Back From Camp

Hey there! After ten days I’m finally back from the aforementioned camp. At first I didn’t feel like making a blog entry about it since it was just so and so and the things that I learnt there (things like positive mental attitude and the like) weren’t exactly new. Still, I think might as well let you know that I’m alive.

The thing is, the camp was supposed to be held somewhere in Port Dickson but due to a recent case of dengue there (or so they say) the venue was changed at the last minute to somewhere in Ulu Langat. Not exactly a promising start, plus the fact that we were packed like 20-30 people per dorm just added salt to my wounded expectations. But looking back, I think it’s a good thing though since I’m not exactly a social person and the dorm arrangement made me able to know quite a number of people that I wouldn’t have otherwise.

Course contents aside, I think the benefit that I gained the most from the whole thing is actually peace of mind. See, back in Cambridge, some of my friends always teased me that I’m working for the side of evil (they have this view that all oil companies are evil) and the only retort that I can come up with is that we actually improved the living conditions of the people there by building hospitals and facilities (and this is true). However, during camp, I’ve been assured that my sponsor doesn’t just do business deals with anybody. In fact, we’ve turned down a couple of business offers from certain countries because of their shady behaviour. Knowing that was a relief to me.

After the camp, we were transported to Negeri Sembilan for this homestay program at this place called Laman Bangkinang. It was alright, and the fact that the families stuffed us with food makes it even better. However, I couldn’t shake the awkward feeling of calling other people mom and dad so I sort of wove my words around to avoid addressing them directly while appearing inconspicuous.

We also visited this school where we kinda tried to motivate the students to be successful. I don’t know whether that worked or not but it was quite fun. The two eleven year old kids assigned to my group were quite adorable, and even when our session with them was finished, they went out of their way to come and see us during our other activities later in the day and the day after. To tell the truth, they kinda clung to me, which I don’t mind really.

Well, that’s basically it about the whole camp thing. Among other news, I went to the National Library yesterday and they have this new system of checking out books at the kiosk machines instead of it being manually done by the person behind the reception counter. It is nice to see this step in the forward direction. Now, if they would just buy tons of new books I’ll be satisfied.

Until then,

Yaz.

Of Pools, Books and Camp

It was green. The water was suspiciously green. It would not look out of place in, say… a lake in the middle of a rainforest, but definitely not in a swimming pool. A pool is supposed to be blue. Light blue that you can see the bottom, but NOT green, or a mixture of green and blue. I used to say turquoise is my favourite colour. Guess I have to rethink that.

Alright, backtrack from the beginning. I was feeling like I did not have enough exercise, which is true and not just a feeling, so I took a bus to PADE, this aquatic centre in Shah Alam, which also served the purpose of getting me familiar with the Shah Alam area and the bus route, since I don’t get out that much. Anyway, upon arriving, I had to wait like, another hour since the actual session times are different from the one on their website, and if I go swimming straightaway I would be kicked out in just thirty minutes (they have a few two-and-a-half hour sessions throughout the day and the ticket’s per session). That was fine since I can just hop on the bus, go around and familiarize myself with Shah Alam and come back (despite the lengthy wait between buses, it was really great that RapidKL introduces this day-ticket thing, reminded me of London). So I went back after an hour and was told the outdoor pool was closed for cleaning, which is a pity because even though people driving by can see me, the pool is outdoor and crystal blue clear and looks like fun. Still, I was there, so I just bought the indoor pool ticket (which was RM1 more expensive than advertised on the website) and changed.

That was when I discovered the condition of the pool. It was a sharp contrast with the outdoor pool, which shocked me, since if you can take care of one pool, then why not another? I swam nonetheless, since it was not that bad (it was neither toxic green nor bubbly) and it should have been chlorinated, but still, I tried not to get too much water in my mouth and fervently hoping that there will be no after effects such as sore throat and the like. Thankfully, I’m still fine. But all in all, I was looking forward to swimming, and I was disappointed. Maybe it was because I chose a less busy time to go swimming (Monday afternoon, I was swimming alone for twenty minutes until somebody else came) and the outdoor pool was closed because there being not many people makes it easier to do maintenance. But really, is it my fault?

And there’s also the fact that the website was not very informative. Of course, you can always call the pool to know something, but I don’t like the hassle of dealing with people, especially with the existence of a site which should do the same thing. I would love to say that one should not create a website and not maintain it, but then again, that’s what I’ve been doing, so I’ll keep quiet about that, he he.

Alright, that’s enough complaining. In other news, I’m overjoyed to find out from Amazon that Wintersmith will be released in paperback at around September. Heck, I don’t know how long I’ve waited for that one. It just looks odd when you have a series and the books were like paperback, paperback and suddenly… hardcover. It doesn’t go together. Also, Jasper Fforde’s new book was out in July. There was even a book signing event in Borders in Cambridge, unfortunately I wasn’t there at the time, due to me being back in Malaysia. Oh well, I’ll buy these two when I get back to the UK, unless, somebody wants to buy it for me as, say, a present, hee hee.

Finally, probably a divine intervention to all my complaining about being bored and not enjoying holidays in Malaysia, I have to attend this camp thing organised by my sponsor, next week. It’s probably a whole load of motivational talks, group activities… you know, that lot, with a homestay programme thrown in. Unfortunately, this means being separated with my beloved computer and all the games in it that I prepared to alleviate boredom during summer. Hence, even though the camp might be fun, at the moment I’m too despondent to be parted with my computer to see reason.

That’s all folks,

Yaz.

Spoiler?!

I’m frustrated. Furious. More than that, I’m enraged. I feel like killing somebody. And I’m surprised that some people have the audacity to show their stupidity where the whole nation can see them.

The thing is… I was reading the paper today when a headline of an article caught my eye. Really caught my eye. As you probably know, the last of the Harry Potter books have gone on sale. I haven’t bought it yet. If you read my previous posts you’ll also realise that I’ve only read the sixth novel recently. Since I read it so late, I’ve known who died in that book before reading it. Not anybody’s fault; I was having dinner with some friends when the subject of Harry Potter slipped into the conversation and somebody inadvertently mentioned the spoiler. Perhaps because we were really into it, that that person thought that everybody there had read it; and almost everybody had read it anyway. So it was alright, sort of. And she did apologise to me afterwards.

However, this time, it was not forgivable. The books were just on sale for a few days. Regardless of whether millions of people are reading it right now, or the fact that you’re covering the news of fans rushing to the bookstores to buy the books, you just don’t put a spoiler on the newspaper. And most definitely NOT on the title! You don’t say “Fans are [insert emotion here] because [insert spoiler here]”. This is not some kind of amateur journalism, this is one of the most widely read broadsheet paper in the nation! What was the writer thinking? In fact, what was the editor thinking? Gee, thanks. You just spoil the ending for thousands of people. Such professionalism.

Sigh… in some other countries they take spoilers seriously. The fact that a spoiler like that can be published in a major newspaper shows that the mentality of people, at least some of them, in this country is not mature enough, at least where books are concerned. I wish they’ll be bombarded with tons of letters of complaints. The least of the satisfaction that I can get.

Yaz.

The Library

See, the thing is… I can’t really say for sure that the National Library deserves the ‘National’ in its name. Well, the main building is huge, and it has several floors with lots of shelves filled with books but they’re really lacking in what really matters to me. I’ve known lots of clever people, and it just goes that they all read books like ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ or ‘The Road Ahead’. They tend to indulge in books about self-motivation, self-improvement, or political and philosophical thoughts. But me? I prefer fiction, mainly fantasy. Ha ha, so much for the clever image that I’m trying to build.

But I disgress. The thing is… the fiction section of the National Library is in a separate building. I last went there in 2006 before I flew to Cambridge for the winter term. As such, I was expecting new books after my one year absence. However, to my dismay, there aren’t any. There aren’t any that I’ve noticed anyway. If possible, there seemed to be even less books than my last visit.

So there you go. The library is probably a disappointment to any fiction freaks like me. In the end, I ended up borrowing two ancient and tattered copies of book 6 and 7 of the Wheel of Time (I left my copies in Cambridge, haven’t gotten round to reading them yet). They look so fragile that I’m afraid to read it, just in case they suddenly fall apart and I have to pay for the damage to the books. Still, in any case, I’ll keep going there cause you can’t go to a bookstore every time you have a book craving.

Yaz.

P.S. Don’t you hate it when you found a series in the library and they’re missing like, the first book or one somewhere in the middle, making you unable to read the series? Yeah, me too.

P.P.S. I found Sergei Lukyanenko’s Day Watch for RM70 in Kinokuniya. It was quite surprising! I bought the Night Watch for half that price in Cambridge. Guess it’s a good thing we have all these second-hand bookshops that I can peruse at my leisure.

Update

Hey there! Been awhile. In case you were wondering, I was sick. Caught a cold straight after getting here in Malaysia. Must be the shock of the climate change. Then I was whisked away to a place with no internet connection for like, ten days. Hence the reason for me disappearing off the face of the earth. However, now, as a friend put it, I’m back in civilization.

One thing I don’t like about holidays is the lack of things to do and people to do it with. I prefer the December and Easter ones, because I’m not going home and I can always visit people in the UK and do something. But summer is just three long months without much people contact, not to mention the dial-up connection. I once offered to change the connection to broadband, but the ‘rents don’t agree since for nine months of the year I’ll be gone and there’ll be nobody using it so it’ll be a waste of money (one year is the minimum for broadband service). Good thing before I go back home I stocked my computer with animes, movies and games so at least there’s something to do. Though recently I’ve discovered this aquatic centre nearby so I’ll probably spend some more time there. And I also might go to the national library to read some fiction. Ha ha, it’s a holiday and the place I’m looking forward to is the library.

In any case, I’ll probably keep the blog alive with a few postings every now and then. Don’t expect too much, though.

Wherever you are, hope you guys have an excellent summer holiday! Righty then, I’m offski.

Yaz.

Packing, Leaving

It’s basically one of my least favourite parts of being overseas: putting all your stuffs in boxes, not to mention throwing some away because they won’t fit; getting the melancholic feeling when you see an empty room instead a room with your stuffs strewn all over it; and enduring a thirteen hour flight back home. Gee, what a way to celebrate one’s birthday.

Then again, maybe it’s just me. I know others who were tremendously excited on the prospect of going back home. Crazy people.

Anyway, I wish to say thanks to everybody who had wished me a happy birthday on Facebook and other places. Now that I’m going back to primitive dial-up connection, I might not be able to update my blog as much, so in the near future, if you’re wondering whether I’ve dropped off the face of the planet, then rest assured. I’m still breathing… somewhere.

The next time will be from Malaysia. Cheers!

Yaz.

Good News!

Well, since it’s overdue, I’ll give a recap about what happened during the May Ball, but first, let’s give way to a much more exciting piece of announcement:

I got a FIRRRSSSTT!

Yep, that’s right. A First! A First! A First! First! First! First! FIRRRRSSSST!

My friends and I went swimming in the morning until noon. Then on our way back we decided to stop at the Senate House, where the results are posted, to check them. I was really nervous, for reasons that I’m sure I’ve explained before. I think my friend was, as well, since he dreamt the night before that he got a two-two. So we went there, approached the notice boards and looked at the results. I saw my name absent from the First list and my heart sank. But then it wasn’t on the 2-1 list either. ‘Well, that can’t be right. There’s no way in hell I can get a 2-2,’ I thought. Then I realised it was the year above’s results and ours were just below it. And there’s my name, in the midst of Firsts. I think I screamed out a bit, just like the one above. Ha ha ha.

Oh yeah, my friend got a first too. We were delighted!

The May Ball was awesome. I heard that last year a bulk of the people attending have to queue for like two or three hours to get in but this year I stayed in a friend’s room who lives inside one of the main courts so we got in earlier than the rest of the people. They have tents with different kinds of food inside and at the Neville Court’s cloisters they have champagnes on ice. Not that I tasted it so I don’t know how good they are but from comments I heard apparently they were like £80 per bottle, which is quite expensive as champagnes go, so they must be really good. Next, going out to the backs they have a tent for oysters, nice and fresh. In hindsight, I should have gone back for seconds, thirds and fourths (well, I did go back for seconds) since the oyster tent was only available for three hours until midnight.

There were also tents of Mexican foods, chocolate truffles and cookies, pizza, smoked salmon bagels, ice cream and chocolate fountains, available in milk or white, in which you can drench your strawberries in. They were really good. There were also swings, a giant slide and bumper car rides. Unfortunately, I didn’t take lots of pictures that night. The only ones I have were shots, or rather videos of the fireworks performance, which I must say, was probably far better than the Cambridge City Council’s on Guy Fawkes Night. So there you go.

Notice the river was packed with people. They’re not really attending the ball. They were just folks wanting to catch a glimpse of the fireworks up-close so they parked, or moored their punts on the Trinity part of the river. If somebody falls in, I doubt that person can resurface easily die to the sheer number of punts on the river.

They were also offering punt rides for the night, which sadly, I didn’t take advantage of, since my friends were more interested in the bands and music that were playing. Which reminds me, I’m not usually a fan of live music and bands (though I sometimes dance in my room, with the curtains drawn close) but there was one that was really good and I couldn’t help but join in. I think it was called the Go! Team, or something.

The Ball lasted from nine until six in the morning, but there were always things to do, so you won’t get bored, at least not until the last half hour, when things were winding down. They serve coffee and tea all night too to keep you awake. Personally, when I was tired of walking around I always nipped into the tent where they have stand-up comedians, most of which were really really good. One in particular reminded me of my Londoner ex-roommate, the way they talk is exactly similar. It was very enjoyable listening to the lot.

At the end of the ball they took the survivor’s photo, which is the photo of people who had lasted the whole ball. I was in there, though I’m not sure if I looked okay or if I looked shabby and exhausted with bloodshot eyes.

And yeah, my friends (yes, more than one, and on separate occasions) complimented me on my bowtie, which looked really good, especially for someone who had just learnt how to tie it that very afternoon. Yay, I felt elated!

So yeah, that’s the ball as I remember it. There were other finer details as well but telling each and every single thing here might be pushing it, he he he.

Yaz.

I just learnt…

…how to tie a bowtie!

Went to Marks and Spencer the other day looking for a bowtie. There I met this guy in my college at the bowtie section, so I asked him, ‘Buying a tie for the May Ball?’

He said, ‘Yeah.’

‘You’re buying the one that you have to tie for yourself?’

‘Definitely’ was his answer.

Because of that, I felt reluctant to buy one of those clip-on ones. Guess it’s kinda the same as when you’re in primary school and you wore those clip-on ties. Not bowties, but normal ties. I think I was also influenced by an interview with an army officer that I read somewhere, in which he said he’ll never be caught dead in one of those clip-on bowties.

So here I am, a mere few hours before the May Ball begins, learning how to tie a bowtie. Here’s the end result, what do you think?

Well, couldn’t have done it without YouTube, so I’ll be forever grateful. You know, when I stand at the mirror, looking at it, I can’t really help not feeling a bit like, err… Bond. Ha ha ha.

Yaz.

I Can’t Get Out of Here?!

The thing is, I thought after exams you’re supposed to be free to do whatever and go wherever your heart desires. Instead, I found that not to be the case, for me at least. Don’t know how that happened. A friend in London who was also my housemate when I was in Wales has asked me to visit him there lest, as he put it, he’ll be sad (I must admit, I’ve been putting that off for more than two years already). This time I was planning to, but then I realised that there’s always something going on here in Cambridge these days: a few volleyball matches, end-of-year barbeques, end-of-year get-togethers, the May Ball, and the most awaited unveiling of the exam results, which will happen sometime next week. I really wanted to be there when they announced the results to see it for myself since with this sense of impending doom that I feel at the moment, there’s no way I’m gonna ask somebody else to check it for me, but alas, we don’t know for sure when, exactly, is that going to happen. So there you go. I can’t extricate myself from this place until the end of term. The best I can do is to hope that the results come out early and I have the last few days for a London peregrination, even though that means I have to rush through my packing to go back home.

There was a booming display of fireworks across the sky last night. Right when I was about to go to sleep too, how convenient. Well, that signifies one thing: the May Week is here, and the colleges have started to organise their May Balls. Wonder which college was it last night. Well, I’m really looking forward to the Trinity Ball on Monday. There’ll be food, overflowing wine (and non-alcoholic drinks too, of course), chauffeured punts, fireworks, and not to forget succulent oysters. From nine o’ clock up until dawn. Wonder if I can last that long.

Yaz.

Pollens

I guess I’ll call today ‘The day of the pollens’. But seriously, I’ve been watching from my room window and those white pollens were everywhere, fluttering around ever so gently with the breeze. Some were swirling in my room, even though I opened the window just a teeny bit. Must be a heck of a day for people with hay fever.

Not much happening at the moment but there are quite a few things to wait in anticipation for. There’s the Trinity May Ball, which is going to be on the 18th this year. Speaking of which, I don’t have a suit for it yet. Or a white shirt with pointy collars. Or a black bow tie. Wonder if I should just hire a suit for the night or buy one that is passable to wear some other time. Sigh… to buy or not to buy. That is the question.


Unlike last year, this year we’ll get the exam results before the end of term. And unlike last year in which I wasn’t worried about the results, this year it'll be a nerve wrecking wait. There are people who kept telling me, "Oh, you'll be fine. You'll get a first" and to be honest, that just unnerved me even more since people have put expectations on me. Guess this is what happens when you know you did badly, though to be fair the exam WAS hard, and there was a general consessus about this. Oh well... just wait and see.

Yaz.

Choir

Hello people. I had quite an enjoyable day yesterday. There was an event going on in Trinity… well, two actually… namely the Trinity College choir singing from the college rooftops and from punts on the river. The rooftop one was held at noon while the latter happened at around nine in the evening. I recorded some of the singing on my camera but I stupidly adjusted it to a crappy setting and… well, the videos suck. Shows how much I know about cameras. Anyway, watch at your own risk.

This is the one held at noon.

The other one is held at dusk on the riverbank behind Trinity. My seating position isn’t really the best one… you can’t even see the choir people singing. And there’s the fact that I don’t really have an ear for choir music so I can’t really say anything about it. However, what I can say is that the whole thing by the river feels nice, lots of people gathered together during twilight at the bank with singing voices permeating the whole area. I sat there with my friends and we just chilled and drank some apple juice. Other people brought wines and stuff, hee hee.

And… as compensation for the crappy videos, I also uploaded last year’s one, which is a bit better, I think.

Yaz.

P.S. I would have posted this earlier but youtube takes like one day to process the uploaded video, so there you go.

Failure

This might not work forever due to the ever-changing contents of the internet but in the meantime, it's still functioning and is funny as hell. Type 'failure' into google and click the 'I'm feeling lucky' button. Found this somewhere in the net.

Yaz.

It’s over

Finally, after one year of hard… or maybe not so hard work I finally gained my freedom. My exams ended last Friday at noon. Phew! The thing is, I only managed to blog about it now because a few things had happened that conspired to keep me occupied, namely computer games. I swear, I tried hard but I can’t tear myself away from the computer and stop playing. Must be all those pent-up exam frustrations.

Anyway, I’m sorta back to normal now, or at least as normal as you can get when you know you have a whole month of doing nothing in front of you. My exams went okay… errr, actually that’s not quite true. I was thoroughly and utterly disappointed with my last paper, in which I’ll probably get less than fifty percent. It was that bad. I’m sure I’ve never done any exams so badly like I did that one, not counting Olympiads and the like, of course. Well, everybody else is in the same boat so I guess that’s a comfort, in a way.

We had a punting excursion planned as a post-exam celebration. It was held that Friday afternoon. I was planning to miss it since I have Friday prayers but Henry, our year representative and CUCES president managed to sweet talk me into going. I know it’s because he needed all the Trinity College members that he can get to hire the punts. Still, I relented anyway. We boarded the punt at Trinity and I asked the people in my punt dropped me off at Queens College for the prayers. Going to pray by punt, can’t say I’ve heard that one before.

I’ve told a few people, some engineers and mathematicians, that I’m free now and they told me to stay away just in case they feel like causing me bodily harm. Ha ha, I guess not everybody’s finished yet. As for me and my newfound freedom, I still don’t know what to do with it. Oh well, I’ll think of something. Go somewhere, maybe. As for now, I’m gonna finish FFIX.

See ya!

Yaz.

Hectic

Am.Currently.Busy.Doing.Tripos.Questions.

The good news is... come this day next week I'll be free. Can't wait.

Yaz.

Oooo, another one!

Well, well, what do we have here? Looks like I’ve been missing out a lot before by not going to second-hand bookstores. This time, I found the book in an OXFAM shop in Cambridge. It costs only 99p! Granted, it’s hardcover but still, that’s a far call from the original price of £20.00. Even in Malaysia, I doubt that you can find it that cheap. He he, now my Wheel of Time collection is up to date.

Yaz.

Look what I found…

… in Galloway and Porter:

They’re just £1.00 each! I haven’t actually been into the bookshop much before because each time I went in, there’ll be a lot of people and it’ll be crowded and I couldn’t browse easily. But the other day I went in when it’s quiet and I found three of Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series, which is on my to-buy list even though I’ve read them. Unfortunately they don’t have The Eyre Affair or it would have completed the collection. Still, a bargain’s a bargain.

My revision’s doing well, I think, and I’m currently in the middle of it. Should be time enough to finish it and do some tripos paper questions. My gaming also went well, he he, and I’ve just finished the 2^nd disk in Final Fantasy IX. You know I’m gonna kick myself all over this if I fail.

Yaz.

Not Wise

It is not wise to design a heat exchanger that resembles a can of shoe polish or a strand of spaghetti (warning from my supervisor).

It is not wise to do a two-month project in two days (I really want to say this to someone).

It is not wise to always expect a sunny day in May in the UK.

It is not wise to tickle a sleeping dragon.

It is not wise to start an RPG game with only three weeks left for the exam (Final Fantasy IX, none the less).

Can’t help it, though.

Yaz.

Revising

Hello again. Finally (and after more than a week of not updating) I’m free from the evil clutches of this thing called the heat exchanger design project. I can honestly say that I haven’t done my best but, bah, who cares? It was good enough and I have better things to do anyway.

Speaking of which, I think those supervisors that assign us with lots of work to do this time around should be shot. It’s so close to my exams and those works interferes with my revision. Some people might say that those counts as revision in themselves but I prefer my revision to be organised and at my pace.

Microsoft conspires with my laptop today to annoy me. I’ve specifically told my computer to notify me for automatic updates and not just download it automatically (which ironically will defy its name) but today despite the setting it started downloading anyway and it irritates the hell out of me. Imagine sitting in front of your computer for half an hour without being able to do anything. Good thing I decided to go out and circle the city of Cambridge while waiting instead of punching a hole through the monitor.

Until then,

Yaz.

The New Term

Ho ho ho. I’m back! Sorry for people who have been religiously checking these pages for the wait (yeah, right, like I have more than a few regular visitors). It had been quite busy, but the strange thing is, I felt kinda happy. Maybe it’s because I can see myself finishing the laborious heat exchanger design project that I’ve been working on, or maybe because I basically have the whole of June free to do whatever I want, or maybe I have just now realised what a closed-knit and friendly department I have, which is evident from the fact that I can go to almost everybody and start a discussion about the project. Whatever the reason, it’s probably a good thing since it makes me not too stressed on the upcoming exam.

We, as in the chemical engineers, have a two-week term after the Easter break. Some people, like the mathmos or the medics, practically don’t have anything left that they have to attend. Not that it’s so bad for us. Half of our lectures this term are actually soft skills talk, in which the department invited people from different companies to give talks about things like team building, leadership, interview skills and the like. It was kinda fun. One of them asked us for an example in which we have lead a team to achieve a desired goal, and somebody answered ‘Championship Manager’. Another asked about instances in which we are involved in a team. “What about study groups?” he asked. We looked at each other for a few seconds and laughed.

A funny thing happened today. I met a friend from the department on my way to Sainsbury’s (I don’t think he remembers my name, so he called me ‘smiler’, which is a nick that he and his other friend came out with, though I really don’t think I smiled that much). We were browsing the food in Sainsbury’s when another friend called me on my mobile asking about the heat exchanger project. Since my friend who’s with me was more ahead in the project, I let him answer it. We must look pretty weird being in a supermarket passing a phone back and forth talking about pipes and flows. Then again, I suppose it’s not very weird in Cambridge. The elderly people you passed on the street might turn out to be famous fellows or professors, you never know.

Yaz

Update

Hiya!

Just in case you’re wondering, nothing much happened in Cambridge lately, what with it being a holiday and all, hence the lack of posts. To be frank, there might be a lack of posts in the near future as well, albeit for an entirely different reason. The term’s starting and the usual Cambridge suspects are arriving back again so the place isn’t as desolate anymore. However, this also means that exams are looming near. We’ll have a two-week term before that happens, though. Even if a two-week term sounds quite ridiculous to me. Oh well…

On a totally different prospect, I’ve recently discovered the joys of having a hand blender. Now I can make those heavenly chocolate milkshakes every time before going to bed =)

Yaz.

Tired

I spent three hours trying to make some meringues today. Three hours! It’s partly my fault that I don’t have a blender to speed things up or a weighing scale to check the ratio of sugar and egg whites, so the thing didn’t even turned up the way I expected. Well, at least it’s still sweet.

It doesn’t escape my attention that my starting salary as an engineer in Malaysia might be less than my monthly allowance as a student. Yet another reason to not look forward to working…

Yaz.

Philosophy

…isn’t something that I’m really fond of. I tend to like things simple, and am not really keen on questions that make unnecessarily complicated mess out of simple things. Well, another word for that is simple-minded, I suppose. But whatever. There’s nothing that says I have to like it, especially when a philosophical argument can take ages and ages and not go anywhere. And it’s really hard to take seriously a subject that cogitates on the purpose of life (often confusingly) when Muslims can think of the answer to that in a heartbeat. Anyway, to each his own, I guess.

It was breakfast in Trinity College dining hall, and I was sitting near a bunch of Maths students, and they were having a profoundly deep philosophical discussion about something that I can’t remember. Somebody might have asked me something, or I might have joined in the conversation, but I said something like, “I don’t really like philosophy. It tends to make simple things complicated.” There were a few moments of silence, and they all looked at me like I was from outer space.

Ooops!

Ironically, on the other hand, I’ve just watched ‘I Heart Huckabees’, and I liked it.

Yaz.

The Botanical Garden

Since nothing much is going on in Cambridge nowadays (except work!) my friend and I decided to experience Cambridge a little bit. We went punting yesterday, which was my first time of actually steering the punt. Luckily, with the help of St John’s College’s guide to punting, I didn’t fall down the river or lose the pole, not even once. What’s more, I made it all the way to the Magdalene Bridge, though I didn’t make it all the way to the Queen’s bridge on the other end of the river because we had to return the punt after an hour. Still, I felt proud!!

Today, we paid the Cambridge Botanical Garden a visit. No particular reason, just felt like it’s better than doing nothing. Normally visitors have to pay, even normal students, but the Garden allows Cambridge students to get in free of charge. We felt appreciated.

We spent the afternoon walking around. However, in my opinion, now’s not really the best time to visit the Garden. Know why?

Gee, signs, pots, soil and pebbles. I wonder what’s missing.

Yup, even though it’s April, apparently it’s still too early for the garden flowers to bloom.

Yaz.

The Two Things I Read The Other Day

Firstly is "The Chemical Engineer" newsletter that I got every other month on so via being a member of the IChemE (Institution of Chemical Engineers). I have to admit, I’m a bit apathetic at times, mostly because I enjoy student life and not really looking forward to the so-called ‘real’ world where you have to work and all, so I don’t really keep tab of issues pertaining to my career of choice. However, after seeing a colleague of mine reading scientific journals for fun (yes, he read journals because he was bored!) I decided maybe it’s high time to pay a bit more interest. So I ended up reading the newsletter, and I found an interesting article about the European Union’s new policy on the environment. Basically, at a current summit in Brussels, European leaders have decided that by 2020, a fifth of the energy used in EU has to come from renewable sources. Furthermore, they’re also planning to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 (Makes you think of the Malaysian vision 2020, isn’t it?). Even the UK government itself announced that it would make it a legal obligation for the UK to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The second thing I read the other day is the comments on Digg. Granted, I always have a neutral-hate relationship with the website. This is mainly because when it comes to articles about important issues, e.g. Iraq or the environment, reading the comments can make you feel really frustrated with the fact that there are lots of morons in the world who don’t have a clue but kept spouting nonsense from their mouths as if they know everything. I was always left in a sour mood, so I tend to not go there often. There was an article about global warming that day and I can’t believe they are still people who think global warming is bogus. It’s sickening. And since most of the commenters come from this particular country (which unsurprisingly does not have good policies on the environment), you can really see the difference.

Compare and contrast. On one hand you have the EU already in action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, you have the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, whose people (some of them, at least) still think global warming is a hoax and whose emissions is predicted to keep rising in the next few years or so. I hope they realize that the whole planet is gonna be affected by this, not just them, so it’s pointless if some parties don’t play a part.

Yaz.

The First Win

Remember I said something about bidding on some auction lots on eBay? Well, it was the first TEN books of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and… I won it! Or at least, I won one of the four lots selling the item. Yay, I’m deliriously happy! The bid came out to be just a bit above £20, so that means it's about £2 per book, which is amazingly cheap. Of course, add the delivery cost and it tallies up to about £3 per book, but that's still pretty inexpensive. The items arrived two days ago but I was only able to pick them up today.

Here's me going through the process of opening the parcel...




Yep, they're now adorning the shelf in my room.

You know, I'm gonna miss all these when I go back to Malaysia. Bargain hunting on the internet, having the items delivered right to your doorstep, or just the mere fact that I have a debit (and credit) card to use. Can't... really... imagine....

Yaz.

Pranks

It was the 1^st of April yesterday, and the observant amongst us will have noticed a few April fool jokes around the web. The most obvious probably is Google’s, in which they offered a new wireless home broadband package that you install by putting the cables down the toilet bowl and flushing it. Ewww…

I also noticed Facebook’s, they offered to send someone to do a real live poke to a friend of your choice if you’re one of the top 100 poker in each network. That would actually be really cool, imagine you’re just sitting there minding your own business when suddenly there’s someone in Facebook uniform (or something) who comes and pokes you. Another prank is that an author of a blog that I read confessed that he is actually a she and all the blog entries are actually made up. Of course, he has written so much that it’s obvious that it’s a joke. Either that or the person has lousy timing when making such a confession.

Those were a few that I noticed. Has anybody spotted anything else?

Yaz.

P.S. Do you actually know anybody who has gotten married on the 1^st of April? Just wondering.

Upgrade

I’ve just upgraded my phone. Unlike last time when I was actually excited to get a new phone, namely the Nokia N70, this time I wasn’t actually thinking about it at all. Suddenly it’s like: what, it’s time for an upgrade already?

For those of you who don’t know, in the UK, after your initial 12-month contract with a phone company expires, you can upgrade your phone, meaning renew the 12-month contract and receive a new phone free or with a small charge depending on your tariff. Since this time I have no idea of what I want to get, I just went with the default setting: the newest Nokia, namely the N73. However, upon entering the store, the range of O2 blackberries caught my eye and I suddenly thought, why not have something different this time?

So this is what I got:

Pretty neat, huh? And yes, to somebody I know who sometimes read the blog: yup, it’s the same as your model. Don’t be mad at me, tee hee. Now, since this little monster has a few nifty stuffs in it, it might take me a while to get used to it. But I’m happy!

Yaz.

Auction Sniped 2

…except this time, I was the one doing the sniping.

Okay, so I went and checked eBay once more and what do you know, the first ten books in one of my favourite series! I’m so not letting it get away this time so I waited until there were ten seconds left and I put in my bid. The auction ended… and I checked the highest bidder… it was me… with somebody else! Apparently, the original early bidder took some precautions (which I should have done during my first time) and made a high maximum bid. Of course, nobody can see the maximum bid and when I put in my bid, his bid automatically increased to match mine and since he made the bid first, he got the books.

Oooh, lucky devil.

Oh well, no luck the second time around. Fortunately for me, there are three more auction lots which are similar to this one so I have at least three more chances to get the books. If you’re wondering, I’m being vague on purpose just in case one of you blog readers decides to be cheeky and compete with me on the lots, not that it takes much effort to find out what the thing is. Anyway, I’ll keep you guys posted on my progress, or lack thereof.

Yaz.

Auction sniped

Firstly, I just want to shout: I DON’T HAVE TO PAY FOR MY FLIGHT TICKET. YAY!!

Yup, have to go to a re-orientation camp organised by my sponsor this summer, so they have to pay for my flight ticket, which is good because I intend to go back whether or not there is a camp. And considering the increase in airline tax nowadays, the price can be really annoying. Six hundred pounds! Goodness. My term always finishes at the end of June so I can’t go back during the cheaper ticket season.

Anyway, I was coming to the realization that I have not been doing much reading lately, so I decided to do something about it. Which is how I ended up in eBay. Now, I’ve never used eBay before, having always been buying books from Amazon. However, a friend once told me how he got this set of books for a really cheap price and I decided to give it a look. And indeed it is. Though most of the stuffs there are used, some of them are still in mint condition and there are a few gems which are priced at about one pound! I was like, wow! The delivery rates are mostly okay as well, unlike Amazon marketplace which has a fixed rate of £2.75 per book. Honestly, the delivery costs more than the book itself.

So I decided to give it a try, and ended up bidding on a Garth Nix book which I found once while browsing in Kinokuniya but didn’t buy. One pound with the delivery rate of £1.50. Not bad. Little did I know that I will have a lesson on ‘loads of theory cannot compare to a bit of experience’. Now, I know all about auction sniping and I was thinking maybe I should increase my maximum bid a bit more so as not to be outbidded. However, being the naïve and inexperienced person that I was, I decided that it was unnecessary since there are only five minutes left for the auction. I can always place a second bid again if I’m outbidded.

So I waited. Five minutes… four…three… two…one…thirty seconds… and during that thirty seconds I refreshed the page only to find that somebody has placed another bid. What the…?! Cheeky bastard! I quickly typed in another bid but it was too late and the auction was closed. Drat! Drat! Drat!

And that’s my first eBay bidding experience. That really drives the lesson home, huh? I was so angry that I bought the whole series from Amazon straightaway. Retail therapy, gotta love it.

So anyway, now I’m keeping an eye on another lot, the first eight books of one of my favourite series, with a starting bid of just one pound. Hope I won’t make the same mistake again coz I really want this one. Wish me luck!

Yaz.

Mad TV's Apple iRack Parody

This is hilarious.

Yaz.

Easter Break This Way comes

Right, first off, I think I should apologise, because I did mention that I was going to snap some pictures during the open day and post them. Well, I didn’t. I did brought my camera to the event but somehow or rather, maybe because of the scheduling, I didn’t get to leave my post long enough to wander around. I didn’t even get to attend the infamous chemistry lecture that was part of the event. That was one program of the day that people have to book in advance in order to attend. I got the impression that my experiment’s lead demonstrator will not be too happy if I left for one hour to see the lecture. Oh well…

To recap, it was a busy day. I was demonstrating an experiment about autocatalytic reaction, but we gave it a fancy name of “The Oscillating Reaction”. Basically, we mixed some solutions in a beaker and it changes colour from clear to yellow to blue and back to clear every five seconds, hence the oscillation. The kids were like “Wow” and “Mommy, mommy, look!” Okay, not all, but lots of them reacted that way, especially the little ones. It was a cool experiment, I suppose, but the novelty wears out after a while, and after six hours of watching a solution change colour, I was about ready to tell them to go home already so that we can clear up.

A funny thing about the demonstration is that I don’t really take chemistry as a subject, so my knowledge of inorganic chemistry is rather nonexistent, and the lead demonstrator only explained the experiment to me once in a very simplified version. Hence, I was pretty sure I’ve been talking crap the whole day when I explain it to people, since I myself don’t understand it properly. Guess it’s a good thing nobody actually comes up to me and ask for the specific details.

Anyway, that’s enough about chemistry for a month or so. Yep, it’s the Easter holidays, for five weeks until the 24^th. If you have an Easter break as well, then have a good holiday. If not, then too bad. Ha ha ha!

Yaz.

Waiting For Sunday

Urghh!

A bit occupied at the moment. My lectures ended last Tuesday but I still have a lab report to hand in tomorrow (Friday). Now, I usually don’t have any trouble writing a lab report but this one kinda went awry. I remember saying to somebody that no matter how bad your results are, if you can explain why it behaves that way then the report will be fine. The problem with this one is that it does the exact opposite of what the theory predicted it to do and I can’t offer any explanations at all. Grrr…

So yeah, I’m waiting for Sunday when it’ll really be a holiday.

But what about Saturday? Aha, the Good Samaritan in me has decided to poke its head out and volunteer for the Chemistry Open Day in conjunction with the science festival. I did it last year and it was really enjoyable. There were kids running around rampant in lab coats and goggles carrying green bubbling chemicals in beakers. Okay, not really. But still, it was nice. I’ll be sure to bring my camera and snap a few pictures.

Yaz, the chemistry volunteer.

In Today's Paper

Wanna have a laugh? This made my day.

Yaz.

Accents

Last year, there were about six hundred people in my natural science course. I'm pretty sure one or two of them are Malaysians but our paths don't intertwine, so I don't know who they are, if any. This year, though, we have only about fifty people in the chemical engineering department, in which four, including me, are Malaysians. Hence, I sometimes get the chance of hearing the Malaysian English accent being used.

So, what brings this about? I was just discussing the Malaysian accent with a friend this morning, but when I tried to demonstrate it I failed. It made me very frustrated. The thing is I realised a long time ago that I don't have a Manglish accent, and never will, no matter how I tried. Sometimes when I speak with the Malaysians they tend to slip into using the accent while I continue using normal English. Yeah, that felt awkward.

A funny thing is that I probably have a better Northern Ireland accent than a Malaysian accent. That comes with living with a Northern Ireland girl for two years. And having an Irish lecturer helps too.

Yaz.

In The Water

During winter the punts of Trinity College are not in use, so they are kept on land. However, I noticed recently that some of the punts are back in the water. This can only mean one thing...

... the punting station is back in operation!

Yay! Now I just need to round a few people up, prepare the strawberries and cream (without the champagne) and start punting. Any volunteers?


Yaz.

Minister Visit

The Experience Islam Week is coming to an end. Just now we had a Friday prayer that was open so other people can see what’s going on and hear the khutbah.

Apparently, tomorrow (Saturday) in Cambridge there will be a visit by the Malaysian Deputy Minister of Higher Education. Seems like he’s interested in holding a dialogue session to collect views about Malaysian students abroad, especially (quoting the e-mail that I received) at the centre of excellence. Tempting as that may be, it will be for two hours, and it clashes with my practice, so I might not turn up*, hee hee.

* Yeah, you can see how well organised my priorities are. Kids, don’t be like me**.

** So much for the centre of excellence.

Oh well, I’ll make it up by studying harder. Promise.

Yaz.