25 March 2008

A student's life- love it or hate it????

Whoever said a uni student’s life is fun- STFU

This is life as a university student:

1.) You sometimes doubt if the course you are taking now really suits you.

2.) Graduation, to you = freedom. Free from assignments, tutorials, tests/ quizzes, boring lectures, exercises, exams and most importantly, those “inhumane” examiners who never seem to understand student’s feelings but instead, torture us by setting “absurd” exam questions and difficult assignment questions until the time and effort you spent doing it does not justify the marks weighted for it (unfortunately, though you did your best, the examiner didn’t think so). But fret not; NOT ALL lectures are boring and NOT ALL examiners are “inhumane”. There are still some understanding and caring lecturers around who would reply any emails within 24 hours)
3.) You dread entering the corporate world but at the same time, you are dieing to leave the “torture chamber”. The word “quitting now” does not exist in your vocabulary since you have come so far already and you really need that piece of paper (@certificate). So the only consolation about working is at least you get paid for being “tortured”, unlike students who pay to be tortured.

4.) Several weeks before exams, you cannot get what you are studying into your head because your brains are “saturated”. You only gain your momentum when exam is one/two weeks away, and that is when you begin to study frantically. Stress builds up and multiple ulcers start developing in your mouth (it sucks when you have a few big white ulcers on your tonsils).
5.) When exams and assignment deadlines are just around the corner, you no longer communicate. Instead, you whine, rant, vent, complain, and exude profanities...
6.) You no longer lead the “makan bola, tidur bola and minum Coca Cola” lifestyle. Instead, your lifestyle now is “makan buku, tidur buku and minum Coca Cola”. Note: the reason why you are drinking Coca Cola now is because of the caffeine factor. One of these is a necessity: Coffee, energy bars, Red Bull, Brands essence of chicken, herbal tea, and ginseng tea. (Mine's herbal tea to "reduce heatiness")

7.) The alarm clock tells you when it’s time to go to sleep. During certain times of the semester (every uni student will know when is it), you get too engross in your revision and assignments that you actually forget to sleep. Therefore, you need you alarm clock to tell you when to sleep so that you wouldn’t “float” to lectures with blood-shot eyes, feeling like a zombie.

8.) Public Holidays and weekends, to you, is utmost important. It is not just another day. It is the day where we can catch up with our sleep and complete our unfinished tasks (though it is impossible to complete it in a day but at least, we are assured that there would not be any exercises and etc to add on to our accumulated pile of work).9.) Semester break=heaven.

10.) You appreciate boredom/having nothing to do. The phrase, “I’m going to die of boredom” is rarely heard. More often than not, you will hear this phrase, “Those who want to commit suicide should join us…our workload is enough to kill us. It would be a miracle if I’m still alive by the end of this sem”
11.) Your textbooks and notes are more than your references or “bible”. They are your hand rest (while your hand is your pillow), weights for you to build your muscles, and your oxygen in class and while you are doing your revision (you can’t survive without it).

12.) You love your textbooks so much that you know how they smell like. You can recognize your textbook by just smelling it. You are so proud of it that you are no longer ashamed of drooling on your textbook anymore. By the end of the semester, your textbook smells just like its owner.

There you have it, people... A uni student's life: Love it or hate it- we still have to hang on for the sake of qualifications..... So to all my friends, may we will all fight for what we are fighting for. All the best and God bless.....

24 March 2008

Mr. Great Physicist

Every ex-Thomian who was in SMK St. Thomas before year 2004 should know this man....

Picture taken from James punya blog. Thank you, u James...
I think this pic was taken before I knew this man. But I'm sure everyone who knows him will recognize him from his distinctive trademark.

The man in the picture above is none other than Mr Great Physicist, my ever-so-patient Physics teacher when I was in St Thom, Lower 6. Until today, I am convinced that he has no nerves at all, thanks, to his patient demeanour. No matter how "boisterous" were we while conducting experiments (as if the experiments involves our mouths or turning the lab into a fish market), no matter how busy we were entertaining ourselves behind while he was teaching in front, and no matter how many times we asked him to explain a certain concept (partly because our minds were in la-la land while he was teaching!!!!), he never told us that we were getting on his nerves or driving him up the wall. Yup, you can ask him to explain the same thing 10 times and he will fervently do so in his normal tone of voice without complaining and each time, he will be hoping that we will somehow grasp the concept just like Archimedes and exclaim "Eureka"....

Anyway, Mr G.P. @ Mr Great Physicist left St Thomas at the end of the 2003 academic year and it was then when my Physics went down the drain, just like St Thom's infamous SCFC who could not really regain their supremacy again unlike in their Golden Era days when "Franz Beckenbauer" was their team manager!!!!

As a gesture of appreciation to Mr GP, I presented him with a little gift via PosLaju (CIF) after my STPM Physics paper was over. And the gift was: all the physics knowledge he imparted to me when I was in Lower 6 including the ones I gained in Upper 6.......


14 March 2008

Consumer Decision Making Process and Elections

I dread going for boring classes. I know that the teachers/lecturers (whichever applies) whon taught me were very knowledgeable in the subject, but unfortunately, they are not very adept in their delivery. They had the potential to literally drive away students from their class because of their sedative delivery. Their monotony would, as said, send any insomniac to sleep.

That is why the one thing I enjoy about Consumer Behaviour (CB) class is the interactive mode of lecture. The ever-so-humble CB lecturer, who addresses himself as a tutor (though all of us recognize him as our lecturer), is clear and precise in what he was trying to convey, and instead of him giving answers directly, he requested for them from us (thus, preventing me from falling asleep). It seems like it does not matter to him whether our answers were right or wrong, as long as the idea was there and we can justify it. Any inappropriate answer will be corrected there and then (though I do give irrelevant answers at times either for the fun of it, or because I was not paying attention so I did not get the question , or I do not know how to answer and I have no where to run so just tembak lah. Anyway, last Tuesday, I was being mischievious coupled with the post-election fever, that most of my answers were related to the recent general elections.

Scene 1:

Lecturer: Can you guys think of an advertisement that is trying to portray that the advertiser is trying to create a problem that would spark off the consumer decision making process?
Me: xxxxx, we saw a lot of that last week before election.
Lecturer: Okay, please explain.
Me: Simple… whenever we go to the Opposition party’s ceramah, most of the time we will be hearing them mud-sling about how horrible or unfair the ruling coalition is. All these criticisms and accusations created a problem for some of us because we realized that the ruling coalition has been cheating us all this while and that is the actual stage. Hence our desired state is that we do not want to be cheated anymore. The discrepancy between our actual state and desired state sparks off problem recognition ie it is time to give the Opposition parties a chance. This will then lead to us being involved in the consumer decision making process in which our purchase is the party or candidate we vote for. In stage 4, store choice and purchase, the purchase in this case is the candidate we voted for on polling day but there is no store choice because the store which is our polling centre and polling stream has been fixed by the Election Commission. Post purchase behaviour would depend very much on whether we are happy with our chosen candidate’s personality and attitude after election.

Lecturer:
Yeah, actually politicians also use the consumer decision making process too in trying to win the hearts of the public...

-Politicians, hear that!!!!-

Scene 2:

Lecturer: How would you activate problem recognition for mountain bikes?
A: healthy lifestyle
Lecturer: Okay, anymore?
Me: Fuel price
A: Huh?
Me: When the price of fuel increase, this is a good opportunity to market mountain bikes cos mountain bikes don't consume petrol unlike cars, motorbikes, and etc. I bet you when the price of petrol increase, the bus fare will definitely go up too so the advantages of using mountain bikes outweighs the option of using public transportation. Kuching does not have LRT so our mode of public transportation is the infamous Mr Chin's bus or the green colour STC buses. Oh yeah, anyway, I don't think the government would dare increase our fuel price yet especially with their "unprecedented" performance in the 12th General Election. But there again, you might never know. Though they were denied of their two-third majority, they are still in power. So my answer is accepted, isn't it??
I don't know whether my CB lecturer was “impressed” with my answers but he must be thinking that I am an election enthusiast who attended those political parties’ rallies last week, instead of being a good student!!! Well, he’s not wrong….... That is why I need to be more (x10,0000) "kuai" this week to compensate for last week. Die lor, Market research assignment due next week and I am stuck at the intro. Leadership online quiz for module 1 - 4 is due in 2 weeks time and I have only read page 1 of Module 1.

Note: "He" here is subjective. I shall not reveal the sex of my CB lecturer.

Side note: Just completed my CB Quiz 1. I don't know how I flared cos marks aren't out yet. Well, I did my best and read up the chapters that were covered for the quiz because I was a kind-hearted soul who loaned my CB textbook to two moronic girls in my CB class since they did not bring their textbooks. (and they did not even thank me at all...didn't their parents teach them manners at all???. Instead, my CB lecturer thanked me on behalf of them and they didn't feel paiseh at all...). Anyway, I told them to help me mark in pencil the core topics for each module and they agreed too. Unfortunately, when I opened my textbook to study, there were no pencil marking. SH_T, they did not help me mark the core topics. So I ended up studying everything..... Thank goodness I copied down a few important areas though it was of no use....

10 March 2008

In my humble opinion.....

In my humble opinion, the “history” on 8th of March, 2008 was created because most Malaysians were frustrated with the way the previous government was managing the country that they vented their frustrations by voting the ones who they believed could bring a change and hopefully, “a new dawn for Malaysia”-adapted from PKR’s tagline. According to Chok Suat Ling of the New Straits Times on Sunday, 9th March 2008 (pg. 6), the Chinese were unhappy about the rising cost of living, crime rate, racial and ethnic inequality, and other economic problem.

Malaysia is blessed with bountiful of natural resources including petroleum and a relatively peaceful nation. We should be one of the top destinations for foreign investment around the world, and we should be registering a higher economic growth rate, right? Unfortunately, our growth rate of 5.6% per annum is falling behind many countries including Philippines who registered an economic growth of 7% per annum. -Does this explain why some people think that Malaysia has economic problems???

Our government must sincerely work for the benefit of the people, regardless of race, religion and whether the people voted for it. If the government wants the people to give them a big mandate, they must firstly prove to us why they deserve it in the first place. A government that works ONLY for those who support them is a government that (I am sure) all of us cannot accept. If you want people to vote for you, do not use the “fear appeal” by threatening those who did not vote for you. Remember, you need to win their hearts, so don’t be mean to them. We want a competent government. In terms of competency, we want a government who not only has a vision for the country, but also concrete and practical plans for making this vision a reality. Remember STRATEGY, the plan of action that prescribes resource allocation and other activities for helping the organization achieve its goals???

I admitted in my previous post that all the political manifestos were compelling. However, the difference is that DAP; PAS; and PKR were quite concrete in identifying how they were going to address the problems confronting our nation. Both the DAP and PKR have proposed measures to reform the judiciary, promote whistle blowing, and create a business-friendly environment. (Eg: DAP proposed to set up a Research and Development International Action Team, an executive council of internationally renown academics from the scientific community to steer the R&D direction, innovation and entrepreneurship focus for Malaysia.) On the other hand, Barisan Nasional’s manifesto stressed on national unity, economic growth, fighting corruption and keeping the peace but it was a pity that they did not include HOW they were going to achieve their goals or implement their promises.

Some people said that the Oppositions would not be capable to run the country. I know some Opposition leaders do not have a track record but remember, they did not have a chance to prove their capabilities before. Anyway, education is one of the best proxies, as is success in the field these candidates have chosen. DAP's newly elected Member of Parliament for P106 Petaling Jaya Utara, YB Tony Pua, for instance, was a Raffles and Shaw Foundation scholarship holder and he has a Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree from Oxford University. He was a former CEO of a public-listed IT company and retired young because of his business prowess. PKR's MP for P107 Subang parliamentary constituency, YB Sivarasa Rasiah, was a Rhodes Scholar and PKR also fielded Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, a promising young leader with a King's College London degree, in the N32 Seri Setia state seat (YB Nik Nazmi, I mean since he's now the DUN member for Seri Setia). On the basis of these records alone, I think it is wrong to say that the Opposition is incompetent to govern. DAP and PKR have certainly fielded a new breed of well-educated and successful professionals as candidates. I am sure their erudition will help them administer the country well.

Personally speaking, I do not see the DAP, PKR and PAS coalition as a marriage of convenience. No doubt there were some misunderstandings at first...but like what Maverick SM said, "which international company set up within 2 weeks can be expected to form a team which could cooperate immediately without any hitch?". It requires the 4-stage processes of Forming, Norming, Storming and Performing to form a team and this is the same process that DAP-PAS-PKR is going through (wow, I still remember what what I learned during Managing Organizations last semester... My M.O lecturer is sure going to be proud of me if he ever reads this!!!).

Yeah, some people still stereotype PAS to be a radical party but in actual fact, PAS has adopted a more moderate leadership. They dropped their concept of an Islamic state from their agenda. Pork is sold freely in Kelantan, and non-Muslim houses of worship are tolerated, rather than being demolished (Remember the demolition of the Sri Maha Maraniam Temple in Shah Alam and Siva Bala Muniswarar Temple in Setapak which lead to the public protest by Hindraf??) .. Anyway, it was not PAS, but the BN government that declared that Malaysia is an Islamic state and it was the UMNO Youth Chief in 1987 who threatened to bathe the keris in Chinese blood.

Well, no matter what, BN still secured a majority in Parliament to be the next Federal government and they managed to reign supreme in 8 states (including Sarawak, earlier on in 2006). Congratulations for that…..Unfortunately, they saw the defeat of some of its “big guns”. Some of its margins shaved from the 11th General Election in 2004. They failed to wrestle Kelantan back from PAS and loss Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Perak to the Barisan Rakyat coalition of DAP, PKR and PAS.

Though DAP, PKR and PAS had a better manifesto as compared to BN, will they “walk the talk” or are they just making empty promises??? From the way I see it, they are starting to “walk the talk” NOW but I know that it is still too early to comment. So to anyone who cannot accept the election results, just give them a chance and let them prove their worthiness. In a democratic country like Malaysia, if anyone of you is dissatisfied with their performance at the end of their 5-years tenure, you can always vote them out on the 13th General Election.

Meanwhile, TOWARDS A BETTER TOMORROW…… MALAYSIA BOLEH….

09 March 2008

Election is over.....

Greetings to all Malaysians,

Elections are over and we certainly saw a wind of change this round. Quoting John Teo of New Straits Times on 16th November 2007, in a democratic country like Malaysia, “the governed deserves the governors they elect.” Congratulations if the candidate you voted for won. However, to those whose candidate they voted for lost, my heartfelt “condolences” to you. But you are not alone because I wasn't "election-lucky" this round since the candidate I voted for lost too.

To all the elected representatives who have been voted in this round; congratulations on your election as the MP or assemblyman for your respective parliamentary/state constituencies. You sailed through and emerge as victors of the hard-fought battle despite being discredited and “character” assassinated by your (worthy??) opponents. You withstood all the criticisms, defamation, and baseless allegations made by your opponents against you. To the MPs and assemblymen who returned unopposed on 24th February 2008, my heartiest congratulations to you. Keep up your good work. However, I hope none of you would rest your laurels because after all, it was your voters who gave you the mandate. It is time for you to “walk the talk”. Remember to fulfill all the “sweet” promises you made to us in your election manifesto and PLEASE try to visit your constituents more often. Don’t just do it at the end of your 5th year term of your political tenure. I am sure people want their elected representatives to visit them all-through the 5-year term their political career.

To all the DAP, PKR and PAS elected representatives, not forgetting the independent candidates who won, congratulations on your superb achievement. All of your voters have contributed to your success in denying BN of their 2/3rd majority (and the tsunami that hit Selangor, Penang, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan. Thank you for offering yourselves to be in the frontline for providing a check and balance to the government. All of you are symbols for democracy and justice. Your cause is noble. Hope all of you can work together and single-mindedly focus on one objective – to fight for ordinary Malaysian masses’ rights, regardless whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazan-Dusun-Murut, Ibans and Sarawak indigenous people as well as orang asli in Peninsular Malaysia.

To all the aspiring “people’s representatives” who unfortunately loss in the David vs. Goliath battle, remember the success of a person is not measured by the number of times he/she falls but the number of times he/she stands up after the fall. Therefore, if it is really your wish to serve the people, don’t give up.
Note of caution, during your next election campaign; do not tell those attending your political “ceramah” that it is their fault for not voting you in last term. Some of them voted for you last election but it was unfortunate that majority did not. Why are you scolding them for something they did not do wrong? Is it their fault that you were unable to win the hearts of the rest of the voters???

06 March 2008

What have I achieved in life???

I have just turned 23 years old (okay…I know that I’m OLD)


My good friend, Tze Ai, smsed me yesterday saying “……..a year older, a year wiser.”

Unfortunately, I am not convinced about myself getting any wiser. In fact, I think I am getting dumber!!!!! If I am a product, I would have reached the decline stage or if not, the maturity stage (no increase in terms of sales, demand remain constant) of the Product Life Cycle. I am disappointed in myself because I’m now 23 years old, and I am still stuck the same way that I am.

I have been living in the shadow of my sister ever since young. She has always been the smarter and more talented one in academic, sports, music, art, literary, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, and all the other skills (You name it, she’s got it). She’s wiser, more mature and much better at handling all the dilemmas in life. As for me, I have not achieved anything significant so far.

Most people at this age would have graduated with their degrees and entered the corporate working world. and KJ is still pursuing her degree, wondering if she can even graduate with one. [In the pursuit of wanting to graduate earlier/ finish faster, I cleverly agreed with the 3 subjects that were allocated to me. Thus, this semester’s workload will be enough to kill me and it would be a miracle if I am still mentally sane by the end of this semester…..…maybe I should reserve a place at the 7th Mile Hospital Sentosa first!!!!

In spite of me wanting to become a more successful person, I am still stuck in the same, bland mould. The erudition that I have gained from 3 years of kindergarten education, 6 years of primary education, 5 years of secondary education, 1 ¾ years of Form 6, and 2 ½ years of tertiary education was supposed to bring me to greater heights. Unfortunately, I am still the same person who lacks confidence ……..

So while I am still mentally sane since this is still the beginning of the semester, I will take this opportunity to cast my vote this Saturday (since I do not know whether I will still be eligible to vote during the next election because if I am not mistaken, those who are with unsound mind can’t vote.). All the political parties have extremely compelling manifestoes. The BN candidate for the Stampin constituency, Datuk Yong Khoon Seng, pledges to do his very best to bring more projects and development to the Stampin constituency, ensuring that the development brought by the BN government could reach every corner of the constituency (Borneo Post 2008, More Needs to be done for Stampin, says incumbent MP, 29th February, p. 2). However, do those value-laden words carry hidden examined assumptions?? Will Datuk Yong as well as the other two opposition candidates carry out their mandate faithfully if voted in, and not just make sweet empty promises?????

Hmmm, who shall I vote for??



Vote for PKR's candidate: Mr See Chee How??




Or DAP's candidate: Mr Voon Lee Shan


Or BN's candidate: Datuk Yong Khoon Seng???




Happy Voting to all Malaysians....

02 March 2008

The grandfather, grandson, and their donkey...

Note: This story was related to me by Kelvin, a Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Youth Section member. It was related to him by Senator Datuk Sim Kheng Hui. Credit given to both of them.

Once upon a time in China, there was a grandfather who was making a visit to several villages on foot with his grandson and a donkey. Upon reaching Village A, the villagers there laughed at the grandfather for walking there instead of riding on the donkey. So when the grandfather departed for Village B with his grandson, he followed the advice of the villagers of Village A and rode on the donkey while his grandson walked. However, upon reaching Village B, he was criticized by the villagers of Village B for being cruel to the grandson by making the young boy walk while he rode on the donkey. When the grandfather departed to Village C, he decided to let his grandson ride on the donkey while he walked. Unfortunately, when he reached Village C, the villagers there criticized the grandson for making his elderly grandfather walk while he rode on the donkey. So when they departed for Village D, the grandfather decided to ride on the donkey together with his grandson. Unfortunately, the grandfather was criticized by the villagers at Village D for being cruel to the donkey by abusing it.

Moral of the story: We can never please everybody…

Make sense???