Driving Test

Mmmmm... Driving test... more important than a school test, but less hyped and crazed about it. And today was my turn to take it. We took our numbers, mine was in Session 2, #08. Which meant I had to wait for the first 30+ people from Session 1 to finish first.


So I waited from 8am............






Through 9am................






Past 10am........... Dark clouds started to roll in.....







At around 11, the skies opened REALLY REALLY WIDE and guess what? It was then my turn came. Right on my JPJ test form, Masa Bermula 11.48am

So first came the slope. No problem there, my wheel was stopped right in the middle of the yellow line. From here onwards I had the window down (Well, I HAVE to because I have to check the wheel position on the line and also for the later tests). Took my test forms from the first JPJ officer, and on to side parking.

No problem here either, but with the window down so that I can look out of the car, I was getting drenched. JPJ officer signals me to do the parking, I reverse, turn, reverse summore, turn summore, car's in the box, raise my hands to signal I'm done, JPJ gives me the all clear, and it's on to 3 point turning~

I was worried slightly about this because I cant see if the left wheel is touching the white line inside the 3 point turn area. But after some last practices yesterday I was feeling good. So, I turn in, stop outside, raise hand to signal I'm ready, slooooooowly go in, turn right... slowly..... straighten the car.... stop. Reverse out.... turn out left... I looked at my front wheel, it was absolutely M-I-C-R-O-M-E-T-E-R close to the white line. You couldnt lay a pencil, a ruler (standing upright), or probably even a piece of paper (width wise) between the wheel and the white line. IT WAS THAT CLOSE. But I didnt touch the line, and moving out of the 3 point turn area smoothly, I've completed my circuit test. Soaked. Masa Tamat, 11.56am.


I park the car back at the starting point, and as I got out of the car, there was the sound of thumps, tumbles and knocks. A sort of kathunk-kathunk-kathlunk-kaplop into the big puddle of water...... I looked down, it was....



















MY PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!










Quickly I picked it up and turned it off before the water could reach into the electronic parts. Could this be the demise of my beloved Nokia 6300?



12.05pm, JPJ Test Car #7 with license plate CCC 1624 comes back from it's road test, then my number gets called out. "Sesi Dua, Kosong Lapan!" (in other words, my number 08). The tester looked really really REALLY strict. Hair shaved like a soldier, donning aviator glasses, I took one big gulp of spit before stepping in.

"S-slamat sejahtera tuan..." I hand him my JPJ form, go through the pre-driving checks; adjust seat, adjust mirror, put on seat belt, free the gear, start engine, test wipers (jolly good thing they worked fine), test signal lights, done. Had a bit of a hiccup starting the engine (all the road test cars were stubborn to start up for some reason), slowly reversed out (because the smart guy before me parked the car pointing towards the waiting area, not parallel to it). Let me show you a simple diagram:

Ok, that settled, I went on my way. I was given route C. Luckily I practised that course just yesterday, so the route is very much clear in my mind. Everything went well despite the rain. Until the very last T junction....




I would be turning right to go back to the driving school. A car from the left was signaling to turn right (aka turning in to where I came from), but I saw that he was quite a distance away (or at least my perception of it) so I went ahead first.









Whoops.









"Nampak tak kereta dari sebelah kiri tu? Dia nak belok masuk tadi?"
"Err, nampak, tapi dia nampak agak jauh lagi..."
" Kenapa awak pergi dulu? Awak spatutnya bagi dia belok dulu. Nasib baik dia berhenti. Kalau dia pergi terus, habis la awak kena accident."

Shit, failed. So close yet so far. I thought.


Continued in to the school, parked my car, and then........




"Lain kali, ikut peraturan jalan raya betul betul."
"Baik tuan, terima kasih tuan."

He hands me the paper and just steps out of the car.














Masa Tamat, 12.26pm. Markah: 18/20. Keputusan: Lulus.

*Phewh* With that over I handed my forms to the JPJ officer at the counter to validate my test, and I'm done. And my phone,  I waited another hour or so before I turned on my phone again. Thankfully, still fully functional.

Earth Hour

 Yes... it's the talk of the world... Earth Hour.

Tonight, people all over the world will switch off their lights for one hour, from 8.30 to 9.30pm in an effort to tackle our world's climate issue, particularly global warming. But I can't help but wonder:

Does Earth Hour actually bring any effect to our climate?

 Okay, let's look at it this way. There are 365 days in a year, and 24 hours in a day. 365 x 24 = 8760 hours in a year. Does turning off ONLY our lights (yes, if you aren't aware, this campaign only says switch off your LIGHTS. Not your TV, computer, washing machine, rice cooker, etc) for ONLY 1 hour of those 8760 hours make any difference to our world's climate? sure, people would say "DUH, it's like, a global thing? So like, billions of people all over the world will off their lights too? And they can like, off their appliances too, duh." Of course, but ask yourself, will EVERYONE switch off their lights and appliances? Within our country alone, many, many people will think "Aiya, just one hour only. No point oso." or "Aiya, I one house dont off nevermind lah". What they dont realise is that perhaps a quarter, or maybe even half the country is thinking this way and wont off their lights. So what about on a global scale?


Next, this campaign is only done once a year. Will it actually make people put in effort to change their way of life to reduce electric, or should I strictly be speaking, LIGHT consumption? For just 1 out of 8760 hours a year, people will say "Hey, lets switch off our lights and save Earth!". Will they maintain this mindset throughout the rest of the year? Surely our lovable KIASUS and NERDS will be up till 3 in the morning studying for PMR/SPM/STPM or any test or exam. What will they use? LIGHTS, fan/AIR COND (hah, even worse). This will just cancel out what they did for Earth Hour. Even if not that, during weekends or holidays, people will be staying up late, using LIGHTS, fan/AIR COND till what, 1-2-3 in the morning?  Goes beyond what they've done for Earth Hour doesnt it? I can go on; look at our (Malaysian) weather. Its so freaking hot. Does it look like Earth Hour has made any improvement? And in this hot weather, what do people do? Fan on full blast, air cond on freeze settings... What does that do? Use electric, release CO2, CFC gases, thinning our ozone layer, more UV rays and stronger greenhouse gases. How about the rest of the world? Hmm? Earth Hour? Will that make a change? Doesnt seem like it.

 Earth Hour. Does it really help? If it's just for one hour a year, definitely not. This kind of thing has to be done on a regular basis if anybody is expecting any positive results towards our global climate. But for now, a lot, A WHOLE LOT of people will be just living (for an hour at least) in false hopes and making feeble, futile efforts to save Mother Earth.

Cockroach

How would you usually wake up from sleep? It would either be:

Your own biological clock telling you to wake up

Your alarm clock

Your parents shaking you up because you're late for school

Your annoying brother/sister/cousin/grandmother/grandfather/uncle/aunt/friend/uncle's-sister's-son's-third wife's- dead mistress disturbing you for fun or for some other reason you deem stupid



Right? Let me ask, when was the last time, or have you EVER, been awaken by one of these:

That's right. Cockroaches. The small, smelly, scary, itch-inducing, f-ugly things that can survive these

but never survive these

So what happened? I was sleeping ever so syok-ly, and then I felt this tingling sensation on my neck. Thinking it was just some mosquito, with one swift move of my left hand it went *SWOP*, and just a split second after my brain was telling me "OH F*CK THIS IS TOO BIG TO BE A MOSQUITO" and soon followed by another *SWOP* away as I brushed it off. I turned on the lights, sure enough it was this brown abomination scurrying around on the floor. I rushed downstairs to wash my neck, took my trusty can of Moooooorteeeiiinn

and when I went back up, it was gone. *Poof*. Vanished.

No not that Vanish...... *Tag Chuah for Lamology*

Why do we have cockraoches for anyway? What purpose do they serve to us? Yea sure they can survive a nuclear blast but apart from that, apa gunanya mereka di muka bumi ini?!?!?!?! Do they help the police?

I dont think so.... Do they help pollinate flowers?

I dont think so either.... Do they help with work in the office?

I'd like to wonder how....

Seriously, if I had one wish right now, I'd wish for every single cockroach, no matter male, female, boy, girl, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, whateversexual, young, old, disabled, mentally challenged, mutated, live, dead, even right down to every nest, every egg, and every cockroach sperm and ovum (Whatever it is, im not into biology) to just die (DIE DIE DIEEEEEE!!!!!!!) off and vanish from this planet. Sheeeesh! Useless pests!


PS I know my photo editing skills are below noob level, so just keep quiet on that okay?

PS.S This is the second time I've been sleep-roached (having sleep interrupted by a cockroach), and I jolly well wont be happy if this happens a third time.

BSMM Camp 2010

My last camp for BSMM..... But I'm not sure how to put it in a way that would be interesting to read...

14 March

We start gathering at 7.30, the turn up rather small compared to previous years; 50 something in total. We were supposed to start at 8, but the teacher holding the key for the classrooms came 30 mins late.... tsk tsk tsk. After we opened up the classes and arranged the groups, we got underway with the cooking. We cooked our own noodles with sausages, chicken, fishballs and eggs. We could call it Mi Sup BSMM. =P Ironically we AJKs were the last to finish cooking compared to the members. xD But still, our lunch was satisfying, and the samples of meals from the members werent too shabby either. After lunch we had Fear Factor, but not in the sense we make them eat bugs or anything like we used to see on the TV show. Just some simple, safe challenges that would make them squirmish. The best one was wiping melted chocolate on their hands while they faced the wall, so they couldnt tell what it was. Lots of girls were squealing in disgust only to find out they could actually eat it... nyeheheheh....

Later in the evening we had a short ceramah (yawn, I know) on first aid by Mr Shanmugam, our BSMM district officer. At night, we had our first barbecue in 4 years (but my first). We had chicken wings, sausages, fishballs, crabsticks and some leftovers from lunch. Demand was so freakishly high at first we couldnt wait long enough to cook the food properly... Myself I had to wait till 10.45 to finally have my dinner. It was hot, it was sweaty, but under the bright lights set up by the scouts, it was truly a genuine barbecue experience.

15 March

Started the day with morning exercise by Naren, Chin Siang and myself. Then we had our customary Chicken Dance... I remember my first camp in 2008 they already had this song, I was thinking "What the hell, I aint gonna dance to that", but now, I'm gonna miss it. Then came marching practice, while me and Krishna were cleaning up the barbecue site. After lunch we spent a little while for the groups to create a logo for themselves, followed by telematch. Me, I didnt take part, I went around taking pics instead. Poor Chuah terlecet-ed his foot, shredding off the hard skin, but luckily not the soft skin and flesh underneath
.
At night, we had our first ever campfire. *punches air in victory* and Malam Imaginasi, a small twist on the old Malam Kebudayaan where members were given totally unrelated points, and they have to link them together to form a sketch. Most of them came out quite well, although short. But definitely much better than last year because they didnt know how to make a sketch from the one topic they were given. Since we gave them the points, their work was much easier, Doing it around the open campfire was a new, and most memorable experience. After that we played a short game of "duck duck bang", kinda hard to explain by typing, but lets just say I lost, and did a tribal dance to the tune of Discovery Channel's "Boom De Yada" song. x)

16 March

Simple first aid and marching test... Then... err.... we cleaned up the place, had one last gathering to give away the prizes, took our group photo, and that's it I guess...

The special thing about this camp wasnt what went on during it, but the "journey" we AJKs went through to put it together. There was so much uncertainty whether this camp would see the light of day because of  complications with *ahem ahem*, then there was Chinese New Year taking away 1 week of preparation, our school tests, sports day, other co-curricular stuff in those 2 weeks leading up to the camp. In reality it only felt like a few days since we were so busy. But nonetheless, we've pulled through and gave them a camp unlike any other in the past.

I wont upload that many photos, you can check the video for most of them.

Disappointed.

I've discovered one thing about myself, I absolutely hate it when I put in so much effort and yet nobody cares, notices, or appreciates it. Am I living in a society of teens that dont really give a rat's ass of how much work people put in for the benefits of others? This upcoming BSMM camp is where I'm starting from. Sooooo susah payah I've been telling members about our camp, and announcing it so many freaking times through the PA system.... and then came the entry forms... we printed 100 of these, and all 100 were taken... "wow, what great response" I thought..... and our notice board.... so susah we redecorated it, and i put up the details of our camp..... and what do i get?

1) My own ajk "didnt know we have a camp". I mean WHAT THE FARK?! So many times I had made announcements, and you tell me YOU DIDNT KNOW?! YOU ARE AN AJK FOR GOODNESS SAKE, HOW COULD NOT BE ALERT ABOUT YOUR OWN SOCIETY? And not only that, every time I have a meeting and make announcements 2 or 3 times a week, members STILL ask me "eh, got meeting ah? eh, what time ah?" When I ask them why dont they hear the announcement, they say "class very noisy la". YOU GOT LEGS RIGHT??? SHIFT YOUR FREAKING ASS OUTSIDE WHERE IT'S NOT NOISY AND LISTEN LA!!!!!!

2) The entry forms. 100 taken. How many returned? 50. HALF! HALF!!!!!! Then why bother taking in the first place if you dont go?! There might be others who really wanted to go but cant because all the forms were taken (which also implies registration is full). But then you dont bother to AT LEAST RETURN THEM AND SAY YOU DONT WANT TO GO?! WHAT IS THIS?!

3) Notice board... Why is it there? For announcements right? So logically members will go there to check for updates of meetings and what not right? WRONG!!! THEY DONT BOTHER!!!! People ask me "eh what time's the meeting ah?" or "eh where's the meeting ah?" CHECK THE F---ING NOTICE BOARD LA!!!! WHY DO YOU THINK WE PUT IT UP THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?! And for the camp, I put up the details of our camp there, especially things to bring for the camp, people still ask me "eh, what to bring for camp ah?" WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????!!!!!??????!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, if this is what I get after putting in effort for BSMM, I might as well put no effort, bersikap lepas tangan and just randomly pick the new AJKs; especially considering the newer generations of BSMM members are nothing like 4-5 years ago, or back to my brother's time; strict, tough, dedicated. Now everything's the opposite; soft, pampered, and having a meh-attitude (save a few who are responsible and active, and also my current AJKs who are doing a fine job). And with only 50 members (including 17 AJKs) coming for the camp, it's quite clear that unless the new AJKs have something godly in them, BSMM will be reduced to nothing.

More so, BSMM is what I feel in general the most noble of the uniform bodies in the school's co-curricular system. Our main priority is learning first aid, learning to save lives. Marching is just some obligation from *ahem*. Whenever there's a major event, the organisers come to us for our emergency services, because we are the ones they trust the most in case of any serious injury. Is it scouts? or Boys Brigade? or KRS? Or Girls Guide? No. Its US. BULAN SABIT MERAH MALAYSIA. And all our services are F.R.E.E. 0 Ringgit, 0 Dollars, 0 Yen, 0 Rupees, 0 Pound Sterlings. Your trust in us to do our duties is all we need. Beyond that, there are so many aspects of first aid service we learn that other uniform bodies dont. This knowledge can be the difference between life and death. And best of all, this knowledge can be applied anywhere, anytime, by anybody, as long as they know how to do it. Sadly though, members now dont join BSMM because of this great cause, they just join because they want the easy life.

I stepped in with the ambition to recover this society. My AJKs and I have made so much effort to reshape BSMM for the better; fixed the financial accounts, reorganised our stock records, reshuffling our meeting timetable to meet the whines demands of members and most importantly put in much tighter rules and having the last in a dying breed of strict AJKs to put back some discipline into BSMM. Through stories from my seniors (who also knew my brother), I got to know of how ACS PBSM used to be so full of quality, having inspirational and dutiful AJKs and aspirational members that actually HAD the dream of becoming an AJK to don the dashing all-white uniforms and be a leader to the members. Now members just complain that their legs ache and they've been marching under the sun "for so long". Back then, there was barely such a thing as members complaining and making a fuss. What has happened to the glory days of PBSM?

My new favourite car

My blog's kinda dusty, I think this random post should sweep a bit of the dust aside.

Back when I was a little boy, I saw this (forgotten where, maybe from a magazine or in a video game):

1997 Dodge Viper GTS from America. The first time I heard this name, and saw this beauty, my little kid eyes just opened up wide and I went "whooaaaaah.....". I was just utterly mesmerized. I really can't resist this retro muscle car's sleek design especially the front. It was love at first sight. Then as the years passed, the Viper evolved to today's Viper SRT10.

 

which then spawned the extreme Viper ACR-X

However, it wasnt until 2 years ago when I first heard it on Youtube. You can hear one example here. That's when I slowly started to lose interest because for me, a car's sound is one of the main aspects in choosing a favourite, and frankly the Viper doesnt have that muscular growl or roar I was hoping for. And then, last year, this big fella came along:

The Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-SV. The last (and most extreme) version of Murcies to roll off the Sant' Agata Bolognese factory in Italy. A new replacement is due somewhere next year or maybe in 2012 (Dont you dare start on the End of The World bullshit). It's got menacing looks, a monstrous V12 producing 661HP or 670PS (as the name implies), and best of all, a glorious engine note. Hear it here going around Silverstone Circuit and a very similar sounding LP640. It checks all the boxes in the desirability section. Not to mention it's one that will definitely make you scream like a chimpanzee no matter if you're the driver or the over-excited passenger when driven to the limit. That is a really really big bonus. There may be many other cars that are great and awesome, but only this Murcielago can mesmerize me and make my eyes open wide and go "whoaaaaahh....." like I did when I was small.... and then some. Move over Viper.

And for a little bit of knowledge,

1 horsepower (hp) = 746 W (we've learned watts before, no?).

661HP = 493,106W

Blerh...............

I've always looked forward to Chinese New Year... mainly because I get to visit my relatives and have fun with mahjong and drinking to be merry and collecting ang paus... Y'know, all the CNY things that you get to do only once a year....

But this year everything's totally ****ed up.... Spending the first 2 days (which are also sort of like the biggest days of CNY) doing nothing at home, when by right I should be with my cousins and uncles and aunts shuffling the mahjong tiles. And usually, we would have a grand reunion dinner, as one big extended family. This year we just sit at home, me mum dad and bro eating stuff I already eat on a regular basis. Damn quiet too. Not the usual laughter and cheery atmosphere in restaurants... When I wake up on CNY morning, I'll be wishing all relatives Kung Hei Fatt Choi. This year, just mum and dad. Spent the afternoon lazing in bed... Ugh. Past years, we enjoyed the entire week (or maybe 2-3-4 days) together (or at least with some of my relatives, not all). This year? Visit them on tuesday, then go back wednesday. What the ****???? Why so short????

Everything from a family perspective on this year's CNY is just wrong.... What has mum been thinking... Only consolation is the fireworks.

The work never stops....

man... its been a crazy hectic 2 weeks since my last blog.... so many things going on until i can barely find time to write (even now as i finally have free time, its almost dinner and another school week starts tomorrow... T.T) i cant even bother to type using proper punctuations and such since i got loads more important things on my mind. so whats been going on in the world of deric recently?

got my L license last sunday, but i wont be keeping it. not that i can drive with it legally. driving practice starts after chinese new year...

lots of bsmm stuff going on recently... thaipusam service... pra kejohanan sukan service.... sports day service coming up... marching practice coming after cny... planning for the camp... lots of changes have been planned.... lots of changes mean lots of plannings means lots of meetings means lots of discussing.... and soon enough we'll have to prepare for the camp (provided we have permission), and will have to run around to get things ready... our bsmm room was (sort of) broken into on thursday.. some *******s broke a window pane, used a stick or something to take some of our service shirts and dumped them behind the room, all over the place.... stole one marching uniform as well....

badminton meetings on wednesdays..... means rushing from school to tuition means rushing from tuition to badminton.... add maths and chem 1-2 combo on mondays.... rush from school to add maths to chem.... rush rush rush rush.... i never liked a rushing schedule... some like it... but not me... i hate rushing... i want my breaks in between.... speaking of breaks, we had 2 classes of saturday school to replace cny holidays... extra school = extra homework = extra burdens....

then of course, the creme de la creme that is school homework..... spm year... first class... normal thing i guess.... just finished off two bio pekas, accounts, sejarah, 2 rumusans, add maths tuition work.. all of which i've been collecting since tuesday.... and only today i get to finish all of them... wait... still have a bit of add maths tuition... damn. >.< and english oral tomorrow..... damn. i hope i have enough to talk.... >.<

rush rush rush... work work work... jeez, even sitting here thinking about them makes me feel uneasy.....

Ostrich

its a very ironic thing. I kept telling myself since last year I cant be bothered to join badminton MSSD because:

1) I've never qualified anyway
2) Singles only, not my strong point.

So today was the selection for this year's MSSD competition, I'd thought "Blerh, I wont make it in like the past 4 years, biarkan lah". But I came anyways because I had tuition until 4, while the selection was 3-5. I figured just drop by and help out with anything. Then Pn Apisza (badminton club teacher) was there, she asked me if I wanted to just try. The selection goes tournament style, you loose you dont get to wakil, if you can reach semi-finals (aka top 4), then will get to be on the school team. At first I said dont want, no point oso, then after a bit of thinking, considering I was already in badminton attire and with my racket... "ala, just cuba lah. tak dapat lantak lah. dapat then I happy lah".

So my opponent was this small little boy, looks like form 3. seriously overweight. SERIOUSLY. so then we played. and I lost. My fault really. I thought shuttle go out, landed in so many times. After tied at 6-6 (out of 11 points), all my hits pulak terbang keluar. "Aiyo, small overweight boy oso you can lose ah....", "Haiyo, you play like girl is it....", "ala, apa la lu...." I know lots of you will be thinking like this. I'm Form 5, played badminton for almost 10 years, with a flashy branded racket and flashy branded shoes, and I lose to this little fella. I asked for it I guess.

Now if you would excuse me......

ACS Merentas Desa First Aid Service 2010

Well, as the title says, we had our merentas desa (cross-country) event today. Not really that big, just went around the Astaka field, through a housing area, along the main road, and back into Astaka. I was stationed with 5 other volunteers and our BSMM Manjung officer Mr Shanmugam at the finish line where most of the runners will start to have problems. Thankfully nothing serious, just some simple cramps, some dizziness, tired, and that's pretty much it.  I saw Tai Swee Kee (Yellow team) come in first for Boys Class 1, and DC Gong (Blue) for Girls Class 1. After that, all the runners came piling in, stretching the 7 of us (and also water supply) to the very limit. Gladly we managed to handle the situation well (especially when the other station members came back for reinforcements) and nobody fainted or complained of lack of service. I'd like to thank the 20 volunteers who came to help out, our teacher advisor Pn Phiong and Mr Shanmugam, without them our duties would have been much much harder. Managed to click a few pictures, hopefully some of them could be used for this year's school magazine, since they portray the true meaning of being a First Aider.

Sitiawan is on Youtube (in Foochow)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YkhHCAg_Bc

I  STRONGLY  recommend you mute the audio, because this singer isnt actually good... =X But at least he loves Sitiawan to make a music video! =D

Thank You, thank you thank you thank you thank you...

to all these people who've made my birthday one truly worth remembering...

Mum, Dad, Big Brother, Por Por, Cousins Karyn, Yoke Yee, Ah Cheng, Ah Seong , Naomi and Hazel, Hou Zhen, Aashpal, Faris, Yeng Fei, Delia, Christine, Mei Jing, Nadia, Pei Ting, Yee Hui, Arif, Arivind, Wan Sing, Yvonne Hew, Cia Cia, Mindy, Kenny, Cacing, Clinton, Rychard, Wen Wei, Hian Huat, Ik Kwong, David Abraham, Hong Yeong, Audrey, Tse Mun, Kah Yin, Chui Teng, Ganesha, Yuet Ying, Nurefni, Yong Kang, Arun, Aidil, Thiban, Yegan, Ku Nur Fatin, Rohaniza, Puveeniyal, Sasithren, Namira, Kiaos Tan, Dennis Su @ Bosco, Jiun Hao, Hwa Shiong, Serene Ling, Mei Hung, Amira Syafinas, Nur Soleha, Lee Junyan, Michelle Wong, Kar Wey, Gwen Cheah, Pey Chyi,  Imran Raouf (C), Amirul aka Bob (B), Ivan, Heng Soon, Shuwen,  Pey Woei, Devindran, Viveek Raj, Yuganathan, Cyn Sheng, Benji Choo, Khairani Illyani, Teck Hing, Aryati, Zhang Song, Rahul, Yeugan Naidu,  Eunice,  Shea Rou, Joshua, Jia Minn, Yuricia Vebrina Lahar, David Robb, Ariff Aziz, Krishna, Hui Yi, Jack Ding, Boey Lee, John Ling, Sze Hsien, Tarshandiny, Hazimah, Fang Mei, Adilah Nur, Evonne Ding, Alicia Tan, Jae Wren, Wern Di ,Ily Izzaty,  Aunty Su and family, Naren, Yugeswaran, Rajivana, Tharini, Shiang Jenn, Maynie, Chai Ping, Miss Hidayah.......

And











How Could I Forget











Chuah Su Wen

For gathering (although not all) our classmates at the canteen before school started, with the birthday cake waiting there (his idea, cake cost shared by 10 classmates), and having them sing Happy Birthday to me... You sir, made this the best birthday in my 17 years walking the Earth...

Hmm.... mechanical engineering?

Okay, I spent the whole afternoon thinking, what if, IF, BIG IF the circumstances dont allow me to follow automotive engineering. See my original problem here, and please do give some help and/or opinions. I have had mechanical engineering in mind as an emergency backup plan in case I cant get into auto. eng. I've done some research around Lowyat and I found these choices....

UNITEN- Affordable, recognised by professional body (IMechE), very widely recommended. heard that a lot of malays there (just repeating what I read in forums. I'm not racist nor do I want to be)

MMU- Also on the affordable side, also very well-recommended, (but one thread I read showed that MMU was falling apart like lecturers leaving and shortage of manpower especially in engineering section). I think it's also recognised by professional body (BEM if I'm not wrong. I went through so many topics I already forgot... )

UTAR- affordable, widely recommended, recognised by IMechE too I think.

KTAR- my brother and cousin went there, no complaints from them....

Monash, Nottingham, Swinburne, Taylors anything from europe or america, even Sunway i think is waaaaaaaaay too expensive for me. Those are definitely out of the question

Any extra info and opinions are very much appreciated.....

I need help choosing a college

This is directly copied from a forum I joined:

I'm taking SPM this year and I really would love to study automotive engineering when I move on to college, and the one choice that stood out for me is The Otomotif College. I was quite sure this will be the college I will go to, but when I look at the TOC Facebook page it is full of negative and harsh feedback, even telling people to never go there at all. Link here

Any TOC student, can you PLEASE share your views and opinions?

Okay, so I dug up the internet and around Lowyat Forums for any alternative option, and here's what I found:

TOC- Saw some positive reviews and was recommended by a few forumers. I read one post saying no diploma and/or degree in Auto. Eng is available, actually there is. See here

Despark Auto Academy- offers courses in modifying cars (for aspiring tuners) and engine management, both of which are not what Im looking for. For some reason I didnt feel impressed while browsing the website. I dont mean to be prejudice or anything, but when I saw the brochure and application form was half English/half Chinese, I had a feeling either the quality of English is not good and/or most of the people there speak Chinese (which I cant because Im a BANANA)

Nilai - Offers Auto. Eng. diploma and degree, but it's in Seremban, while my family is up here in Perak with some in Selangor. Its not an automotive specialist by the way...

Times Academy- Only vehicle operations management and automotive mechatronics, both of which arent in my interest.

Tekat Automotive College- The closest thing they have is automotive technology. And also I've never heard of this place.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia- They offer automotive engineering but they are waaaaaaaay too far in Johor.

Kuala Lumpur Infrastructure University College (KLIUC)- They have Auto. Eng. and are located in Kajang, the same town my uncle lives in, so it'll be much easier to live there, but I read one of the forumers here say "it sucks to the core" and its "dirty until it makes you wanna puke". Personally I've never heard of this place being known for its Auto. Eng. course.

I think that's about all.... I really hope you can help me make up my mind on which college to choose. The last thing I want is to choose a different course not related to cars/automobiles, since my life has been about cars since I was 6 years young....

The End of a Decade

A lot has changed in these 10 years... Phones didnt have colour screens, Facebook wasnt created, I never touched my veggies, I only had a fraction of friends compared to today, Lady Gaga was still in school, and a whole lot of other things... 10 years is a whole lot of time for lots of stuff to happen. Good stuff, bad stuff, controversies, historical and record breaking feats. There's so many of them. Here are just a teeny few picks...

 

 Usain Bolt breaks the 100M sprint record, twice.

 

Datuk Lee Chong Wei, Malaysia's first silver medalist in Olympics Badminton

Wikipedia was made

 Michael Joseph Jackson passed away June 25th

 Malaysia's first astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor 

 

Michael Schumacher wins a record 7 Formula 1 Driver's Championships

Third generation gaming consoles Nintendo Wii, Playstation and Xbox 360 released

It's just 4 hours 20 minutes away. It's been a roller coaster ride of a year for me (dont get me started on the decade). New friendships, new enemy (stressing only ONE person, *hint hint 4sc2*) a fair share of scandals and controversies, one of which I was on the receiving end (ouch), reaching new highs, hitting new lows, elations and heartbreaks, you name, it I've had it this 2009. But lets not look back on the bitter but savour the sweet, dont be afraid of what's ahead but be confident of overcoming them (SPM!!!! AIIIIYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Closing off Life in The Fast Lane for 2009, Happy New Year (and Decade) everyone!!!

I Should Learn to Take More Photos....

A big shout-out to Chuah for successfully organising his first major outing with us, Hou Zhen, Fatin, mua, Miss Hidayah (our English teacher, damn sporting wei can join us) and her fiance. For that, I say....

YOU DA MAN!!!!!

Wokay, firstly we went bowling; Me, Chuah and Hou Zhen vs. Miss Hidayah, her fiance (his nickname on the screen was Aiye). We played 2 rounds, we won the first (our combined 274 beat their 170-180 something), but we lost the second reealllly badly (162 vs 290-300 something.. OUCH). I bowled 92 in my first game (YAY PERSONAL BEST!) but only 43 in the second (yay personal worst.. buhuhuhuhuu). I noticed something cute about my scores in both games....

7-7-7 (and HZ's 0-0-6-0-0-6)

P.S Houey, when you look at it, your score is actually 0-6-10 (spare)-6, so its not too bad oso la yea? =)

 

 and 1-0-0-0-1 (nguaaaaaaa T.T)

Ahh... we had barrels of fun anyways.Then we went for lunch at Miss-U-Cafe. 6 of us crammed in Aiye's Satria and surprisingly we all could fit inside! Listen people! Dont buy Hondas or BMWs! Get a Satria and carpool!!! So then we arrived and ordered our food. Nasi lemak for RM7?!?!?! *faint* Even fried rice was nearing 5-6 ringgit. Other foods and drinks seem reasonable lor. Quite a number of dishes containing cheese. Cheesey chicken chop, fried rice with cheese, cheese here there everywhere. Later we thought of go-karting, but then the place wasnt open yet, so we went allllllllllll the way to Lumut, turn around, stopped by the mangrove swamp for 1-1.5 hours. Lots of monkeys were at the entrance because of the people selling snacks.

This fella was rocking the whole box trying to get something to eat or drink from the man. Just near the entrance, we saw one monkey climb up a tree, run along the branches, and straightaway "did it" with another monkey, right there for public viewing. O.O We walked around... and went walking on the little hanging canopy they put up. (Hey chuah, can you send me the photo you took?). Saw some crabs, lots of rubbish (tsk tsk tsk), and some planks on the walkway were broken... o.O

Then we went back to the go kart circuit and happily, they were open! *everyone cheers* Paid rm10 per person for 7 laps (quite short actually), or we could choose to pay rm20 for 10 minutes and all the driving we want. Miss Hidayah went really slow because she was afraid she would crash... Hou zhen was the very opposite, since he went karting before he had the experience and was waaay out in front, I was in 2nd with Chuah further back in 3rd. Not too bad for a first timer. =] Although it's not fun to be frank like what a lot of my other friends had hyped about. Dont get me wrong, it's a great way to spend time with your buddies like bowling, but it doesnt make me scream "WAAAAAHOOO JOLLY GOSH THIS IS FUN IDONTWANTITTOSTOP YEEEHAWWW!!!!" Maybe the thrill will come if I can get enough practice and have a proper race with Houey *grins*.

All in all, a great time in the dying days of 2009. Will be having my undang test tomorrow (wish me luck!) and badminton in the afternoon with my mates who came back from MRSM. Adieu~

BTW, have you noticed why my title says "I should learn to take more photos"? Yeeeeaahhh..........