Warning, lamentations ahead

Things aren’t going along perfectly…

I bought three books in Cambridge before going back for summer. Now, I’ve finished one and almost completed reading the second.

And it’s only just the fourth day of summer holidays.

A character that I like in the second book died two-third of the way, and he’s one of the main characters, so I’m shocked. Can’t say I feel really cheery at the moment.

I don’t want to read the third one now. It’s Something Happened by Joseph Heller. First encountered it in AC’s library. A really good book; that’s why I bought my own copy. The story’s really tragic, though, so reading it now will do nothing to lift my mood (I think I cried the first time I read it).

Almost out of reading materials. Did a price check today. Discovered that I can get it cheaper from Amazon, but then again, I can’t use Amazon in this country. Drat!

Have to return to my rural abode next week. Heard that the phone line there had been malfunctioning, so that means no internet. Shucks!

I feel like I’m being wasted (as in the ‘not potentially optimized’ wasted). Feel like I’m sort of useless.

And it’s only just the fourth day of summer holidays.

I’m starting to miss Cambridge. I think I’m getting universitysick (as opposed to homesick). I suppose for people it’s typically the other way around. Is this weird? Am I normal? Is it okay to want the next term to start as soon as possible?

It’s going to be a long summer.

And it’s only just the fourth day of summer holidays.

Yaz.

I’m back 2

Am in Malaysia right now. Arrived yesterday morning after a 13 hour flight and now I’m writing this darn entry at five a.m. since my body is still not used to the time difference.

I guess I have to get used to dial-up. Either that, or get broadband which I probably have to pay for myself. Don’t know if it’s worth it since I will only be here till October.

I had a fabulous time in Hungary. We went to Budapest, to be exact. It’s pronounced BU-DA-PESH-T since Hungarians pronounced “s” as “sh” except when it’s “sz” where then it’ll be a normal “s” sound. Didn’t have to worry about accommodation since we’re staying at a friend’s house for the duration of the trip (one of the perks of being in an international school).

Igor's cherry tree

Cherries! That’s the first thing that caught our eyes when we arrived at Igor’s house. It’s like, a tree, with ripe juicy succulent cherries on them! Once he gave the thumbs-up sign, we wasted no time in sampling them. It’s a good thing that he only hosted us for five days, otherwise the tree can’t bear fruit fast enough to feed four ravenous Malaysians.

Igor’s father cooked for us on the first day. Even though we can’t sample most of the Hungarian dishes since our diet is constricted to vegetarian, it was still really good. Had one of the best potato soups I’ve ever tasted, with not so spicy curry and pasta. If only my vegetarian hall food is this good. Sigh…

Pasta and some curry thingy

Went to watch a film that evening (notice I say film. Is that an indicator of my British- ness?). After that Igor brought us to Gellert Hill. It’s a little daunting climbing a hill at night but he said that it’s probably too hot in the day to do it. There was this Hungarian statue of liberty on top, and the view from the top is nice too, except that my nightly camera skills isn’t developed yet so I couldn’t take good pictures.

The statue of liberty on Gellert Hill



Urtah, Zaki, Igor and Nadia (Igor had a sling on his hand coz he was involved in a bike accident a few days before we came)

We spent the second and third day visiting places like the Synagogue, museums and the bridges across the river Danube (or Duna, as the Hungarians call it), Castle Hill and an open air music concert.

The synagogue


National Museum

Bush came to visit Hungary on the third day. We tried to avoid him.

We went hiking up a hill north of Budapest on the fourth day with Igor and Balazs, who is another Hungarian ex-AC student (Balazs is a really common name, I know three Hungarians with the name) and some other ex-UWC students. We climbed up to this watch tower and gazed at the river Duna which curves up to the Slovakian border.

UWC hikers

The last day’s a shopping day! We went to the central market and bought t-shirts, fridge magnets, gifts for PETRONAS office, and secret jewellery boxes amongst other things. We left Hungary with cans of cherries courtesy of Igor.

That’s about it for my trip. Had a really good time, food, pictures and different kinds of tea (you should have seen Igor’s collection).

A good thing about being in Europe is that it’s really easy and cheap enough to travel around. So, I’m sort of thinking of my next one. Suggestions, anyone?

Yaz.

P.s. I planned to put some pictures in but I'm on dial up now and it took me more than two hours from logging into the net and posting this. Gosh, I am sooo frustrated! Hate dial-up, hate dial-up! I feel like banging my head on the wall or something.

Edit: I've managed to put pictures in, albeit not painlessly. Sooner or later this will drive me crazy. Please pray for my mental health.

I’m back

Hi there. I’m in Cambridge right now, having returned back from my five-day trip from Hungary. I really wanted to write about the trip, but for now I’m busy with packing, which has been a pain. Have to put all my things into boxes, which I got from Sainsbury’s, and carry them into this secret subterranean storage room.


Not all my things fit, though, so I left some stuffs with a friend who is staying here for the summer, working. I don’t want to carry loads of stuffs to the airport, since last year we had to dump suitcases of clothes at Heathrow since Gulf Air (the airline we’re using at that time) had a strict weight restriction. Either that, or pay £1000 carriage fee.

Yup, that’s a thousand pounds.

I’m sticking with Malaysia Airlines for now. Not to mention it has better in-flight entertaintment.

Going back to Malaysia tomorrow. Say goodbye to the superfast broadband connection and hello to the heinously slow world of dial up.

Oh, and today’s my birthday.

Yaz.

Off to Hungary!!

Yay, my summer trip!

I’m off to Hungary tonight and will be there until the 23^rd. Not sure about the internet connection there, though, so I can’t say when I’ll blog again.

Still, should be a fun holiday.

Cheers,

Yaz.

Maybe I shouldn’t wear black

Phew, it was my shopping day today and right now I’m really exhausted. Went out and bought some Cambridge t-shirts to wear back home. Okay, I admit, it was partly to show off (well, mostly) but still, not like I don’t deserve it, heh heh. Also bought a cap and a key chain for my little sister. Souvenir t-shirts, check. Key chain, check.

My order of books from Amazon also arrived today so summer reading materials, check!

To top it all, I also bought a new handphone. Okay, okay, I know that sounds a bit luxurious but I received this free upgrade offer from O2 and I just couldn’t let it pass, even though it sounds too good to be true. I usually tend to be wary of ‘too good to be true’ things coz they usually are, but hey, this is O2 and not some shady company. Planned to give the phone to my mom, sure she’ll like it.

Talking about phones, when I was at the bridge today there’s this bloke from the punting company who saw me with my N70 and he approached me and started a conversation about the benefits of having an N70 phone, all those things about 2 mp cameras and 800% zoom and all that. And I thought, gee, this is random. Do people usually go to strangers and started talking about phones all of a sudden? Hmmm, maybe he’s just being friendly… or maybe he was just bored.

“Excuse me, do you know how much this is?” an old lady asked me in a shop. I was like, do I look like a shop assistant, lady? That happened not once, but twice today in two different shops! Is it my t-shirt? I know I should stop wearing black that often.

Funny thing is the workers don’t actually have black t-shirts as their uniform.

Yaz.

Finally over!!

My exam ended yesterday. All in all, it went fine, I guess. Maths was a female dog, but then again, everybody complained about it, so it’s not just me who found it difficult. Still, I don’t see the point of them making the exam so hard that you won’t be able to finish all the required 6 questions even if you revised thoroughly. I finished 3 in the first paper and 4 out of 6 in the second paper. Actually, that does sound bad; just a bit more than a half. Maths is sooo not my favourite subject right now. Hate maths!! Hate maths!!

Now that exam is over and all, I actually feel bored. No more lectures, supervisions or revision to occupy my time. Gee, how sad is that? Oh well, at least I won’t be bored come Monday, coz I’ll be going to Hungary for the summer, before I go back home. The trip’s arranged by a few of my friends in London, and I actually felt a bit guilty for not contributing anything, but, oh well. Not sure about the accommodation arrangements yet, but we’ll probably stay at Igor’s (a friend of ours) place, which is not bad, since he is a good cook. And I mean, a really, really good cook. We tasted his Hungarian jam scones that he brought to our physics class in AC last year, and they were awesome.

Due to improper planning on my part, I will miss the Trinity May Ball because of the trip, which is a shame, because it will be one of the grandest events in Cambridge for the year. It’s like, the May Ball that Cambridge students dream of going. Many other colleges have it once every 2 or 3 years, but we have it every year. How cool is that? Sigh… at least I have 3 more chances to attend it.

Can’t wait until Monday. Until then, I’ll probably go around Cambridge buying souvenir t-shirts to bring back home. Proud to be a Cambridge student, eh?

Yaz.

When life gives you lemons...

Found this in front of my door this morning. Looked like everyone on my floor and the one below got one, with different messages on them.



But still... why frogs??

It's coming!!

My exam's tomorrow.

Eeeeek!!


Yaz.

Bad food and retail therapy

I got annoyed. Really annoyed.

Food. That was the reason. Bad food, to be more specific. Ever-so-crappy hall veggie food should be exact enough.

It was actually quite unlike me. I’ve technically been in boarding school for seven years. I should be used to it. I kept going to the dining hall even though I know it’s not gourmet standard and I can probably cook better food. So I don’t know what made me…snapped? That’s too strong a word. Had enough? I’ll probably still go to the hall after this. I’ll settle for annoyed. Just annoyed, in general.

Somebody said to me once that the veggie dish is like a hit or miss thing.

Me and Jan walked past the hall yesterday. He pointed that only students and their guests are allowed in. Therefore, it’ll make him feel special to be able to eat inside.

“I don’t blame you if after the meal, you still wanna go somewhere else to eat,” I warned him. He probably will.

At that moment we met Eli and Ian, another two ex-AC students. They were going in, Jan followed, and I dragged myself behind them.

After fifteen minutes…

“Eeurghh, this is just like AC food,” that was Ian. “Somehow I feel like the AC kitchen ladies will pop up from the counter any minute.”

We agreed. The food was bad. It’s not like that all the time, but the day that my ex-schoolmates came to visit is the day that it decided to show its ugly side.

Maybe I was embarrassed, because I’ve been telling Jan that Trinity is one of the biggest and richest colleges.

Jan left Cambridge this morning. I did some studying after seeing him off and went to lunch. They had some pastry with green stuffs in it as the veggie dish.

Two misses in a row. I couldn’t believe this.

I ate the food, walked straight out, went to buy a whole chicken and stopped by Sainsbury’s. I bought a packet of basmati rice, not the Sainsbury’s kind but one of those expensive one. Grabbed some sweet and sour mix and a bottle of pepsi.

Tonight I had sweet sour chicken on a bed of nice fluffy basmati rice. Deeeliciouus!!

Ahhh, the sweet taste of retribution. I like it. Take that, you morbidly horrendous hall food! I’m not eating you tonight, muahahahaha! Yaz has finally gotten his revenge.

Still, I’ll probably go to the hall again tomorrow. Can’t be bothered to cook everytime.

Will it be a hit…

…or a miss?

Yaz

All the way from Harvard

Click…click…

So I opened my e-mail the other day…

Hmmm, it’s from Jan. Haven’t heard from him for a while.

It began normally enough. Hi man…how are you…know of anybody from AC coming to Cambridge next year?

Then …I think I will be visiting Cambridge this Saturday.

Uh-oh.

That day was Tuesday.

My exam is on the week after the weekend.

He went on…so I think we should get together, have a chat, and even if you have to study, it could be a nice study-break for you...

Drat!

Sigh… I do love people visiting my humble abode, but now? Still, Jan is actually a really nice guy and I can’t say no to him (after all, he has to go all the way from US, might be a while before he has the chance to visit again). So I dragged myself to the Trinity College accommodation office.

“You’re lucky, there’s still one more guest room that is free this weekend.”

Good. This way I can still accompany him to places and he won’t disturb me when I need the solace of my room to study.

“The price is thirteen quids per night. We’ll put it in your college bill.”

Double good. The price is the cheapest of any b&b that I know. Cambridge student’s privilege, great huh? Plus Trinity’s smack in the town centre, it’s easy to get around.

So, that’s my weekend plan. Jan’s probably right, it’ll actually be a nice study break. I’ve got meself a punting buddy. Yay!

After we finished discussing our plans, he said… Thanks a googleplex times! :)

I’m a Natural Sciences student, and after all that revision, I should know, but…

…what’s a googleplex?

Drat!

Yaz.

Look what I found on Facebook...

Ho ho ho. Should I add him as a friend?

Yaz.

I’m in studying mode

“How’s your revision going today?”

That seems to be the thing everybody is asking everybody else these days, now that exam is starting and all. For some people. Mine is still a bit more than a week away. However, considering the fact that I haven’t finished revising everything yet, it is quite scary. I’ve taken some initiative, though. I started the routine of switching my laptop off just before breakfast so that I will not be distracted by it. I only turn it back on some time before dinner, when I’m too hungry to do revision. That’s a big accomplishment. Really.

I talked to a few Malaysians the other day. Somehow it seems like they all have achieved first class in their first year. Is it that easy? I’m pretty sure its not. And the fact that they are the kind of people who spend ages playing World of Warcraft sure doesn’t help any.

Sigh… exam period sure is an awkward time.

I peeked at some past papers recently, and now I’m pretty confident I can get second class upper without stressing myself out. But then again, I have a feeling that I really should do my best this time around, so I’m getting more serious now. Which probably means less updating my blog for a while. Not that I update it much anyway, he he.

So… I’ll probably let you hear from myself again on the 14^th, or sometimes during the exam week if I have the time (and feeling nasty enough to bore you with meticulous details on how my paper that day went). Until then, wish me luck.

Yaz.

Hmmm, that's random

Found this while I was walking along King's College. It's on one of the stone tiles.




Yaz.

Paper airplane frenzy

We had our last chemistry lecture last Tuesday, and the lecturer warned us beforehand to prepare paper airplanes for the lecture. We had no idea what it’s about but whatever it is, it should be exciting. After all, the lecturer is actually deemed by students to be the best in the NatSci course because of his interesting lecture. Usually, halfway through his lecture, he usually has a few minutes break in which there will be a demonstration, gory stories or just interesting tidbits about chemistry. In the first term, he soaked a BIG lump of cotton in the shape of a sheep with some chemicals and set fire to it. There was a blinding flash and I could have sworn half of the lecture hall could feel a blast of heat in their faces. The other day he read to us some erm…obscene poems and comments that past students wrote in lecture questionnaires. One read, “I love you. You can inspect my cleavage mechanism anytime.” There’s another one that says, “Dr. W, would you gain a pair of electrons and become a HOMO?” Ha ha ha.

(For those who don’t know, in chemistry HOMO stands for highest occupied molecular orbital ;p )

Anyway, at the end of that lecture, he prepared boxes in front of the hall containing some nitrogen compound that can rapidly decompose into gaseous nitrogen if subjected to a force. Our job is to throw the paper planes so that they hit the compound and produces a bang. So for the next 30 seconds, the air was filled with paper planes. Coz I was sitting at the front, some of them hit me instead of the boxes. One of them did go bang, though. The others didn’t.

I would not want to be the janitor at the end...

You need a plane that can hit its target for this, so I couldn’t show off my amazing fancy special turbo airplane that can spin around and come back at you, he he. Oh well, some other time, I guess.

Yaz, Paper Master (if you don’t get this, go watch Read or Die)

Mmmmmm…doughnuts!!

We all know how stressful exams can be. Therefore, in order to keep students sane and stop them from tearing their hairs out, the chaplains of Trinity College has provided a massage service. No, not from them (can you imagine how ridiculous it would be if chaplains start massaging people) but from a professional therapist. Obviously this will be in high demand so there’s a sign down sheet for it. But still, a free massage…wow!

Apart from that, they’ve also decided to give free doughnuts to students at the library (every day if I’m not mistaken) at two o’ clock. Yay!! Repeat after me…mmmmm, doughnuts (Homer Simpson style).

I went to the library at one minute past two yesterday because I have cravings for those doughnuts but they were all gone! And I was just one minute late!

Nooooo, me wants me doouughnuts!!!

Yaz is hungry. Not good.

Can’t think of a title

Hola!

Just finished my physics lecture a few minutes ago. According to the schedule, we’ll have two more next week, but technically, this one’s the last one of those that will be asked in the exam. The next two will be on non-examinable material, so they’re kinda optional. We’ll be learning cosmology, and as the lecturer put it, “Next time we’ll cover the whole history of the universe in one lecture.” Is it just me or that is kinda funny?

Guess I’ll be saying goodbye to physics and chemistry since I’m starting chemical engineering next year. I would rather continue with natural sciences, but then nobody’s gonna give you a scholarship just to be a scientist (at least in my case). A friend asked me just now, can’t you not do chem. eng. but stick to nat. sci? I think my Materials Sciences lecturer/supervisor was also dropping not so subtle hints on how she would like me to continue with my subjects. Oh well, sorry guys (or girls, to be pedantic) but it’s a no go.

I’m getting kinda scared. Probably because my friends are turning into politicians, or at least political commentators. Eeurgh, politics…nasty.

Haha.

Just kidding about the politician bit. Well, it does scare me a little, but I’m more scared about what my friend said the other day, that to get a first (top ten percent) you have to go against all these nerds and super nerds and ultra-geniuses that you’ll probably don’t have a chance. I’m targeting 2-1 now, looks like a more reasonable aim, doesn’t it?

On that note, the room privilege that goes with being a first only applies in the third year. I already know where my room is next year. Got a nice one (I was lucky with the ballot) which probably is nicer than the one I’m in now.

Well, there’s my rambling of the week. I was writing this on my laptop while occasionally staring out the window, watching the weather turned from windy to bright to a drizzle to sunny to a drizzle again… all in ten minutes. Half the time I don’t know what I’m actually writing but hey, it’s my blog.

Think I should rename it “The annals of insanity”?

P.S. To Keste: Oxford?? What’s that? Never heard of it. Can it be eaten?

Bwahahaha!!

*sigh* don’t mind me…

Yaz.

Clockshifting

Just one more week of lecture, yay!

I woke up at half past one last Sunday morning. Not being able to go back to sleep, I studied chemistry for two hours. Somehow it seems to roll over until today. I think my biological clock went haywire for a bit, and then it adjusted itself, much like a jet-lag. So now I woke up at five and went to sleep at eleven. It’s like my day being shifted a few hours early. Probably a good thing though. I was never able to study at night anyway.

Oh well, undoubtedly I’ll be very busy for the next couple of weeks. My exam’s in mid June, and there are only five papers, so it’s not that overwhelming really. Some people here are targeting a 2-1, which, they reasoned, is good enough since it’s comparable to a first class anywhere else. At least, that’s what they say. I’m not getting my hopes up high (somehow I have a habit of saying this for things I really want) but I’d love to get a first, cause then I can get the nice room in college. Well, you need something to motivate yourself, right? Repeat to self: nice room…nice room…nice plush room...

Yaz

Cambridge pastime?!

Trinity College has this society called the “Magpie and Stump”. It’s basically a debating society, and they organised a debate almost every Sunday for people in Trinity to watch. The twist is that the motions are humorous and absurd, and it’s more of a hilariously comical debate that anything. Guess what this week’s motion is? “This house believes that breast is best”. Perverted? Probably. Ha ha. And to think that people wonder what Cambridge students do in their free time.

I didn’t get to see it yesterday cause I’ve been busy. Hmmmmm…is that a good or a bad thing?

Jokes?!

I guess the general consensus is that scientists don’t have a sense of humour. Or they do, but it’s all in-jokes and obscure references that you need to study at least 4 years of physics to actually understand what the punch line really is. I remembered cracking a joke in maths class about differentiating e^x. There was silence for about 5 seconds. Then somebody said, “Is that a joke?”

(In case anybody from Atlantic College is reading this, I was also the culprit who wrote about the horse having infinite number of legs on the blackboard, although Irene, my former maths teacher should have guessed. But that was too good a joke to just let pass)

Anyway, when I learnt quantum mechanics some time ago, I got this sort of epiphany because I finally understand one particular joke that I’ve heard. I’m pretty sure most of you will have heard it coz it’s really famous. It’s on how to measure the height of a building using a barometer. There is the original joke, but I’ve found this science joke website a couple of years ago where people just keep adding solutions to the original joke. There’s one about throwing the barometer from the basement and measuring the probability of it being able to quantum tunnel to the top. And then I learnt quantum mechanics, and suddenly it all clicked.

Anyway, if you’re into science jokes, or just want to see what sad bunch of people scientists are, hehe, then just check the website (or alternatively just type ‘science joke’ in google). Then you can either double up in bubbling laughter or shook your head sympathetically. Enjoy!

Here is a version of the original barometer joke for your perusal : ]

There's the Physics student who got the following question in an exam:


"You are given an accurate barometer, how would you use it to determine the height of a skyscraper ?"


1: He answered: "Go to the top floor, tie a long piece of string to the barometer, let it down 'till it touches the ground and measure the length of the string".


The examiner wasn't satisfied, so they decided to interview the guy:


"Can you give us another method, one which demonstrates your knowledge of Physics ?"


2: "Sure, go to the top floor, drop the barometer off, and measure how long before it hits the ground......"


"Not, quite what we wanted, care to try again ?"


3: "Make a pendulum of the barometer, measure its period at the bottom, then measure its period at the top......"


"..another try ?...."


4: "Measure the length of the barometer, then mount it vertically on the ground on a sunny day and measure its shadow, measure the shadow of the skyscraper....."


"....and again ?...."


5: "walk up the stairs and use the barometer as a ruler to measure the height of the walls in the stairwells."


"...One more try ?"


6: "Find where the janitor lives, knock on his door and say 'Please, Mr Janitor, if I give you this nice Barometer, will you tell me the height of this building ?"

Yaz, whose trying to be cheeky...unsuccessfully.

Punting anyone?

My junior from Atlantic College sent me an SMS the other day asking if he can visit Cambridge before going back to Malaysia. Seeing that I will have exams on the 9^th and a trip to Hungary straight after that, I told him I’ll be busy. He’s persistent, though, and being the kind-hearted bloke that I am, I think I ended up agreeing to it, heh heh. Oh well, I guess a weekend distraction a week before your exams will not hurt…much.

I just found out that besides the punts owned by the punting companies, Trinity College also has its own punts that I can hire. Guess what the price is? One pound per hour! Gosh, that’s like, one of the cheapest things ever. For those who don’t know, punts are these boat-like things that you steer using long wooden poles instead of an oar. It’s the main activity that goes along River Cam.

With the weather being ‘summer-like’, amateur punters have sprouted out of nowhere. Sometimes, when I stop by the bridge, it’s really amusing to see these people who obviously have no idea how to punt try and go about it. By these people, I mean Brits, coz the Asian tourists all go on the guided tour punts, with tour guides and everything.

Ooooooooo, punting traffic jam!

Sheesh, it's punting, not a tightrope balancing act.

There's this punt that passes under the bridge. Somehow, the pole got stuck at the bridge and they have to paddle to get it back.

On a side note, you don't really have to use the paddle. It's just there for emergency precautions.

So yeah, when my junior comes, I’ll definitely hire one of those punts coz I never steered one of those things before. I’ve been punting, but only on the guided tour ones (paid about £10 for that). On that note, I now feel deeply obliged to apologise to Keste for not noticing this earlier, hehe. O’ Keste, forgive my humble and unworthy self. Also, apologies for not realising that as a Cambridge student, I can enter any of the colleges for free. Please don’t kill me. Of course, if you want you can always visit Cambridge again : ]

Yaz, the ecstatic punter-wannabe.