I can walk again

After two whole days of pain-in-the-legs, I can finally walk again. Well, maybe not up to the point of running and skipping around gayly, but still, I finally managed to walk up a staircase without wincing every second. Yesterday was torture, having to walk to class and climb up to the second floor where my lecture room is. I hope I'll be better by next Saturday coz I'm sure planning to play volleyball again.

Just finish my fluid mechanics lab report. A big difference between this year and the last is that we now can finish our reports out of the lab, instead of writing it all in the space of a few hours in the lab. I realised that my results are out by a few order of magnitudes, and that I can't go back to the lab again to recheck the equipments. Well, as they say, no matter how horribly wrong the experiment turned out to be, as long as you can justify why it went wrong in the report, you'll be fine. That's exactly what I did. I sorta blamed the equipments and the lab manual for not being precise and clear, he he. Hey, it's my marks that's on the line here!

I figured out what a band is. It is worn on the collar and it looks like this:

In other news, I got a shock when I found an e-mail in my inbox inviting me to the Jesus Christ iftar(breaking of fast) on Saturday. It turns out that it's actually organised by the Muslims in the Jesus College and Christ College. Ha ha, that was hilarious!

Yaz.

Bow tie and volleyball

It turns out that the Scholars can’t be Scholars without a proper inauguration ceremony. Therefore, we will be having one this Friday in the Trinity College chapel. The event has a strict dress code, though, so I have to prepare these items: a dark suit, white collared shirt, white bow tie, white bands (what the heck is a band, anyway?), black shoes and the college gown. Gosh, they sure are fussy about what we wear, aren’t they? I don’t have a white shirt and I left my shoes at home, so I went shopping yesterday. Got most of the items, plus a few totally unrelated things. I didn’t buy any shirts yet since they have numbers like 39 and 44 for the sizes instead of letters like S or M and they’re all plastic-wrapped, so I can’t try them.

My first white tie event… I’m excited!!!

I went to the first beginner’s volleyball session at the Kelsey Kerridge Sports Hall just next to the swimming pool. It’s a bit of a hassle because you have to pay £1 every time you want to enter the hall. Still, I had a lot of fun. Once you get pumped up, the people didn’t seem as intimidating as when you saw them at first. I guess I did well, probably because it’s not the first and second team sessions where I’m sure I’ll be spiked to death or something. We’ll meet every Saturday from now on, and there are chances of entering competitions with other universities as well.

The aftermath: I'm sore all over. I can't even walk properly!!

Right now I’m listening to defying Gravity from the musical ‘Wicked’. I saw a video on youtube about somebody playing this song on the piano. I wish I can play it like that.

Add to list ‘Things to do before I die’: Learn to play the piano.

Yaz.

Money matters

We had a break in lecture yesterday in which somebody asked the lecturer what his salary is. Naturally, he did not give a straightforward answer. He did mention, though, that it is enough to go by, but probably not enough to satisfy those who are looking for big bucks. Somebody else mentioned that the average starting salary for people like us is probably around £20,000. I’ve heard this figure before, but suddenly it got me thinking about it. Assuming an (extremely low) exchange rate of 6.5, that will be more than RM 10,000 a month. Gosh!

Then I stopped thinking about it because it’s one of those things that make you more depressed the more you give them some thought.

If I say “Don’t think of a pink rhinoceros!” will you not think about it?

I guess being a sponsored student like me means you are getting the average of the deal. In one hand, you receive a more expensive education than most of your peers are getting but you’re paying it in the same way as them. Viewed like this, you win. On the other hand, if you’re good enough, you still won’t be reaping the full potential of your reward, as in you earn less than what you can potentially get i.e. like the situation above.

Of course, without sponsorship I can’t go overseas in the first place, so it’s sort of a moot point.

Found this t-shirt design on the internet. Pity I can’t buy it.

It’s entering the second week of term. I think I need to get used to using the library. Last time I read an old book there, I only lasted twenty minutes.

Yaz.

Books and stuffs

There is a group of shelves in Borders where they usually display the current bestsellers, which is one of my favourite spots in the store. As of now, however, they are filling those shelves with new books for autumn. One of them caught my eye…

Yay, the third book in the Tiffany Aching series of Discworld! I’m gonna wait until the paperback comes out and buy it. Definitely.

Speaking of Discworld, I also saw this in Heffers the other day. Funny how I didn’t notice it in Borders or Waterstones. And since I already have a journal, I don’t know if I’m actually gonna be using it to keep track of things or not. Still, I’ll probably gonna buy it anyway. Nothing wrong in owning a wacky journal once in a while.

Ahhh, the must-have of a chemical engineer. I would also love to have this book, but not in the conventional sense. The book costs about £40 but our lecturer said the other day that BP (if I don’t mix companies up, they are sponsoring an awful lot of things in the department) will give the book for free to each student that gets a first or two-one in the final exam. Gee, companies really do want us Cambridge students that badly huh? I feel appreciated!!

I just discovered that my room has an electric fireplace. Cool! Now I can sit and warm my toes on cold nights while drinking hot chocolate.

Is the above description romantic, homely or is it just cheesy?

I found out that the guy whom I always eat lunch and dinner with is the top student in Cambridge in my year for maths. Huwooooo!!

Yaz.

Welcome to my (new) life

As of today, I’m hereby declaring myself a brand new chemical engineering student. Actually it was really yesterday, but officially term starts today. I don’t quite yet know how this chapter of my life is going to turn out to be, after breaking away from a 5 year routine of physics, chemistry and maths. Not that it’ll be totally different, but it won’t be quite the same either. Guess I’m just a bit sentimental when it comes to these things.

We had an introductory lecture yesterday, in which there was an Exxonmobil talk, sort of, and they gave us freebies like pens, some databooks and a Frisbee. In the evening I attended a party (again, sort of) sponsored by Exxonmobil and we had free pizzas and drinks and just generally mingled around. I felt a bit guilty going to these sort of things because I’m really from a competing company, he he. But, oh well…

The Fresher’s Fair was held yesterday as well. If you’re not familiar with the term, it’s where societies set up stall so people can join and sign up. I was spotted by the Malaysian Society people and ended up having to register with them after getting away for a year. No more escaping work for me then.

There was a Trampoline Club but unlike a certain person *ahem* I’m not that desperate to join yet. Highlight of my day was when I noticed the Volleyball Club counter. Yay! Have been searching for this for ages. Finally, a sport that I can play.

On a random note, so far, my neighbour, my lab partners and all but one of my supervision partners are not white. Has this place become more internationalised than I like to think?

Yaz.

I caught a shiny!!

After living with barely minimal necessities for four days, I finally gathered enough willpower to stop slouching around and start transferring my stuffs from the storage room into my new abode. I recruited the help of a friend (thanks, Ubaid!) and a trolley, which is still no easy feat since we had to carry more than half a dozen boxes practically across the college, crossing a few roads and ramps. It didn’t help matters when our trolley almost hit a visitor along the way. Still, we finished our task, unpacked, and now I don’t know what to do with the empty boxes strewn in my room.

Just because I miss it so much (and really, who says you need a reason to), I’m putting some pictures of Cambridge that I took around my place.

My room, the one on the first floor

Isn’t it beautiful? Heh heh.

I caught a shiny shuppet yesterday, woot woot!! Just thought to put that in.

Yaz.

Life starts again

So I've arrived. Not exactly the best arrival I've experienced (flight delayed for two and a half hours, having to buy a new bus ticket, dragging my suitcase to my room at one in the morning) but I've managed so far. Oh, and I've noticed Heathrow does have wi-fi connection, though I haven't tried it yet.

My new room is across the river Cam from my old room, which makes it further from busy roads, but also from Sainsbury's. To tell the truth, I kinda liked my old room better. I think those fellas at the Accomodation Office have misled me about my room. It's not exactly much bigger than my old room and now I have to share a fridge with one other guy and there's no oven in the kitchen (though there is a microwave with grill functionality). It's fine in other respects, though, so I'm not bothered that much.

Entering my room, viewed from left to right:

Behind the door are my closets and the shower





A week or so before the term starts so I will have some free time to loaf around or shop or welcome first years when they arrive. If there are new Malay first years then they 'll make great addition to our weekly cook out.

Until then, I'll post again after I'm done with enjoying the high-speed internet that I've been denied for so long =)

Yaz.

Flight delay

HI, I'm at the airport right now. Should have boarded the plane half an hour ago but didn't because the flight got delayed, for ONE hour! Sigh.... I guess this is going to happen sooner or later to me but it sure is frustrating. Especially when I'm not sure if I'll be able to catch the bus from Heathrow to Cambridge which I've already bought the ticket for.

Heathrow may be old and not as nice or modern and not have a wi-fi internet access (which I'm using right now at KLIA) but it sure have lots of power points dotted aroung the place. So now I have to post this post quickly before my laptop ran out of battery.

More when I get to Cambridge.

Yaz.



Update: Okay, so it's delayed again, this time to 2:35 p.m. Drat, now I'm gonna miss my bus! That's a two and a half hour delay altogether. I'm soooo frustrated!

They gave us all lunch coupons (which is the least they can do) but I'm a bit embarrassed about eating in front of other people in this month of Ramadan. Oh well...

The coupon's unlimited, by the way.

The day after tomorrow

I can’t believe that it totally didn’t cross my mind to tell my sponsor what my exam results are. Not my fault really (yeah, right!) since I’ve probably became accustomed to AC ways. When I was in AC, they automatically send student results and teacher’s comments to their respective sponsors and, embarrassingly enough, to the students’ old schools. I was told that my report graced MCKK’s notice board for quite some time and people could read every bit of it, the good, the bad and the ugly. Eeek! Oh well, I guess I’ve taken it for granted. I only realised this when my sponsor in an e-mail said jokingly (I hope) that they consider suspending the scholarships of student that intend to keep their results a secret.

I also got the reply to my query of the prize money issue, and am glad to be informed that they “wouldn’t dream to deprive me of it”. Yay! That one’s settled means another thing less to be worried about before coming back to Cambridge. Now I only have one day left to do some last minute shopping, get a haircut, pack and do whatever else I need to do. Will be off on Sunday from KLIA to Heathrow.

Hmmm, rearding the title of the post, it’s amazing how two things with the same meaning can give totally distinct impressions. A friend once told me that he saw the film in Malaysia with subtitles, and when the title of the film came up, the sub simply read, ‘Lusa’.

Bwaahahahaha!

Smiles,

Yaz.

Another week to go

Hiya! It's been awhile. My holiday's almost over now, in fact, I'll be boarding the flight to Cambridge next Sunday. Have quite a few things to do before then. My accomodation letter had just arrived recently, informing that I'll be living in a set (a bedroom, a living room and a shower) for next year. Isn't that great or what? For those who live quite near...ahem ahem... do come and visit me sometimes. What's the point of having such a room if you can't show it off, ha ha.

Just found out that there's an Aquatic Centre near where I live and it's open to the public. Drat! If only I had known earlier. Oh well, guess I just have to wait next year to swim to my hearts content every day. I'm still not sure whether I want to join the pool in Cambridge. Maybe I will, we'll see. I don't get enough exercise as it is.

One thing about the holidays is that you don't hear from your friends that often. Mailing list is silent, blogs went on hiatus, that sort of thing. So I'm glad that it's not quiet any more. Here's something that's forwarded by a friend in the ministry mailing list:



BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS BREAKING NEWS

Terrorist School Teacher Arrested, as reported first on CNN

NEW YORK- A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy
International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession
of a ruler, a protractor,a set square, a slide rule and a calculator.

At a morning press conference, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez said he
believes the man is member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He did
not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons
of mathinstruction.

"Al-gebra is a problem for us," Gonzalez said. "They desire solutions by
means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in search of absolute
value. They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to
themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined they belong to a common
denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As
the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, "There are 3 sides to
every triangle."

When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God
had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have
given us more fingers and toes."
--

Update: Grrr...it's a bad habit to take something from the web and not quote its source, should tell my friend that. Anyway, I think I've found the original article here

Until then,

Yaz.

Something fishy

This is just to let you know I’m still not dead yet = )

Well, it’s been pretty silent for a while. Know the one about the loud whiny kid whose quiet trigger switch is ice cream or candy or whatever? I guess you can have the same effect on me with books. Went to the National Library the second time the other day. Harry Potter is still as elusive as ever but at least I got hold of some Terry Pratchett. Should keep me docile for another two weeks or so.

Nothing much going on. It’s the school holidays, so my parent thought it would be a good idea to bring my siblings places. I tagged along with them to the Aquaria (which isn’t as big as we thought it would be). That explains the fishies below. We’ll be going to Sunway Lagoon next. I’m playing the oldest brother part where I’ll keep cool and nonchalant about the whole thing, ha ha.

One month to go before I’m back in Cambridge. Can hardly wait.

Yaz.

The books and I

I found a treasure trove!

Well, that’s sort of it, except it’s not very accurate. Imagine some intrepid explorers getting the treasure trove before you and they had the luxury to take their pick. They can’t possibly carry everything (luckily!) so whatever is left are the things that you’re able to salvage. Oh well, still, a treasure’s a treasure, right?

I suppose I should start from the beginning. I like to read, and contrary to the stereotypes (or expectations?) of Cambridge students reading deeply intellectual mumbo jumbo, I only like to read fiction. Yup, no self-help motivational books/ get rich quickly books/ anything that doesn’t involve an interesting storyline for me. Back in the old days (not that I’m saying I’m old, he he), being the secondary school student with low pocket money that I am, my book sources are the library and my friends. Doesn’t stop me from reading a lot, though. I still remember this one time when my entry in the reading competition was totally IGNORED because I’ve won too often, ha ha. This was in 2000, if I’m not mistaken.

Lately, I’ve acquired the habit of going to Borders (which was conveniently located within metres of my room) to check for new releases and bestsellers and then going back to my room and buy them from Amazon. Hey, they’re often cheaper and not to mention you can get nectar points as well. I’m sure it must be frustrating for the manager to know that people like me go into the bookshop, fiddle with this book, touch that book, browse along the shelves for some time, then leave and buy the books somewhere.

Anyway, I bought two books from the Pendragon series at KLCC the other day. Turned out that I finished reading both in four days. Then I thought, if I keep this up, it’ll burn a hole in my pockets. That’s how I eventually ended up at the National Library with Adam, a friend of mine. Just wanna see how the place is, and get hold of a few books that I can’t be bothered to buy.

To be honest, the place is well-equipped… if you’re looking for reference books. Sadly, for fiction books, the ratio of books and empty shelves is about equal. Although in their defense the books must have been lent out. Found some pretty good ones in there… Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time (although book four, the one I’m looking for, is missing so I can’t read any further), the Pendragon series, some Terry Pratchett etc etc. Ended up borrowing Going Postal, which I’ve now finished half already (have to go back there soon). Tried to look for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince but I can’t find any, even though the OPAC system said there are three available. I haven’t read it yet, and it felt wrong to buy the book when you don’t have the first five in the series.

So yeah, the library isn’t stocked up as much as I liked, but oh well, at least it’s something. Furthermore, I don’t think they can stock up too much lest the bookshops’ going out of business, heh heh. Certainly not a grand scale hidden ancient Tut’s treasure, but a treasure trove nonetheless.

Until then, happy reading!

Bibliophilic Yaz.

House arrest??

Went to an AC’s friend’s house for dinner yesterday. Apparently, it was a get together of some kind. The friend invited her friends from her university and previous schools. Unfortunately, I know none of the people there so it’s kinda hard finding common grounds to talk about. However, most of them were quite nice, though. There were some who gave me the look when I told them I’m in Cambridge (you know, when they go where’re you studying and you go Cambridge and they go oh). Found it difficult to explain to them that the week at Cambridge starts on a Thursday. They wouldn’t stop laughing about it.

Found out that a few AC students coming back this year were stuck at the airport because of the incident at Heathrow. What’s up with that?

On another note, I planned to go to the PC fair at KLCC today. However, my parent left for work earlier today and they locked the house (with a big Solex padlock, nonetheless). Now I can't get out! Holy sheet, did they forgot I’m here???

(Home alone) Yaz.


Edit: Okay, so they came back shortly after and opened the lock for me. I was even able to go to the PC Fair early. But still, I don't want to experience a house arrest anytime soon, even if it's unintentional.

Time to invest

I never really give much thought to investing before. Reasons include the fact that as a student, I don’t have that much money that I can spare to begin with. Now I’m a bit more well off, but I still didn’t think about it until recently, when two different people pointed out to me that you can benefit a lot from it.

Went to Midvalley the other day…errr, by myself. Not that I can’t find people to go with, just that sometimes I like exploring on my own. So there I met a friend of mine who attended AC together, and we chatted a bit. The topic of investing came up and it piqued my interest. I remember staring incredulously at my HSBC bank account in the UK, wondering why is it that my interest is only a few pence. I mean, that’s absurdly low, isn’t it? And my savings isn’t really that little.

So on Wednesday, out of a sudden my mom suddenly jumped me with the idea of going to ASNB (to invest). I swear, that’s so out of the blue. So anyway, we went to the bank first and I changed my money there (they were still in pounds, no point in changing all of them to ringgit and then pounds again when I go back to the UK). Didn’t go to the money changer because we’re in a hurry. Guess what the person at the counter says.

“Tak boleh terima duit ni dik, buruk. Nanti orang tak mahu beli.” (I can’t accept these notes, they’re in horrible condition. People will not want to buy it).

I was like, what?? Okay, the notes are obviously not in mint condition, but nor are they horribly torn or whatever. A bit worn, but they’re just fine! In fact, that’s the condition that I got them from an ATM in Cambridge. If they’re good enough for an ATM machine, then I can’t see why not for a bank.

We went to another bank, and they accepted the notes just fine.

*gives the first bank the evil eye*

So yeppers, I opened my ASB account that day. Somehow I have this daydream of being rich and getting periodical large sums of money from the account. I know, I know, not gonna happen, but hey, everybody dreams of being rich from time to time.

By the way, I checked, and the pounds-RM exchange rate is higher than the last time. Yay!! Yaz is happy.

(Thrifty)Yaz.

Ian Knot

Want to save time tying shoelaces? Then learn this knot. Amazing, it takes only, like, two seconds. And the original site has lots of interesting tidbits about shoelaces. Found it while browsing through Digital Inspiration ’s archive.

Yaz.

Support the IB

Right, I was bored, so I browsed the internet for blogs about AC since I was curious about the past IB result and how it went (the friend that I poked still hasn’t replied back). Somehow, I couldn’t find any blogs that mention even a teeny bit about the 2006 results, which was a bit disappointing. Guess AC students don’t blog that much after all.

I did, however, found a blog linking to an interesting news article in the Guardian.

Okay, it was dated March 2006, but it was recent enough. Partly myself to blame for not being able to get into the habit of reading newspapers in Cambridge. Anyway, I was really surprised at those people who rejected the IB. What were they thinking? Is it anti-American? Anti-Christian? Marxism?

I did the International Baccalaureate at Atlantic College, Wales for two years in 2003. I don’t really know much about A-levels since I’ve never done it, but I imagined the IB is harder, since we’re doing six subjects instead of four, with Theory of Knowledge, the 4000-word Extended Essay and community service to boot. One thing I noticed is that it is a well-rounded program with an emphasis on the international community and issues, evident from the humanity subjects and even the sciences (can’t do much about maths, though). All in all, a really good program. I would have chosen it to A-levels or any other equivalent program any day.

It also encourages independent thinking. There’s an interesting story about it here where there’s an IB teacher who creates a fictitious character in history and told the students that it will be in their exam, and to do independent research on it. He was hoping that when nothing shows up about the character, the students will realise something is wrong. However, that didn’t happen and the students all fail the test because they answer according to the class notes. The reason behind his actions is to show the students not to stay in their comfort zone and be spoonfed, but instead do some thinking on their own.

Right, back to the matters at hand. So what’s actually bad about the IB? To be honest, I don’t know. Anti Christian? It is, by definition, an international program, so of course it has to be secular. Although I don’t think that’s quite the way to describe it, since we touch religion quite a bit in TOK, and not to mention the World Religions subject (I’m a Muslim, by the way).

If trying to understand things from an international perspective and dissecting international issues is anti-American, than I say that’s a load of crap. Sounds to me like it’s just blind arrogance and pride at work here. These people should really discard their view of being superior and right all the time and start being emphatic and receptive to others for a change.

Just my two cent worth of opinion, although I don’t really have to make much fuss about this since I don’t think their reasoning have much credibility in the first place. Still, as someone who benefited a lot from the IB (not to mention the two years is one of the best times in my life) I felt inclined to say something.

In the true spirit of AC: Go international understanding!!

Yaz.

Lying dormant

Probably a good way of describing me right now. Spending my days going through animes, reading and playing worms before going to sleep, waking up and repeating things all over again. Wonder if any interesting things (for me at least) had happened lately…

This entry’s sole purpose is to dredge up events that happened awhile ago to desperately prove that a certain someone is not living a meagre and insignificant existence.

Please don’t take the above seriously.

I’m watching Saiyuki and Tsubasa Chronicles right now. It was Samurai Champloo a while ago (a really good anime) but somehow I didn’t download episode 20 so I don’t want to spoil it by watching later ones. Same thing with X (which, unlike what the name suggested, is not a dodgy anime), in this case I don’t have the last episode so it left me quite hanging. I’ll probably go through Full Metal Alchemist and GTO after this.

I did my first prepaid top up today (hurrah). Still getting the hang of having a mobile phone in Malaysia, though I must say that RM30 for a month is pretty steep.

That coming from someone who pays £30 per month in the UK is pretty much laughable. Although the free minutes can be carried over for three months there.

The IB results were out around two weeks ago or so. None of the Malaysians in AC got 45 and none of them are going to Cambridge (though I won’t be crying my hearts out over that) though some of them do get good results (one of them got a 42 which is a result to be proud of). I still don’t know who are the AC students going to Cambridge this year, although that can easily be rectified. Just have to poke a certain someone and ask them about it.

I assume I don’t have to explain the poke bit.

I ran out of fiction books, so I’m resorting to Maths Hysteria by Ian Stewart. At least I can say I did something educational during the holidays.

It’s been a month, and I still haven’t succumbed to the temptation that is TV. Is that something to be proud of or what?

(Unproductive) Yaz.

I wish they give me cash

Got a letter from Cambridge today. Well, two letters actually. One is the college bill, with food charge, electricity and whatnot. The second is a letter from my tutor congratulating me on getting a first.

As a result of your performance in the recent examinations, it says, you have been elected a Junior Scholar.

Yay! A title. Yaz, a Junior Scholar. Actually, this is the title they give to everybody who got a first, but still, it does sound cool, heh heh.

Oh, the title also comes with £175 award. I also got another two hundred quid worth of Tripos prize money (course/subject prize) so altogether it’s worth £375. Pretty good, huh?

Well, not exactly.

The money will be credited to my college bill. The thing is, my sponsor reimburses me for everything on the bill, so in all actuality, the prize money doesn’t have any effect at all.

Pretty disappointing, huh?

Sigh. Yup, I wish they had paid me cash.

(Materialistic) Yaz.

It’s a scam

Congratulations, said the SMS. Your SIM card has won RM.7000 from Akademi Fantasia 4.

I was speechless.

So, what am I expected to do right now? Jump up and down, screaming my hearts out? Go and hug everybody in the vicinity? I mean, I won some big bucks, right?

Jeez, do I look like an idiot?

So what gives? Gee, probably the fact that I’ve never watched a single episode of AF in my entire life.

(And as a side note: No, I don’t regret not watching it, I am not tempted to watch it and I don’t intend to watch it anytime soon, not that I have anything against AF)

I’m seething. I mean, come on, it’s glaringly obvious what the SMS is. I know how the scam works…you send random SMS (or e-mail or whatever) to people, most ignore it but there will be some who are naïve enough to swallow the whole thing, hook, line and sinker. And they reply back and you cheated their money out of them. I know I should ignore it but it kept feeling like a blow, feels like I’ve been treated like an imbecile. And that somewhere out there there’s someone who laughs at the stupidity of people while counting the money he or she is making.

I hate being treated like an idiot.

A point to ponder is… the schemes can’t exist if people don’t fall for them, right? Are some people really that stupid? I mean, look at all the junk e-mails about Nigerian bank accounts or lottery winnings that circulate the internet. Or all the postings about Friendster is closing down (this one hits a bit close to home… not me…but I can’t believe people whom I knew will fall for that shite) or chain letters. I cringe everytime I open Friendster and found those posts (especially if they’re being messages sent to me). I try not to look at who sent/ posted it, knowing that I will have the urge to whack their heads to set them straight.

So yeah, I’m being bitter because I got mad somebody sent me that irksome SMS. Probably won’t be mad in a few more days. But in the meantime, to put me in a better mood, I’ll probably go watch anime or something.

Yaz.

The Dark Is Rising

Can’t believe it took me six years to finish reading a book series.

I found The Dark Is Rising series in MCKK library. A gem of a book, if there is one. A fantasy, about the struggle of the Light against the Dark, with backdrops of the British Isle and Wales. A five book series. I read the first one, Over Sea, Under Stone. Then the second, The Dark Is Rising, which was spectacular. Third, and then fourth. But then I halted, since I couldn’t go any further. I remember rummaging through the library shelves for the fifth book, the last one, but it’s just not there. No! It’s NOT there! How can they do this to a reader? The search in frustration yields nothing. And the fact that the library doesn’t have an index offers no help either.

Ah, that was my early reading years. The time when my sources of books were the library and my friends only, since I couldn’t afford to buy them. So I just resigned myself to the fate that I will never be able to read the last part of it. Even though, somehow, the fact that I never completed it renders it special. Like Venus de Milo.

I remembered about the book series when I was looking for summer reading materials this year. Found them at Kinokuniya KLCC with the price tag of RM200. Oh well. Cheaper at Amazon, but waiting until I get back to the UK is torture. And good books are worth their prices anyway.

There’s something enchanting about finishing the books that you started reading when you were young. About following a long story to its end, or watching the last season of a TV show. There was a sense of excitement, but also a tinge of sadness, knowing that it will end soon. I reread the whole series again to refresh my memory. Then, time for the last book, Silver on the Tree. I flipped through the pages, savouring the details. Though a bit reluctant to meet the ending, there’s no stopping it once you started reading. If you’re a reader, you probably know what I mean. An engrossing journey, that you can’t tear away from. The trademark of a good book.

I finished them yesterday, on the comfort of my bed, late at night. And I put them on the shelf, sealing the magic within the pages until another day, when they’re opened again to be read.

Hmmmm, now that I ran out of new things to read, I guess I’m gonna spend some quality time with Walker, heh heh.

Yaz

The search and anticipation

29th of June. Says the sheet of paper in my tutor’s office. That’s when the results will be out.

It was last Thursday. I attached the phone line to my laptop, filled with anxiety. Will I do okay? Will it flop? Will I suffer from embarrassment?

Oh, you’re gonna get a first, says Hamza.

I just stared at him incredulously.

Even I don’t know what to expect. How can you know? I asked.

Oh, I just know. Don’t worry too much about it.

See what I mean by suffering from embarrassment? Somehow, and I can’t really explain how, a few people expected me to get a first. I mean, I didn’t come across as mister know-it-all. Heck, I had enough difficulty finishing my work. And Hamza had only become my supervision partner for a month. How would he know?

A message across the screen. The password and username’s invalid on the domain. Drat! Why is this happening now?

I only managed to log in 24 hours later. Sigh…the anticipation is killing me.

Checked my Cambridge e-mail. Nope, nothing. Tried the university website. Still nothing.

There’s one more thing to do. The problem is, I’m not sure whether to do it or not.

Ubaid’s online on messenger. He’s staying in Cambridge for the summer. I could ask him to go to the Senate House and check my result. But, that means letting somebody else know it first, and I was trying to keep it to myself. Just in case it turned out awful. Which, come to think about it, is pretty ridiculous since they will know about it sooner or later. Oh well, I’ll keep that option aside for the time being and just wait awhile.

Checked again this morning. Got two new e-mails. My tutor’s secretary and director of studies.

OMG. This is it! Pass? Flop? Just a click of a mouse…

Total mark 275/375. Rank 65/588.

My DoS said… This was a good First. Many congratulations indeed on a truly excellent
result!

I felt like shouting.

Yaz.

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.