Who's name again?

We were studying fluidized bed when we came across something called the ‘Richardson and Zaki’ correlation in the lecture notes. I find this amusing since I know a friend named Zaki and it’s rare to find a theory with a name that’s remotely ‘sort-of’ Malaysian.

Sadly, the lecturer broke my reverie by saying that the story is that the aforementioned Richardson is THE Richardson in ‘Coulson and Richardson’ (a really famous and useful chemical engineering book) and Zaki is the one that cleaned the apparatus. Oh well…

Still, isn’t it amazing to have a law (or correlation, relationship, formula etc.) that has your name? Hmmm, like Yazid’s law or something, he he.

Yaz.

I'm smiling

I have this t-shirt stashed in my cupboard. It's one of my favourites.


I saw this in a shop the other day. Think I should go get it?
Yaz.

Another week left

It’s almost that time again! The time when the Brits will go back home and the Europeans will board their flights (which probably cost less than £20, grrrr… I’m jealous) and the college will be owned by a bunch of overseas students and some poor souls who decided to stay because they think this is the perfect time to catch up on their studies, like my neighbour last year, ahahaha (sorry Dom, that was laughter in good spirit, he he). Anyway, I can’t help being in holiday mode, which is a bit worrying since I have a few more work to finish before I can call it a term. Still, term ends next Friday, and after that I’ll be free to do whatever I want. Well, almost.

For the moment, I have to finish one example sheet, a fluid mechanics exercise and a full lab report for the last lab of the term. I pity people who will have their lab next Wednesday since they will either have to finish it in three days (instead of the normal ten) or stay in Cambridge during the holidays to get it done. Oh well.

I saw this in Borders the other day. They’re adapting Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather on BBC. Don’t know if it’s good or not but it looks cool.

I will probably fill my Christmas break with watching lots and lots of films, animes, doing nothing and going for random walks all day. Might also drop by at the Malaysian AC students’ place in London to see how they’re doing. In the meantime, I’m wishing everybody who stumbled upon my blog a happy holiday! Cheers.

Yaz.

Spot the sameness

I always find this quite funny since I've only seen it happen in the UK and never back home. But anyway, it's really hard to take a picture while trying to be inconspicuous at the same time. Still, go ahead and spot the sameness...



Yaz.

Let’s get fit

In AC, there was a gym that we students can use. One of its rules is that you have to have at least another person with you while you work out. Hence, my gym-a-holic dorm mate Safi used to drag me to the gym every now and then. I used to work on the running machine since my swimming instructor advised me to improve my stamina (I first learnt how to swim properly in AC) but I was reluctant to try the weights machine (at least when someone’s around) since it’s embarrassing when my dorm mate can lift some forty-pounders without breaking a sweat while I’m struggling to raise some twenty pound weights.

Anyway, I kinda missed having him around because now there’s no one to drag me to the gym anymore. As a result, I’ve never known the insides of the Trinity College gym at all last year. This year, though, I’m trying to get that changed, what’s with volleyball and all. So I attended the gym induction the other weekend and picked my brand new gym card. Yay! Now I just need to find someone to drag with me every time I feel like getting a work out =)

On another note, I just signed up for the Chemical Engineering department’s nine-course meal Christmas dinner. A bit counter-productive, don’t you think?

Yaz.

Cool name

Don't you think it's really cool to have a surname like Newton or Einstein (or Bond, he he)? That way if you introduce yourself people will be like, wow! Talk about being proud of your ancestry.

There was a notice on the notice board about the people elected on the Rouse Ball Senior Studentship (whatever that is) on Trinity and one name in particular caught my eye. Wow, how cool is that?

(I blackened the names coz I'm still not sure of this whole publishing names on the internet thingy)

She's in the same university as her ancestor, not to mention the same college too!


Yaz.


P.S. Talking about cool name, I made a search in Facebook and it turned out there are a number of people named Malaysia. Ha ha.

The poppy

The poppy appeal is back again this year. I noticed it when someone from TCSU held a box of poppies and a donation jar at the dining hall queue. The next day, there were a few other poppy volunteers that I saw on my way to Sainsbury’s. They weren’t paying me much attention, though. Probably because of the fact that they thought foreigners won’t have a clue of what’s it all about, which is quite true, by the way.

I remember a German friend in AC wearing one of those poppies on her shirt and people were giving her amused looks. She said something about ‘it’s about remembrance, not the war itself’.

I pretended to be clueless (one advantage of being a foreigner) and ask a friend during breakfast, “What’s the poppy all about?”

“Oh, it’s about remembering people that served in the war.”

“What if you don’t agree with the war in the first place?”

I think he was amused by my questions. I can’t recall his exact answer but it probably lies along the lines of you can still wear the poppy. I was tempted to ask my last question, “Is it remembering both sides, or just one side of the casualties of the war?” I know the answer to that one.

I didn’t ask that last question.

On a break from studying last night, I sauntered to the common room and grabbed the first paper available to me. It was a copy of The Times. On the front page was a report about an event of commemorating the British soldiers that had died in Iraq. About 121 in total. I can’t help but to ponder, are those people in the ceremony remembering war casualties on one side only, or does it crossed their minds about the death on the other side as well?

Was browsing through my friends’ blogs yesterday and I found this nice song by Outlandish from Youtube. Thanks Zaid!

Yaz.

Image mosaic generator

Ever seen those pictures that were made up of hundreds of different little tiny pictures, but they all combine to make a bigger picture? Ta da!

Just click on the picture.

Found this on the internet the other day. Thought I'll have some fun fiddling with it =)

Yaz.

It's autumn

... and the trees are changing colour!

Isn't it nice to have the leaves falling down while you walk past?



Yaz.

(Mis)pronunciation

We had a lecture on stresses due to pressure today and the name Euler kept cropping up in the lecture and I can’t help but chuckle or cringe or both everytime because the lecturer pronounced it as ‘YU- LER’. I mean, this is Cambridge, right?

I wonder how many people in the masses actually know that Euler is pronounced as Oiler?

Yaz.

Guy Fawkes Night

It's here! The night when Cambridge inhabitants all flock together in Midsummer's Common to enjoy an overdose of sweets (think cotton candy and toffee apples) and watch things that go whizz and bang that explodes in a myriad of colours in all directions. Yay!

I went there with a friend of mine just a bit after seven to catch the event that will commence at half past. There was a similar event at the Boat House but you have to pay for that and they serve you mulled wine which I can't even drink, so why bother? Anyway, I took a few pictures and videos until my camera ran out of space. The event lasted approximately fifteen minutes, which I felt was a bit shorter than last year. I wonder why that is... insufficient funding? Well, in any case, it was a good display.

My uber Canon Ixus 55 proved to be too complicated for my friend to handle. As a result, there's no picture of me with the fireworks as background.... *sobs*.








Oh, if they look a bit blurry, it's because I use fireworks mode (longer exposure time) with no tripod =( I also must admit, it always looks better and larger in real life. Or maybe I just suck at camera =)


Yaz.

Just a quick update

We had our second friendly volleyball match today. It was rescheduled from next week, though the one that’s supposed to be in late November is rescheduled to next week, so we’ll have three weeks of matches in a row, including last week. This time, sadly, even though an e-mail was sent, only five people turned up, though in Cambridge’s beginner’s volleyball team’s defence I should mention that this is a last minute match notice, so people might have other commitments planned out already. We played against Anglia Ruskin again and, embarrassingly, a secondary school. A university against a secondary school?! Then again, the school does have a coach and a properly trained team and I did mention last time that MCKK’s 2002 volleyball team can give a good match against us anytime so you can’t really compare a uni and a secondary school that way.

I think we did better than last week. We even managed to win a set =)

Tomorrow is Guy Fawkes Night. I can’t wait! Hmmmm… cotton candy, toffee apples, fireworks…

Yaz.