A football match.

I was in a football field, literally. Me being me was playing nice and as you know in a football field, playing nice would do you more harm than good. As I play along, I got pushed, kicked, cursed and the list goes on....The referee has been nice to me because I'm being nice of course. But the game didn't go as expected. Other players played harshly but it drew a lot of applause from the spectators. The spectators being the most important individuals in a football game influenced the referee on how the game should be played.

Me being nice is not welcome in a football game. The game should be played as how the spectators wanted it to be. So, I was given a yellow card to warn me on what it takes to keep the game going.

So, one yellow card for me. According to the rules, if anyone gets 2 yellow cards, you will be given a red card. Then you are eliminated from the game.

Ask me if I'm going to play the game nicely or play it as what the spectators wanted?
I guess the answer is clear.

Back to the city.

After stranded (yea I'm exaggerating) for one week in Chagar Hutang in Redang Island, I'm back to the city where you hear people talk.

There's no updates on the Convocation Commemorative. Sorry for the disappointment. Photos are gone for no reason. So no pictures of Sultan Kedah, Raja Perlis and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Below are some of the news on the event.

http://www.usm.my/my/berita-penuh.asp?id=7119&idform=7
http://www.usm.my/my/berita-penuh.asp?id=7138&idform=10

or you can log on to www.usm.my and search in the archives.

But...remember I said I'm going to show you the pride of USM?
Ta daa...

A picture paints a thousand words.

We beat 10 others higher learning institutions and bagged champion for Engineering Presentation and Highest Mileage for Automatic Transmission category. That's 3 months ago.

Sorry to keep you outdated.

A gift to myself.

I'm going to be away for one whole week. This is the first birthday present I had given myself.

It ain't a vacation but it's a voluntary work. We need to monitor every single movement of a soon-to-be extinct species. Guess what...it's a turtle.

Destination: Chagar Hutang, Pulau Redang.

While I'm there I'm going to rediscover myself. Something is definitely missing and I don't know what. If I have to travel from an island to another island to find out what it is, then I hope Pulau Redang is the place.

Special thanks to SEATRU and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, UMT.

p/s1: Updates on the USM Convocation Commemorative will be uploaded after Hari Raya Puasa.
p/s2: To all Muslims, Selamat Hari Raya Puasa.

USM Convocation Commemorative

Any big event in USM, Engineering Campus?
For those that don't even know that we existed, shame on you!
We are holding a big event on 9th September 2009.

jiu jiu jiu (Chinese)...kau kau kau (Hokkien)...dog dog dog (English)


We are prepared.

All the Vice Chancellors in Malaysia are coming.
The Sultan is coming. The Raja is coming.
I think the Prime Minister is coming also.

We even spend RM16k on this.



It looks like scrap metal or some overpriced item with redundant material?
It's worth every penny because it's going to hold what USM is proud of and School of Mechanical Engineering, USM's pride.
Wanna know more?

Stay tune...

52 and still growing...Merdeka!

It's this time of the year again where people gather and wait for the midnight to hail the special word.
Merdeka...

And it's this time of the year where people show how patriotic they really are.
Merdeka...Merdeka...

It doesn't matter how many times we say that special word. What really count is the meaning behind it.
Merdeka...Merdeka...Merdeka!!!

52 years and still growing...
Happy 52nd Birthday.

We support 1Malaysia.

No talking in seminar.

Seminar is a place where people presents their findings to the audience in which everyone is encouraged to participate. In Malaysia, majority of the audience refused to engage in this knowledge sharing seminar. Instead, we talk. We talk about anything from related topics to not related topics being presented, but most importantly we talk among the audience.

Last week, I was attending a seminar and it gets really bored. Me and my friends started to talk. In the beginning we were discussing the topics being presented. After a while our topics got carried away. Then after the presentation, an Iraqi told my Professor that he has 2 points to make. He said one related to the presenter and another related to the audience, which means us.

I don't know what he said about the presenter but I know what he said about us.

He claimed that if the audience did not pay attention to the seminar, the presenter will somehow got distracted.
True.

He also claimed that if the audience can't shut the mouth up, we might as well leave the room.
True.

Lesson learned.

Never ever talks in a seminar.

USM Closed Its Campus

*sniff* *sniff*

*sneeeeze*

28th July 2009

The news of undergraduate students being quarantined in Third Floor Block 1 Lembaran due to the suspected flu A(H1N1) has been spread among students. Later in the evening, a news broke out that the Campus Director has to close the campus. But, the news was not confirmed.

29th July 2009

I had a sore throat. My housemate woke me up at 7am saying that our campus is closing. The source came from an undergraduate. I rushed to campus to take some of my belongings fearing that they would not allow any students to go in but I was forced to do medical checkup before leaving the campus. For a moment, I was thinking of how am I going to leave the campus without being noticed and I might be quarantined because I had a sore throat and it is one of the A(H1N1) symptoms. Then a friend of mine said that the officers were blocking people from leaving the campus unless we have a health certificate.Damn!

In the end, I have no choice but to go do the medical checkup. Hundreds of people packed the Lembaran Cafe. If there is one potential victim in the cafe and everyone is as good as gone.

And I still have the sore throat this morning. The only thing to monitor is the body temperature. It must be below 37 degree Celsius. If you are 38 or 39, you are quarantined.

The undergraduates got to go home for a week and the postgraduates and the staffs have to stay to continue their research and work. With the undergrads gone the flu is easily controlled because there are less people in the campus. I doubted that.

Life is short.

Just when I think it's time to celebrate something else happens.

Something bad.
Something sad.
Something unpredictable.

May her rest in peace.

The ocean.

I'm afraid of ocean. It's too big that I feel lost when I look at it. You see nothing or all the things you see are the same. Terrifying? Yes. Even with the presence of full moonlight, the darkness doesn't seem to fade.

Day and night do have a huge influence on the ocean. But that doesn't mean things that happen at night cannot happen during the day. Ocean is big and it's deep. You stand on nothing but the Archimedes' Principle. Despite the theory, people still get drown, don't they?

I used to like ocean. The night ocean terrifies me a lot.
Much much more than I can imagine.

Discreeeeet.

Forget the extra e's.

What does discreet mean?

Deep breath..

It means judicious in one's conduct or speech, especially with regard to respecting privacy or maintaining silence about something of a delicate nature; prudent; circumspect.

Phew...long definition.

What does it has to do with anything?

Life sometimes is about being discreet. We are surrounded by people from all walks of life. They have stories and background of their own. Not to mention the life experiences they have had to become what they are today. Even though we have people saying we are all the same, we are after all different. Human being have the nature of putting themselves above others to protect themselves from being harm. The more they know of you, they will look for a way to keep up with you. And that is where being discreet comes in. Sometimes keeping your mouth shut do more good than harm in the process. And talk what's right at the right time brings more harmony than chaos.

"Everyone wears some kind of mask, so you must look closely to find the truth that lies beneath."

"And then there are those who let their mask slip. If you look into their eyes you'll see who they really are and exactly what they are capable of."

Maybe I'm watching too much movies.

Nicol David - World No. 1

Let's watch video.
I uploaded this half a year ago, did this video 3 years ago.

And for what it's worth, our very own Datuk Nicol David said she liked it. Ha ha.
Say all you want about why she said that because it doesn't really matter.

All that matter is she's still the World No.1 in women's squash.

Multitasking.

I'm multitasking. Feeling dizzy the whole day.
Guys are not good at multitasking after all. I see girls doing their work and talk at the same time and they do perfectly fine. Not that I'm talking and working. I'm working and working. These few months I begin to realize that even though I appear to be studying I'm like my other friends as well, working like hell.

This multitasking is taking me nowhere. I need to stop.
Doing one thing at a time. One baby step at a time. Sucking milk from bottle before drinking from a cup.

If I can survive this month, I can try running.
If I can survive next month, I can try running faster.
If I can survive the next month, I'll sit down in a nice restaurant and reward myself.

I'm feeling sleepy. But something inside me tells me that I cannot sleep. Not now. Later.

Speaking of multitasking, I should get back to work.

Take Me To Your Heart.

There was a girl...there's always a girl.
This one is different.

I thought if I take my time and she takes her time then everything will fall into place. But no. It didn't. It fell all over the place. How I wished I had the courage to tell her...that...I...

it's too late...

I didn't see this coming.
If only I have another chance, I'd do it differently.
Nah...I'll spoil it anyway.
Maybe I don't deserve her.

It's better this way.
It's better this way...

Back for good.

I missed a lot of things, haven't I?
Looking back, it is just a part of my journey.

I smiled.
I fell. Real hard.
I cried.
I rose.
I laughed.

Despite the many bad things that happened, I appreciate all of it. Optimist is what I am. Even though sometimes being a pessimist means not having to take risks, I am willing to explore challenges ahead of me.

I'm learning from the past mistakes and moving on at the same time. The happy memories are kept close to keep me moving. When moving is too slow, I take a leap.

I have to admit that I do long for blogging. Blogging ain't my cup of tea. But I do like taking a few sips once in a while.

And since I'm back, I guess I'm back for good.