Revolving Around Us

200 voucher - what do I think?

2012-01-23T10:21:00.000-08:00

Back with some more serious post this time.

So, Najib's RM200 textbook voucher has sparked quite a bit of news among teenagers in the country. Especially since this picture appeared on 9gag.

Primarily, there are 3 types of people in this scenario.

2 of them, we are more than familiar. The partisan, narrowed minded people, which I happen to encounter a lot. These 2 groups are those highly in favor or highly disfavor this move, but simply because of their fixed political opinion. I will explain later about people with this mindset.

The third group are those who favor/disfavor this act based on personal opinion/principles and judge this move solely on its repercussions instead of the political background of the proposal.

First. let me explain why the opinion of the first 2 groups are invalid. It will be pretty obvious if I give an example.

Say we switch Najib's face in the picture with Anwar, those people would switch side. Period. That my friend, is why they are not important. The partisan nature of these extremist lead them to being stupid. Ask any UMNO members and they would agree with this proposal. Ask those in PKR or DAP, they would give you reasons not to. Some of them might have a point (they belong to group 3), but most will bullshit their way through because in their mind BN is always right/wrong. Set and fixed, nothing you can do to change their mind.

In an election, this are the people that the government and opposition disregard. Because they are so stubborn to a point of being stupid, they no longer vote based on policy, they vote based on party. On the other hand, group 3 is the 1 that all politicians (smart ones at least) like and care most.

Because these people doesn't have extreme views on parties, rather on policies. So, its fair game. You win them by proposing smart, ingenious ideas. These are the people who care about the country in general. And I mean this in a comprehensive way. I mean, these people want the best for all race, and is deciding based on the country's interest, and not a specific race, religion or political coalition.

Which is why, the first 2 groups are just not engage-able.

Moving on to the group 3 people.

This is where it gets interesting because both sides have valid arguments. Many support this (me) because I think students really can use an extra RM200 for books. It will ensure at least that students can afford books. And also reduce the culture of photostatting books which we all know is wrong but do it anyway. Also, it will encourage universities to look at books not just based on price but on quality of the material because they now know that students are able to afford it.

The other side of the argument always involves the fact that the money belongs to the tax-payers and credit should not be given to BN for doing this, and they think that this RM200 is more of a "sweet gift" to gain votes etc. To that I say fuck off.

Why? Because like I said, we should be basing our decisions on the country's interest. Saying that this RM200 vouchers are only to buy him votes is assuming that the general public is stupid and ignorant and vote based on these kind of benefits.

On many levels, it is true. Our politicians do say stupid things like "Kalau awak undi saya, saya bagi RM xxx juta untuk bina sekolah/ jambatan/ etc" and "Hari ini jadi PM, esok turun harga minyak".

That is the sad undeniable truth in our country because of the lack of awareness.

But, we cannot disregard the fact that the people getting the money are university students who (despite their reputation of being immature and in general not quite prepared to think) are the so-called educated bunch in the country.

Instead of directing the voices of the country to yell at the "sweet act" from the government, we should be directing our voices to educate these "educated bunch" so that they can learn how to think, judge and decide.

Besides, that is the whole purpose of democracy. So that people vote on what they think is the best. And the only way they can is by being well-informed, not be yelled with political hates.

So. its been long and mostly boring, but the point is, whenever the people are benefiting from an action, it should be encouraged regardless of any "side" interest that the politicians might have. Instead, people should be educated so that they can recognize these common cliche.

Else, we are just going to yell at the government for not doing anything right and for doing things right.

Happy CNY

2012-01-21T13:51:00.000-08:00

CNY away, again. Not exactly the most ideal, but oh well.

Anyway, great start so far. Schedule's technically 8.30 to 11pm including work, almost everyday. Which is okay I guess. Last sem wasn't so great, and I thought it would be convenient to blame it on work. Guess what, I took up more shifts. Yea, cause I am not running away. To top that, with a super tedious chem lab part of the semester, I also take more classes than last semester.

So, in short, after failing to juggle work and class, I decided to take more classes and more work shifts. Heck, I even took up teaching chemistry instead of computer science although I am less comfortable with chem. Well, this I have no choice cause apparently a lot of chemistry tutors graduated or went study abroad.

It might sound a little stupid, but I am stupid like that.

And so far, its been ok.

Oh ya, back to CNY. Yea, not so fun here without family. Come to think of it, its only 2 years, but I felt like its been so so long. Really missed celebrating CNY.

Which reminds me, I just saw the video of Obama wishing people happy lunar new year, which is kind of him, but it also reminded me of how cool the politicians in Malaysia are. They would actually learn how to wish in Chinese just to wish the chinese gong xi fa cai, although not many pronouns it right. But at least they took the effort to learn it.

I know haters will be haters. And I don't want to see "They do that to kiss your ass" comment because it doesn't matter. If they are willing to do something to make me happy, then why shouldn't I let them do it? It doesn't mean I must kiss them back, I can just accept it and ignore it. So, when someone is doing something good for you, even if its something that you know has a prawn behind the stone (udang di sebalik batu)- which means that they have a different or malicious intention - just accept it.

Lastly, please be safe on the road. We all know PLUS can get very stupid, jammed, crowded during festive seasons, but its better safe than dead.

Happy Chinese New Year and may the year of dragon bring you good health and prosperity.

Ice Ice Baby....

2012-01-14T18:44:00.000-08:00

Why the title?

Because of 3 reasons.

1: It's finally snowing! Yea? No. No yea. Bad. Boo. Cold, slush, boo.

2: Ice skating!!! Went for the second time this winter and I'm feeling it. Feeling comfortable on ice.

3: SNOWBOARDING!!!! So cool. And this is the great part. I have no idea why, but I just feel like numbering everything.

So here's the story.

1 - I reached there. Mentally prepared to freaking snowboard.

2 - Aim for speed speed speed at the beginner's slope. First try, nailed it. Walking up like a boss.

3 - "Hey, Nik, you know what. I'm ready. Let's go up to the cable car and hit the slopes."

4 - Speed is the last thing I need up there. Shoot down fast as hell. Couldn't steer, could't slow down, couldn't stop.

5 - Got up like a loser. Head's down. Head back to the beginner's slope.

6 - Learn it. head back up. Finish it like a boss.

So in conclusion. Great night. Summary?

1. Fell down shit loads of times.

2. Crashed into 3 girls in total. Not sure whether its on purpose. But it happened. All of them so graceful. None of them injured.

3. Will I go back? Yes definitely. Awesome-mest thing ever.

My trip to DC - summarized by pictures

2012-01-04T12:49:00.000-08:00

Fitting this much into

This bag

Finally fitted all into this :D

Up up and away

Buddha bar - nice....

And DC is not all that modern everywhere

Nice frame huh

Chinese!

Words that I don't understand

More of those

I don't know what the Chinese characters say, but I have a hell load of dirty joke for this.

And this pair of shoes lying just outside the building is not helping...

I can make breakfast way better than this cafe.. $10 for sucky breakfast.

Temple-looking restaurant

Chinatown!!!

Real fire burning up there

Nando's! IT sucks there by the way.

More newspapers

Familiar grills

Yes, this is the FBI hq, cool huh..

My best meal in DC.. Homemade noodles, wonton and roasted duck... Delicioussss

Albert Einstein says ...

Longest escalator I've ever been on. Timed it. Took me exactly 2 minutes.

Horses having fun.

Hey Panda, do some kung-fu

OMG he's gonna eat me..

That 2 peacocks are huge... ALmost as tall as I..

Dozens of flamingoes...

This bird is huge.... Like huge huge...

These are the names of..

Panda!

Everyday I'm shuffling

Can you spot the orang-utan? ANd NO! it's not the 1 holding the camera...

Photogenic chameleon. The keeper actually opens up the glass door for me. :D

Unlike in Taiping Zoo, the tiger actually moves around.

Giant ant eater... LIke a bear

King of the jungle

With his bitches

I'm coming up...

Coming soon...

Coming real soon

Almost there....

Just a little more

Here I'm...

But not for you my king, Want some lesbo action now..

Argh crap.... Y u no like me...

The elephant step...

Skulls...

This is fake..duh

So is this...

Don't ask Najib.. I'm sure he doesn't know...

Obviously we should have stayed there...

Saw a lot of drummers around the street, but this guy is good... This guy is so good he got spare change out of a chinese. That's how good he is...

Car

With a lot of eyes

And one piece is REAL!

Old car....

Not so old car

Luxury from the past

I would name this car "BRA"... The awesome moment when you see it...

That's life as a slave...

Washington monument.

Beautiful... beautiful..

And a plane and a kite...

And my favorite book....

Yeah, bout this...

Looks like this.. Not f##king appetizing...

And that is how you spell Starbucks in Chinese.

That wood is made from the scrap wood from the previous building that was standing here.

Duh....

Lots and lots of planessssss

Some cute kid...

What did I do?

Awesome dogs....

Plane crashing....

So close...

Missed it....

That police officer is FIERCE..As I was taking this picture, she is scolding the guy un the truck.. And oh year, she's riding a horse...

Out of focus there. Was suppose to "accidentally" take the picture of the girl, but it focused on the tower... Oh well, I tried...

Bizarre

Found you.... This is all because of "Night in the museum"...

And it was suppose to be a long lake which freezes and you can skate on, but sadly, reconstruction....

White house... Where the president stays...

...behind bars

THe North lawn

As I said, behind bars...

Still, its a nice prison to stay in....

Those two guys, not so happy when I take their picture....Bite me....

recently

2011-12-27T15:11:00.000-08:00

Visiting DC in 2 days. First time planning my own trip for 4 days alone..... Kinda scary, but hopefully my lack of sense of direction wouldn't fuck me up that badly. Can't wait to finally see the whitehouse, spy museum, smithsonian museums (totally because of night at the museum) and J Edgar Hoover -for those who don't know, it is the motherfucking hq of FBI!. So, yeah, it's gonna be pretty cool. Hopefully find something nice to try at chinatown- lizards or squirrels or something.

Well, last I read the hostel doesn't have hot water. Its winter. So, either they get it fixed by the time I reach there, or I will be freezing my balls off. Which is ok I guess. Not like I'm gonna bitch about it - which is apparently what I am doing now.

Couple of shots that I took recently. Enjoy.

garage band + me = bad things

2011-12-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

After owning a Mac for about 3 months now, I finally tried out garage band and unsurprisingly laughed my ass off when I listened to my own voice (noise). But hey, at least now I know it was a right decision to not go into singing.

But, being the self-obsessed me, this wouldn't be the last of me and garage band. Its called garage band for a reason. It's for losers like me to sound okay-ish. And so I will. Hopefully a little training and auto tune and some youtube help video, I can make something that wouldn't cause my own ear to bleed.

Till then, 1 more paper and winter.

9gag

2011-12-12T21:40:00.001-08:00

best place to waste time. 9gag.

Definition of Relationship Status

2011-12-06T08:16:00.001-08:00

This is what it means.

In a relationship with girl/guy named .... : Taken, not looking for any, if you have any hopes, bury it somewhere.

In a relationship: Taken, Proud to be in a relationship but not proud of my partner. Try hard enough, maybe you'll get something.

In an open relationship: Dating my safety net. Prove to me you're better and you're on.

Confused: Emotionally vulnerable. In need of attention. Waiting for you to give some response.

Single: Partying like a rockstar. Available and enrolled in the hunting season.

: shut the fuck up. Not looking, not available, don't give a fuck of what you think. (probably a gamer/nerd)

PLKN not = jackpot

2011-11-30T07:38:00.001-08:00

You kena ar?

It sounds like TOTO. What do you mean "you kena ar?". You ask that question when you see a 4digit number on TV and ask your gambler friend, "oi, lu uu tio oh?" ( translate: lu kena ar? or did you get it?).

That's how you use "you kena ar".

Not a good reference to PLKN. Or is it?

In general, people hates getting selected for NS. Well, then I shouldn't even use the word "selected". Maybe something like "lar yeh" (in cantonese) which is so hard to translate I don't even want to try.

To be honest, I am glad I didn't "kena" NS, so did all my siblings, (in your face). Which is fine because if we do, we will rock it so hard. We are gonna have fun, meet friends, be great friends and do things that we will remember for a very long time.

To those who hate getting picked for NS, here's something you might want to know.

Firstly, reflect. Like seriously, stand in front of the mirror and ask yourself. What the fuck are you whining about?

The whole reason why you get picked for NS is because of this 1 reason. YOU ARE A WHINER. Proof? You are whining aren't you.

The whole purpose of this damn thing is (and I don't give a shit about what the PLKN people officially say about the objective) to provide you with an opportunity to change and rethink about what you want in life and how you want to live it. Change your perspective about the world and take more into consideration. In simple term, it is to MAN YOU THE FUCK UP. compendes?

So here we are. You whinny little bitch should go there and have a fun time. Meet people like me there. Change your live. And go be a racist. It's healthy. Be a great racist. To do that, you have to go know the races. Don't mix with chinese and hate malays. It sucks to be you because you have no idea what you are hating.

Be like me. Mix with everyone and be opinionated about everyone. As of now, I hate super duper chinese chinese (and I don't mean the cool ones like myself, but the selfish chinese-centered ones), I hate Malays who try so hard to be something they are not, I hate Indians who go crazy acting macho drinking cat piss.

The greatest part of all that? My best friends are chinese indians and malays. no kidding.

Have no idea what I'm talking about? Go mix around in your NS camp. Go see how Malays try to curi-curi smoke and chinese try to curi-curi call their friends or something. Go make friends and see the world.

You are going to have such a great time there. Most importantly, you are going to have such great stories to share. I don't cause I'm way too good to be there. But you little whiner, you can have what I did not.

Are you from Singapore?

2011-11-22T15:28:00.001-08:00

Pretty Girl(PG) : Hi.

CL: Hi.

PG: .

CL: (mute laptop). .

PG: Are you from Singapore?

CL:

Hi. That's the only thing she needs to assume that I'm from Singapore. Haha. Ok, maybe I exaggerated. Firstly, maybe I said more than "Hi" (and secondly, pretty might be a little bit hopeful on my part). If she is she wouldn't be talking to a shoeless guy behind a desk listening to MJ coding like a nerd.

But it happen so often that it sucks. I mean, being a Singaporean might not suck (or will it?), but if you take the population of Sg and divide it by the population of Msia and multiply by 100%, you'll realize that you have more chance meeting a Malaysian than a Singaporean. So why guess Singaporean?

But then again, I'm in CMU. 2 facts. 1: Malaysians are too cool to be here. 2: Malaysians are not kiasu enough to be here.

Ok, maybe you'll more likely to meet a Singaporean than a Malaysian here, but still, come on, what does my physical features say?

Lean muscles. Sexy posture. Good look ( <- this is an understatement, but humility is important sometimes). Charming smile. Seductive eye. (OK, I might have just describe a girl every guy wants to be with). But, How could I be from Singapore?

Here's why.

I don't consider chess a sport.
Pool is not a sport too, neither is dancing, singing or movie marathon.
Olympics is held once in 4 years which involves real people doing real competition. Math just ain't part if it.
Citizenship = born and raised. It's not something you give to talented people born somewhere else whom you want to represent your country.
Parents should encourage kids to study and shit, but definitely not determine what they do every minute of their life.
School's reputation is not just the number of A's, but also significant stuffs like student's attitude, personal development, sportsmanship, intellectual and emotional development.

OK no mood liao. Oh ya, 7. Manglish and Singlish is not a language. Don't make it 1.

That's all. chiaoz.

South Park

2011-11-19T08:39:00.001-08:00

Been watching a lot of South Park lately. I knew the show was vulgar, but never really put much thought into it. All this while I've been thinking that it make's a stupid little show to highlight Eric's messed-up-ness.

Today I realized something. I got a feeling, whether intended or not, that the fucked-up-ness of Eric Cartmen actually did some good. He seemed to me like an exaggeration of real-life ass holes.

All the show did was take some typical douchey behavior, exaggerate it so that it can a point. What point? To show real life douches that they suck. Unless they think that Eric is cool, then in that case, to show them how halved-ass they are. Not decent enough to be a regular chad and not bad ass enough to be a bad ass. Obviously the latter is worse. Why? I mean it sucks to suck at sucking right.

Yeah, this is to all the bullies out there who think so highly of themselves. It'd be more dramatic if I'm actually bullied or something so that I can inject some realness and maybe gain some sympathy. Sadly, I don't have any such stories to share. Which is exactly why douches and bullies need to step it up and go against someone their own size.

Never thought that a silly little show like this could provoke me to think this much. Haven't really been thinking as much as I used to lately. Think I've turned into a CMU droid that I so adamantly refused to become. Spring semester hasn't even started and I am already too ball-less to go for volleyball tryout. I actually can't believe that I'm quitting the team. It's probably the only thing to keep me sane. But I found other joy. More subtle things to keep me in check. Messing around with my camera seems like fun. Well, it's something that I don't need 11 people to do with anyway.

Anyway, Fall sem is coming to an end. Not exactly my best semester here, but hoping to wrap it up smoothly.

Then I will have 1 month of winter to reboot. Some random shots just for fun.

Midsem Break in NYC

2011-10-25T22:30:00.000-07:00

Went to NYC. Hooray... First outing with my new cam.. Hooray! Took so many photos that I haven't had time to look through all of them to choose which to edit... But here are some raw pic..

Was a fun trip. Glad I made that trip although kinda regretted it cause so much work needs to be done. But what the hell...

Thanks to Nik who also brought his cam there, we both get to be in pictures, which is nice since the one having the camera usually never get his pic taken.

So, advice for future travel plans - bring another friend with a camera.

The camera worked really well. Learned loads of stuffs just in 3 days. Although obviously the pics here are taken by Nik and not me.

Wil upload the pics I take on my tumblr at cl-at-us.tumblr.com as soon as I edited them.

calculator

2011-10-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

Furious that I lose my calculator. What the heck...

Then found it in the place I spent a lot of time at, but never thought that I lose it there. In the AD office... How unlikely.

But I am glad that I found it back. It brings back memories. That's the calculator that cost RM10 or something more expensive than a regular 570ES. I hesitated because I wonder if the newer version is really worth it, but my mom bought it without hesitation. Only the best for my studies.

2 years later it helped me through SPM, 2 years later through pre-U, 2 years later now, still working hard for me.

Also flashed back on the cool stuff Nik taught me about it. Which made it even more helpful. Which was the reason I got bad at Math since I rely to heavily on it, but it gets things done.

So what the hell. I am glad it's with me now.

short update

2011-09-23T12:38:00.000-07:00

Hi people. Lama sangat tak jumpa.

Been busy settling down in new apartment. Didn't know moving out of campus could be so much more work. But I'm loving it I guess. Nothing much recently except I am really enjoying this semester's classes. Seem good. Though it's tougher, but it's only natural that things get tougher right.

Wouldn't wanna get stuck at freshman right.

Some exciting news on the way. Once the set up and built is done I will reveal it. It's nothing big/great but it's definitely something new for me. So, wait for some more great pics and news :D

Not quite right at BWF World Championship

2011-08-14T09:40:00.000-07:00

So many misunderstandings and anomalies in the recently concluded Yonex BWF World Championship.

Firstly and most significantly: Someone obviously told China the wrong things. Instead of a badminton tournament, they must have thought that it's a sweeping tournament. Why else would they sapu everything otherwise...

2. God is unfair. It it wrong to treat people unjustly. It's 1 thing if you are pretty and another if you are good and sporty. But it doesn't seem quite fair if you are so damn pretty cute and so damn good at sports at the same time. I am referring to Wang Yihan. Young badminton talent who can easily decides to do modelling instead.

3. Same match. Taiwan's tai ka che (big sister). I mean come on... If I am a young, naive little girl, I would turn lesbian for a macho gansta girl like that. While Yihan's stare melt me, this Taiwanese lad's stare will bring me to my knees- for fear.

4. What is Lin Dan so happy about? Yea, it's World Championship and all, but I thought he already has a couple of this title already. And Chong Wei barely made it to the finals. His first. And you left him a WC virgin. You know how nice your first was. Let him have one won't you? LD is probably so happy because CW is so determined to get this one and since he's in his top form. Taking someone at his best is always satisfying, I guess...

5. Why are men so much weaker in the mixed doubles? China and Scotland alike. The men (who -not by my definition- are supposed to be the powerhouse) is the "lubuk" (prey). Scotland's Bankier is so much more lively and powerful as compared to the Cock, I mean adCock.

6. Did they present a big wine bottle instead of the traditional big ass trophy and mock check?

7. Ashraf (spelling tak pasti-lah) who recently became an international attention after being helped and robbed by the same mob is present there. I thought he was supposed to get some jaw operation or something. Well, I guess this is good rehabilitation for him. After the mental distress of being rob by these white folks, let's put him in a confined stadium, in the middle of enthusiastic white crowd. You know, to face the fear.

8. Do you realize that I skipped from 2 to 4 and did not put 3?

9. Did you just scrolled up to check? Just kidding. It is numbered correctly.

10. China's national anthem is played 5 times. Phrased differently: All the 5 times when they play the national anthem, it is China's. Another indication of the Thomas/Uber Cup next year.

Good News Streak

2011-08-08T21:22:00.001-07:00

Yeah LCW wins the first game, though sluggishly. Told you 8/8 was a lucky day.

A few things got settled. I finally had the motivation to go online and spend like 5 minutes to pay TK for my phone bills. Later is finally here.

Checked my schedule and stuff. Filled some insurance stuff which I hope I never have to resort to.

Still searching for furniture, but the price of what I see now is well under budget plus many do offer delivery. Awesome.

Did something that I should have done 3 months ago. Which is to go find out how to get a replacement card. Had I done that in May, I wouldn't have to be worried for so long. Realized that it's only 1 phone call and my card is ready in 24 hours. Since I arrive on Friday, if I make the call on Wednesday before I leave Tpg, I will be able to collect my card, activate it and life's good.

Streamyx sucks for these past days. Have been heavily relying on my p1 wimax, which I will terminate when I get the bill this month.

Finalize a few more stuffs and I'm good to go. Wonder when's the next time I'll be back.... Anyway, summer has been good. Done all the relaxing and stuff. Hope this next semester is gonna be much better than the last 1.

8/8

2011-08-08T01:20:00.000-07:00

Something should be up today. It's 8/8 ... Double 8 is auspicious. So I thought something should be up here.

First day of World Championship today, if I am not mistaken. Good luck to Chong Wei and the rest. Am reserving this weekend to see your finals so you better buck up.

Tu je lah... Selamat berpuasa...

Not so much fasting as to feasting

2011-08-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

Ramadhan is here. I've said this like a million times but I'll say it again. We Malaysian are so privileged to be staying in a somewhat multiracial country despite the fucked up political scenes. For 1, people of different races get to enjoy stuff from different races. And not just in the Barney Stinson's hamsap kind of way.

I never really got into Ramadhan mood until I was in Uniten with a bunch of crazy guys. While people are trying really hard in KL to avoid jams, we, on this sacred month go look for jam. Because we believe that where there's a crowd, queue, commotion and lots of cars, there will be good food.

And there I was, Cina exposed to the beauty of pasar ramadhan that I've only seen on TV. A year later, Ramadahn is in US, which sucks because you won't be able to find roti jon or ayam percik or air tebu or anything.

To be honest, despite how racist people are, I think they just can't live without each other. Especially when they grew up tasting the wonders of Indian-Malay-Chinese fusion cuisine. You can hate the people all you want, but you aren't gonna be able to hate the food.

So, let us all enjoy this fasting month by feasting our ass off. After maghrib anyway, since all the bazaar ramadhan only open like hours before buka puasa.

Fond memories of buka puasa with 2 chinese and 4 malays. It doesn't matter that the other 4 malays fasted for a day, we all ate like we all fasted for a day. And on that note, Selamat berbuka puasa to all umat Islam and to all other races who love the food just as much.

Penang weekend

2011-08-01T06:45:00.000-07:00

Babies are cute. Just that.

Met with Jessy (not sure if I spelled-it-right). Super adorable cousy. She's 2, she's off diapers already, she's not using pacifier already, and she's so cute.

Her elder bro, Anson, only 5 and damn smart. And cute.

And another cousin, 7 years old. So clever le. I don't even know her name. Call her jie jie only. I was thinking back when I was 7 and wondering whether I'm this good. I am guessing not. Kids really are smarter this days. When I was her age, I think I was busy worrying about toys and cartoons and stuff.

Anyway it's an awesome trip with my mom there.

Main-main bola...

2011-07-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

Memalukan... OK. Those who play with the green lasers think you so smart lah wanna go kacau ppl's goal keeper? Last week jeer at an Iranian, today shoot laser. Dude. Respectlah football. Nak buat benda bodoh, pi lah tempat lain...

Malaysian defender cam biasa. Tiba-tiba tertidur.. WTF?

And Singapore. No comments. I think we lose to China today cause I don't see many Singaporeans around.

OK-lah so we lose 6-4 to China who borrowed some Singaporeans. Wait? The other way round ah? It's hard to blame people for being confused when Chinese players are dominating the game instead of Singaporeans- who I guess are busy doing Math in some kiasu place lah...

Delay-delay time. Real professional huh.. But ok, never mind. Sini sakit sana sakit. You guys footballers or part time models har? All trying to dive and act like Cristiano Ronaldo...

Woah. That's some intense hatred. All in all, I hated the game because of a lot of stuffs.

Worms who mass bought the tickets and sell it at a much higher price.
Poor poor defending.
Injury infested players. Can't blame them. They have to play against top EPL teams and then this. Even world class players can't stand this lah... that's why it is the management that has to be blamed.
Inexperienced. I think a few of the players which I can't remember the names are very inexperienced and did some pretty dumb things on the pitch.
Delay. Referee tried very hard to stop the Singaporeans team from doing it, but they keep rolling on the floor. In my opinions. pussies might as well stay at home and drink milk lah not represent a national sports team.

That said, I am very proud of Malaysian's goal keeper who did very well and stopped some very hard shots. Some might be luck, but as they say, luck is when preparation meets opportunity. So kudos to his preparations.

Also I think the referee did super well today trying to balance things out. While some decisions are biased toward Malaysia, he maintained his professionalism and did some very accurate and hard calls. Good job.

And how can I forget the coach Datuk K. Rajagopal who did very well today. I still admire him for all he has done.

Players that fare well today includes Safie who scored and did pretty much nothing else, Amirul Hadi whose runs has always been great, Gurusamy who did much better than the guy he subs for, and of course Gunalan who beats the crap out of the defenders.. And the keeper of coz.. OK, defender sucks, but Aidil kinda did well until he is sub out for injury and that botak is so mentah and like baru belajar main bola only....

And congrats to the china team, especially the fat dude who played really well.

Sissy keeper, I hope his balls are fine after the 2 serious collisions. Oh wait, he doesn't have to worry bout that, does he?

Reset

2011-07-26T05:07:00.000-07:00

We can't always hit the reset button in life. But once in a while we kinda re-prioritize. Things that we once held dear, that we thought we couldn't live without, on a second thought, we might be able to do without. I guess, that's change, or growing, whichever you prefer.

I hit the reset button today. Not because I want to, but because I'm forced to. I reformatted my laptop. And lose tonnes (or is it billions of bytes?) of stuff. I backed up some really important stuff, (and thank you E-Dot for doing it for free entirely) and reformatted it myself. Being the lame IT-challenged kid, I of course take longer than usual. In fact, I'm still in the process of setting it up.

I was very worried at first that I might have deleted some really important information together with it, but on a second thought, I wanna see how I react if I do realize that something important is missing. I am sure I will encounter this sometime in live, and it's better to face it now and learn how to deal with it.

On a different level, it is also especially wonderful to be able to finally reorganize the lappy as I want it. I haven't been cleaning up the temp files, putting things in the place it should be, bla bla bla. All the things I said I am gonna do when I get a new lappy, I can finally do now. Kinda a new lappy I guess. And I bet it's gonna run much faster now that all the nonsense is gone.

No rushing it. Slowly update stuff, download the things that I need, make sure everything is placed in order, etc.

I guess after usapps, this is a good time to hit the reset button. usapps has been kind to me. I am glad I met all the cool people I met there, facis and participants and all the guests involved. I hope for the best for all the participants there. It really made me feel like applying to US all over again. It was a time where I was probably on my all time morale-low. I regretted not doing a lot of stuff that I could have done. Like studying more for SATs, apply to big names like MIT and Standford and not be lazy to venture beyond common app schools. I truly regretted not risking it all. But at that point, an admission to any school would suffice. I guess, regretted not being ambitious enough.

Realizing that made me sad. Which was why I said that this was a good reset point. Sort of a good time to lay things out again. See what my options are, what's at stake, and try to be a little risk neutral this time around. Time to increase my stake a little.

On a less serious tone, I am glad that Naruto was out last week after one week of no-release. Glad that it's out, sad that it's more like a filler. More drag than important story line. Oh well, it made my day nonetheless.

Back to setting up my stuff...

A chance not to be missed

2011-07-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

A world renowned counselor who has helped hundreds maybe thousands into Ivies and top universities in the world. Harvard, Yale and MIT interviewers. Educational and academic counselors who have helped thousands get into their dream school. Dozens of Malaysians students just like you who made it into their dream universities, the best universities.

What are the chances that you can get them all together, voluntarily giving you opinions and guides and answer your questions about studying abroad, specifically in the USA?

USAPPS 2-day Klang Valley workshop (more details here: http://usapps2011.wordpress.com/) brought together all these professionals to help you undertake your first step into your dream universities. With facilitators from the best business school, the best engineering school, the best arts school, not just in the USA, but in the whole world, this is certainly a chance not to be missed.

Gain insights on studying in the USA. Grab this opportunity to meet, sembang, and ask about everything from how to get there, and how to finance your 4 years education there.

Learn about all the scholarship opportunities and meet with real Malaysian scholarship holders from JPA, Bank Negara, Mara, Amchan-Macee, Sime Darby, Petronas and much much more. Know what's available and how to grab them.

Listen to what parents of these kids have to say about sending their children to the US.

Listen to the crazy whacky fun experience current students have to share about living in the US.

If you're interested, then follow a step by step guide in preparing to apply to study in the US. A comprehensive guide from university's application, to writing your essay, resume, etc.

It's only RM10 for parents (July 23rd 2pm-6pm) and RM2o for students(23rd and 24th July 9am-6pm). It's free for teachers and counselors.

Why are most of the universities in the top 20 universities in the world are US universities? What's so special? What can you gain? And more importantly, how can it help you secure not only a place in your dream school, but help kickstart your dream career?

I don't know how else to stress how crazy this opportunity is, but bear in mind that everyone involved are doing this voluntarily and not even 1 cent goes into their pocket. The registration fees are only to cover for administrative, overhead and miscellaneous cost of running the event.

All I can say is that people are willing to pay big time to invite these renowned counselors and interviewers just to listen to their advice. Now you can have a golden opportunity to not only listen but to ask them questions.

How to Get Two Different Price for the Same Number of Items.

2011-07-14T06:49:00.000-07:00

So, how can you get two different price for the same amount of items from the same shop who place the same per unit price of the item?

If 3 packets of oranges cost RM21, how much is 7 packets of oranges?

Wrong. It is not RM49. It is RM48.90.

If 3 packets of apples cost RM 18.60 why do 7 packets cost RM 43.50.

I used to think that people who put a price on items are idiots.

Since the government announced the "cent rounding" concept, I have always wondered why people still use prices like RM0.99, RM5.21. Obviously the former will be rounded to RM1 and later to RM5.20. That's why I used to think that they are stupid.

But the above examples explain why items are priced in such a way. It also explains why you often see more RM X.99 rather than RM X.01.

The price for 1 packet of orange is RM 6.99. It is to encourage you to buy more. It is 1 simple way to say that you'll get a 10 cent discount if you buy between 6 and 9 packets.

The price of a packet of apple is 6.21. You seldom see such a price because it discourage you from buying more than 5 packets. It meant that you'll have to pay 10 cent more if you but more than 5.

And now you will all be wondering. It's only 10 cent ma... Ya it's only 10 cent... but think of it this way.

If you want to buy 6 packets of apples. It is cheaper to buy 2 of 3 packets of apples.

That's how you get two different price for the same number of items priced at the same per unit price.

USAPPS Penang Half day

2011-07-10T05:24:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Jason, Hobart and the rest of the team who made USAPPS Penang half day a great success. I would say that the response is good.

Congratulations to all the students there who made an effort. I especially admire the parents who were present.

With so many concerned parents around, I think the atmosphere will look great for the Klang Valley 2-day workshop.

Hope to see more Malaysians making there mark in the States.

For the rest who have yet to sign up, do visit http://usapps2011.wordpress.com/ to find out more on this great opportunity and register online to secure a place.

I am told that the venue sponsor, Taylor's College has been generous and helpful. Thanks to them. So, take this opportunity to learn more about studying in US.

Rally against rally

2011-07-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

Bersih rally? Nak Bersih tak yah lah rally.....

Bersih wants to protests without permit. -> Perkasa disagrees with the rally by joining in a permit-less rally.

-> Other parties join in.

What's the idea?

We can correct wrong doings by joining in the wrong doings.

iBRAhim Ali says Perkasa joins because they do not want the world to think that SPR is unclean and to show thw world that Bersih's ideas and perception is not representative of the whole Malaysians.

Makes sense. But if their corresponding action is rallying, then what are they themselves?

So, to proof that a street gang is not ruling a place, Perkasa will street fight the street gang to show that samseng don't rule.

I am starting to like Perkasa. Beastly manliness. Otot besar otak kecil.

3 Idiots?

2011-06-14T06:03:00.000-07:00

Berkulat. That's exactly what this blog is now. Doesn't help when you have nothing much to blog about. A lot of stuffs but nothing nice in particular to blog about.

Bersih is gonna hold a rally. Hurray. Perkasa is gonna have a "pertembungan" with them. Hurray. When idiots vs idiots.

But wait.... Bersih applied for a permit to hold the rally. Has Perkasa applied for a permit to confront them?

Perkasa's chairman Ibrahim Ali was quoted saying that Perkasa will be against it. The word that caught my attention was "akan ada pertembungan". Perkasa in a news interview is audacious enough to mention that they will be confronting Bersih, on purpose. Perkasa said it's for the best of the people, because people wouldn't want a confrontation or a rally.

But wait, isn't Perkasa the 1 that always hold rallies too? But that's peaceful? Hmph....

Since a public statement was made, this makes thing so much easier for the police, doesn't it?

If Bersih was not permitted to hold the rally, Bersih should be hold accountable.

If Perkasa confronts them regardless of whether they are permitted, Ibrahim Ali is hold responsible. Because confronting illegal rally is PDRM's job, not his.

If Bersih is allowed to rally but is confronted, then Bersih should also be hold accountable for causing trouble.

If Perkasa is given permission to hold a rally in the same place, on the same day, then the Police should be hold accountable for being stupid, ignorant and be registered as the third idiot in the picture.

In any case, Perkasa as a private organization, which basically should not have any authority more than that of other organization, should not interfere physically. They can lodge a police report if the rally is illegal, or if it causes any damage to them in any way, but to be so brave and announce that they will confront them, shows us quite a lot.

It at least shows us that elites are bigger than the law. I stand corrected. If only PDRM proves me wrong and do something right. Well, something lawful at least.

I seem to be siding Bersih, but sorry Bersih, rally for political purpose is not my kinda thing. I would have honored a cancer rally, but if you think that a rally is the answer, then anyone can rally and ask the government to do anything.... That is why you are also an idiot in the picture.

No reason to be jobless....

2011-06-02T21:23:00.000-07:00

Do you want a job that pays RM900 a month, working 7 days a week, 10 hours a day with 1 day off in a month? Other benefits include free meals and accommodation.

In your opinion, is this a great offer or a sucky offer? On one hand you are only getting RM900 a month. That's considered little as compared to many other jobs. On the other hand, you don't have to pay for food and accommodation. Assuming you spend RM5 per meal, 2 meals a day, that would cost you RM300 on food and assuming you get a superb deal and spend RM300 on accommodation a month, it would meant that the total you spend on food and accommodation would be RM600 a month. So, that job offer is actually RM 1500 a month.

For a small town like Taiping, that is a great offer. Instead of earning RM1200 a month and spending RM600, saving RM600, you can save RM900 every month. Of course you have to work 7 days a week. From one perspective, it means you have to work more and have little to no leisure time. From a different perspective it meant less chance to spend and waste money on unnecessary stuffs.

Sounds good? Now, here's the catch. You can't get the job. You'll never want the job. In fact, you'll never be offered the job, because you're lazy, incompetent and demanding. The job that I'm talking about is working as a waiter/waitress for a hotel's restaurant. And the job is offered to Filipino. Who are limited in Malay and Chinese. With only some decent English and hardworking attitude.

That job offer which could be a job taken by a Malaysian who can speak at least 2 to 3 languages and has better understanding of the culture in the country is offered to a foreigner for 1 reason. Fucking Malaysians are fucking lazy.

If you are jobless now, ask yourself why. Choosy, too good or just plain lazy?

Interesting fact: In tagalog, eat is makan, just like in BM.

Okaeri

2011-05-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy week really. I think I used a lot of "crazy" to describe things. Exam weeks were crazy, fun weeks were crazy, not-so-fun week is also crazy. Guess I got to pick up a few more adjectives. Anyway I am home.

I knew I am home when

I can't use Malay to mock or say bad things to the people around me.
I am more afraid than secured when I see men in uniform. And also instead of speaking Malay so that they can't understand me, I am pretty sure English would do the trick.
I heard the oh-so familiar mandarin that doesn't twists the tongue 360 degrees to make a sound. And the "lah-s" and "ma-s".
I needed to take a deep breathe before walking into a public restroom and hold my breathe for the entire "journey".
I could finally speak rojak and be sure that even though that lady behind the counter is no Chinese, she will understand some Chinese words I used.
I saw that cars are finally on the right side which is the left side.
Tipping is no longer necessary.
I heard the sound of rain pouring. Rain sounds differently there. I love the echo and sound it made when it hits the grass and plants and everything outside my house.
My breakfast is noodle soup that is actually noodle soup.
All messages to friends and family are free.
Wanting to watch Naruto means having to actually stream. I don't even bother to go into youtube. Now I remembered why I wasn't hooked to youtube before going to CMU.

I have only been back a day and even though I was away for 9 months, it felt like I never really left at all. Everything (not literally) changed. Of course there are a few more ramps and overhead bridges here and there some constructions here and there, but it looks the same, beautiful as always.

I can still shift like usual even though I never drove a manual during my stay there. Due to certain reasons, lets just assume I have never driven auto too during my stay there. My car feels the same although there are like a million stuffs that I haven't tried doing, but I am pretty sure I wouldn't have to drive like that anymore.

Driving 110 on a highway is possible. The childish me who squeeze every ounce of horsepower out of my little car is gone. I was doing 110 for almost 3 hours! I resisted temptation to speed, I stayed on the right lane which is the left lane, I kept my eye on the speedometer and I never even felt sleepy like I used to think I would if I were to drive slow.

As I said, it was a crazy week before I cam back. Specifically, the day before I came back. I felt sick. My headache got me lying on the couch like a dead man. It got me lying everywhere. The bus station, the bus, the restaurant, the everything...... Not fun. But it got better on the plane thanks to Mark's Panadol I took some hours earlier. I was afraid I couldn't get on the plane because of the fever. Luckily the temperature drop slightly before I board.

I lose my debit card and was petrified because I couldn't find it at the UC counter. People never loses their card and not able to find it. I think. But I was so sure it will be there. But it was with the bank. And that bank was closed for lunch when I visited it to ask. It freaked me out so badly. Well, after they sent me an e-mail, everything got better.

Not really actually. Typing this post at 5.40 in the morning? No I don't have jet lag. I almost don't believe it exist. It's just some excuse pussies made up to take a break. Osama's death post will be up next just for you FM... :P Will be waiting for you in Taiping.

Lol and to add on to my list.

14. Azan call for subuh 5.42 in the morning. It's beautiful. Haven't heard it for like forever. When I was little, I used to get annoyed. Then I start listening to it on TV2 and reading the subtitles. Then I see the beauty in it. If you hate Azan, try finding out what it says, you might love it after all.

Speaking about Azan, I saw racism in action. Guess where. Not US, not Malaysia, but Hong Kong. Hong Kong international airport. I saw a couple being detained for "a random inspection". And guess what. They are a Muslim couple. That guy looked pissed as the lady searched through the baggage. And I can see why.

One more thing. my list ends at number 11 not 13. But none of you noticed that the last block should be numbered 12 instead of 14 huh...

2011-05-01T23:14:00.000-07:00

I wanted so badly to blog about Osama. But it's gonna be a long ass piece of post and I have to finish my essay. Is this what it has to come down to? Choosing between what I want to do and what I have to do? Sigh... Wait for me Osama... Take your 72 virgins slowly while I finish my biggest essay of the semester. I will entertain you soon.. Don't worry. While I am a big fan of Obama, I will be fair and try to do you some justice. Jangan ke mana-mana. Kembali selepas ini.

2011-05-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

Kiasu mode activated. Minimal FB, blogging, youtube and whatsoever. Clear my mind and cache and freshen up for study study study.. I only do this once a semester I figured. So it better be good.

-Backspace-

2011-04-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

Interesting how many "backspace" has been used. Interesting how "backspace" has many uses.
I feel like I've said this somewhere before, but have you ever thought what it would be had keyboard has a missing backspace key?

You can't un-say what you decide to say. You can't change what you want to say.

Isn't it beautiful that way?

I saw this video some time ago. What would have happen had there been no "backspace"?

lalala balik kampung....

2011-04-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

It's great. I would very much like to complain about the hell I'm in now. But I figured as finals is approaching, everyone else is just as busy as I. So, let's skip that and talk bout something more interesting. Like, I am flying back in less than 25 days people!!! And while I hated the politics, I love Malaysia! the country and the people.

I haven't really been talking about the politics. If I were, I would be bashing the idea of 1Malaysia e-mail, which is a great way to prove stupidity, nevertheless, a great way. But I don't want to talk about it because it is rather difficult for Najib to summon up his courage and balls(or what's left of it) to talk to me about it. So, let just leave the shouting in the Parliament.

I have been spending a lot of time working on my programming term project recently. Being a first time programmer, I am surprised at what we can do with a not-so-advanced language like Python. 3 months ago I don't even know what is programming and now I am coding my very own Pokemon. But what's more interesting is that I learned a few other tricks that I should have learned many years ago. Like editing images and audio files.

I knew I did not just waste days and weeks of my live playing Pokemon as a kid. Had I not played it, I would not have any idea on what to do for my term project. I might have ended up with casino where you play blackjack or cho-dai-di which is graphically more boring and so much less complicated and might not earn me a good grade. See mom. I knew I was right to sit in front of the com for the whole day. > <

I am glad I came to CMU where my Asian-ness and CMU's cs-ness blend well. My professor must be thinking that this Asian is so so typical. I mean, how Asian can a game get. And of all the great stuffs that I could have done, I did a 20 year old game from the most Eastern country in the world. Haha Asian pride! Or as Mahathir calls it, "Look East Policy". When you are this far West, almost anything you see is East.

But I got a feeling if I look West enough, I am going to end up back in the East.

Anyway, 5 more crazy days, 2 more exam weeks, 1 more stroll-around week and ~~I am coming home, I'm coming home... Tell the world that I'm coming home~~

JPA interview

2011-04-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

It would be sinful to not share this: http://leongfm.blogspot.com/2011/04/spm-jpacom-jpa-interview.html

If haven't heard of him already, FM is a JPA scholar to France. He's one of the best mind I have ever seen. I have never applied for JPA before, so I have no idea how it's like. But I am sure many of you would love to know how it's like. And there's no one but those who were in your shoes could give you a preview of what it's going to be like. So, trust him.

Update: Even better now. He's got a more detailed update http://leongfm.blogspot.com/2011/04/tips-tips-interviu-sukses-jpa-edisi.html

Thank him (& me) when you get the scholarship :)

Ali is Horny

2011-04-07T13:22:00.001-07:00

MP: M'sian men have affairs as wives 'neglect' duty

#Warning. Intense language. User's discretion is adviced.

Ali is horny,
Ali wants to get it,
In the kitchen in the sink,

Hey bitch stop working'
Come on here and lemme start spanking,
Let's get on it, let's start riding,
Cuz this is 1960's and I am King.

Coz I'm Ali I'm horny,
Them ladies, they want my lolli,
In the office unlaces, undresses,
I can't stand it, it's standing,
If you ain't cuming, then I'll get going,
To the ho next door, and leave you crying.

If you ain't feeling it,
Then forget bout it,
I am da lawyer, heck I am law.
I get what I want or I break your jaw.

She's back... for more

2011-04-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

Sei lo. She came back! It's not my fault- at least not all of it. I swear I left the affair 2 years ago when she freaked me out, messed my brain and screwed my nights. I still see her occasionally but I only see her as a friend. Now she's back in my life and as much as I know how bad this is, I am clinging on.

There was a time when I was disgusted at the notion that my hours spent awake is solely dependent on her and that she's how I start and end my day. I am ashamed. And now, despite how much I already knew about her, I couldn't avoid it. I needed her.

Her name's coffee... I thought the coffee here is bad. I never had a good one yet. But La'Prima's iced coffee is worth dying for. I used to hate it because I had so much of it during high school years that I got sick of it. I guess we can't really get sick of something we love.

I used to wanna puke when I drink coffee like a year ago. Then I completely stopped taking coffee. But now I am back. It's not the worst thing ever. Just hope that she doesn't mess me up like she did. And until that day comes, I will still, cautiously, have my coffee...

Ideas anyone?

2011-03-30T07:21:00.001-07:00

I need help. I need to keep my brain working at optimum level with minimum sleep and minimal side effect for a month. If anyone has any idea how to maintain a fully functioning mind and body with say 3 hours of sleep per day without feeling sleepy in the day and maintain the level of efficiency, please do share with me.

men's room code of conduct

2011-03-28T18:31:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what happened, but they stick this in front of the bathroom's door. It was humorously written for something official like this.

Couldn't help but to notice this everywhere on campus. Well, prn means printer, before anyone of you come up with weird words for it. cl means cluster. Told you I'm everywhere.

Paint and paintball

2011-03-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

Alright, so yerterday was this 1000+ Service day. My frat went to Braddock to meet up with APO from Penn State and UPitt to help build a playground. The building that was on that area collapsed and the Braddock community decides to expand the current playground to benefit the children there. It is located just in front of the community center and beside an existing playground, which made it so much more rational to just make it into a playground.

It was fun! Meeting different chapters, new people and doing useful and meaningful stuff. The first half of it I was helping with digging our rocks and bricks. The second half is where the fun was. Painting the stairs. The stairs was already built when we got there. Painting it was fun because it looked really different before and after. Sadly I do not have any before pictures to show, except the 1 with the unpainted steps. Painting the steps was like a puzzle. To paint it as much as possible without cramming into 1 spot, and without getting trapped in the center.

Halfway

After

The day before, I went paintballing with them too. Them as in my frat, with different group of people though. It was painful. More painful than I expected it to be. But it was fun as well. My first time shooting and getting shot at someone. We all came back with bruises.

Can you spot me?

Ans: Not in the pic

This is me.

Pasembor at Nik and Syazwan's place last night. Yummy. Nik(Munawar) as usual is a great cook.

Spring fling?

2011-03-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

Found out from Jason a thing or two about spring fling in UPenn.

But guess what. CMU has it's own unofficial spring fling too. Well, unofficial, unorganized and nobody even know. So how do I know? Well, I don't.. Just my observation.

These past 2 days were awesome. And I mean AWESOME. The weather is the best I've had so far.

And a lot of people are out playing. And while many would notice the increased number of people playing soccer, frisbee and all, I noticed something else. There are like at least double the number of couples since winter. Or maybe couples stay indoor during the cold. But the point is, you can see noticable increase in the number of dating couples in the spring.

And during the EPP class, I found out that the highest rate of breakups occur during spring and before Christmas. Well, believed to be because of spring clean and to avoid a Christmas breakup, so they break up before.

Anyway, I think all that are nonsense. I think the nice weather encourages people to get together. And it's not only lovers. It also apply to friends.

Look at the group of people kicking a ball or throwing a disc. The nice weather encourages people to do things together. And literally go out and have fun. Lots of fun. Don't be stuck in a com cluster on a pretty day like this. And to prove my non-hypocracy, I will go out and enjoy the sun now. See ya.

What a Beautiful Day...

2011-03-17T17:08:00.000-07:00

Just finished another midterm. Feeling less burdened now. Actually, been feeling very great since the spring break. Today's weather? Perfect. 12-16 C. Everyone is out having fun. Frisbees, Soccer, Skate boarding, rope walking, everything. Thing's been going real smoothly. Another midterm coming up on Monday but got time to study I guess and since spring break, I figured grades are important, but not the most important. As usual...

Went to my first scout meeting since years.. Troop 93. Well, it isn't 01LMS this time. Best moment of the day: the glow in a scout's face when he heard he got promoted to 2nd class. Must be something like Pingat Perak equivalent or something. Will be attending another scout training camp this Saturday in preparation to be an Assistant Scout Master and will most likely take my wood badge or "manik kayu" test next year here in the States. I have gotten the information, the contacts ans stuff. Actually I thought of taking it this year, but, I think it's a little too early.

Been shaping up too. Hitting the gym a couple of times. All important games this weekend. Like 2 matches a day on Friday and Sunday. So, this will be a pretty busy weekend. Hopefully got time to study more for Calc3D.

Been watching movies too. By watching, of course I meant streaming online. Watched Rango, which I thought was good, apparently not. Watched some horror documentary and a stand up comedy. All this when I was supposed to be studying. Not in any ways at all am I encouraging such behavior.

Let's keep this beautiful times rolling....

Spring Break

2011-03-11T18:54:00.001-08:00

Spring break is almost over now. This must have been the most productive break I've had. Not in terms of study though. It's all fun and fun and fun.

Went to Philly again to meet up with Jason. Met his Hong Kee friend, Adsy and went to New Jersey for shopping. Bought some shirts for my cousins and brothers and myself. The Starbucks barrister spelled my name Chad instead of Chan. Well, I guess, it doesn sound kinda similar?!

Went to Caeser's Casino beside some Trumo tower. Beautiful place. Managed to get in easily, but of course we did not gamble

Sadly I don't have my iPod for the trip down to Boston. So, most of the pics are in the phone or with Jason and Hobart.

Boston is beautiful. Met cool Aaron and Dorothy from Boston University. Showed us around. Wasn't really surprised to find the highest revenue Starbucks in BU considering how strategic it is placed. BU people are really nice. Kinda envy them.

Went on the "Freedom Trail" thanks to Hobart who is our tour guide for the day. I wasn't really excited at first, but it was definitely a great choice. Visited some historical places around Boston. Personal favorite: Boston Massacre site. Filled up on my US history. Also bought what I would say is the 4 most important document in US history, now hanging gracefully on the wall by my bed.

You can barely see it, but there's the Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address, the Constitution of US, The bill of rights and my favorite, the declaration of independence.

The writings are too small to read but it's nice to have it.

Harvard and MIT is very satisfying. That's the two universities I wanted to visit the most. Harvard is not all that great after all. I admire and love the history, but I really don't like the building. And before I forget, the statue of 3 lies. First lie, John Harvard is not the founder. Second, the year of founding is wrong. Third the statue is not the statue of John Harvard because all his pictures were burned down in a fire. It is most likely based on the first dean of Harvard University.

MIT is great too. Filled with students... As expected. Didn't really get to see any crazy cool stuff there, but still, I am proud to say that I've been there.

Indulgence. If there's nothing else, the food is surely a thing to remember. Thanks to Jason and his friends in Boston, I've been indulging in sinfully scrumptious food. Started with Indian, then Korean, then Thai, then the all famous Lobster roll and clam chowder at Quincy Market, the famous burger around harvard, Taiwanese food, Western then Chinese. Loved it all.... Was feeling the guilt the morning right after I got back that I went for a 45 min workout.

Was rushing for my two final bus ride. One is from Boston to Philly, where Jason and I ran like mad and barely made it. Just 1 minute before the bus leaves. Thank god the driver is kind and not angry. That's what I loved about the buses. Actually only Megabus. I still hate Greyhound and Pitt's buses. Megabus is on time. It leaves exactly on the time it states it leaves, not like in Malaysia where they leave like 15 min later and arrives late. The best part is that it even reaches on time! It has wifi and power outlet. And toilet. What else could you asked for? Even business class flights don't give you wifi. Do they?

The second was from Philly back to Pitt. I was actually late by 1 min but luckily the bus was late by 5 min. Thank god again. It arrives late probably because of the rain. And it rained all the way back. Took a little longer this time because we had a 30 min break and it was raining pretty heavily.

I am really glad I went for this break. Talked a lot to Jason which helps a lot. I wouldn't say I changed, in any major ways but I definitely learned a lot. The people I met there are honestly great. Wished they were all in CMU. Funnest time ever!

Everything else seem fine.. I guess. Things been bumpy but it's getting much much better now after the trip. Well, not sure if my next post will be around March 23, but just in case it isn't, then all the best to everyone getting their SPM results. Regardless, it's not the end of everything.

You know how people always say "it's only the beginning!". You know that they are lying straight to your face. When you entered primary school, took UPSR, enter secondary school, took PMR, SPM, they keep saying that "it's only the beginning." But when is it not the beginning? When do we actually get going?

I believe they are kinda true in a way. It's only a beginning because we should keep up our hard work and treat everything fresh and new and enthusiastically embrace it. That's why everything is only the beginning. Anyway, all the best. Hope to see a bunch of SGI kids make SGI and Taiping proud as usual. I knew we can because we are the best in Taiping. Anyone who denies this can come talk to me. There goes the egoistic me again.... Who even let him out.. Anyway, we are arguably the best. How's that.. More humble? Alright. That's all for now.

By the way, do check out my tumblr for more random pic and videos here.

Peace.

Pilih Variasi Warna

2011-02-22T21:18:00.001-08:00

Haha.. JPA trying to act cute? Of all the things to put into an official Government website, they put "pilih variasi warna". To choose the background color. Great... That's just what I want from an official page.

I don't know whether their intention is to accomodate color blindness or any of the sort, but this is really hilarious..

Aku Marah!

2011-02-21T22:29:00.000-08:00

Aku betul-betul benggang. Kenapalah nak jatuhkan maruah sendiri? Kenapa nak buat seluruh dunia marah. Nak buat mak bapak hilang maruah. Saya bukan nak kata apa. Tapi fikirlah! Cina ada samseng. India pun ada samseng. Melayu pun ada samseng. Semua bangsa pun ada jenis gangster masing-masing. Tapi kenapa biarkan benda-benda kurang ajar begini berlaku di sekolah?

Suka tak suka negara kita berbilang bangsa. Hendak tak hendak kita lahir adil. Tak de bangsa, orang, keluarga atau jantina yang lebih superior daripada yang lain. Gembirakah kamu buat kawan India kamu cakap benda yang memalukan kaum sendiri? Salahkah dia awak bodoh? Salahkah dia awak marah? Salahkah dia IC awak sama dengan IC dia? Salahkah dia sebab mencintai negara awak? Yang salah itu kamu! Yang bodoh itu kamu! Kamu ingat bila dia cakap "K###ng babi" bapa awak akan masuk syurga? Atau nenek kamu akan bangga? Ataupun anak awak akan bangga? Sebab bapa bodoh?

Oi! Pikirlah pakai akal, bukan pakai buntut. Cakap biar lintas akal fikiran. Kamu bukan haiwan. Walaupun muka awak mungkin hodoh, suara kamu mungkin garau, badan kamu mungkin macam binatang, otak kamu confirm absent, (absent itu maknanya tak de. Tak de otak, banggang. Tu lah tak masuk kelas, jadi low class, kacau orang, macam binatang buas), tapi kamu bukan haiwan. Tuhan jadikan kamu berakal. Berfikiran.

Jangan buat benda bodoh yang menjatuhkan maruah kaum sendiri. Kalau awak nak memalukan kaum India, go ahead. Kalau kamu nak maki Cina go ahead. Tapi janganlah buat sampai bangsa kamu sendiri yang dimakikan. Saya kenal ramai kawan. Cina, Melayu, India, Cina ori China, Cina dari Singapore, Cina dari Taiwan, Cina dari Hong Kong, Indon, Korea, Jepun, Chile dan juga ramai Melayu. Tapi kawan saya semuanya ada akal. Tak de Melayu yang buat benda yang memalukan Melayu. Tak de Cina yang buat benda yang memalukan cina. Tak de India yang buat benda cam tu. So, kenapa ko nak jadi yang special? Yang masuk youtube sebab bodoh? Yang masuk youtube buatkan Najib menangis tengok harapan 1Malaysia hancur?

Kenapa ko nak pergi sekolah? Sebab takut bapa? Ke sebab tak de tentu hala? Ni bukan nak marah buli Melayu je. Cina punya tailo, India punya samseng, semua sama. Kalau betul betul nak tunjuk pandai, buat cara lelaki. Gi main bola sepak. Masuk national team, kalahkan India, kalah China, kalahkan Brazil. Tu India malu, China malu. Tapi bila India Malaysia malu, satu dunia tahu Malaysia malu. Bila Cina Malaysia malu, satu dunia ketawakan Malaysia. Bila Melayu malu, satu dunia gelakkan kita.

Kita sama. Bezanya awak bodoh. Tapi sama jugak. Come on. Pergi baca komen komen kat youtube. Satu dunia benci kat awak. Bukan sekadar awak, malah satu kaum dibenci sebab awak. Awak ingat paksa dia cakap karut bangsa dia malu? Akhirnya bangsa awak juga yang malu. Kenapa nak buat sampai kawan-kawan Melayu saya tanggung malu sebab kebodohan awak? Kenapa nak buat mak bapa kamu malu sebab awak. Kenapa nak buat saya tulis dalam BM? Dahlah 2 tahun dah tak guna BM. Tapi BM karat saya ni tak sekarat otak kamu. EEE Marah!

I thought that Malaysia finally mature after looking at Egypt's uprise. I thought that me being old enough to vote in 2012 would make a difference. Just when I am most optimistic about my dear countrymen and students. This has to happen. Why? Why must you people keep doing silly stuff? Is it not clear enough that racial tension would bring nobody any good? And I mean NOBODY! Not you, not me, not him, not anyone. It's like war, just worse. Can we all agree that MoE should curb bullying in school once and for all. Use juvenile detention camp and make them learn how to be a human.

It's A Great Day

2011-02-21T10:14:00.001-08:00

I bought a pack of girl scouts cookies today.

Kinda reminds me of scouting. Heck of a crazy time. But that made the me the person you all know today.

I might not be making tents or shelter. Or tying up a kitchen or a shoerack, or some fancy gateway. I might not even be marching. But that's superficial. That's what we do to learn something else. And when you know what you learned, that's all that matters. Because when I commit, people won't be able to tell that scouting injects the will to serve in me. When I walk tall, they wouldn't know that scouting gave me the confidence and the ability to. But it's alright, because all that matters is what I know.

So, in support to scouting movement, I bought a pack. Or maybe I was hungry, who knows right.

Or just maybe that I am happy today. My dear made me proud and nothing is going to upset me today. I probably have nothing to do with her success but it feels good to know that she did superb. And all I ever told her was to make me proud. Today she did.

Or maybe I was happy because my school won all the 3 games in the first day of tournament. With straight sets. Well, I done that too, but I failed at the very final day. This year, they have a chance to make what I wanted to. If they can keep up their service game, attacking at the right moment, covering the court, and play smart, we will be able to claim the championship this year. And just the by thinking about the prospect of that happening made my day.

I have too much adrenaline in me now... I want to go crazy too. And because everyone inspired me so much today, and in honor of the newly crowned All Star MVP, Kobe Bryant, I will play my heart out tonight, this Wednesday night, Thursday night and hopefully this weekend.

Haha, you got me. You know that I will play my heart out every time I step onto the court regardless. That's why I am in the court. In the game. In the mood. Because even when everything else's fail, it don't matter in the court. It's like people go into DOTA and lose touch of the real world there. I get into the court and go to a new world there.

Congrats to all the people I mentioned above. Congrats to other STPM high achievers (whatever your definition of high is). To everyone else who are not happy with their results, bear in mind that if there's a lesson in it for you to learn is that you still have rooms for improvement. You might think life sucks now, but believe me, God is fair. HE balances everything and will compensate you for every injustice you think he impose on you. And unbelievable, this is quoted from Nik! Yes, the same sarcastic, nonchalant, self-obsesses Nik who gave rise to the cynical quotes in my blog.

Surprisingly, we actually talked about religion. The contents will not be disclosed here due to obvious reasons. Well, if it ain't obvious to you, then you probably should not know.

Anyway, good luck to the SGI volleyball players. Coach Patrick has done some superb job and it's time to pick the fruit of success.

Caught up but not backing out

2011-02-16T20:16:00.001-08:00

It's 3 backspace. That's what it takes for me to start typing this post. I hate this feeling. Uncertainty, insecurity and hopelessness. I sound like a whiny girl now. Maybe I am one now.

I just deleted Networked Blogs, because apparently, I don't want people to accidentally bump into my blog anymore. I want to write for myself and for those who care to read.

It's been oh-so satisfying lately. I am doing everything I like, playing basketball with people better than I. Playing volleyball to my heart contents. Fulfilling my responsibilities to my frat, which means services. Still looking for good service around. I felt a deep desire to serve the people who need, yet, it's not easy. Nothing is. Nothing will be.

It's time like this where you start to wonder if you wan to fill up your college life with grades or greats. Honestly, I want to have both. As a typical Asian, I want to get A's in everything. It's getting harder to maintain. As an adventurous young lad, I desperately want to satisfy my hunger for action. To release my adrenaline. To pump up my life. So far, I am on neither ends.

I don't want to choose. If I had to, I will choose not to choose. When I accepted the offer to play for the school, I told myself that I will quit if I can't keep things balanced. I told myself the same thing during high school, but honestly, the boyish side of me always wins. The adult-me wants to focus on getting good grades and shine in studies. That's what I am supposed to do. I wished things were as simple as high school. Where study is hard, yet manageable. Where life was all balanced. I guess all-rounder is for talented folks. For me, I don't know... I love volleyball, and to even think about stop playing it is almost like taking cooking away from a cook.

But I know there are things I can make do without. Like not competing in basketball IM. But I am having fun there. I am running against people who is tall enough to block my Asian ass off. I am enjoying playing tough basketball where people push hard and not complain about it. I am scoring some, and enjoy competing in it. I am learning more about the game. But you are free to judge. Maybe I am just childish and just want to play. If there's a reason to feel better, I am winning. Of course credits to my teammates who are so much better than I, but we are winning.

My shoulder is only this huge. I am still looking for its limit. I want to push it to the extreme, make it start to fall apart before I decide it's enough. You know the guilty feeling you have when you are having fun and you know that some bad things are going to happen? It's what it is now. I know spending time like I do now probably will get me into deep shit during exams.

But that's not all I am doing. I finish my homeworks. I get on top of things. Of course work never gets done. New work comes even before old ones are done. I am trying. If I can I would sacrifice my sleep to get that one more hour. If caffeine works for me like it used to, I would have exploited it. But it didn't, not anymore. I know I have told this to many people. Finishing your work doesn't mean much. You have to understand and be confident about what you are doing everyday! But, I guess I am just a hypocrite. I know it's tough. I've been here once, and I am going to go through it again.

This post is a mess probably because my mind is in a mess right now.

Anyway, I know I am not a whinny bitch. I am me. Time to buck up.

If it is that hard to choose between one or the other, heck, why even bother. I will nail both. I am not giving up on the slight boyishness left in me, not will I put my future in jeopardy. If I just squeeze a little more effort, suck it up, man up and shut up, I will get out of this the way I want to. Like a champ. I am not here to live off of someone's legacy. I am not here to be average. I am not here to be a loser nor a whiner. I am here to redefine what a student should be. To shape my own legacy for others to live off. It it takes that much more to make it, I swear I will. It's all or nothing.... As my bleeding fist stops bleeding, I will stop complaining. This is a calling to be great...One moment. Are you gonna to capture it? Or just let it go... (Eminem, Lose Yourself).

EPP lesson 3

2011-02-09T13:38:00.001-08:00

Maybe not so much of policy this time. Just common sense. 2 very important love events lead to me writing this. 1 is the suicide of a young 17 year old girl- which I will not talk about. May her soul rest in peace. By the way, no religion condones suicide, so I hope she found a heaven to go to. 2 is the banning of Valentine's for Muslims. Hurray!

The policy here is the Syariah Law banning Valentine's Day. Let's examine it's rationale and implications. Firstly, when we propose such a law, did we actually consult religious experts in Egypt, Iraq, Makkah, wherever the religion originates? Nothing to do with what I am going to say. Just wondering. Because this is feeling more and more arbitrary. Which I like. There's no country that has laws that suppress its own religion. It can't work anywhere else because a law should be enforced throughout the country to all the people. In the midst of such ubiquity, we manage to filter our citizen and only impose certain laws on them. Great job man. No kidding.

Let's talk about roses. Due to high demand, rose price skyrockets. Now that Muslims can't celebrate, the demand will decrease, thus controlling the price. From rose economic standpoint. good job keeping the rose price in check.

Next talk about Durex. This law technically gives all the women (Muslims) out there to say no to sex on Valentine's day. It doesn't matter if the Muslim couples is having sex already for the rest of the year, but just on this day, it's extra special. Good job in making sure that there are enough condoms for non-Muslims and making sure that Muslim ladies can say no to their guys. Excellent.

Now let's move on restaurants. Dining places which provide couple meals and candlelight dinner often fail to keep up their food standard because of such high demand. Taking Muslim couples out of the picture means less business for halal restaurant providing such theme food. So, if you are not a Muslim, go to halal restaurant for your valentine's day celebration. They have less customers therefore guaranteeing your food's quality. Screw pork on that day. Eat beef, fish or chicken prepared specially for you by your super free chef.

This bring me to a new question. Can a Muslim chef cook for a non Muslim couple for valentines? I mean, if valentine's is worshiping some other religion, then I guess providing food for these worshipers is bad right? I am naive obviously, so will someone give me an answer?

See, the best part of this new law is that I can't find a flaw. Had me not taken an EPP class, I would be shouting about how crazy Malaysia's Syariah Law is. Now I see the point that they are trying to make. They see further than valentine's day. The looked back to the history studied it and makes decision. My most sincere salutation to the people in this department. I can say it's not easy to do what you've done for the Muslim community in Malaysia.

Another best part is that this law doesn't affect other religions. So, all you crazy couples out there, go celebrate some other people's day. Me? Obviously I don't believe in celebrating other people's love day. I determine my valentine's day. And it can be every month, every week, heck if I want to, I can make my valentine's every day. Why do I have to follow a random day dictated by some random people who doesn't even know me? So, when you are celebrating valentine's are you really celebrating your love, or someone else's?

Find a house

2011-02-08T20:21:00.001-08:00

to rent is not easy. Hunting for good deals is just tedious. I have to know what I want, how far I can compromise, how much I am willing to pay, what I really want to have in it and what I can do without. But the swimming pool and volleyball court is just kind of irresistible. 24 hours fitness centre, tanning bed, sauna, landscaped backyard, bbq picnic area, tennis court, landscaped walking path. Holy shit isn't that seductive. But, forfeiting to my better judgement, I will do without those. T_T

The price is about $1.50/ square feet which I think is a little expensive, but it gets cheaper as the size gets bigger because then more rooms means more people to share it out. It cose $10 a month to get people to take my thrash. Heck, it's free in Malaysia. Okay, maybe not free. Based on redistributive policy (See, EPP is not a waste of time), the tax we pay, gets our dump taken away. Fine.

What I really want is not luxury. I just want a small kitchen, a small living room, a small bedroom and a clean bathroom. Is that too much to ask for? Heck, some kitchen is not even small, they are minuscule. But it's fine. I can deal with that.

I want rooms with windows. I love window gazing because each time I do, a good looking guy gaze back. I am not vain. Or maybe I am. Who cares right. I love myself, so what. Bite me.

I want to be able to walk to school. Don't want to take a bus. Okay, maybe I can take a bus. This kind of opens up more options.

I need an apartment with 3 bedrooms. Most only have 2. So I have to kick a friend out. Why? How hard is it to build a building with 3 bedrooms?

Moving to the furniture. I want a couch I can lay on and laze around on weekends. Maybe read a book (never) on, watch Steelers in Super Bowl, watch the Slam Dunk contest and the NBA All-Stars. Although William and TK might just end up using it as DOTA ground, it's fine. Because occasionally, I can throw parties. In case my parents read this, I mean good parties. Like a book club event. So I want a living room.

I want a room that I want to go back to. I want it to feel like home. Doesn't have to be big. Heck, doesn't even have to be nice. Warm, maybe, I am going to heat things up anyway. (I am hearing jeers now, but who cares). Should at least fit a table and a closet and a bed. With a mirror because I love myself so much I can't bear not to look at me.

Ok. How hard can this description be? I am willing to pay up to a THOUSAND divide by 2 just for this house. Now, can I get it?

LOL. What the heck. Just kidding. I am listing the things here to help me cross out my options. As of now I see like 1 walking distance and a couple more 5 min bus ride away which I am considering. Something to live with for 4 years. It's like choosing what school you want to go to. Cannot be too hard, hopefully good standard. Obviously I made a wrong uni choice because it is HARD here... But at least don't make the wrong housing choice...

EPP lesson 2

2011-02-07T16:33:00.001-08:00

Here I go again. This week's assignment is to write on anything. Haha. Yup everything. And it is surprisingly harder when you can do whatever you want. So after much thought (bout 15 seconds or so), I decided to write on biofuel. Biofuel from maize in the United States, sugar cane in Brazil and palm oil bio-diesel in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Why? Because I can.

And I want to. Because this is something Malaysia could dominate. Instead of relying on expensive crude oil, we can actually use what we have a lot- palm oil- and the best part is that they are renewable. Cleaner, cheaper, more abundant, renewable and feasible. Anyone sensing that this might be too good to be true? Indeed. It is too good to be true. Because in this messed up world, things always have a bad side. Which is why I chose this topic. To show how something that is the solution to the energy crisis is also the beginning of other problems. Sounds familiar? You are right, it does sound like the halting problem in computig. What is the halting problem? To put it simply, programs are built to crash and there's no way to check all the programs ever written to test for the halting problem. Sounds confusing? It is. To understand that, we must first understand the different types of infinity and other cool yet geeky math stuff. In order to maintain my none geeky online identity, I will not talk about that here.

What I want to talk about though is the fact that US are bound to fuck up. You never understand why they want oil so badly that they wage war in Iraq and spend so much in middle east. Because as rich as US are, they do not have energy security. While they are abundant in natural gas, US is basically deprived of crude oil. In order to achieve energy independence, US has been trying to find alternatives, which is why Obama stresses on innovation and energy independence in his recent State of the Union address.

So, biofuel sounds like a good option right? And now the only thing to do is to justify the famine and death rate due to lack of food in Brazil because ther government decide that the car needs the plant more than the people. And in US cows needs to get fed first, so that they can get their beef instead of solving the energy crisis. And in Malaysia and Indonesia we are only good enough to make biodiesel which means that if your car runs on petrol, palm oil biodisel is not going to help you at all.

Other problems include the lower efficiency in biofuel and the land needed to make this sustainable. In comparison to burning coal, natural gas or crude oil, this still seem like a good option, didn't it? Now to get some numbers and make it come true. So, what policies do you think we should be concerned of when dealing with this issue? What policies should be in place? What policies shouldn't. This clearly is a situation of non-existence of market. How does this matter and why?

Did PKM really lose 60 years ago?

2011-01-26T10:47:00.000-08:00

Work = FD

F = ma

Work = maD

I heard Malaysia want to ban facebook. Yeah! Malaysia is following the footstep of our communist mentor, China. Do you know that QQ is the "Facebook" in China. You see. China has a reason to ban Facebook.

Because Chinese in China has to be protected from the influence of the rest of the world. They practically only have one political party in China.

What bout Malaysia? What has Malaysian got to be protected from? That we have only 1 real contending party? No. The last election proved otherwise. Or, maybe that's why they are banning it.

You ban Facebook, Malaysian are going to come out with something else. "QQ for Malaysian" maybe. So, all your reasons that you ban facebook to stop online derogatory criticism will not work. Because now, we can do it on Twitter, Friendster, MySpace and "QQ for M'sia". Question is, are you going to ban all those? I would be impressed if you are.

Why?

Because, then we will be like our favorite nation, North Korea, where the people are "shielded" from the nastiness and provocative, and bad, and influential, rest of the world. Best of all, make yourself Jung-Il and ban every single thing that might lead your people against you.

Then we can officially call ourself the PKM. So, now. Do we really think that PKM lost 50 years ago? Or Chin Peng has some undercover in the government? Making communist policy for him. Mind-f-ed!

So, we have a democratic government implementing communistic policy. This is more mind blowing than Guantanamo bay and FBI shit. When Chin Peng surrender, has he already finish his plans? And this is the results taking place? His 50 years plan working out as he planned? And what if I am right, and he did indeed anticipated this. His next step would be to come back and take over Msia?

That damn Chinese actually made Msia a communist country by giving Malaysia to people who think like a communist without proclaiming to be a communist. Holy cow. He actually won... Who'd guessed.......

Are You Busy?

2011-01-22T18:46:00.001-08:00

You better be. Cause if you're not, you better start asking yourself what are you doing with your life. Comedian Bill Maher says that there're really no such thing as a no-stress day, because we are experiencing stress everyday. So are you?

Everyone is busy and complaining about it. You should be busy but should not be complaining about it. I know I too complains about busyness sometimes, although I try not to. Why have I come to such a conclusion? Easy, because I asked myself. Ever noticed that we always wanted to know "why"? Whenever we noticed something, we ask "why". When we solve equations, we solve for y. It applies in differential equation, even when solving for x is easier, we want to solve for y.

Anyway, I asked therefore I am answered.

I was thinking that this is a busy semester. I was complaining to myself that I was so busy. So, I asked myself why do I bring this upon myself and the answer was so simple I laughed. Because I can and if I don't what the heck am I going to do with my life? Life is all about living and living is all about filling your life, if you ain't filling it, you ain't feeling it.

This is one of those moments where you stop and think. And evaluate, what you've done right, wrong, and what you're gonna do about it. I was angry for like 5 minutes at myself for being so physically inferior and then I think and realized that I did not just fuck myself up by being in the team. It probably is the best thing that happen to me. Playing with people better than me is what I have always wanted, and I got it. So it's good.

I thought maxing my units were wrong. I talked to some people and they only have like 4 classes! Then I asked again and I was right again. I did not screw myself up by maxing my schedule. Instead, by doing so, I maxed up what I could do. So in time, when I look back, I can say that I have done what I can.

So, while this will be a busy semester, it will all be worth it.

Now, back to you. Are you doing what you should and all you can. Are you busy? Are you really making the most out of your life? Or are you just wasting it?

Food for Thought

2011-01-21T11:58:00.001-08:00

I couldn't resist not writing this. I just read this 5 seconds ago and it is too long to post as a status in FB.

From the text "Eating Animals", by Jonathan Safran Foer.

" 'The worst it got was near the end. A lot of people died right at the end, and I didn't know if I could make it another day. A farmer, a Russian, God bless him, he saw my condition, and he went into his house and came out with a piece of meat for me.'

'He saved your life.'

I didn't eat it.'

'You didn't eat it?'

'It was pork. I wouldn't eat pork'

'Why?'

'What do you mean by why?'

'What, because it wasn't kosher?' (Kosher is halal food for Jews)

'Of course'

'But not even to save your life?'

'If nothing matters, there's nothing to save' "

True story. During World War II if I am not mistaken.

EPP lesson 1

2011-01-16T17:19:00.001-08:00

Engineering and Public Policy, more commonly known as EPP is a branch of what I would call "responsible and socially aware engineering". As it's name suggests, EPP is very policy based. In introduction to EPP or EPP 101, we are suppose to dissect society's problems ranging from environment to health and how we can use our engineering and science background to implement or rather help policy makers decide on policies.

As Dr Deanna Matthews says, it is the intersection of technology and society and the study of policy based on statistics, economics and decision making with the knowledge of science and technology. As one would expect, it involves integrating engineering knowledge with social studies to ensure sustainability or rather the general well-being of society.

What am I doing here with this uncommon serious, non-sarcastic, non-political tone blog post? As I said, EPP involves the (with the lack of a better word) "cross-breeding" of engineers with social scientists to produce the oxymoron "responsible engineers". Logic dictates that engineers (to-be) like me have little to no knowledge of social studies and lack of reading and writing is only to be expected. Make me do point forms, bullet points, sketch thermodynamic diagrams, draw vectors, but read and write? I guess illiterate is the word for engineers. So, this blog series labelled "EPP lesson #) is a way or rather a platform for me to express my individual view of issues brought to my attention, usually sparked by readings or lectures, as well as a medium for me to practice writing in non-engineering academic contexts.

That said, boring-ness is to be expected although I will try my best not to. Many would know that current environmental and health policies could be very controversial and my presence might spice it up.

In order to prepare myself for writings and exams, I will, with all my might, write relevantly and professionally, so you can expect some sort of informative entries. Being the egoistic bastard that I am, of course I wouldn't give up my personal, IMPORTANT viewpoints and standings on the issues at hand. Therefore, you can expect total originality from my end.

In the first two paragraphs, I have briefly introduces the structure of the course and one might ask, "why would someone (-fill in your own adjective-) like me, do a course like this?" And to that I have several answers depending on what adjective you use.

1. If you are a close friend which I could be truthful to, I would tell you straight that, I hate ECE and EPP is the only 2nd intro I can fit into my schedule.

2. If you are some matured stranger, I will tell you that I would like to see what EPP is because it sounds like engineering from a social perspective, which is always a good addition to the technical specialties engineers always stress on.

3. If you are an academia from CMU, I would say that I am really interested in EPP and am seriously considering taking an EPP double major for 2 reasons. Firstly, because EPP would be a great heuristic for engineers which I am about to become one. Secondly, I have no idea what to take for my gen ed courses, so I wouldn't mind taking EPP-related courses and end up with a double major rather than randomly taking classes which might not interest or help me in the future.

4. If you are my potential employer, I would tell you that, engineers nowadays are not complete because most of the times, what they do is reckon policies made by people like EPA and have no idea what it impacts. In a society where "green" (green representing money and environment) is the new gold, engineers should be able to see beyond their field and understand how their work impact the earth on a global scale. Working in an environmentally friendly manner not only generates interest from far-sighted investors, but also the public in general, and we all know how much public approval means.

Don't be fooled by the layers of answers, because all 4 layers are facts. Or as New Yorkers say, true facts. None outweighs the other and obviously my respond is catered to either prevent more questions that I don't fell like explaining, or justify that it is of utmost importance that engineers take EPP.

Personally, I fell that EPP is an eye opener because it pries open your eye to see more than engineering and the science behind it. It forces you to acknowledge the existence of societal impact and in some ways inject some sort of awareness or consciousness into you. Of course, guilty conscience will not guarantee a better world, but it sure help. Imagine if all factories have people in it who think that carbon emission is bad not just because over-emission can result in a court letter, but because it actually harms the earth and its population. Then factories would be looking for solution not just to reduce carbon emission to "legal level" but to minimal because they know that every cubic millimeter kills.

The question is, will this course make me a more civic-minded person? Will it changes the way I see things? Will it even have an effect on me? If indeed it does, what's the extent to which I will be influenced? I can't answer all these questions yet, but at the end of the course, hopefully I could.

Now, while many might think that EPP is just some stupid course people take because it's not that much work, I can't really say much to them except that I think it is a lot of work. At least a lot of things which people like me consider as work. Things like reading and writing, not force multiply by distance or the integral of Force with respect to dx which physicist defines as work. I know as an engineer, I probably shouldn't make fun of those equation, but really, I prefer FDcos"detta" work rather than reading and writing work. Well, hope that it will change soon.

Time for ISA

2011-01-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

Now, I am not really a big fan of ISA. I think it is stupid in most cases. But if there's a time where ISA could be useful, it is now.

Before I start, let me clarify. There are 2 reasons I don't use real names here. Firstly, I am bad with names. the second I read a name, I forget it. That's just me. It could possibly mean that I am just selfish and thinks that other people, represented by the names, are less important than myself, or I have bad memories. But, whatever. The second reason is that in case I got my facts wrong, it wouldn't get me into trouble because there are no point of reference anyway. So, it will end up being a hypothetical story for prevention and moral instead of news related. So ISA can't really mess with me. It might not be 100% ISA proof, but it's somewhat useful.

So, I just read that there is this Chinese lawyer who purportedly pressured a mosque to stop using their speakers to announce azan. Obviously he is a fucking retard. I am often racist. Mostly in constructive manner, sometimes, just for the sake of it. But this is unacceptable. This is insult not only to the mosque, or the Muslim community in Malaysia, but an insult to the constitution itself. He's the lawyer, he should know.

Freedom of religion is not just there to enable Buddhist, Christians, Hindus and the rest to perform their religious act, but also to protect Muslims' right to follow their teachings. If someone were to shut down a temple because of the smoke, it would be an insult to the Freedom of religion. This Chinese dude here obviously went over board.

Azan is a problem only if you make it a problem. I stayed near mosque in IIUM for a few days, and it never bothered me. My apartment is just next the the surau's speaker which rings azan 5 times a day during my days in Uniten and it never bothered me. What kind of selfish, insensitive man would do that?

On this matter, I have to agree with Perkasa and whatever organizations out there blasting him. Of course religious is subjective and there might be certain things questionable. Like how some people just arbitrarily say that tudung is optional and drinking is bad for health so it's baned, but smoking is allowed, somehow. Well, I think there's something that says that smoking is haram, if I am not mistaken, (I stand corrected), but still d!ckheads in the Parliament step out to smoke everytime they have a recess. What? You no believe me?

Back to the topic. Questionable as religion is, we still have to respect it. Azan to me is very meaningful. It signifies the start of the day and the end of the day. It gives me a sense of time, although Muslims of course take it as a call for prayer. He might just be jealous that Muslims have some legit reasons to clean themselves (or take wuduk) and pray 5 times a day while he works his ass off, and don't even have time to take a dump.

A call to Najib. Najib. I am calling you. You. Okay, you are not reading. But just in case you are. Listen!

1. You are the head of UMNO. And I don't think I have to remind you what the M in UMNO stands for.

2. You are the leader of Malaysia and the big man behind IMalaysia.

3. MCA is part of BN which is technically under YOU.

4. This Chinese dude did something unforgivable.

5. Please do something and prove that you, as the PM, is not biased.

6. MCA should receive some repercussions since it's member fucked up.

7. When are you gonna call me and ask me what youth voters want? I assume you are preparing for the next general election, where youth like ME gets to vote!

That's it. ISA. Do your thing. Perkasa, keep it up. Pressure them. I know Perkasa is tremendously good in staging protest to pressure the government. And it's good. We hardly get to see people willing to stand under the sun anymore. Not after the high school marching.

People, like me, who actually have things to do, studying or doing some REAL JOB, will support you. By, pressuring the ISA through the internet at the comfort of my room, eating my "so-called" Asian food. General Tso's chicken and kim chi. Go street protesters, GO! I support you. And as I take the last bit off the tender Tso's chicken, you go do what you are born to do.

Tired.....

2011-01-10T20:16:00.000-08:00

I've never been so tired in my training before. The Americans are really so much more fitter physically. Not even half an hour into the training I was breathing so hard my lungs hurt so much. Barely one hour my legs were cramping and I can hardly jump.

Not in the school's training. Not in the district training. Not even in UNITEN's training that I can't endure anything thrown at me. The first training of the semester and I already bruise my elbow and knees. This is unacceptable. This is not me.

This only meant 1 thing. I am weak. Now. And just for now, I will be weak. Time to buck up and pace up. If they are physically superior, I will make sure I keep up. This little Asian is not going to step down. Not now, not here.

By the way, just a little update to my previous post. The third lecturer I had this day was a lady in her 20s who admits that she swears a lot. How cool is that. She literally called herself "bitch" and says that she uses a lot of "shit" and "bitch". Outspoken. I think this semester is going to be great.

Great semester ahead

2011-01-10T10:36:00.001-08:00

Okay. I got a feeling that spring semester is going to be great. First day of class and it's already so crazily great. A great start to a great sem. Just plain great. My 3d lecturer seems like a good lecturer and my Chem 2 lecturer is unlike my Chem 1 lecturer.

Well, I know it's not going to be easy. Looking at the course that I took. Programming and interpretation and argument aren't really the courses that goes well with each other. But, it's going to be fun. Having a fun Stehlik in addition to two great lecturers, is going to make things so much greater.

I haven't met the lecturers for other subjects, but things are looking so good now. To make it even better, volleyball for the whole semester!!! With APO's spring carnival coming up too, how can this not be a great fun semester?

Please let nothing disappoint me... I am so looking forward to this. Excited! I am so Excited that I gif my excitement 3X. EXXXcitement!

Carnegie Museums and Science Center

2011-01-05T15:15:00.001-08:00

These past few days were all about education and general knowledge. Yesterday morning Mark,TK, William, LY, LY and I went to the Cathedral of Learning. It belongs to University of Pittsburgh and on the first and third floor was classrooms decorated uniquely to certain countries.

From countries in Europe to Asia, every intricate detail was taken into consideration.

I am most fascinated with the walls and ceilings which were really striking.

And of course being the great CL, I can't help but to notice my name around some nooks and corners.

Wondering why a picture of me in my winter jacket is there? Well, the story is I had the winter jacket when I was in the Cathedral of Learning. What happens after that? Continue reading... (Well I guess all those who went with me already knew the story, so no surprise to them.)

After that, I went to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, which was predictably boring except for some cool gem stones and crystals which the nerdy us compulsively relate to whatever we can. We also saw some dinosaurs bones and remains and of course since I've never really seen one, I am interested in it.

Later, we went to Carnegie Museum of Arts and we were lucky because there was an exhibition titled "Ordinary Madness" going on. All of us being engineers and computer scientists to be, inevitably got bored. We cannot comprehend the art and value behind a sculpture of a naked man or some mirrors arrangement. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to take photos there so there are not much pictures that I can share.

So just went we were about to leave, everyone headed to retrieve their jacket from the locker room and I found out that my jacket is not there. Well, it's not really hard to tell that it is not there when there're only like 6 jackets hanging around and 5 belongs to my friends. Apparently, my jacket is so nice that someone decided to do a trade-in without my consent. And there goes my jacket. I went to the security to lodge a report and leave my contact but I highly doubt that it will be returned. My image of Americans, changed.

And the saddest part is not that I lose that jacket. I can always buy another one. But it's the fact that my gf looked so cute in it.

This, I can't buy...

Luckily William is willing to lend me his spare jacket. I will be forever grateful for this.

Today is definitely more fun than museums. I have never been to a science center before so it was really fun to me at least. (Yes, you heard it right, I have not even been to PetroScience.) What? It sounds so childish okay. Anyway, the science center is just the exact place to dumb in geeks like us. With Physics and Science and robots and simulations, what else could these CMU kids ask for.

The earthquake cafe you see is an earthquake simulator, where you sit in it and select the magnitude of earthquake then feel it for yourself. No joke, it's kinda cool. And the picture below is LY playing with a laser harp. A LASER HARP!

I almost have the chance to step in THE USS requien submarine, but unfortunately it's closed today.

Among the things that caught my attention were the robot who do basketball free throws, a robot who plays air hockey and is damn good at it, and a robot who draws whatever you draw on the screen using small black beads. You would be amazed at the precision and speed it moves. The bead is barely 1 cm in diameter yet it sucks and position the beads so accurately with the board spinning. You just gotta see it to be amazed.

Of course I have more cool photos and videos which you can all see from my Facebook page.

That's it I suppose. Farewell to my jacket and hello to Stever in approximately 2 days. New semester starting on Jan 10 so don't expect for much updates here. I should be posting another post about the food we cooked for this past month. It has been great although I didn't really did much.

heRO

2011-01-01T02:16:00.001-08:00

Laughs... How long has it been since I last played an online RPG game. To be more specific, since I last played Ragnarok. I remember it was the times when XY has his own server, then Kenny and I were in Euphro and we trained like mad. And to relive those moments, I downloaded Euphro again, only to realize that they are not as good anymore. So I went on a quest to search for a fun, playable RO. I found heRO.

I started playing like 5 days ago on this 5x server. I started off with 3 of my favorite characters, assassin, hunter and wizard. I love hunter and wizard because they are range type. For assassin, it's just so easy to play with his dodge and passive skills. So, I don't really need to worry much bout skills hotkeys unlike my wiz.

Well I also started a merchant character which is so hard to level because he's built to buy and sell. And my half-hearted ness rendered it hanging. I might need a new merchant with better built.

Anyway, with all of them around level 70, it's pretty hard to level despite it being a 5x server. Amazingly I found a party. It started of with 3 characters then it grew bigger as they invited their friends. Partying in ice dungeon really reminded me how fun RO was. I was beginning to question myself why am I training the character so tirelessly, and today I found the answer. I have no idea who they are yet they were so kind.

Since I started playing just for fun, I usually just donate stuff to people. A stranger walks past and asks if I have skel-bone I will give. Ask me for some pots, I will give. But today I was on the receiving end and if felt like this world is really not corrupted. I barely know them yet they were willing to spend so much on me just so we can level together. And upon witnessing my noobness, they shared their knowledge and explain stuffs to me instead of kicking me out of the party. I needed some wind arrows, some hunter just helped me made it. Needed pots, some alchemist immediately changes all my herbs to reds. Interesting right. And I taught it's still the selfish world. In the game, gamers actually are willing to share.

Alright, so I admit. I haven't been spending my winter break as wisely or purposefully as I should. But I am truly glad I spent it on RO. With the new semester fast approaching, the characters are probably going to hibernate for quite some time. Or maybe not. Depends on how much CMU tries to test me this semester. Last semester, CMU actually forces me to work. And if you read the post on how I cope with each course differently, you would have known that it's really vigorous, yet feasible. Just got to do it and do it the right way.

Oh. And since it is a new year, let me usher in the fresh positive aura for my new semester. Resolution? None. I am just not the kind of person that make a long list of promises that I will break. Like my mom says, "don't wanna fail the test, then don't take it." Haha. It was meant to say that being afraid is not going to solve problems in her very own way.

So, welcome 2011. May this year be a successful blessed year for all my family, friends and everyone else.

Every Christmas tree has a story

2010-12-28T19:02:00.001-08:00

Every Christmas tree has a story. I was at Reverend Dr. Sunquist's place on Christmas for a Christmas dinner. My first authentic christmas dinner. Well, it's a lunch. And there were a lot of chatters going on. I sat at a table with two Egyptians and Dr Scott's son, Jessi. We talked about soccer, politics, but mostly on religion. I was as amazed at Islam in his country as he at Islam in my country. Well, we agree that there are differences everywhere. And their politics is actually worse than my country. This must be the first time I found a rich country with worse political standards.

So, after the lunch, we were chatting in the living hall, while savoring the desserts. And someone asked about the Christmas tree and the decoration. Jessi explained how they got each decorative, from a small picture frame his sister made when she was really young and how they tried using a real tree for a couple of years and decided to stick with a "fake tree" instead.

The Christmas tree alone tells me a lot about his family. It kind of makes me wonder,

what's the story behind your Christmas tree? Or the tree you decorate for your celebration.

Student cooks

2010-12-17T18:53:00.000-08:00

Alright. 3 guys and a kitchen is probably not a good idea. But guess what, it works. Somehow.

Last night we had spaghetti and nuggets for dinner and today we had curry chicken and potato with bread. It's some student's home-made stuff so don't expect too much. What I can say is that we all were full, happy and nobody had stomachache. And it actually taste kind of okay.

Tian Kang has been in charge of dinner for these two days and it's going well so far. I hope we don't run out of recipe anytime soon. At the rate we are going, we really can avoid eating out everyday. Here are some pictures.

Ice skating

2010-12-15T20:54:00.001-08:00

First day of official winter break. Went ice skating for the first time here. It's not as big as Sunway's rink but it is OUTDOOR. Which is so cool. I mean literally cool with breeze and gust blowing onto your face. And guess what. I only fell once this time instead of a billion times like in Sunway. And it's not that pricey at all. Including the skate's rental, it only cost 10 dollars.

Nobody brought the camera because it was kinda spontaneously decided, so no pictures to show. But that huge Christmas tree at the center of the rink was surely pretty. Dinner at "Original Oyster". Pretty decent.

By the way, did I say winter is cold? It is...

Man never land on moon

2010-12-13T16:39:00.000-08:00

I was told about this video in Youtube about the conspiracy theory. My friends say that it is interesting and I probably should go check it out. Me being the curious-want-to-disprove-everything kind of person, I did. But, I find it amusing and interesting. Amusing because I can't disprove the video and interesting because Neil Armstrong really might not land on the moon at all. Seriously, if you don't believe me, go check it out yourself. Here. It's quite long, but here's the summary of it.

1. If the lunar lander landed on the moon, with the thrust it creates, why is there no blast crater on the spot where it landed? All the photographs took show that the lunar lander lands on a flat ground. There should have been a big blast hole where it thrust. This I think is the most concrete evidence.

2. Shadows of astronauts. Well, shadow is not a problem since sun is the light source, but shadowS is a problem. The pictures taken show that there are more than 1 light source. Astronauts who are well-lit despite standing on a shadow proves that there are other light source, which is impossible on moon.

3. Flags waving despite no wind or air flow on moon.

4. All astronauts have no side effect from the moon landing mission despite the sun blasting some deadly solar blast on the exacts days when the astronauts where travelling.

5. We can hear the voices of astronauts so clearly, yet we can't hear the noise from that big engine at all.

6. Although the astronauts seem like they are walking with 1/6 G, a 2x speed video show that they look as if they are running perfectly normal. Means that the video which show us the landing was probably just a video with its motion reduces 2x.

7. And with NASA's technology at that time, the video quality should have been much better. There are too much noise and distortion and with NASA's potential even at that time, could have been much better.

Well, these are just a few of it and not very well elaborated. Others include the millions of problems that they were facing even before take off. And how even Russia thinks that it is too dangerous. And since no other man has landed on moon, nobody could prove whether Neil Armstrong really did land there. They claim that the video was just a hoax staged in Area 51 which coincidentally, looks like the moon with craters all over it. Other facts are convincing, yet too detailed for me to elaborate. Dozens of suspicious deaths of astronauts and so on, even before the take off was very suspicious.

Well, second post of the day. Clearly, I am very free right now.

How my Brain Thinks

2010-12-13T16:06:00.000-08:00

Alright. So exam is over and while waiting for the clock to tick it's final minute during my last paper, I was trying to figure out what is going on in my head for the past 2 weeks. To be precise, what my brain is thinking and why I did what I did, specifically during the exam season.

To start, I think I am quite a cocky guy. Which is bad. Which I try to avoid being too much of. That said, I tend to look down on things that I already knew or I hate. So here is how it works. While doing my last paper, Calculus, I realized how much effort I put into it. Well, it's actually not much, but relative to my other papers, it is a lot.

Mainly my brain works in a chain of thoughts. Something triggers something and something triggers some other things. It's like a big stack of domino there in my head. And I was thinking, why am I putting so much effort into it? Then I realized that it is not because I like it, but I had to score it. You see, calculus to me has been a very funny subject. Naturally, I have a very adaptive mind. I can learn and understand things well. Something new pops up, give me a few minutes, my brain automatically generates the chains of logic and I master it. Done. The problem is my learning is fast, but it disappears faster. So, while I can master it in 5 minutes, I can forget it in 5 days. Completely forget about it. And my calculus score is very reflective on that. I can do relatively well on my weekly quiz because they test on what has just been taught but I struggle a little on the mid term papers. And towards the end of the semester, I found out that I can get an A. Yeah. And I can also get a B. What? Haha. Because my marks is so borderline that I can get either. And since Calculus has not been a big problem throughout the semester, I really want to get an A. So I work hard for it. And the result is staggering. Mainly because the final is a 3 hours paper, I have more time to check and redo the concepts in my head. As I said, I forget stuffs. I went in there and went completely blank on stuff that I can easily do. So for every theory, every concept, every proof, I have to go through the tedious process of figuring it out in my head. The adaptive nature helped, the time helped. That revision helped. But it would have been so much easier if I could just remember things. Bad memory. I walked out of the hall feeling so good about the paper. And for all those who knows me, I am not really the type that stays in the exam hall till the last minute. I don't even do that during SPM. But for this test, I did. I wanted to nail it so badly that I kept flipping through it to make sure there's no careless mistake. Towards the end, I even beautify it. Erasing some faint pencil marks, rewriting it to make it look neat. I hand it in, my TA gave me a thumbs up and I gave him a big smile, thumbs up and said "Thanks."

Chemistry on the other hand is weird. I started out with an unbelievable 98, then all the way down and down and down. I did not even put much effort into it for the finals because I was so lazy to care about it. Why? Because I am cocky. I felt that I should be able to breeze through Chem 1 and thought that I am too good for this class. Apparently not. Because the professor is teaching new stuff, stuffs that I should be interesting about. Stuffs that usually got me paying attention. But nope. I chose to sleep. Because he was such a good hypnotist. I slept in almost all the classes after the first mid term. That explains the drop in scores. At the end, it's still a borderline of A and B depending on weightage and finals and all, but I seriously won't be thrilled to get an A here but will definitely be pissed to get a B. I love the subject, seriously. Like madly in love with it, but this particular class just doesn't excite me that much. Sadly. With the lack of revision, an easy paper became a little trouble. Even though it's basically a repeat of past year paper, I couldn't finish it in 10 minutes, which I usually could, because I did not study for it. So, equipped with whatever concepts I have, I reasoned out everything. Chemistry, is a reasonable subject. It makes sense and that's why I like it. There are rules governing chemistry around us, and although the rules seem more and more irrelevant the more we study, it is still alright because new rules will come to replace the old. Remember PV=nRT? then PV is not really equals to nRT. then PV=ZnRT. Then modification to P and V=nRT. And finally I found out that none of those are valid. Newer rules come. And it's all good because that's what learning is. We start from a simple concept and build on it.

Chemical Engineering is a new story. I can type whole day about what ChemE is all about and not about. But in this post, I'd rather not. ChemE is an open book, open note, open any hardcopy stuff test. So you come in with bag filled with books and notes and homeworks and end up not using it at all, except to refer to constants and conversions at the front and back of it. Which is why studying it became so meaningless and challenging. You know going through those works won't help because you can bring it in anyway, so what is there to study? Ah ha. This is where everyone gets it wrong. And this is why I like ChemE. Because in truth, there's nothing to study. There's literally only concepts that once you grasp, you can solve everything. The end. It is very much like the fusion of the concepts in Chemistry with the practicality of physics and engineering. Not so much of either, but solely them. Ambiguous? That's what it is. Ask me what a Chemical engineer is 6 months ago and I would've told you that I have no idea. Ask me now, and I'd still answer you the same thing. That's how flexible, agile and volatile we are.

See, my brain works in weird ways to deal with different stuffs. Believe it or not, I spend a big part of my day watching videos and animes and surfing the net for things unrelated to the test. I practically finish another 3 seasons of top gear in just 2 weeks-of exams! I'm up to date with all the ongoing animes I've been watching and I am even re-watching for the third time, Prince of Tennis. During my exam!? And it's nothing to be proud of, because it's pure idiocy. And I will (try) not do that anymore next semester.

And since I am so damn free, I will post more today, just for the sake of it.

Refresh

2010-12-12T03:31:00.000-08:00

Quite obviously my blog just got a new template. And some new updates too. Since I went to bed early around 12, to hopefully reset my biological clock for my calc test which is going to be at 9 a.m on Monday, I was expecting myself to be waking up early. I didn't know it will be at 3. am.

Since I was awake, I might as well make full use of it. Spent like 20 minutes getting changed silently, pack my bag and laptop stealthily, sneak out covertly so that I don't wake my room mate. Head straight to Morewood Underground for a big chunk of brownie with hot fude and ice cream- yum mmmmie. And some coffee, which is free. No wonder people are addicted to coffee. They provide free coffee from 8pm-8am everyday during the exam weeks.

So instead of taking out my calculus notes and start doing practice questions, I turn on my laptop and there goes 3 hours. Well, at least my blog got a new facial touch up. Well, have to admit that I have been kind of neglecting it. Oh well, winter break is coming. Let's hope that it's filled with joyous things to share.

For all those still taking exams. 1 final push. Good luck guys. By the way I hate FM every time I say good luck. 1 of his post talks about how he don't believe in wishing people good luck. And he somehow manage to convince me to believe it. So I became so over conscious every time I wish someone good luck. I realized I am using more all the best instead. Anyway, best of luck for your final strive.

Famous Failures

2010-12-11T02:11:00.000-08:00

Alright. I still have 1 paper to go and I am blogging so much more than usual. It's like you settle down for something less bad. When you have homeworks, you think, well I will go run around the treadmill for health. When you do have free time, instead of jogging, you watch anime. When you have days of free time, you feel, anime is boring, I wanna go do something exciting, then you end up posting status on facebook saying you are bored. Is it only me or is everyone else the same?

Anyway, as I was browsing through youtube. I found this video. Which is superbly great! Informative. Which is the title of this post, Famous Failures. Check it out. It's only 1 minute long, but hell as inspiring.

Another video I found was on the conspiracy theory about how NASA might have staged the moon landing on earth. Trust me. Before I see it, I was like, this dude is joking. How can it be fake. Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. Or so I thought. That video is really convincing. Even I can say nothing to deny it. And the NASA spokesman in the video was so afraid like he's hiding something. The first of a seventh part video is here.

A not-so-nice video is the conspiracy theory about 911. They claim that the government is behind it. But, not really interesting. The commentating is bad, proof was weak and ambiguity all over.

And just for a nice ending. I watched Randy Pausch's "The last lecture" all over again. This must be like the sixth or seventh time, which means that 6 or 7 hours of my life spent on that 1 video. I mean there're some great videos that get you excited the first time you watch it. And there are those like this and Al Pacino's locker room speech in Any Given Sunday, which totally blew you away and you can watch it over and over again.

Seriously watch the famous failures. You won't regret it.

A love to die for....

2010-12-09T21:09:00.000-08:00

If your are expecting a mushy touchy story, click here because what I am writing now isn't one. Facebook is now spammed with the news of this Alvis Kong who suicided because of love. So brave, so courageous, so touching, so sad, I am gonna cry. Not. Come on, seriously?

Before I go on, I remember someone describing what everyone who want to suicide should do. This is either FM or Jason. This witty guy said, instead of jumping of from a building, people should just do everything they wanted to do. Enjoy life to the fullest, like spending all their money, find more money and spend it, go rob some pretty nice cars and speed it along some gorgeous highways, flirt around with ladies(and I don't really agree with this), and mess up real bad first. Go wild and do all those fun stuff that you would not be doing usually. I would say go shout at the politician you hate so much. Break all the things you hate. Then die. Well, the witty part is that, he said, once that suicidal dude did all those stuff, he might not want to die anymore. Which could be so true, which is my point here totally.

I know millions out there are drooling over that guy now because he did something so romantic, like dying?! What the heck is wrong with people nowadays? I am not trying to be angry, I am just saying. Look, to be true, I am glad he did kill himself. As Ridzuan would say "kecik-kecik tak mati, bila besar susahkan orang." Now that this messed up guy is dead, there'll be one less messed up kid. Perfecto.

Okay, here's the deal. I am not trying to be inhumane or cruel, or heartless or anything. I only want to be rational. It's always this typical story of a guy who loves a girl to the max, and this girl (usually a bitch, not implying anything, just saying), would reject him. Then he dies. Of course some stuff happens in between, but that's the general plot. So, let's be rational and think about this. Firstly, he's irrational at that point, so whatever I say here is not going to cross his mind. So, instead of being rational, let's rationally convince an irrational mind.

Deep in his mind, he's thinking, "oh my god, i so love her and she so not love me. I tried so hard and I failed and failed and failed. I am a failure I am better off dead." And we all know that he's right. He has tried, he has failed and most importantly, we all agreed that he deserve to die. We do, we really do. Not only me, but you. YOU especially thinks he deserve to die. That's why you hailed him a hero of romance, a man of love. Because you think he should do what he did. Kill himself.

But the truth is, his irrational mind is only a reflection of his personality which later I shall prove why he is going to die anyway. In his subconscious emo mind, his real personality and character takes over his mind. From what we can tell, he's self discriminating and a coward. How? By complaining about how much he tried, he showed us that he's not really sincere in trying. I mean he did try, but he's complaining about it. Instead of loving every moment he tried, he complain that he has to try. Well if trying is so hard, then why even try?

Secondly, when he repetitively, consistently failed, he chose to give up. And in this case, it's only a mere 5 failure. Come on, some people actually failed more than that. And how did he just arbitrarily decides that 5 is it? That 5 is the magic number which proves that 6 would fail too? Judging by his character,the 6 millionth time would probably fail as well, but that's beside the point. My point is, how did he so simply choose to die out on 5? A mere 5? Probably because he think counting to 6 is hard. As I was saying, he gave up. Does anyone else see the contradiction? He is so madly in love with a girl that he gave up on the fifth trial. WOW! You know what's gonna happen if he did not die and if the girl actually decides to accept him? He's going to die anyway. Because in a relationship, arguing 5 times is not the end of everything. And if he decided to stop at 5, he will just end up breaking up at 5 again. Am I making sense here? The thing is if he is really head over heels with that lady, trying should be pleasing. Should be satisfying. Should be memorable and makes you keep on going. Not shout over it and stop at 5. 5 rejections is probably nothing as compared to what they'll face as a couple should they end up as one. And if he can't even take that, he really don't deserve her, no matter how bitchy she is.

So far, I have proved that he's a whiner and a quitter. Next, he's also a coward. Among the options (and keep in mind, we are still in his irrational mind) of trying again, get drunk, find a new babe, write a blog, ride a bike, go for a jog, shout, scream at politicians, break stuff up, rob a bank, screw a goat, watch a movie, listen to songs, cry, spend all his fortune, slap his worst enemy, etc, he chose jumping off a building. Now, I will admit that it is something quite hard to do, for me actually. It's really very difficult to think as stupidly as he does and just randomly chose to jump. I mean I know you are irrational, but in your irrationality, can't you do something challenging? Like go race with your car and crash in it, which gives you so much more adrenaline rush than, say flying? See, he's a coward, loser, quitter, whiner and a failed man.

I said how I said I was going to prove how he's suppose to be dead anyway? Here's why. Being such a loser, coward, quitter, whiner and a failure, how can he not die? Even if he does not take his life today, he's going to do something so wrong, he'll end up dead anyway. Right? His attitude and personality, as reflected by his emo self, is that of someone who does not choose adventure (instead the easy way out), does not resist failure and does not commit to his goals. Obviously all he commits to is suicide. Get it? Commit suicide. Err... anyway....

Actually, judging from his personality, it would surprised me if he manage to entice anyone. I am not discriminating him (or am I?), I just wanted to show that suicide is really not a courageous act. Do I sympathize him? Maybe a little. Do I agree to his actions? Definitely not. I could not stress enough how irresponsible suiciding is. How it is such a selfish act.

Life is so much more trouble, true, but it is definitely better than emptiness. Look at namewee. His life is so f-ed up too, but did he choose to kill himself? No. He chose to meet with the PM and talks things out. Now, that's what I am talking about. If you are unhappy with your life, make a new one. Seriously, you can literally make a new one (though I doubt you'll be a good dad) or make your life better.

Think about it. What do you want with a girl that rejects you like a toy? You seriously want to be with her and be fooled for the rest of your life? There's a reason why she rejects you. Cause you are just a plain loser and doesn't suit her. So be a winner and find someone else that actually reciprocates.

Damn, this is actually kind of long. If you have any questions, thoughts, disagreement, do shoot me a comment. Don't look for a fight though, I'd be happy to discuss.

And then there's this and that...

2010-12-08T22:04:00.000-08:00

There are a million things that happened for this past month or so. I haven't been updating not because I have nothing to post, but because I can't seem to find my flair. I couldn't compose proper sentences. I couldn't navigate around things I wanted to share, things I wanted to say. I know that it is really bad because I just started the past few sentences with the letter "I".

I do have some great photos, which is yet to be transferred to my com. Mostly, what happened was that I was so eager to write about my great trip to Philadelphia that I wouldn't want to post anything new but that. The problem is that is probably a long dramatic post and I don't want to screw it up by simply uploading photos and give hand waving descriptions.

That said, what I want to do here is share some great stuff. If you haven't heard of Natalie Tran, you should probably go check her out. She's just completed her study in Australia and is now travelling around the world. She is quite a prominent vlogger I would say. Quite interesting actually. You can follow her vlogs at youtube. Her channel is communitychannel. It's interesting, more interesting than Ray William Johnson I would say.

It's finally snowing more consistently now. Snows pilling up. Can't wait for my first snow ball fight. I got some pics actually, but as I say, it's still in the camera. Gonna do it with the Pittsburgh stuff.

Pledging is finally officially over and I am now a legitimate member of Alpha Phi Omega. More service projects coming up next semester and the spring carnival of course.

I am actually in the middle of exam week now with 2 more papers to go. Looking forward to the winter break seriously. Not that I have anything in mind. My plan is to probably work over the winter to earn some pocket money, if they decide to hire me. Or to randomly go to New York or somewhere. Probably alone. Probably get lost, judging from my sense of direction. But, it'll work out. Or maybe just work out during the winter. It's pretty hard to sweat here. It's so cold and dry that it's so hard to warm up.

Looking at how boring my blog has been for the pass few years, I am starting to wonder whether I should still keep this up. Or start a vlog or something. But, as I said, this blog is more like a diary for my grandchildren more than anything else. It's for the days just in case (touchwood) that I leave early and these poor cuties have no idea what their grandpa is like. At least they'll have some idea what the heck I did with my life.

I wish to post something more informative and general rather than so much about myself. More like my thoughts, which had been plentiful these pass few weeks. But, since a big portion of it revolves around sensitive politics, I'd rather not. I'd figure that Mr. Jo is right. He said, " Never argue with a fool. People won't know who is who." Which was clever. Everyone knows about those clowns and their senseless rather random actions, like suggesting to ban Facebook.

Sometimes I feel that, if any of them have the balls to just have an intelligent conversation(debate) with me and discuss about what they did, doing and going to do, and how they justify it, it would be an eye-opener to the public, should the public even care. News of UKM students detained for some minor politics is proof at the hypocritical state we live in. And this is not directed to the Gov or Opp. It's for both.

And the worst part is I can't condemn the country. In fact, I am trying to clear up my country's reputation. Americans (who are well known for not knowing anything out of USA) is telling me that my country is not democratic. I mean, not that I disagree totally, but the picture that they get is wrong. Of course, Malaysia is not that democratic but we are not communist at all. We don't stop the flow of information like how China bans facebook. Oh wait, maybe that's what we are trying to do. But, my point is I should be the one criticizing my country, not you strangers.

At this point, I don't really care (or do I) about what's happening. I want to take pride in my country despite fools ruling it. I am patriotic. Very patriotic. There is no other country other than Malaysia for me. And loving the country should not be confused with loving the ruling coalition. I love my country although I hate the red tapes and the obviously dumb Parliament we have. I respect the Sultans and the King although I might hate the politicians. I think people should really see the difference between the sovereignty of the country and the loyalty to the government. They are just different. Politicians come and go, mostly after fucking the country. But the country stays.

Now, what have I done. I knew I should not have started rambling on that. It's triggering.

No shave November

2010-11-17T20:57:00.000-08:00

Apparently, no shave November is a month dedicated for testicular cancer. Men don't shave their beard and mustache as a sign of support against testicular cancer. And I just saw a video on how women can help too. Asylum.com suggested women to have sex with guys with mustache! So bearded men, you guys are in luck.

In an unrelated incident, I broke William's slippers! I have been unintentionally stepping on his footwear ever since we got here, but today is the finale I would say. I finally tore it apart. Not that I am proud of it. In fact, I kinda pity him for not having a slipper to wear anymore, at least not in this next few days.

Most ideal place to do homework

2010-11-16T13:10:00.001-08:00

Is in the library.

You go to a desk. Set up your laptop. Take out your folder. Scatter the papers and journals and texts on your desk. Open the words document. Start typing. Just when you ran out of motivation, lean back and take a rest. You will most likely catch a glimpse of that cute Korean girl who so happen to walk by. You feel motivated again.

You keep typing. Ran out of idea, take a look around for inspiration and you'll another Asian shorty who so happen to be doing her work. And you suddenly know what to type.

And you type and you type. And suddenly another pretty chick pass by whispering to her friends in that oh-so-familiar high pitch girly voice. There's your extra boost of redbull.

And just when you're done. You rejoice. Let out a huge sigh of relief and proudly clear up your desk. You're a happy man, with his work done!

Geeeeeek

2010-11-14T21:18:00.000-08:00

Imagine 4 friends playing video game. That's normal, that's Harvard and Standford. Here in CMU, we are simply more than that.

We almost literally take gaming up not one but 5 levels! Then down 5 and then up 5. What am I talking about? Video gaming in an ELEVATOR!?

By the way, The Social Network is a nice movie. It makes you suddenly want to take up programming. But it kind of makes programmers feel like shit for not working as hard as he is and come up with codes worth billions.

Looking forward to winter break (snow baby snow!), and the spring semester where classes are more, I would say, interesting. Also coming out in spring- the new Mac Os, Lion! Haven't really experienced snow leopard though, but it looks great. Hope it's great.

5 Bullets

2010-10-20T10:42:00.001-07:00

Are you driving on MRR2?

Are you feeling lucky?

Are you innocent?

If so, you might just get a chance to be shot by police officers!

Well, at least that's what happen to this lady. She was shot 5 times and stomped by a police officer, rending her hospitalized with 2 broken ribs. Hmm, this sound familiar. Police, lady, explosives. Damn, Altantuya!

Of course, it is not related. She's not dead. Had this been done by the same people, she would have been dead, twice!

So here, the story. She driving on MRR2 with her friends. Police shot. The end.

And here are the facts.

1. She's innocent. Unless proven guilty. But, she's not even charged with anything! In truth, she's not even a suspect. The only crime that I can think of is that she being not-so-pretty. And if that's the case, I must agree with PDRM's motto of eliminating ugly people from Malaysia. Kudos! Ugly bitches, you better run.

2. Even if she's a suspect, under SOP (Standard Operation Procedure), isn't the police suppose to stop her car, maybe cuff her, or lock her up or something? Well, at least, tell her what the fuck did she do wrong. But, well PDRM. Please Don't Rescue Me! That's it. Can you imagine them being drunk and go like, "SOP my a$$. Imma shoot you down you whore!" Bang bang bang.

3. The police, under the law, is entitled to (notice why I use "entitled"? Cause it's like winning a prize. They can finally shoot. Yeah!!!" shoot in circumstances where the police officers' lives are endangered i.e she is shooting at them, or she's evicting. Firstly, she doesn't even own a gun. What's she gonna do? Bomoh them?? Secondly, she's not evicting. And I am not even sure if they can shoot her if she's evicting. Shoot and stop the car, maybe. Shoot with intention to kill? I don't think so. Am I framing the police? Maybe. But if you put 5 bullets into someone and say that you have no intention to kill? Then bring me your daughter and I'll show you what's "no intention to rape."

The last time this happen, it was a mess because we don't have a witness (she's dead-twice) and we don't have a suspect. By the way suspecting someone way up the hierarchy pyramid in a restricted-democratic country (tyranny) is like suspecting Kim Jung Un.

Now, it's some (as my friend puts it), "small-ant". She's not dead. Police admits to open firing. Means they are police officers, not people pretending to be police. And most importantly, the election is coming soon. This November. Will Obama retain his presidency? We'll see. What? Oh, I mean, will BN intervene and save the PDRM's asses risking polls, or will they save their own asses first?

By the way, I am non-partisan. I hate BN as much as I hate PR. I just love Malaysia.

Have you guys seen the video where this Chinese "England speaking" lady was provoking the cops? In Malaysia. She was kind of recording the whole thing and the police felt that she should not do that, but those two dumb ass forgets which section in the law forbids her form recording, so they just go on ranting. Had they quote a part in a law where recording a police officer on duty is prohibited, she would have just shut up. She's lucky though. That she get to get out alive. She even "conteng" on her summons, making the two police officers so damn frustrated. And again, they don't know which part of the law says she can't do that. So they were like, "saya kata tak boleh, tak boleh la." Bodoh! You think this is your father's country? You say? You, my dear friend, is a law enforcer. Means law should say, not you. You are just a dumb ass whose presence scares everyone instead of making them feel save, you genius.

My point is some things are obvious. Like this 1. And they deserve to be charged. That cocky Chinese lady, is brave, that I have to admit. If nobody live by the law anymore, what's the point of having them? This is another opportunity for the legal system to impress/disappoint me. I don't know man, but if you are going to campaign for my vote, you better make sure you do things that make sense.

You know.....

2010-10-18T17:28:00.001-07:00

You know, guys, that I just said "you know..." in a "you-know-tone" to my professor. Great right.

He asked, "why do you think we need to feed in more oxygen than what the stoichiometric coefficient dictates." And I said, "well, to get a complete combustion."

And he asked, "why will excess of Oxygen governs complete combustion."

I know the answer. Right. Straightforward. So I said, "Because if you put in more oxygen, then it will make sure all the fuel gets oxygen to burn and you know....."

He actually smiled. And said. "Ya". LoL. The answer that he was looking for is actually the rate of combustion and if we feed more oxygen then the reaction would favor forward and all. Which was the same thing I had in my mind. Epic moment in the class. You know....

Tresemme

2010-10-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

Anyone has any idea how to pronouns this brand without it sounding like "threesome" ?

Fall Break!

2010-10-14T12:02:00.001-07:00

Fall Break is here. Woohoo. Know what? It's a one day break on Friday. 1 short day. And they called it a fall break. My usually ponteng class hobby in uniten/week also more than 1 day la... Sad.

And the worst part is, all the lecturers use the fact that everyone would be having a break as an excuse to jam up with homeworks. And that is perfectly fine, except when every lecturer wants us to work 3 days for their homework. Finally, it ended up as 3 days x (the number of class you take), which mean no-break!

In fact, it's so unreasonable that it should be called fall-lock-yourself-in-the-room-piled-up-with-homework-day.

Anyway, the fall break is a good thing to look forward to. Especially for majors like Archi who never have time to sleep. This is a good chance for them to finally get some real sleep.

For people like me, who has been getting more sleep than I deserve, it's a chance to have fun. In fact, I will be going for a retreat somewhere organized by the people in my frat.

Alpha Phi Omega is not a self-explanatory frat. In fact, each time I use the word frat, I need to explain like a million things. Firstly, it is not a drink-buddies frat. We are a service frat dedicated to serving the community.

Secondly, it is not an all-male frat. (And to all you bastards out there), no, I did not join it because it's a co-ed frat.

See, usually fraternity refers to all male society and sorority referes to all-female. We are like in between, and I don't think we should even be considered as a greek. And I am only pledging by the way. Complex, which is why I don't usually relate myself to this.

Ok, where was I? Erm, ya retreat. Hope it's fun and nice.

Bus and Candy

2010-10-12T15:56:00.001-07:00

Today I saw a bus driver reading a novel while she was siting at the driver's seat waiting for students and scheduled time to start. Two very obvious difference from what I used to see.

First, bus drivers don't read. I have seen them smoke, talk, and all, but never read a book. A newspaper maybe.

Second, the bus NEVER waits for people. From where I came from, people wait for bus. And the schedule is as useful as a toilet paper when you are not shitting. The time they put on it is for mere show. No one follows it. Which is why, the best time to wait for a bus is to wait at times in between what's written on the paper.

It's been about two months since I got here. And it felt weird today.

For the past week, I have been having unfinished work, which explain my lack of sleep and pimples popping out. You see, the problem is even though I have work, I still make time to go for chapter meeting, activities, sports, watch anime and go supper. It gotten so bad that I can't focus on the first two class of the day on Monday. Which is bad, because I always loved Greggo- I mean Dr. Johnson. And for the first time in two months, Prof Karol's class actually intrigued me. He was talking about things which would lead to hybridization, which should be something I would want to hear. But I was so sleepy that I just slept through almost the whole lecture.

And today. Today is just so weird. The feeling of having everything done is bugging and annoying me. I feel so un-myself. I can watch anime without guilt, which is uncommon. I was worried that I might have something that I should be doing which I didn't do. I have a quiz at night but it's on structural and geometrical isomers, which is easy. So I didn't even revise for it. Which is so not-me.

The kiasu me will go through everything even if it's easy. But not today. I was so overwhelmed with confidence and I am glad it does not backfire. I actually finished the 15 minutes quiz in less than 3 minutes. Not to brag, but I do not want to stay back and get influenced by what others said in the class. And for this, I thanked all my Chemistry teachers especially the Chemistry tuition at Inst. Sofia, whose name I can't remember. Do let me know if any of you guys know. And Dr. Ibrahim too.

And I even have time for a 2 hours nap in the afternoon. I slept so soundly. Had a nice dream which I forgot what it was about. I even had time to go shopping for cereal in the morning after class.

Which leads me to met with this Chinese guy who is here to visit his sister. Apparently, he can't converse in English although he can read and write in English. We talked a bit at the bus stop. He praised my Mandarin and said that it sounded more accurate than those people from West China speaks. Damn proud. And he was even more surprised to find out that I can speak 3 dialects in Chinese in addition to English and Malay. See, this is why Malaysia rocks!

By the way, this is the newest addition to my room. Actually there're more, but this is the coolest of all. Candy jar. And lots of refills too. In Malaysia there's only 2 type of Skittles right? At least as far as I've seen. But here there's 3. The original red ones, the sour ones and the third is the crazy cores, which honestly is not that great, although it adds variety to it.

Oh well. Till next time...

1 month in 1 long post

2010-10-05T13:47:00.000-07:00

I lose touch with Malaysia's news. Partially given up. The last video I saw was Nga Kor Ming calling Chua Soi Lek "chua seh liap" (chua "small balls"). Well, I must say that the speech was that way because of 1 of the two reasons below:

1. He thinks that the audience are of such mentality that he need to resort to such irrelevant mockery to capture the attention and/or the audience is really of that kind.

2. He- just like Anwar saying, "hari ini jadi PM, esok turun harga minyak"- is reducing an intelligent game of politics into a cheap game which does not consider a bigger picture.

Nevertheless, I still love his speech (although it was in Chinese and I can't really understand what he said), and his thoughts. Most of what he says, I would too, maybe phrased differently. So, we got the same idea. High-5.

Coping with my ke-out-date-tan with Malaysian news, I tried to at least read US papers. Fortunately, they are free paper version. Unfortunately, it's like the old NST paper. Long and huge, where you can't read it while eating a sandwich. But, still, paper is paper. What I found was this. They are basically saying that org Amrika bdoh, tak tau agarma. Org atheist pun tahu lebih banyak drpd diorang. Obviously, I am not very bright. Had they google translate it, they would have know what it meant. But who cares. Padahal, sya tak guna bhs baku, jd klau google translate pon, tak dpt. Tu lah bodoh...

I have been wanting to post more than a few pictures but was lazy to write a short post for everything, so I kind of compiled everything into 1 long blog with pictures.

Well, we use blacboard/chalkboard here in CMU. Surprised? Yeah, and the chalk they use here is humongous. On the contrary, we use a video projecting thingy (whatever you called it). You know how it was back in Malaysia where we need to write.print stuff on a transparent paper and put it up on the projecting screen and it projects to a white board? Here, it uses camera, so you can project basically anything from regular paper to human faces on it. So much more convenient.

The pen is there for artistic sake. I used pencil for everything including tests. Apparently, we are highly discouraged from using pen especially in exams.

If you can't read that picture, it says "I am going balik kampun in Kelantan. Be back late night, Nik." That bastard actually went make biscuits for hari raya at some UPitt's seniors place. Post it is convenient. If it's cheaper.

This is what it looks like in 1 of the building. This building in particular, is Doherty. I have Chemistry class here. I like the stairs.

Ultimate, rock-paper-scissors. My lecturer has a book but can only lend it out to one of the four who doesn't have a book yet. And this (my favorite) lecturer did a rock-paper-scissors competition in class! The guy on the right is the winner I think.

You know the machines with cute bears, candies and random stuff in it? The one you see in an arcade, where you insert tokens and move a robotic hand to pick up stuff. This is a man-made CMU version. When I said man, I literally meant man. You insert any amount of money you want, and move a cardboard joystick thingy and pick up stuff from the box. It ranges from weird stuffs to very weird stuffs.

I vacuumed my room. Yeah. it's actually nice to live in a carpeted room. For many reasons a bachelor would tell you.

And just before "Relay for Life", some shop somewhere advertised about a coming sale. I missed how they do it, but it was like a cloud up in the sky. I overheard that a letter is almost a mile long.

And if you figure out what that word before "sale" is, do let me know, because I cracked my head and still can't figure it out.

bored........

2010-09-22T18:49:00.000-07:00

It's mind-bogging how I still could not get used to left-handed drivers. When I cross the road, I still look at the wrong side of the road. When I see a car, I still expect the steering to be on the other side or rather the "right side", right in both sense of the word.

The first mid-term was over and life goes on as usual.

Great thing is I am getting used to the weather (I think). When I walked out at 12 noon I no longer expect a blazing hot sun. When I go out at night, I expect more than a cool breeze.

I have a couple of nice pictures, but am too lazy to upload it. Classes? You know it's cool when your lecturer make a stone-paper-scissors context to see who gets the book in class. You know it's cool if your lecturer's pastime is rock-climbing, sky-diving and ultimate frisbee.

Zunar:A National Security Threat!

2010-09-10T13:36:00.001-07:00

The video that got me writing this post is this.

You know sometimes bad language just make a speech so hard to cope and understand. Well, this is a case where language is not a barrier. He's so funny even though he's struggling with the language.

And most of what he said is true.

1. The "apek" in the printing shop should not be hold liable for the print-job he's his customers demanded. As Zunar puts it, that apek will only care about "black or white" and "what type of paper." How can you expect that 70 year old "apek" to proof read all his customers piece.

2. Vendors should not be hold responsible and should not have their license threaten when the book is not even banned yet.

Seriously, how are these cartoons threatening public order? You lose an engine, he drew it. The public go chaos? Show me the logic.

More cool stuff

2010-08-31T21:02:00.000-07:00

Actually I have been using this for a while, but I never thought of posting it until I figured I had nothing better to post. Sounds bored? Actually no. I am just really really busy to be spending time figuring out what I really wanted to post.

The print job.

For those who did not know, I bought a printer when I was in Uniten. Because printing from my PC is such a fuss. I needed to save it to a USB drive then plug it into a virus-infested computer at about 1 km away in a shopr which opens from 10-5. Paying a huge sum too.

Now imagine if you have 24-hours wireless printing service less than 500 metres away. Cool right. Now add 40 dollars of free printing to it. Now that's really cool. CMU has computer clusters - just a fancy term for computer rooms- within 500 m radius of one another and printers at almost any corner. Every level of the libraries (yeah, you heard me right. LibrariES. We have more than one) even inside dorms. Although not every dorm has one, but you can be sure the dorm next to yours has it, so it's really all within 500 m away.

In addition to all that. They give every student $40 per semester for printing. Printing cost about 5 cents per page, so it's really sufficient. Some seniors told me that they tried printing PDF versions of book and still has balance. Tried printing colored pages and all, and still has extras. Crazy right.

I know some of you will be wondering. That's it? No no, that's not it. Aside from being able to print from my own PC in my room, I can do lots of other cool stuff. For example. All my print queue won't be printed, unless I walk to the nearest printer and swipe my card over the machine.

This machine. Which will then display a list of print queue, which I then select and print. It also has my print credit balance.

After printing, we need to staple it right. And sometimes, the documents are just too thick and you can't press hard enough? How about an automated staple machine?

Just put your paper in it and the sensor will pick up that motion and staple it for you.

There's a "hole punching" machine too.

Where you basically put in your paper, press a button and it will punch holes to the sides of your paper for easy storage.

There's a whole lot more of motion sensing devices around campus like motion-sensors light like the one in my gym and trash and recycle room, and the washroom.

Also the hand sanitizer. You just put your hand below it and the hand sanitizer lotion will come up in the form of foams. Same goes for hand shampoo inside the washroom. And motion-sensor tissue papers. Which works basically the same way. And of course automated flush which is not that much of a big deal.

Merdeka!

2010-08-29T20:02:00.001-07:00

It's Malaysia's Independence Day in a few days. August 31st to be precise. The Budaya Club had a barbecue night in CMU. It was not much of a patriotic event. We basically eat and talked. And when I said talked, it really converges to "ECE is so hard, CS is so hard. How to answer that question." etc, which are all academics-related. Duh, it's CMU.

Had a fun time (I think) scrubbing the barbecue tray after that. I don't really mind the work. I think I am used to doing these kinds of stuff.

Went shopping for clothes yesterday. Kind of expensive although I like the myriad options here. I don't see any branded shops like Armani or anything yet. But, I hope to get to it maybe during the discounts frenzy period around black Friday or Thanks giving, according to what I heard.

Study is pretty easy so far. Of course I still need to put in a certain amount of effort to stay on track. I hope it stays this way. As it is, I am already quite busy although I am coping.

Good news! I am not turning into a geek!

This week's photo installment. Some nice buildings which I reluctantly took picture of.

CMU update

2010-08-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

So what happened this week? Nik got his guitar.

And he's been like this the whole day.

Me? Nothing much. I am learning pool, and tennis and table tennis when I have the opportunity. Just played some badminton. But not as satisfying though. Still waiting for club volleyball to start. Hope to find more adept badminton and volleyball freaks around.

Study. Raek syo raek syo. I think it means easy or no problem in Japanese.

A lot work though. And that explains this extremely half-ass post. Still not liking the food here yet, but adapting pretty well. Loving Indian food. Basically curry chicken and rice. Suit me perfectly well.

Have been relying heavily on Youtube for songs. That's how desperate I am now. Regret deleting all my songs. Sad.

Seldom posting without title though, so I just randomly title-lized it.

By the way, I met an Indian who know Lee Chong Wei. Indian as in come from India Indian not Malaysian Indian. How cool is that?

House Wars and the end of orientation

2010-08-21T22:45:00.000-07:00

It's house wars!!!! Colors, Cheers and chicks!

Stever's theme is "Slytherin". Witches and sorcerers.

This is what I looked like. And the picture on the right is the dark mark I got on my left arm. Cool right.

Generally, everyone looks like this. Noticed William (red bandana) has red hair? Well maybe it's not apparent here, but he does have his hair sprayed red.

We did some childish game which is the main event, but doesn't feel as hyped as it should have been even with loud music blasting. Maybe because the game is just too idiotic.

But we Malaysians still don't get left out. We got pretty sick too.

But of course, not as sick as those booty showing bitches. You think showing off booty is a sexy thing? Wait till you come to US and get sick of it. Your definition of sexy has got to change.

There were a lot of people queuing for dessert, and being real Malaysians, we did not want to queue. Being in US means we cannot cut queue. So we went for a stroll.

At this cool bridge dedicated to Randy Pausch. You only saw blue, but it actually turns into a lot of colors, from red to green to yellow, orange, white and so on.

And it finally rained today. It was the second time I see rain here. It rained quite heavily but only for a short period of time. I don't think I'll ever get used to the rain here. Feels so different.

This evening, we had a talent show too. Performances by freshmen. I am trying my best to not judge but some performances really sucks. Some are really really really cool. I like the dance and was so attracted to it that I forgot to take picture.

These are not the only performances but it is basically how it looked like.

At the end, there was a slide show of photos and videos throughout the orientation which I thought was cool. Of course to wrap things up, they have a RAVE party, which of course, I skipped. Not a big fan of parties - yet.

Do you remember my post about laundry machines that send e-mails? Well, I did my laundry today and this is what it looks like.

You might not be able to read it but it says that my laundry in machine 6 is done and I can go collect them now.

Free meal and CMU

2010-08-17T21:30:00.001-07:00

Do you know how I got my free lunch in the States at a restaurant? I'll let you guys know later. For now, here's what I can see from my window.

Then there's this button for disabled people which is basically a button to automatically open the door. And since it is convenient, don't find it too surprising to find able-bodied people using it as well.

In fact, a lot of us used it. You just pressed it and the door opens on its own. The buttons are actually square and nicer in most places, but the place where I took it just look this worn out.

Then, these are like some random buildings around CMU, which really describe the town as a whole because in most parts of the town, it does look this way.

And finally, the place I got my free lunch is in Pamela's Restaurant. My friends and I are there for lunch because Sky said it is nice. And indeed it is scrumptious. I ordered a hamburger platter with fries as sides. The pork patty is tasteless I think but it has a strong meaty fresh flavor to it and if I were to eat that patty alone, it is not going to taste nice. But added with the buns, god, it tastes nice. The bun were like charred on the middle part and has this strong butter flavor to it. And they made it so nice that the bun is actually has a crispy layer.

Anyway, back to the story. My friends all had their food first. I was waiting like 3 minutes, which is totally fine. Then I was concerned whether they left out my order, so I asked the waitress. She apologizes on the first notion that I was the only one on the table without food yet and I think she felt sorry and obligated to make me feel comfortable. In actual fact, I was totally cool about it. I wasn't even annoyed the slightest.

She came back quickly with my platter and said "sorry for the wait. You know what, I am not going to charge you for your food. (Scratching my order from the receipt) There you go. I am sorry. Enjoy your meal."

I was like, ok...... And I got a free meal.

Just to add, I doubt this will happen in Malaysia. But I am always open for Malaysia to awe me. So hopefully the day will come.

Stever House

2010-08-14T03:55:00.000-07:00

That's the name of my dorm here at CMU. While I am typing this, the pictures just got uplaoded into the post. And I did not even resize them yet! That's how fast the connection here is. Now back to my room. It has all the common stuff that we have. I am living with a roommate Nik.

So we have 2 twin sized bed. An air conditioner. It does get hot here but not as hot as in Malaysia

A study desk, a closet, some drawers, a paper recycle bin and a thrash can.

And the chair. It really suit people like me who like to rock the chair and sit on two legs. The chair can rock back and forth but it stay back or stay forth. Get what I mean? Means if I rock back, it stays steady there and it I rock it forth it stays like normal. So I can sit on two legs without really sitting on two legs.

The door is heavy, so it closes on it's own. The socket point is different, so I needed an adaptor to fit it in.

And the coolest part of my dorm? The door of cause. I need my card to get into the building and the card and password to get into my room. Unlike in Uniten, where the guard check our cars, CMU uses computer (duh... we are cs-computer science- geeks). And the card will allow us to get free bus rides within Pittsburgh town.

Actually talking about the card itself can take up the whole post. In short though, it acts as my meal card, my atm card, my door card, my bus card, my entry card, my printing card and more to be discovered.

Oh ya. I got $40 of printing every semester so I can just use any computer, printer and scanner to print stuff for free, almost literally. I just need to swipe my card there.

And my card also is needed to use the laundry- free laundry. I swipe it there, wash my clothes- and here comes the geeky part!- and receives an e-mail when it is done. Yeah, you heard me right. The washing machine actually e-mails me to tell me that my laundry is done!

It also acts like a entry card to any building within CMU. So, our buildings are open round the clock and you can access it with the card. Did I mention that if I enter the gym at ground floor with my card, the lights actually turns up on their own? It does. And shuts on their own too, to save energy.

There's pool and table tennis, and cable TV and a nintendo wii. NINTENDO WII! Anyone in Stever can actually use it anytime they want. The wifi signal is strong anywhere I went so far and it is really fast. Probably a number won't tell you much. So I'll illustrate it this way.

You know after you click on a new link and wait 2 seconds for it to load? Well, now you don't wait. It pops up almost instantaneously. My fingers don't even have time to rest. The high quality photos I uploaded here, 5 photos in less than 5 seconds. If you still can't tell how fast it is, well, I load anime in 30 seconds. The whole episode! I don't even need to wake up 2 hours earlier to buffer it. You can watch HD quality videos just like that. No buffering.

The downside of my dorm is it is a little small. Not really small for me, but according to others, other dorms are way bigger. Well, as I am typing this, my dorm mate is already in bed and I am a little worried that the typing sound might bug him. So, that's it for now. Animes waiting for me. It's a sin to not watch when connection is good.

Goodbye Malaysia

2010-08-10T06:28:00.000-07:00

3 days ago, I watched Avatar with my ex-schoolmates.

2 days ago I was with Foo Mun, Ern Wei and Thila watching M.U thrash Chelsea. Glory glory Man Utd.

1 day ago was at teary goodbye.

Less than 20 hours ago, was spent with my new found friends. They actually abruptly decided to come to Taiping, for several reasons, but I am glad I am one of those. They went to the war memorial, around lake gardens, the clock tower, but finally, I think they had the most fun in Burmese pool. So did I. Never would I have gone there had they not come.

Today I met with CR and Chan and Kenny and FM and Ern Wei. Haven't met Chan and CR for quite a long time. I am glad everyone's still everyone.

Tomorrow I bid farewell to Malaysia. Got a feeling that I was in the womb all this while and tomorrow is the beginning of my new life. Hopefully a colorful one. Hopefully it is filled with these bunch of crazy friends I had.

Thanks a bunch to all my relative who relentlessly helped me. Firstly, my sureties who took the trouble to settle my agreement for me. Also relatives who gave me useful advises. This I will not forget.

Thanks to my friends who have always been there for me. I could not thanks you all enough. Till we meet again. And do keep in touch in FB.

Rotten Tomatoes

2010-08-07T22:23:00.001-07:00

Right. Obviously I am a failed film critics. I just can't see eye to eye with those critics in rotten tomatoes. Though I agree with some of their reviews. Yesterday, I went for a The Last Airbender with a bunch of friends- and met a bunch more there. FM actually warned me about the bad reviews TLA is getting. Being wary that I might be cheated of my RM10, I surfed for reviews.

To my astonishment, this is the first film, whose reviews were all bad. Some where sympathizing the director, while most were blatantly outspoken. So I went into the hall expecting some drama club acting. I think the only thing I agree from the reviews was that the waterbender's brother (forgotten his name) is nervous every time he utters a word. The nervously was so audible, and the director should have noticed and corrected that.

Apart from that, it was a nice film. Slightly better than Salt. I think Salt was a bit more predictable than TLA, but Salt did have mind-blowing action (recapping how Salt murdered her boss, when she's cuffed and being escorted by some intelligence officers- simply creative). It did vary from the original anime series, according to my friend, especially on the character's personality.

I think the Aang's should be a little more stoic and matured and colder, instead of acting like some spykids happy happy style. Besides, he don't look as confused and emotionally disturbed as he should be, considering how he was 100 years away from his time.

The story line was great. Credit to the director for not changing it. Despite the below expectation first of the trilogy, I am actually looking forward to Book 2.

Just a little confession. I was actually hunting for the anime some years ago, but it seems that they patterned it really fast, so it was copyrighted at most anime sites. Would appreciate it if anyone shares any link to watch the full anime series.

The effects was great but I think there are too many showy unnecessary dances involved before bending an element. It look's like a spell or ritual instead of some bending skills. It was rather inconsistent, because at times, they need to do some dances before firing, and at other times, they just summoned it without any special movement.

It is certainly not easy to squeeze in the whole book 1 of the anime into 103 minutes, so I guess kudos to the director for making it somehow, though some scenes were like 3 seconds long.

Overall, it's worth RM10. At least much much much better than snake on a plane.

When I was younger

2010-08-05T08:04:00.000-07:00

When I was younger, I wished I was older. Wear the uniform, go to school. Have friends who call me on the phone like my brother. Discuss about homework, have headaches over assignment.

When I was younger, I wished I could drive. Stroll around the town with a purpose. I told myself I will be a great driver, and take good care of my car.

When I was younger, I wished I grow up to be a police officer. Hold a gun, catch the thieves. Or be the next Prime Minister, loved by all. Or be a doctor and cure sick people. I swore I will be proud of my stethoscope.

When I was younger, I was told to study hard. Be successful like Lim Goh Tong and make money like Bill Gates. They promised me, if I studied hard enough, I can go oversea. Study in Harvard and play with snow during winter. I can be a great man if I score all 100 in exams.

When I was younger, I hope I have a million dollars. I wish to spend like a millionaire whose money never runs dry. Buy all the things I like that my mom don't. I promised to get them a bungalow on some hilltop with lots of maids.

That's when I was naive. That's when an ice-cream is the peak of the day. That's when I was younger. Now that I have gone to school, school is not that fun.

Now that I can drive, driving is only a chore. I weaved in an out of traffic to get out of the congestion. Now that I have freedom, I prefer wanting it.

Now that I am older, my ambition is to be a kid. I don't want to be a doctor, because I am sick of the whole world full of sick people. I don't want to be a policemen because they are a corrupted force. I don't want to be a Prime Minister because politics is a dirty game. Arguing and never achieving. I am skeptical, but prove me wrong.

Now that I am me, suddenly one million don't seem enough. Probably enough get me a Ferrari but leave none for the fuel. Chances are I can't own a hill like Goh Tong. Or be the richest man on Earth.

Now that I am leaving for US, I am asking myself so what. Study abroad is good, not great. Thousands and thousands have done that. What is there to shout about?

Now that I have achieved most of what I want myself to be when I was younger, it's high time to redefine what I want.

Maybe growing up is not that fun after all. So, kids out there, don't wish for all the things I wished for. Chances are you end up regretting it. Your ice cream tastes great because you can't always have it. Now that nobody is depriving me of ice cream, Hagen Daas don't taste as great.

Dr. C.L. Teng

2010-08-01T23:39:00.000-07:00

HE is certainly not me.

THBT Pitcher Plants Should Eat Humans

2010-08-01T03:25:00.000-07:00

I know this is darn stupid and ridiculous. Maybe it had something to do with Plant vs Zombie the game which I played last night, but that was my dream.

I dreamed that I was in a car with some of my junior debaters and somehow I came up with this motion. This House Believes that Pitcher Plants Should Eat Humans. How ridiculously ridiculous can I get in my dream?

And the shitty part is that I actually dreamed of some points as well.

Gov :

Human is a rotten race
?
Pitcher plants is more deserving than ungrateful humans

Opp:

Pitcher plants should stick to flies
?
Human tastes really bad/ something

I sprung up from my sleep still groggy from the tiredness of debating against myself, quickly hop back into my world of dreams. Only this time, it's peaceful.

MU is haram, so is England, swords and Sunway

2010-07-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

Firstly, allow me to congratulate Vignesh, Darmesh, Boo and Louis for storming KDU British Parliamentary Debate. SGI made it to the finals and Vignesh and Louis were the 2 top speakers of the national tournament, which basically means that they are currently the latest best Malaysian debaters.

Now, according to some ulame, syaitan-ic symbols like the devil or skulls or even symbols representing other religion like the cross is haram. So, they want to refrain their followers from wearing MU jerseys (devil) and Liverpool jersey (alcohol) and so on. So what is the problem? Why must Muslims wear or not wear such jerseys became the question.

Firstly, the red devil signifies MU as a football club or does the red devil signifies another religion or even has anything to do with the devil itself? When people wear the jersey, are they really subliminally worshiping devil? When you wear the symbol of a football club, has it ever occur to you that you are worshiping devil? No! You might be worshiping Rooney or Oberton but definitely not the devil.

Secondly, is the certain ulama's mentality so shallow as to judge people by what they wear? I don't see them making noise about teenage Muslims wearing skull head belt, nor do I see them complaining about Muslims joining the red cross society. Simply because the red cross represents an intention to help and has nothing to do with Christianity. Same goes to the jersey. You can be wearing baju Melayu and a songkok or ketayap and keep long beard but still deep within you, you are very much agnostic.

Another example. Let's take Malaysian jersey. It has a tiger head in it. Does that mean that people who wear it worship tiger? Believes in the spirit of tiger? Haram? No! Because they wear it as a symbol of courage and ferociousness and fighting spirit like that of a tiger. Nothing to do with a tiger. The red devil is only a symbol, not so much on what they believe in but rather how they play. Devilish could represent their intention to win by hook or by crook, or even as cunning as a devil in order to triumph. But whatsoever the reason is, it is not about worshiping devil.

Another hypocrisy in this is that it is clearly stated that for a women, their hair is considered part of aurat. Aurat, for those who are ignorant, is the part of body considered somewhat sacred and not to be shown to the public. Ergo, the introduction of tudung or head scarf to hide the hair. Why then do you allow women to show their aurat? Although you encourage tudung, you did not make it compulsory like alcohols. You knew that showing aurat is wrong in Islam, thus haram, but you let women in Malaysia the choice. Reason? Don't give me bullshit about modernization when on one hand you ban things like alcohols and MU jerseys but on the other hand you allow people to harm themselves (haram) by not banning cigarettes and not making tudung compulsory.

The arbitrary acts only show and prove to the whole world your inconsistency and how you set rules based on what you like, not what is taught.

The only reason I am writing this is because I respect Islam as a way of life, as a genuine religion which guides the followers to a perfect lifestyle, but certain individuals are trying to it seem absurd. What happens to the "certain" type of yoga postures is happening again in MU jerseys. I say stop banning people from wearing MU jerseys. MU is the king of EPL and you people should stop disturbing them.

If you want to ban crosses then ban your citizen from going to England, because their flag is a big red cross. Oh, but you can't can you? Ban people from Sweden. Ban people from wearing boxed shirts because we all know that boxes are made of recurring crosses. Ban people from corss-stitching because with the two needles, you are inclined to make the shape of a cross. Ban Muslim kids from playing with swords because swords are shaped like a cross. Ban all toys from having crosses as a decoration. Ban PlayStation because the arrows in the joystick forms a cross. Ban Titanic because when the couple spread their hands, it forms a cross. In fact, ban Sunway Pyramid for putting up giant sphinx-like lions for that might indicate the worshiping of ancient Egyptian religions.

Ban ban ban. The first thing that you should ban is nicotine. Then you go ahead and ban what you like. I just can't stand seeing Muslims smoking their way to hell, since smoking equals to suicide by harming your internal organs, which is halal, just like alcoholic drinks.