Annoyed

Today I felt so annoyed with everything and anything that’s around me. Woke up in the morning (oh well sort of in the afternoon) tried to use Skype to call the UK German Rail Agency to purchase the Inter-Rail Ticket but failed due to some stupid issues between skype and 0871 number. So then I use my mobile to call. Guess what, no one pick up my phone for almost 5 minutes and I tried calling again and again and eventually paying 6 pounds without gaining anything from it. That really took my mood off for the whole day while having to completed a few planned activities.

Lost and Found

It had been a busy week with all the research for my final year project, meetings, lectures and preparation of my project plan report. Just last Friday, I lost my bike but I found it a day later. This is what happened on that day, I woke up late and rushed off to Uni. Like every other day I cycled my 2 years old bike there and it literally took me about 5 minutes compared to 15 to 20 minutes of walking. So I parked my bike at my favourite spot in that particular morning. Things went well for the next 8 hours and when I was heading back home, I couldn’t locate my bike at the bicycle parking lot. First thing that struck my head was, “Shit I lost my bike”  and I came up with a few theories:

• I did not lock my bike properly in the morning.
• So then someone saw it unlocked and decided to get him or herself a free ride home
• OR Someone saw it unlocked and decided to hand it to the unversity security guard.

There was nothing I could do at that time so I decided to look for a new bike from EBay. I found one bike in good condition that cost me about GBP35. I was still hoping that someone was just putting a prank on me and gave me back the bike the day after. On Saturday, I walked to Uni in the morning to check on the same parking lot before head off for a group discussion in my department but my bike was nowhere to be seen. So I thought that it is time to just buy the bike I saw in the EBay. So I bought it for GBP 35 and it required me to collect the bike from Isleworth, some place west of London near Heathrow.

On my way back on Saturday, I decided to check on the same parking lot again. And to my surprise, I saw my bike parked there unlocked. I was very confused and mixed with a little bit of happiness because I found my bike back but also regret I spent the money for a new second hand bike. Question is, what happened to my bike? Till now I still cant solve this mystery.

Beautiful Sunday morning

Last Sunday, sawo and I decided to take some time off from doing work and head to the Malaysian Hall (a place you can find authentic Malaysia Food). We took a slow walk across Hyde Park passing by the Round Pond. I am still see the wonderful autumn trees..

A beautiful day in the town of Eel

Last week was beautiful. Sawo and I explored the Ely in Cambridgeshire UK. We had been planning for about 2 years before we finally managed to execute the plan. We took a train to Ely from Cambridge; 15 minutes journey through the national rail network (check it out in www.nationalrail.co.uk) which cost us about GBP 4 for a ‘day return’ ticket.

During the journey I took a picture of the tranquil scene of a beautiful blue sky and a dark landscape with my iPhone 3GS camera.

So we arrived in Ely and started to explore the town. At first I was thinking of taking a bus and get to the town centre (where the cathedral and the house of Oliver Cromwell located) but I came to think that having a slow walk there would be more rewarding.

I managed to do some research on the locations to be visited. First off, the Peacock Tearoom; we had some fantastic breakfast with the complement of a wide selection of tea. I started with the Sherlock Holmes (Earl Grey with Lapsang Souchong; our own mix: its elementary & good) and my Sawo start off with the Pleine Lune (Our favourite French tea; almonds, vanilla, honey etc; OTT & wonderful.).

 

After a great great morning breakfast, we head off towards the town centre directions. Stopped by an antique shop and a Saturday market I believe – near the Ely Cathedral and finally we arrived at the Apple Market of the year. This market is located very new to the cathedral. We were very lucky to have such unique chance to be part of the event.

Basically, the Apple Market will have some fun special events such as children apple and spoon race, longest apple peel and the apple shy. There will have food stalls selling sausage-like-burger served with apple sauce, story telling to the children of a story from long long time ago. I was amazed by the participant of the Apple Market and hope for it to go on for years to come.

We went to the Oliver Cromwell Museum (located not too far of the Apple Market).

Still full of energy, we decided to walk along the riverside, we managed to find a spot for fishing and also very calm for the both of us to rest our legs while enjoying the quietness of the river. We sat for at the river bank for a while before heading to get our second round of tea but this time with different type of tea.

My sawo chose the Marco Polo which she so fell in love with while I tried the Chocolate Imperial. Both were great but one thing about the Chocolate Imperial is that it is not very suitable to be taken with a sweet chocolate brownie. Cause then it can’t be appreciated as much as how it should be.

By the end of the day, due to our satisfaction on the tea from this shop, The Peacock Tearoom, we bought some of the tea for ourselves. So, Sawo chosen the Marco Polo (which cost quite a bit because it is rare) while I chose Sherlock Holmes. The day just passed by so swiftly that the day starts to get darker and darker. This trip has been very fun and I wish to visit another place in the land of England in the near future.

Start of term

Blink blink blink and summer holiday has come to an end. I felt that this summer had been exceptionally short compared to the previous years, oh well I will be starting my final year and it also means that this is my last summer holiday.

Let me summarise what I had achieve throughout this summer. My summer holiday started the moment I finish presenting my DMT (Design, Make and Test) projects in a so called the seminar week in mid June 2011. During that time I was also participated into a teaching/mentoring program with the collaboration with an organisation named Excitecs. In short, I was posted to a local government school near New Cross Underground station for 3 weeks and got paid GDP600. Not too bad I would say. So then I flew back to Malaysia for its wonderful weather. Back for less than a week and I had to start my 10 weeks internship with a company in adhesive industry. In this 10 weeks, I met a lot of amazing people (when I mention amazing in here – they amazed me in many different ways) and learned a lot about how to deal with people from different industries, background and origins. It had been eye-opening when I was given the opportunity to join my boss in a few clients’ meetings and allows to contribute in some of the projects preparations during the course of this internship (not going to further boost my boss). Ha  ha.

So finally busy time is over. Next up was helping my sawo’s dad to set up a website – so here I learned a lot about html and css. Wanna check out the website? www.pkmh.com . But it is still incomplete as for now since I faced some difficulties in arranging the information needed. So that is my masterpiece for the past 2 weeks. Not very impressive but can be improved.

Now, 2 days before going back to the UK to start my final year term. I was thinking of doing something that Malaysia is popular with: EAT!!! FOOOOODDDD!!!!

Interesting blog I found

Recently, I’ve been looking for a travel blog around  and found one with great recommendations. Thought it would be good if I share with the world:
http://barefootirreverence.blogspot.com/
Check it out :)

Cathay Cineplex Promotion

Hey readers in Malaysia, check this out. I found this advertisement by Cathay Cineplex about a promotion for the Platinum Movie Suites. Normal price for Platinum movie suites is about RM40 permovie. Buy hey, check the poster out. Check this out in the Cathay Cineplex Facebook  and also their website.

Teaching Experience

For the past 3 weeks, I had been doing my placement as a student ambassador in a Secondary School. The experience I obtained through the period was very rewarding. It opened my eyes how different the education system in the UK as compared to my home country, Malaysia. Students have more freedom and the education are more diverse with a little bit of everything. In GCSE for example, students are given the opportunity to learn one foreign language; French, German, Spanish and etc. Unlike the UK, students in Malaysia focussed very much on Science and Mathematics. 

I've also managed to taste some of the difficulties faced by teachers in shaping the students into a better future. Like any other countries, students tend to be influenced by the media. There was once I asked a student about what he want to be in the future. Typical answers given: footballer. For the ladies, they love singing and acting.

One of the question that I received from the teachers in the school was, "So, what do you think of teaching as a profession in your future?". Oh well, it depends, I would say it is a good and noble job and your have both hard work and free time. As a teacher, I think the hardest part is to plan a lessons that could cater to the students. Different teachers will have different teaching styles and approaches but has the same objective which is to cover every learning elements for that particular year group set by the national curriculum. All for the sake of preparing the students for that one exam. Overall, I think teaching is interesting and rewarding to a certain extent, but I would really want to get myself involved in a profession I dreamed of in engineering and consulting services. 

Time to grow up

Blink blink and when you realise it, you are now a year before your working life begins. As I had work in variety of jobs such as a few temporary job in Honda Warranty, part time salesman for TMNet and also some internships in the past few years, I felt that working life is not fun at all. First of all, I will be holding great responsibilities in day to day tasks and chasing some endless deadlines. It is similar to studying, only difference is that when you are a student, you have the option to slack and fail but in a working world, you are constantly being assessed by your supervisor and I think that's a bit scary:( well until I get a job, let's put this imagination aside. Enjoy while you can :)

~potkage~

6am and I am still awake

I could neither sleep nor concentrate on my revision. So what should I do? Really have no clue but I know I have to keep going otherwise I will not be able to make it in time for my exam. A little bit more and I will be allowed to sleep. :)

The Royal Wedding

Congratulation to Prince William and Kate Middleton

Reading exam unrelated articles :(

Few days ago, I started to read a lot of news on Bloomberg, The Star Malaysia News, BBC, and YouTube quite frequently during exam time. I wonder why? This phenomena had been happening to me since I first came to the UK and I believed that it only happened when my year exam approaching. I have the tendency to read exam-unrelated articles from the internet to keep myself motivated for revision. However, this is a bad bad habit because of my anxiety to know more about a particular issue, I will spend a lot of time researching about it when I should do more on my revision. I categorise this phenomena as wasting time.

For example, the current issue about the Apple using iPhone and iPad to track users’ location by storing a bunch of location history in a hidden file in the device. What are the implications of this issue on users in the future if retained? Apple claims that these data is used for improving user experience by having the user location tracked faster and more accurate. Well, my opinion is that the given excuses by Apple are not consistent. First Apple claimed that they didn’t realised the device is tracking and storing such massive amount of location history but they suddenly claimed that these data are for iPhone or iPad improvements in the future. This matter concerning user privacy will cost the company some legal issues if unresolved. Legal = lost of money (that is what I was told in Finance class).

Now, try to think of what can a user history do to the user if the device is being hacked and the data falls on the wrong hand. Firstly, the various locations you have visited will be identified. This indirectly predicts where you live, work, shop, eat and many other things. If you are poor, there is noting to lose, but if you are rich, you might not want to reveal your house address to the bad guys. On the other hands, this data can be positive in terms of tracking crimes around the globes. Well, not going into details on how to fight crimes.  

On another story that interest me is that Mr Trump the Billionaire who owns the “The Apprentice” demanded President Obama to prove that he possess US citizenship by pressuring Obama to release his birth certificate. Why on earth does he want to do that? Questions is what is the motive of Mr Trump’s act? Is there any hidden agenda behind Obama’s birth certificate. Well, one of the comments he gave was “I managed to do something no one dare to do”. To be honest, I was quite impressed by his courage but what is the point?

Hush hush!!! enough of reading. Back to Fracture Mechanics and Thermodynamics…

Exam Stress: Revision Venues

As a student, when is your least favourite time? Well, I bet 99% of the student population will agree with me that it is the exam preparation. Well, not to say it is extremely stressful but managing stress is one issue, finding the right place to study is another issue. I soon realised this morning when I was using the toilet and found out that it was actually a pretty good venue to concentrate when you wanted to understand something difficult. Well instead of poo-ing, you study in it. This might sound ridiculous but let me compare the pros and cons of typical study venue students usually chose:

Venue	Pros	Cons
Library	Quiet Good lighting	Too many people = extra stress –> distraction
Garden or Park	Good lighting and fresh air –> Good for your brain but the weather is uncertain at times.	Too many hot boys OR girls walking around during Spring time –> distraction
Home (Your room)	Safe time = no need to walk to the college or library	You sit in front of a computer and start using Facebook or reading financial news
Home (Dining Hall)	Spacious –> Some people find it helpful in revision.	Distractions from housemates . If you have any..
Toilet	Good lighting No distraction Quiet and internet free (unless you bring in an iPhone and start Facebook or Angry Bird)	- Depends on your toilet cleanliness- might be smelly - People might want to use the toilet.

Based on the comparison made in the above table, it seems like Toilet is actually pretty strategic venue to study when you wish to concentrate. Anyway, why on earth am I comparing toilet with other venues? Sigh, Back to revision !!!

Great website for student

A little knowledge to share here. I went to the MIT Open Courseware website and accidentally clicked on one of the link that led me to the URL below

openstudy.com

Try it, you might find it useful as there are relevant topics being discussed by students around the world. Or you can just practice maths by helping the newbies :P (It is not like I am good at it :P)

-Okie Time to get back to revision- 

Update of the Day

I am Happy.

Why?

I am happy because I just came back from dancing with my Sawo in the Empress Ballroom of Winter Garden in Blackpool :).

... Happy ...