A Great Day

I literally had to drag myself out of bed this morning at 9am. Could have slept til noon if i had the time though. But have to catch up on my studies. Having two tests this Tuesday, one quiz and one assignment due. Thank God my HRM project due date has been delayed til next Friday. At least i can concentrate on my tests first. Wow...looking back on the past few weeks, i see how thankful i have to be. First, one test was delayed to a week after the arranged date. That was a really busy week for me and i wouldn't have been able to do well for the test. However, since it was delayed, i had 3 tests on the second week. Once again, one test was delayed, leaving two tests in that week. Last week i had two tests. This coming week i'll have two tests as well. Seems like the tests here are neverending. Due dates for projects are coming up one by one too. As well as presentations and then...before i know it, finals will be here. Then......sem break!!! Yippee!!!

This week's been a tough week. There were many times i cried. But i've also laughed a lot. :) Today started off quite dull. Sitting at my table with my text book on one side, the tutorial questions on the other side and my laptop in front of me. It's tough...memorizing formula after formula...plus having to understand the many concepts... With such little time. And so many assignments to complete. Sometimes i feel like my head is almost bursting. Dat's the time when i go n "berborak" with my frens for a while...just to release stress. At times like this, i just love campus life, staying among frens, the many fun and crazy things we do together...

Church was great. The Holy Spirit reli moved among us today. Many had visions. I saw us worshipping together. But the room was longer than our room. Many people were worshipping together. There were certainly more than 50 people (the average amount of members in our church). It was wonderful. Melissa had this vision. She saw people in our church too. But there were people of ALL races. She said God told her we will face persecution, but God will always be with us. Vhonani, a South African, saw a stadium full of people worshipping God. However, she couldn't understand the language they were all speaking though it sounded familiar. Finally she realised it was our native language!!!!! We really believe there's gonna be a revival in our campus and in this land!!! We've been having prayer meetings every night under a "pondok" at 11pm every night. Though the attendance might be poor sometimes, and we keep having to hit the mozzies, God still continues to move amongst us. Oh ya...our church building pledge has reached RM46k!!! Not bad for a bunch of uni students with RM500 pocket money a month eh? *wink*

Thana's driving us down to Penang to visit Tracy plus makan this Friday. And the best thing is there will be 5 of us, Thana, Jesse, Isaac, Michelle and me. Yea!!! This'll be great fun!!! :)

Yesssss!!!

Yesssss!!!!!!!! Am going back to the Pearl of the Orient this coming Friday!!!!!! (If my mum allows it). *Mummy, you got the hint?* Hehehehehe... Dat's the one thing I'll look forward to this week. But gotta finish all my projects before the weekend. Hope I'll be able to do that. By hook or by crook...it'll be done!!! :)

These past few days have been filled with study, study and more study...plus sleeping at the most unearthly hours possible. Broke my record this time. Slept at 7am on wednesday nite...to be more exact, Thursday morning. These three weeks will be neverending weeks of tests, quizzes, assignment and project due dates plus presentations. Ahhh.....they're killing me!!!

Oh ya...God has answered all our prayers for Tracy. Praise God!!! She's recovering. Had 2 operations on her spinal cord and gonna have another one soon. (I think). Dunno when. They're inserting a titanium rod. Seems like she was infacted with some airbourne bacteria she caught while holiday-ing in Cambodia. It's quite common there.

My Prayer Tonight

She has always been like an elder sister to me for the past 2 and a half years i've known her. Her kind and caring personality has brought warmth and joy to those around her, resulting in us calling her "mummy". Being my cg leader during my first semester in UTP, I tend to look up to her in many aspects though i do feel a bit shy towards her 'coz of her being my senior. In my first COP church camp at Tapah, she constantly watched over me during the river trekking to make sure i didn't slip and fall on the slippery rocks. In the Cameron Highlands camp, I was sick and she was the one taking special care over me. She constantly provided charcoal pills when i was having diarrhea and panadol when I had fever. During keroncong practice when i didn't feel like eating, she made sure that i ate something. She asked Dina to drive me out so that i could get a bun or something light. She is always friendly and smiling when we meet.

"As she is lying in the hospital bed right now, Lord, i pray that U be with her. Let Ur angels guard over her. Cover her with Ur peace that surpasses all understanding and comfort her in this time of trial. Oh Lord, only U can heal her, for U are her creator. U know every part of her. Let Ur healing power flow thru her body. Repair the damage in her spinal cord. That she may be able to walk and run and jump again. As she goes for the operation tomorrow, Lord, U give the surgeons wisdom and guide their hands. That the operation will be a success. Oh Lord, please let this fren of mine get well. Be with her family members too during this difficult time. Let them know that U are in control and in U, all things are possible. Lord, i claim on Ur promises. U are the Jehovah Rapha, the Healer. By Ur stripes, Tracy is healed!!!

Amen."

My Celebrity Look-alikes

My cool celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.

Simulation

I'm frustrated.....my model just won't simulate. I've been at the computer begging it to simulate...trying all sorts of ways.....the nice way ("pleaseeee simulate....."), the fierce way ("simulate la u bodoh computer!!!) and the agitated way ("simulate..simulate...simulate...haiyo.....why la u dowan to simulate.....ish ish ishhhhh....."). Arhhh...now i've given up. Will do it back in my room. Hoping that when I installed my MATlab, I included the simulink. Hehehehe. And now, I'm in the lab, passing off my time playing computer games at www.orisinal.com while waiting for my replacement quiz at 4.30pm. My favourite is "Pocketful of Stars"....a little girl jumping and catching stars in the night sky. :) Going jogging later this evening...dunno if I still have any more energy left after climbing flight after flights of stairs all day. Crossing my fingers that we won't meet any monkeys though...we're going the "jungle way" today. It's more shady. Okie dokie...it's 5 minutes to 4.30pm. Gotta get going. Have a class til 7pm but it's cancelled. Yipee!!! So long...fare thee well.... :)

Hmmm...

Hmmm... Gonna do something impulsive today. Not quite sure how it will turn out. But crossing my fingers that it will be nice. Hehehe. It's gonna be a surprise. Can't wait to see the reactions of my frens back in uni. Wakakakkakaka :P

Miracle

It's a miracle!!! I'd made up my mind that Analogue Electronics II was my toughest subject this semester. What with Dr. Cloud as my lecturer. Doing the many homeworks he gave us each week and the prelabs was really a torture. Each homework contained only 6 questions but it took me around 6 hours to finish all the questions. We even had to skip classes to finish our prelab.....eventhough we combined our brains...our whole gang...around 8 of us!!! Hehehe.

It seemed impossible to score for this subject. Dr. Cloud would constantly remind us that it was near impossible to get an "A" for Analogue Electronics II. But lo and behold......I found out that I got full marks for both my Homework #1 and Homework #2!!! Plus almost full marks for our first lab!!! This was definitely not me...not me at all..... It was God..... It's a miracle... Really.... I couldn't have done it without His help... "Cast all your cares on Me and I will make your paths straight. " I had to juggle my time between studies, practices and church activities. I guess all things really are possible through Christ who strengthens us. :)

Happy Holidays!!!

Yay!!! Finally I'm back home. Home Sweet Home. :) Slept all I wanted last night. Had the longest bus ride back to Penang yesterday. The UTP bus driver dropped me and Kak Ilmi off at Muzium Negara. We took a taxi from there to Pudu station. We reached the station at around 325pm. We started looking for tickets back...me to Penang and Kak Ilmi to Alor Setar. I managed to get the 330 bus and Kak Ilmi the 400pm bus. And so, I rushed to terminal 7 where my bus was and hopped on. Unfortunately my bus broke down on not far from KL and we were delayed at least 2 hours. The whole journey took us 6 and a half hours!! That was when Jesse said, "See....I wanted to teman u...but u tak nak..." :P

The stay at JW Marriott was great. The food was wonderful. PETRONAS really treats us well. Buffet breakfast, lunch, tea break, and dinner. And Jesse said that must be why he's gained so much weight this semester. Hahaha. :D But I'm glad to say my weight hasn't been affected. ( He's gonna kill me if he finds out wat I've written here) Hehehe. :P The bed was very very comfy. It was a single bed but it seemed much bigger than one...though not as big as a double bed. The bed itself was very soft...the comforter thick and fluffy...and.....there were three pillows on each bed!!! Two square big soft ones (the size of two normal pillows joined together) and one feather pillow of normal size.

We had many praises about the performance as well. All said it was nice. Eena and I really enjoyed ourselves playing the songs, especially the last few ones...wat we wud call "Syok Sendiri"... hehehe. Ya...enjoyed myself this time. The choice of songs was very nice too. We laughed so much that my stomach muscles are still aching. :P

Finally.....

Ahhh.....finally I can breath a sigh of relieve..... :) It's been a tough 2 weeks...really really tough..... Haha.. What with the performance in Ipoh, quizzes, tests, and the countless assignments, not forgetting the much dreaded lab reports.

Went through a tough time doing my analogue prelab report. It was 3am in the morning. I felt I had to do at least something instead of leaving it to Erica, my lab partner. And so, I started of with designing the amplifier...calculating the values of the resistors and capacitors. However, due to lack of sleep, or just my crankiness, I burst into tears because there wasn't any progress at all and I just felt so silly, not knowing how to do. Chris was so very kind in giving me some hints in how to make assumptions and which formulas to use. But finally, I still passed the prelab to Erica, who was so kind to do all the calculations and type out most of the report, and I just had to type in the calculations and stuff. Thank you so much!!! :)

However, the next day I had to go for the full rehearsal in Bangunan Perak with very swollen eyes. It was horribly embarrassing... Fortunately, no one said a thing... hehehe. It was rather difficult to see through such small eyes. Luckilly for me, they got bigger by the time the performance started. :P But I look ugly in all the pictures. Small eyes don't suit me...

Well, had 2 tests and 2 quizzes last week...on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. This week we had 3 tests all one after another on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It felt as if we were already having our finals. And we suddenly recalled what Dr. Balbir Singh, our Physics lecturer in our foundation year, warned us about our future in UTP..."Engineering students only sleep 4 hours per day". We realised that this "prophesy" of his has finally come to pass. Hehe. Well...finally all the tests and stuff are over.

Merdeka!!!!!

Unfortunately, I still can't go back to Penang. Have to stay back for a performance on Wednesday. But am planning to skip tomorrow afternoon's practice. Wanna go Ipoh "kai kai" with Peck Koon, James and Jesse. :) So will try to "ambil hati" Cikgu tomorrow. Hehehhehee. Seems like our Keroncong group ( or isit the Virtuoso group?)...they're almost the same anyway... Seems like we've suddenly become part-time musicians. We've so far stayed at Trader's Inn, Palace of the Golden Horses and JW Mariott. This time we'll be going to JW Mariott again. It's fun...though sometimes it's tiring especially in the midst of exams. But...it kinda makes life in uni more exciting. :)

Dr. Cloud

Arghhhhhhh...... How am I gonna get through this semester attending his lectures every week??? I really wonder..... Especially the two hours on Fridays!!! Oh my goodness...I really feel like boxing his ears everytime he says something..... Why can't he be more encouraging? Just a teeny weeny bit? And smile a little? A smile from a lecturer really brightens up the lecture. Hehe. He makes me feel I will fail his subject and yet...sometimes I just wanna proof him wrong!!! I want to get an "A" and show him right in front of his nose...that I can do it despite of his remarks... I wanna make him take back every negative sentence he's said before...I'm pretty sure he'll drown in them. :P

I just can't understand why he has to be so horrid to us students. Does he think this method is more effective? Well, I definitely don't think so. I normally love a subject when a lecturer makes it interesting or when a lecturer is nice to us students. Then I will want to do my best for him or her. I think he's really got it all wrong.....

My First Conquered Hill

It all happened on Thaipusam day. It was a holiday in UTP as well. On the night before, we had an all-nite prayer meeting. We prayed from 10pm on the night before Thaipusam til 5am on Thaipusam morning. Had a great time just seeking God. Pastor said he wanted to train us to seek God and worship him without the help of any instruments...he wanted us to do it out of our own heart....and not just sing songs because the song is nice or catching. It was amazing how we could pray and pray for so long. This shows that it is possible for us to pray for such long hours.

Felix, James, Xiao Qi and I returned to campus at 5am. I went back to the room, woke Peck Koon up, and got ready for the next agenda. :P Was real excited about the hike up Bukit Keledang. We gathered at our village carpark at 5:15am and started off to Menglembu at 5:30am. All was still dark. I dared not close my eyes throughout the journey, for fear that I might not be able to wake up again since I had not slept a wink all night.

To be frank, I didn't expect it to be like real hiking...Suet Yeng had told me that it would be easy...walking up a slightly sloped tar road... However, it definitely wasn't so. We did walk on the tar road for a while. The stars were twinkling in the sky...the town below was all lighted up...it was Ipoh town, I think... hehe. :P

At first, it was a bit tough...being quite dark and the road a dark colour. But with the help of torch lights and friends who gave a helping hand every now and then, it was still bearable.... Until we started using the steps. by that time, it had already started to be brighter. We could see without any torches. But my....were those steps steep.....and endless too. We climbed and climbed...til we were out of breath. (Koonie still had breath to greet the uncles who came down "Cho San") At last, after around 2 hours I think...we reached...!!! We were the last ones to reach...Peck Koon, James, Claryn (sorry i mispelled your name), and I. But Peck Koon and James could have reached earlier if it wasn't for me and claryn. Thanks!!! :) The rest were already there...Angie, Teck Hooi, Khai Yi, Jackie, Joey, Kian Tat. I really thought I had reached the top. But they told us the others...had gone even higher up. We didn't go any farther. I was too out of breath to even shout for joy. I just sat there and absorb the wonderful view. It really was beautiful...and cool. There were several exercising equipments to use too. We saw the sun rise!!!!! I watched it come out....from a thin orange line...until looked like an egg yoke. It was my first time... :) After some photo taking and resting, we walked down using the tar road. This road went round and round the hill...it seemed to continue forever and ever....

We stopped by at a waterfall halfway and dipped our feet in it. The water was freezing cold and very clear too. We caught some peacock fish there...ten of them. James kept them in a banana leaf...and we let them free later. Was fun.

Later, we had Dim Sum in Menglembu. It was yummy!!! Their speciality was deep fried Char Siew Pau. It was at the Dim Sum place that I saw the hill from down below. Couldn't imagine I had climbed so high... It was unimaginable!!!!! On the way back, we dropped by to buy Debbie a birthday cake. Happy Birthday, Debbie!!! I was nodding all the way back to campus. Slept from 12noon til 7:30pm. After Debbies birthday party, I went back to our room and slept again. Hehe. I really can sleep!!!! :P

Hmmm....I have to admit I didn't reach the top...but hey...only five of us did reach the very top. (San Yin, Shean Chuan, Xiao Qi, Tsae Yng and.......oh mannnnn....I forgot the 5th one.)

Back in UTP

It's been a great holiday...with lots of pleasant memories...of good times, not-so-good times, and most of all...answered prayers and miracles! :) Hmmm...am back in UTP. Have to get used to the hectic life once more. First day was definitely a very very hectic one!!! Class from 8am to 5pm straight without any breaks in between. But now my time table is quite sorted out already...except for PCS. There's been some complications. Might not be able to take it this sem after all. Am a teeny-weeny bit disappointed. I had already begun to like the subject on my first lecture. At least it would be something different from the other lectures...the talking would come from us students instead. Well...guess I will have my turn. :)

Had a performance in The Palace of the Golden Horses on Tuesday night. Was fun. No regrets! :P I had the feeling that we were somewhere overseas...say...Europe? The architecture was like the buildings I saw there. :) At least me and Eena were more than satisfied with the horses. There were simply too many!!! Haha. Horses painted on the ceiling of the lobby, horses on the lamp stands, horses in pictures hanging on the walls, horse shoes on the carpets and mirrors, horse statues in the grounds, horse heads carved on the toilet doors (that really scared me... ;P), a horse carousel...you name it. Everywhere we went we saw horses. After one day, was quite relieve to get out to the mall where there were no horses. Hehe.

The performance went well except for a few unintentional slips here and there. Keke. The audience was very appreciative too...clapped after each piece! :) Meals there were great...except for the time when I saw a cockcroach on the table while eating halfway...lost my appetite then.

Had pajama party with Eena...walked out to the balcony with our pajamas and without any footwear! Fancy that!! Can't imagine how I would have acted if we suddenly bumped into someone. Hehehe.

Went on a boat ride to the mall on the other side. Loved that ride!!! :) Initially we wanted to ice-skate...but found that the ice-rink there had closed down. And so we ended up window shopping.

Alrighto...have to go for class now. :)

My worst nightmare

It's tough being a gal! There were times when I wished I wasn't a gal... And yet, if I sit down and ponder...I realize how much I enjoy being one...most of the time. I enjoy dressing up...wearing pretty dresses...shopping with my mum...having soft toys (the non furry type)... Most of which boys can't or won't do. :)

Just that day...on the 3rd of January...a most embarrassing thing happened. I guess I can say it was the first one for 2007 and you bet there're more to come as I'm very prone to these things. Hehe. Aunty Ivy had recommended an Indian lady to fix my eyebrows...saying she was very skillful at it...having learnt her skills from India. Here, I would like to make a note that my eyebrows are very bushy...and are considered very unfashionable. (Is there such a word?) Boy...if I had a wish at that time...guess it would be to make bushy eyebrows the fashion! ;P

And so...on the said date...my mum took me to see the lady to fix both our "bai bai mo". We both sat there as she attended to another customer. With just one thread...she shaped the once bushy eyebrows into two graceful curves...changing the look of the customer's face totally. My mother pointed out how radiant her face looked after fixing her eyebrows.

After she was done, it was our turn. I was more than glad to let my mother go first as I looked on...being very much afraid of the pain. The lady twisted the thread in her fingers and skillfully started shaping my mum's eyebrows. My mum asked her if the thread was shaving the hair or pulling them out of their roots. Her reply simply scared the wits out of me!!! She was not pulling one at a time but a few all at once!!! (and it looked like 10 at a time) She said, "Pulling them out of their roots. Every single one of them. This makes them grow slower." Mum said it hurt just a wee bit. But I thought to myself, "She has so few hair on her eyebrow... Mine are so...hairy...maybe three times more so... That makes it three times more painful!!"

I really felt like backing out of this. What had made me agree to come here? Oh my goodness...now I'm in for it... I couldn't refuse her when she asked me to sit down. I tried to look as calm as possible outside. But inside...I was panicking!!! She started pulling the hair above my eyebrow. It wasn't that painful...much to my relieve. :) However, when she started on the hair below my eyebrow...oh my...was it painful!!!!! She asked me to hold my eyelid shut....one hand above..and one hand below...pulling my eyelid shut tightly so that she could pull out the hair on my eyelid. That part was real painful and I was glad that she got so many phone calls in between...allowing me to take a breath every now and then.

At one time she got to a part of my eyelid that hurt terribly. I opened my eyes and implored to her that I did not want to continue anymore. Shaking my head over and over again...I said,"Don't want dy...don't want dy..." But she firmly answered, "Want"...and continued the pulling. That was the breaking point. My tears rolled down my cheeks despite all my effort of holding them back. (For those who know me well enough...it's extremely hard for me to stop crying once I've started). And so I started sobbing and sobbing. Fortunately for me...it was soon over.

And now, every time someone gives me a complement on my eyebrow...I smile sheepishly...remembering the trouble I had gone thru for all that... I hate to think that I will have to do it again. Going into that Indian lady's house would be my worst nightmare ever. I can imagine her coming to me with a long white thread ready to pull out all my hair!!! And to think that she does pull out hair above the lips too! That must hurt even more terribly!!!

Ohhhh...when will bushy eyebrows come into fashion? ;P

It's over...

This whole week has been a week full of suspense... Checking the UTP website was my daily routine...sometimes I even checked more than once. Every sms sent to me would excite me...being afraid that it would bring the news that our final exam results were out. And yet...I was anxious to see my results even though I feared I might not have done so well.

At first I prayed hard that I would get 3.9 something. But as time went by, I began to lose hope...what with all the nervousness and stuff...this time, I prayed I would at least get into the Dean's list.

I called the ESU to ask about the results...the guy at the other end of the line thought I was calling about my application after PMR or SPM. He started checking the name list...getting me all excited and nervous...only to find out that I had called the wrong number! I then called UTP's exam unit and inquired on the said subject. He told me the results would be out on Friday and simply refused to check mine for me til it was out. And so...began the loooongggg wait for the results. I never gave up checking the UTP website however. Which was fortunate as the announcement came out that it would be out on Thursday.

We were out on Thursday spending our last day with my brother in Queensbay, the new gigantic mall in Penang. The minute we reached home, I headed straight to the computer. To my dismay, I couldn't get into the website again. This time I called the exam unit again and requested for my results...trying to make my voice sound more serious in case he would refuse me again. Fortunately for me, he agreed to get me my results this time...but with the condition that he would not read me the details...only my GPA and CGPA.

I got 3.91.... Well...my prayer was answered! It's above 3.9 at least... Praise God! But at that time, I realized that deep down inside, I was hoping for more...and I was disappointed. At least I conducted myself more calmly now...though I have to admit that I had to force my tears back inside. ;P But it was definitely way better than my first semester. Hehe. Was at a camp in Terengganu that time. Cried so much over a GPA of 3.93... Can't remember it without a grin spreading across my face. I must have scared Angie out of her wits then! Now I've realized how very difficult it is to score in university.

Well...I must say that I am glad after all. It could have been much much worse. And I got an A for the subject I was most afraid for...Signals & Systems. However...what beats me is that I got a B+ for my favourite subject...microprocessor I!!! Dr Yap was the most interesting lecturer this semester. And yet, I did well for Numerical Methods...the subject with the most boring lecturer on earth...Dr Narahari! Seems like the most unpredictable things can happen!!! ;P

Why me???

The results are out!!!!! Or in other words...were out...til i finally got home to check my results. With much nervousness...part of it caused by my mum standing next to me repeatedly saying how scared she was...and my brother looking over my shoulder making rather irritating remarks...i quickly accessed the UTP website. To my dismay.....the page was not there....the one where we usually get our results by typing our exam id number. In its place was the page where we get to our webmail!!!

After trying several times...and typing my username and password...i called Gary to ask if the same thing had happened to him. He replied in the negative. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh.............. I felt like screaming my head off!!! Jesse told me William was also in the same situation...but that didn't comfort me at all....everyone else had already gotten their results.....except for me... :/

Ughhhhh.....why la...?

Semester break's coming to an end!!!

Been having a great time this semester break. Time really does fly when you're having a great time! Only a wee bit more than 2 weeks of holidays left before classes start again and I'll be busy mugging away again. I must say I've been getting used to the free and easy lifestyle back home already...though I do miss my uni friends a lot! :)

Been having some cooking lessons with my parents. This time, I helped my dad baked cakes...chocolate cheese cake, fruitcake, butter cheese cake, chocolate cake..... On new year's day, our family time was spent cooking chicken rice, "tau eu" egg, soup....etc. Later in the afternoon my mum and I went over to Aunty Kim's apartment for a swim. 'Twas real fun playing monkey with the kids. Hehe. And got to go on the slide as well! Which makes it twice this sem break. I went on the slide at Sunkai too!!! (The one on the giant octopus) :P

Here are some random photos of my break. Enjoy!


At rimba feeding the fishes. (There's one great big fish peeking over our heads back there. ) :P













Getting bored in da car.


















At sunway pyramid













My brother, cousins , Whiskey the dog and I at Grandma's house.













Winter time in Shah Alam agro park!