the start of the movie with the
staff forgetting to unmute the movie o__O So I walked out of the theatre and got a
staff's attention before telling everyone that. It's interesting right? We all sat
there for like 5 minutes as an audience just watching a silent movie, and not a
single person got up to do anything. By then it was obvious something was wrong,
but no one wanted to get up and do anything about it. I guess it's similar to the
bystander effect?? Hmmm.

DO you travel back to Hong KOng much? I haven't travelled through Vancouver much
actually! Part of the reason I wanted to join the military was to explore more of
Canada. A girl I'm currently seeing is from Surrey, BC. and I've been to a couple
places like Kelowna and Comox. Where's your favourite to travel? Would you want to
live anywhere else?

As for where I've been... Jeez let me think... A ton of places in the states.. I
have a lot of family there, though mostly clustered in California and New York now,
Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Switzerland (I was a child though, so
that doesn't really count), China, Hong Kong, and Australia. I haven't travelled
through Europe much, though I'll be honest I don't have as much interest in it. The
girl I'm seeing said she really wants to go though so it's probably on the list. I
have a lot of friends there so it'd be neat meeting up with them actually! I'd love
to go through the Middle East too. I was sort of planning a trip with a friend, we
wanted to go through Lebanon, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Dubai (though he's been
there countless times)... Honestly all of my friends had said Syria was a gorgeous
country before all the conflicts there... I would have loved to have gone there
too. Though being honest even now, it'd be quite an issue trying to go through Iran
then Israel anyway xD Most of those countries will stop you apparently if they see
on your passport you've passed through one of the others. Also apparently the
military won't allow me to go to some of those countries now... I guess for good
reason. May in couple decade or two? :s

Speaking of San Francisco... I was there last year actually. I remember it was
close to new years, I got home and no one was there. After a couple days of
relaxing I was a bit bored and decided to book a trip somewhere. I had extra miles
and went to San Francisco. I booked the flight Saturday night. Called my cousin
Sunday afternoon I was dropping by. And arrived Monday morning. She was like wtf!?
It was amusing hehe. We caught up for a couple days before I hitched a ride with a
stranger down to Socal Orange county to meet up with some friends and some other
family there, went to LA after than took a flight back to Canada. Spontaneous trips
are always fun!

Montreal is a fun place, it's a pretty quick drive from Ottawa so I've been there a
number of times. Toronto is like a second home to me since my dad used to work
there from Ottawa, so he'd drive down every week and I'd tag along every once in a
while. Toronto has a LOT of options for food, and there's always things to do
there. It's also quite expensive... From what I hear Vancouver can relate ;)

Btw... Do you take some record of your letters you send? I tend to like drawing
back to previous conversations (in this case, letters) to draw inspiration or have
that semblance of a back and forth. I'll be honest I'll still probably type out my
letters first, then write them out. One so I can have a reference to YOUR
references from the letters I send, and two, help gather my thoughts ^_^

What kind of lab work do you do? I never worked in a formal lab, but I did some
volunteer clinical trials in a few labs during university. I totally get it about
worrying about spills and clothing! I remember there was this one time I was
recording data for radioactive soil samples and was using purified nitric acid to
digest it. I was talking to a cute girl while pouring it... and started seeing a
bit of steam suddenly. "oh no.." came across my head and I looked down. Drops
splattering from my left hand down onto my left thigh... I'm screaming in my head
and tell the girl "Oh hey, that's great!, one sec!" and dashed to the nearest sink
xD SHe was like wtf? It took a while before the skin tissue healed up hahaha.

Oh also that dessert drawing was great :) I don't think I've had a mango bubble
tea cruffin.. Sounds yummy o_o Whenever I'm in Asia, I always seem to have a bubble
tea in my hand lol. I really miss awesome cheesecake too... I'm sorry, Philadelphia
style cheesecake is good, but it just plateaus in greatness where Japanese style
cheesecakes still soar o_o There's one bakery in Winnipeg that has Japanese style
cheesecake, but it pales in comparison to some others I've had.

OKAY! That was my de jure response to your first letter! On to the second! hehe.

By the way, I love the little personal flairs you put on your letters! They're
really cute and adds personality to them. Also the wax stamps are so cool! I should
look into getting something similar. They remind me of that scene in the second
Pirates of the Caribbean movie when that pretentious (I'm not saying you are.
Really!!) dude is signing those letters for umm.. release I think for Elizabeth
Swan and uh... Orlando Blooms... .. >_> I forgot the character name.... Annnyyway,
he uses a wax seal to sign them. Awesome lol. I think I rewatched the first one
more than a dozen times over the years. Though mostly when I was younger.

I actually don't know if there is a term for two friends who are a couple... I'd
probably just say "I had two friends who were a couple... .." I'll be honest... I'm
not a fan of Mario Kart. It's so RNG based!!! And I'm just awful at a lot of the
race tracks, especially those annoying ones where you can fall off the track and
you have to wait for that cloud with the fish hook to pull you up. It's like...
ugh.. T__T Actually the only Mario games I played a lot were the old school ones on
the NES and SNES. I remember spending hours with friends and cousins playing Super
Mario World and SMB 3.

Okay education! No.. I don't really use my education much here in the Air Force.
It's unfortunate, but I've probably forgotten a lot of what I learned in my degree.
I am still interested in Med School down the road, and I'm hoping to apply for the
Health Care Administrator officer trade come April. It's more of the business side
of things, but it's a little closer to what I was learning before the military, and
I always enjoyed the healthcare field. I used to volunteer at a couple surgical
clinics, including an ER clinic, and an ICU on occasion. I mostly just kept
patients company and helped where I could in those ones, and I think I'd really
love to go back at some point. I was actually in the middle of an application for
volunteering at another here in Winnipeg, but I'm not sure if it'll still go ahead
since it seems to take a while before they get back to you for volunteer positions.
And since I work 8-4 on weekdays, it's probably hard to find one that would
accommodate my times.

There are helicopters in the military! Actually our military has more helicopters
than fixed wing airframes.

Oh Malazan... I remember talking to a friend about one scene in the series. For
hours. HOURS! I'm not going to subject you to that. At least not right now! I will
say... Fiddler is my spirit animal... Okay he's not an animal, but you know what I
mean!!

I really enjoyed Dune. I haven't gotten around to its sequels, but from what I
hear, Frank Herbert's sequels are also good, but that his son's weren't so much. I
haven't gotten around to Wheel of Time yet, but it is totally on my to read list.
That list is.... to long hahaha.

It's awesome finding another reader though!! I could cry haha. I don't have anyone
in my inner circle who reads much. You're like a unicorn as far as I'm concerned.
(attempt unicorn drawing) My favourite stand alone novel was Tigana by Guy Gavriel
Kay. It was the book that made me fall in love with reading, with the language and
writing itself. I thought it was so beautifully written. It's what made me realize
that writing can be more than just telling a story, but that the writing itself can
have a presence and an impact on the story being told. So evocative. I always like
recommending Ursula K Le Guin as well, especially to people who like sci-fi, or
those who don't, but like to read. I like recommending The Ones Who Walk Away From
Omelas as sort of a primer to her works. It's hopeful, yet painful. Disgusting, yet
beautiful. Thought provoking, yet leaves you speechless. You can find it for free
to read on google if you search it up. I'd love to hear what you think of it if you
haven't read it!

Do you have a favourite novel? I used to love swapping favourites with people who
have one. I remember swapping one with a friend I met in an online game. I told her
Malazan (a 10 vol series..) and she gave me The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls...
a 300 pg book. I almost felt bad, but she said she loved the series, so all's well
^_^

I like the Marvel movies, though I'd probably say Civil War was my favourite for
the recent ones (it's not even that recent now). The clash was interesting and I
thought spiced things up. The actor who plays Ant Man... hahaha I love that guy. In
like every role he plays he's always hilarious, ever since he played Phoebe's
boyfriend, Mike, in Friends way back. He's still that goofy guy in all of his roles
and I love it.
On TV right now... I'm sort of rewatching Grey's Anatomy. I swear this show can be
summed up with "Everyone has sex with each other. Drama ensues" It's one of those
things where... there isn't a single character I really like, but it's entertaining
enough to keep on in the background when I"m playing a video game, so if I turn
back I don't mind having missed chunks of the story (seen it already) and can jump
on the next drama that's going on in the show.

I remember that scene in Enemy At the Gates! Although the main thing I remember was
when that sniper dude snipes the first guy jumping across that chasm. What a
badass. Yeah awkward sex is awkward. Especially with parents. I actually read A
Song of Ice and Fire before watching Game of Thrones, which was an interesting
experience. I'm caught up on now and definitely looking forward to the final season
this year. It's so soon! And yeah, everyone in the military likes it, or at least
most seem to. I remember it was the first or second day of Basic Training, and it
happened to be the season finale of season 7. And we had one guy secretly download
the last episode, and we were all huddling together watching it in the dark after
hours. Yeah... lol. We really didn't need that having to wake up by 4:30-5 am for
PT most days.

I am relatively close to my parents, closer than I am with my brother in some ways.

But I do share somethings with him that I don't with them. I wouldn't say it's
complicated, but it's.. yeah. Haha there's no issues with them, though my dad can
sometimes be annoying. I'm not Indian, and well it's not quite right, but I have a
lot of Pakistani friends. My closest friend in the military is Pakistani, and the
girl I'm seeing is as well. I really like Indian food too though, love spicy food!
Haleem and Butter Chicken are some of my favourite dishes. My friend's family owns
a catering business, and his cooking is sooo delicious. We cooked a couple times so
I learned a couple of his recipes! You are right, a lot of indian dishes use
coconut milk, or butter. GHee is used often as well, but the main backbone of a lot
of dishes is Garam Masala. It's a mixture of spices that really gives that
signature Indian spice.

I think the breading you saw was probably Paratha. It's actually used in some
Malaysian dishes as well. It's kind of like a more oily-ish crispy Naan bread
that's thinner. It's usually flaky and super delicious to eat with certain curry
dishes. I'd always eat it in Singapore for a spicy breakfast! Your friend is
probably on to something! Because a lot of indian dishes are based around its
spices, their vegetarian dishes can be quite tasty as well.

YOu know.. I'd probably also never say it in public either, but as much as I love
animals (My youtube history of cat videos is... unhealthy) I also think it's
sometimes crazy that a lot of people seem to care more about the health of animals
over humans.

I'll be honest, I haven't been practicing my violin as much as I"d like lately, and
I"ve been playing more piano now. I'd really love to get back into it though with
lessons. It's kind of hard having so many interests and figuring out where you want
to put your time. But I really love the violin so I'll have to make some again!
Hmmm my SO! Well we've only just started going out so I wouldn't say that much, but
I feel like this one may work out. It's been really transparent and she seems very
open to different things despite not really having explored many hobbies (she's
pretty career oriented). I really liked that she's kind of no nonsense about what
she wanted in a relationship and a person. We met on a similar app to Tinder lol.
Aaaah it's hard to meet people >__> I actually hate those apps, and I'd started to
get really lazy with it lately *Sees 10+ likes, swipes right twice then quits* So
it was kind of nice talking to someone with a bit more substance. Actually, we
started talking on Valentines Day, which I thought was sort of funny. It's long
distance right now, so we mostly chat, and call a couple times a week. We were
looking into meeting half way, Edmonton or something in the next few months, but
still hammering out some details. I am pretty new to this though, like an actual
relationship. The past few years, I've mostly done short term dating just to have
an excuse to try something new, like seeing a museum, ice skating, or whatever.
So... We'll see how it goes. How did you meet Seth? He sounds sort of funny, asking
to include a crash to the head xD Oh right, and the library I went to in Melbourne
was the State Library Victoria.

Pathetique is really beautiful, very soothing. Oh wow... no joke! I'm sight reading
Arabesque no. 1 right now actually! I loovvveee that piece. It's one of my
favourites... Ravel and Debussy's works always seem to have such dream-like
qualities... Ugh.. I said that earlier to a friend, she was like "Wait for it! so
they're... DREAMMY!?" (I forgot if I've mentioned it, but when people say my name,
without the Arabic pronunciation, it sounds like dreamy... Yeah lol). I would love
to learn La Campanella but oh dear, some of the bars are just... bonkers. Have you
seen Yundi Li's youtube video of it? I probably saw it a dozen times by now over
the years.

Actually last year in late November, he came to Winnipeg for a piano recital. I
jumped on that!! haha. It was amazing. In his second half he played Chopin's Piano
Concerto no 1, it was incredible, it was breathtaking, everyone watching so
intensely! He did an encore of Nocturne op 9 no. 2. It was so beautiful, it felt
like the entire world was frozen, with him at the centre of it all, the only thing
that mattered for those few moments. Just him, the piano, and the music. A glimpse
taking you from reality to something else entirely.

Listening to Fire on Fire right now. It�s really nice, I like it! His voice reminds
me of another song on one of my playlists. Crossfire by Stephen. You can find it on
youtube! Hmm so you don�t scary shows then? I really like horror, but my favourite
genre is still probably comedy. Scrubs is probably my favourite western TV show.
What are your favourite shows? What�s your favourite movie?

I feel like I should get more into skincare, but I should probably work on my
health nutrition first. I started getting into swimming which has been fun, but I
know I�m not eating very healthy right now as I don�t have access to a kitchen, so
I�m mostly eating out (rent is quite cheap though on the plus side). Farah (the
girl I�m seeing) seems really health conscience so maybe it�ll rub off on me lol.

Hmm finally� I�m guessing I could maybe hold two� or three at most pigeons in my
arms� I�m sure they�d escape though soon enough.. You know I could probably ramble
for another hour or two, but this letter will probably get TOO long then. So I�ll
end it here. Hopefully it still makes up for the late response!!

Darimi

P.S. OH, Obviously I'm sure you�ve noticed now. This wasn�t just a letter. I
thought to make up for the late response, I�d carry on my tradition of book
exchanging! (Yes, I�m throwing it to you to mail me your favourite book!) and a
picture of my new laptop screen with the stickers. I was meaning to cover up the
awful logo for this laptop, and those stickers were perfect for the occasion :)

P.P.S.

I just remembered. I�m not sure if it will matter this month, but in April, I�ll be
in the Arctic for a military operation (it�s called Operation BOXTOP) so I probably
won�t be able to send you anything during that month! I can definitely send you
something after though! Maybe a bit of what I end up doing there lol.