Moments

Sometimes, we just need to stop thinking too much and enjoy the present moment while it last.

Who is John Galt

Who is John Galt - It's a character created by author Ayn Rand in her novel Atlas Shrugged. The novel portrays how society changes from little to mature and eventually collapse due to excessive control over how things should be done. Below is a quote by the author at the end of the movie:

"Money is the barometer of a society's virtue. But When you see that in order to produce it, you need to obtain permission from those who produce NOTHING... You will know that your society is DOOMED"

 - Ayn Rand

Fitness and Target

Yesterday was my first time in life enjoy going to gym. In the past, I regarded gym as boring, dull and not interesting. I participated in activities that requires rigorous body and muscles movements, such as badminton, basketball and volleyball. However, that was in the past when I was still studying. 

Nowadays, I am working with a semi-government body and my daily routine would be wake up in the morning, get ready and start driving to the office before 7 a.m. in order to avoid the morning rush on the road. That will allow me to arrive at the office before 8 a.m. my working hours would be from 0800hr to 1700hr. If I go back on time, I will stuck in the jam for a good 1.5 hours (best scenario) to a 3.0 hours journey back home. 

A few days ago, I started thinking of how to utilise the hours I lost due to jam in a more productive and positive activities. Then come about my friend whom loved jogging since her university years, E. E joined a recent marathon in Bukit Jalil for a 10km open. And to do that, she would need to train her stamina and strength to achieve her target. I then realised that this is exactly what I need to boost my motivation to fitness in the long run. I need a target and a sport that is easy and simple like running, jogging, sprinting etc. 

So today marked the second day I used the gym to do my routine. I followed a simple and easy routine for a start as a way to let my "hibernated" body to accommodated to the sudden activities at such hours. It was a real achievement and I am really really proud of myself for the very first time.

Now that target is set. All I need to do is to achieve it. All the best to me and to people out there having the same problem before. 

Are You a Thinker or Just Simply Memorizing?

“How do you know when you are thinking?” 

This is a question asked by one of my facilitator during a recent course I attended in Malacca. My answer to that question was simple, I said “ I think all the time” with pride and confidence. And to my surprise, the facilitator replied to me with a “Wrong and let me tell you why you are wrong”.

He then proposed to me to answer 3 simple mathematical questions as an example. First he asked “ What is 5 +5 and 40-20 respectively?” and I answered it correctly since it is a simple question. Then he asked “What about 34 x 4532?”. I was stunned for a moment and thought I needed some time to do the calculation in my head. Then he stopped me right there and said “ Now you are thinking, for 2 seconds!”.

I was dumbfounded and he explained the meaning of the scenario. The previous questions were regarded as simple due to many encounters we had with the same mathematical questions. As a result, it was stored in our memory which will allow us to give an instantaneous reply with a correct answer without the need to think critically. However, the latter question posed a challenge to us and needed our brain to compute the calculation in order to provide the correct answer.

It is true that sometimes we take the word “thinking” for granted and do not understand the real meaning and importance of practicing it.  

End of Chapter 2012

One simple question I always asked myself this time every year. What have or haven't I accomplished for the year? Well, the answer is Yes and No. Why so?

Yes for:

1. I've managed to get my final year and overall degree results with distinction and I managed to obtain an indirect PhD offer from my supervisor in uni and I am graduated with honours from one of the most prestigious university in the world. 
2. In addition to that, to my personal gain, I became an emcee for a wedding for a very first time and that was really fun and eye-opening to myself and my self-confidence. 
3. Apart from that, I've also broke my comfort zone by venturing europe alone for 12 days across 5 different countries. It was an amazing experience where I met people from around the world and interacted with decent and less-decent people. 

No for:

1. I can't accept the PhD offer due to my bond with my education sponsor (sadly). 
2. I have not done anything other than academics throughout the whole academic year. 
3. I didn't went for my Graduation in the UK due to my bad financial background and also because it is dead expensive to fly there, it was a pity, really.. sobs

What was basically all I have and have not done in a year. Not that much but I hope next year would be a better year and it will be. 

Newton 3rd Law in Life

Have you ever heard of the Newton 3rd Law from your Physics teachers. Well, that theory doesn't just apply to physics or science alone, but it does happen in real life. Just today I went to the bank to collect my card and unfortunately, the name printed on the card was a little off from the exact spelling I wrote in the application form. So I went to the person in charge and ask with a nice and warm smile ( at least that is the impression I thought I gave that lady) and asked for a replacement. She apologise and told me that the replacement will be placed under the "Urgent" status due to their mistakes.

This might sounded as an ordinary scenario but if I had reacted differently to the misspelled card, that lady might not be so nice to me and place my replacement order under low priority status. So, the moral of the story is, be nice to people if you want them to be good to you. This is like the physics law where applied force equals to the reaction force.

[I think this post is crappy, just felt like writing something due to extreme boredom] 

Euro Trip Plan - Slovenia, Italy, Czech Rep., Austria and Hungary

Last week at this time, I was thinking if I should go travel in the Europe. One of my housemates went travelling with family and the other with her course mates around Ireland, Eastern and Western Europe. So that left me alone at home but I had a wonderful trip to Seven Sisters near Brighton but that was only for a night stay, though it was very fun.

So, back to the question of whether or not I should travel Europe. First question I asked to myself - Am I willing to spend some money for this trip. After much consideration, I decided to put a sum of budget and work things out from it. I started to look at the places around Europe especially Eastern Europe cause it's relatively cheaper in all aspect - currency, foods, accommodations, etc. After much of reading and research, I finally came out with a list of places that I will be visiting in my 13 days trip and can be illustrated below.

Euro Trip - 13 days

My first destination is Bled and Bohinj in Slovenia. These two places are very popular with their beautiful lakes and surrounding areas. I will be touching down at Trieste Airport at around 1435hr, which leaves with two options. First wait for 6 hours in Nova Gorica to board the train (Euro 5.00) to Bled-Jezero OR take a bus to Trieste then change to Ljubljana and take a train to Lesce-Bled which in total cost about 20 Euro. Obviously I am not going to just sit around and do nothing, so I've decided to take a longer route which will allow me to explore Trieste town before heading to Ljubljana. 3 nights will be dedicated these two places.

The next stop would be Venice, Italy. The accommodations here are expensive - as a backpacker, I always look for cheaper alternatives. Fortunately I found one but the location wasn't that great. It is called the Camping Jolly. This place will have facilities such as the swimming pool, open door gym great for relaxations.

The next day I will be travelling to Lake Como via Milan. From Venice to Milan, I booked a train which only cost me for 9 Euro under the Super Economy ticket category trenitalia.com . A regular ticket would have cost me 35 Euro. Lake Como is located near the Switzerland-Italy border. I am planning to rent a bike to tour around the lake and provided I have enough time, I will try to cross border to Switzerland and bike around Lake Lugano.

On the next day early in the morning, I will be heading to Bergamo by train and then transfer to the airport to catch my 1205hr flight to Brno. Upon arrival in Brno, I will be heading to Prague by bus. The bus that I am taking in no ordinary bus. It has very advanced entertainment system on the bus with free coffee and tea provided to all passengers. The company that owns this bus is called the Student Agency bus, first founded by students.

After Prague, I will be staying one night in Vienna, Austria and head to Budapest for the Saturday night thermal bath event before taking a train in the morning to Siofok, Hungary which is located near Lake Balaton. In Budapest, one of the most popular activity is spa and public bath. I am looking forward for a good experience in this. Also, they have quite good party locations around the town.

Until then...

Brighton and Seven Sisters

Over the past few months, life had been a little bit hectic with all the coursework and preparation for my final exam followed by the completion of my final year project report and presentation. I realised that after the exam and all the coursework will be a period of transition between the old and the new chapters of my life. But before that chapter arrives, I am planning to use the time wisely - treat myself something good after the 4 years of hardship in Imperial, hence decided to do a 1 night trip at the Seven Sisters with some of the Mech Engers. This is an all guys trip to Seven Sisters, located approximately 30 km from west from Brighton. The original plan was to catch some fish and BBQ them have a short nap in the car and camps before heading back to London. There were 7 of us headed for Brighton from London, took about 3 hours of slow drive (stopped by Croydon to buy a 4-men tent). One of us has his own car and we decided to rent another ZipCar from London. It was a fun journey on the way to our destination. We first head to do some fishing and catch as much mussels and crabs as possible for dinner. 

Fab the Pro

Unfortunately, I am not a pro in shore fishing, so as expected, we failed to catch any fish. But Fab, my Italian friend was very skilled in catching mussels and crabs, showing us the bunch of Asians on how to do it. We next drove to one of the national reserve - the Seven sisters. There is a reason why this place is called the Seven sisters. Look at the picture below. You can see 7 bumps at the cliffs in the picture shown below.

The Seven Sisters

Upon arrival we set up some of the cooking facilities for BBQ and tent. Weather on that day was wonderful and we did not face any problem cooking near the beach. It took us awhile before we could sleep at night. Looking up the sky and talking like we know how the future will be. At the same time, we competed on counting the shooting stars that entered in to the atmospheres and eventually slept without knowing. Next morning, I woke up at around 0500hrs, took a short walk around the area and decided to snap some photos of the morning scenery. That is me in the photo trying to be in the picture while setting the camera on timer.

The river and Me

City-Get-Away house

The river bank with man-made structure

River towards the sea

The path along the river

Around Seven Sisters

Where all the rabbits lives

Went fishing around 9 am. Super sunny. That my friend trying to fish.

 

Tired of fishing, we decided to take a break

We decided to stop by Brighton for lunch before our journey back to London

Most of us took the Harry's Challenge.

Our Winner of the Harry's Challenge

 

My checklist

Here are a few stuff that I have and haven't accomplished:

1. Final year examination = DONE
2. Final year report submission = DONE
3. Final year project presentation = DONE
4. Hangout with the Mech Enger's at BBQ = DONE
5. Mech Eng trip to 7 Sister's = DONE

So now, what is next before I start my busy working life back in Malaysia? More hanging out with friends before we part our ways in pursuing our new dream, which are making loads of money and building a happy family. What will things be after 10 or 20 years. I hope all of us will still be in touch with each other on facebook (if facebook still exists at that time). 

The morning of Advanced Stress Analysis Paper

Woke up in the morning, felt OK with a bit of confident

Walked to UNI, arrive chit chat with some friends feeling confident..

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Enter the exam Hall

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First Question!!!!!!

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By the end of the first Questions

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By The End of The PAPER!!!!!