mid-sem-break

It has been 2 months since i've last touched this blog, so it's already dusty and rusty like mad. Time to update on something.

The mid-sem break for july 09 is 11 days altogether, coz some of the days in the holiday are actually hari raya holidays. These are the things i did during the 11 days of holiday.

18th sept (fri) - It's not a holiday yet, coz i had oil n gas class in the morning. So it is considered last day of class before holiday. Lunch time mel, cheryl n I cooked all our food left in our fridge, so we manage to finish all the food before holidays. No need to bring back. =) But we cooked too much soup already, in the end my younger bro n huong ket finished that half a pot of soup before going back to KL. Congratz to them.

19th sept (sat) - I woke up at 12noon. Too tired already, maybe coz didnt sleep in huong ket's car on the way back to kl last night. Jumped out of bed and quickly got ready for church. Gota fetch people as well so had to go early. Long time haven't been back to Gombak church already, but nothing has changed, it's still the same glorious church ever.

20th sept (sun) - Went to Gombak church for morning prayer. Aft that I can't remember where I went. But anyway today is Jia jia's birthday, one of my good friend and co-worker in church. Happy birthday Jia Jia!

21st sept (mon) - Went holiday at Genting View Resort with family, stayed at Dato' Steven Chan's unit there. Very nice resort. Just wandered around nearby and Gohtong Jaya, didn't go up to Genting Highlands.

22nd sept (tues) - Woke up in the morning and saw a cute squirrel. Continue wandering around in Genting View Resort, quite a lot of things to see there. Stayed till evening then came back to KL for night service in Gombak church.

23rd sept (wed) - Went to Genting Highlands together with China gang and some other guys, 13 people altogether. Took the bus from kl central and later took cable car up to Genting Highlands. Took many pictures, they're all on facebook uploaded by Cheryl. Had a lot of fun with them.

24th sept (thurs) - A day's trip with Ai Ching. She's leaving for Leicester soon so must meet up with her before she leaves. We went to 1 Utama, watched G-force 3D, went to Camp5, walked round the complex aimlessly and went home.

25th sept (fri) - It's supposed to be assignment and revision day but hardly did anything, just completed one assignment. Spent most of the time doing other things. =.="

26th sept (sat) - Down with fever, vomited like mad, no energy. Probably coz ate something wrong coz bro vomited too, but he had no fever. After he vomited he went back to utp with huong ket, coz later they're going to s'pore, so for him it's like nothing happen. But for me it was sick-day. Whole day had to lie under the blanket in bed, at the same time had bone pain, so can't lie on the bed either =.=" in the end slept on the floor, but later on shifted to mum n dad's room coz their bed has better quality, won't get bone pain. Didn't get to go to church that day coz totally energy and i was afraid i'll spread to others then.

27th sept (sun) - Fever gone, but still had bone pain. In the end couldn't go for bro Wee Hong's wedding, stayed at home to rest.

28th sept (mon) - Already running out of time. Holiday coming to an end. Wanted to settle everything i needed. Clinic, times square, klcc...etc. But couldn't settle all in one day, there were still some things needed which are not bought yet. N i wanted to buy MPO ticket for Carmen Bizet concert, but when i reached there they'd closed, 10 minutes late. Whole day was racing against time. Too busy suddenly forgot that I was sick.

29th sept (tues) - Leaving for UTP in the morning. One of the biggest mistakes I made in history, buying bus ticket in the morning. Next time must buy as late as possible, so that i can spare more time to settle some last minute stuff..

~end of holiday~

Back to UTP, back to studies, back to the headache world. Holiday ended SO fast! Before i even have time to sit back and think, i'm already back in utp. =.= okay, n i just lost 10 pounds during the holidays, time to gain them back. All the best for the 2nd half of the semester! It's not going to be easy but with God anything is possible!

UTP really closed down

Basically this is what happened, in just about 2 or 3 weeks, so many people started to have symptoms like cough, flu, fever, which is unusual considering the sudden amount of people having it, and then there's this quarantine place in UTP located in V6 duyung for those having the following symptoms, and the next thing u see is that everybody started walking around the campus looking like surgeons (wearing masks), and the UTP clinic suddenly had so much business to the extend the patients were even lining up outside the clinic......all these happened for one cause - the existence of a freaking virus called........H1N1.

But the main thing here is that UTP has already closed down! This doesn't sound surprising as there were already many universities which have closed down including UTP's neighbour UiTM, and the fact that there were already more than 100 suspected cases in UTP indiciates that in no time UTP will also join in the closing down.

Rumours about UTP closing down was already spread even before the official announcement, and the reaction from most students is "Good! UTP is closing down so we get 1 week holiday!!" That was also my initial thought during the time when UiTM was closed down, but as time goes along, with so many things to do n catch up, i really feel that i do not wish UTP to close down anymore.

These are what will happen following the closing down of UTP. Firstly, classes will be canceled and replacement classes will be scheduled on very weird timings, and we may need to have classes from 8am to 5pm non-stop or even have night classes until 12midnight, then we would have a lot more assignments than usual later on, and wouldn't have enough time to breathe! Secondly, closing down UTP for a week would affect our holidays during mid-sem break. Since we are already having a so called "holiday" right now, it would be a reason that they abolish our mid-sem break when we really need holidays then. Thirdly, to some of us who are involved in the coming Convo fair, it would awfully hectic for us after the "holidays" since we will only have 4 days to prepare for our performances, as for me there will be Virtuoso, Keroncong and the Chamber group to practice, good thing the chi orchestra already has many cellist so i do not need to perform, but for the rest, i believe it will be super intensive training during that 4 days. Fourthly, many Sabah, Sarawak and international students will have nowhere to go during the 1 week quarantine, and I think these people are the most pitiful people in UTP, since they are stuck in there and not allowed to go beyond the gates of UTP, and some of them may be very lonely in there since most of their friends have already escaped out.

Because of the sudden closing down of UTP on fri, i realized there were a list of things i wanted to do but was undone...
1. I wanted to go and donate blood on Friday morning. This is actually what i planned to do every sem - to donate blood. But because my mind was full of matters about whether UTP will close down or not, i totally forgot about donating blood. =.=
2. I wanted to go to the Security Office to complaint about my summon, as they had summon me for parking at a motorbike parking lot. But the thing was they had closed the parking opposite v4 for convo fair and there were no more parking lots around v4 since i came back from virtuoso practice quite late, thats why i had to park my car at the motorbikes parking since there were no motorbikes. Anyway, UTP closed down so sudden that i didn't have time to go and make the complaint, so i can only do that aft "holidays" when i'll be so busy!
3. I wanted to borrow my friend's music scores to photostat, coz there's a piece that i really want to learn, but i failed to do so, also for the same reason, UTP already closing down, so no time to borrow and no time to photostat.
4. I wanted to submit the form for the 30 hour famine at Pocket D, friday was already the last day, but by the time i remembered, UTP was closing down and the guard was chasing me out of UTP saying "Hari ini sudah cuti lah, cepat balik rumah!" and i was like "ok ok, saya akan balik, don't worry." Hopefully I can still submit it directly to the organizers after "holidays".
5. I wanted to renew my ERT membership but once again I forgot, though that doesn't really matter much to me, but still it was a reason why it was not done due to the closing down of UTP.

Anyway, as much as I had not wished that UTP closed down, I still hope that i could do something productive during the "holidays", perhaps studying ahead of the syllabus or going to tower 2 to learn more programming. And one thing i really hope is that I don't get infected with that stupid H1N1, and hoping that friends and family around me wouldn't get infected too. For those who are suspected with the virus, I really hope and pray that u will be all right and get well soon, coz these people are really pitiful during times like this, being isolated and quarantine, and people around them constantly saying "stay away from me, i don't want to be infected by you.."
Lastly, I just want to wish all UTPians a "happy holiday" no matter how you are going to go through it. After all it is still sensible for UTP to close down to avoid the situation from getting worse. All right, take care everybody!

Classical stories

"MPO concert 6th july, 6.30pm, anybody wanna join?" custom msg on msn messenger last month. A few people replied saying they want to join, but had transport problem or not free or some other reason, then Classical Bin came saying, "If nobody go then i'll go, want to become classical..." Actually this Classical Bin wasnt classical last time, she just suddenly became classical so I called her Classical Bin, initially was just a normal Ah Bin...

So in the end Classical Bin and I together with another church friend went to DFP to watch the organ concert that night. Actually I don't usually watch organ concerts, coz I heard from cousie saying it's a bit dull. But that night's performance schedule supposedly has a duet between violin and organ, and another duet between cello and organ, and I would be able to taste the feel of the pipe organ as well.

I was already at KLCC since aftnoon so i waited for Classical Bin to arrive. Considering that she finished her class at 5pm and went home to shower, and then drove to KLCC and reached at 6.15, was kinda rush, but good thing Classical Bin does things quite fast. So we went in to the classical hall and got our premium seat at the centre of the hall.

"Watching orchestra concert is like watching movie leh.." Classical Bin suddenly said.
"Err..yea la, kind of."
"But why MPO doesn't sell pop corn ah? So we can eat sambil watch the concert."
"............"

This is the most "zha dao" question i've ever heard. But it's normal for it to come out from Classical Bin's mouth.

The show began, and Dr Marc came out saying that he would be changing the programme of the performance, so the violin and cello piece would not be played.... Another "zha dao" statement. But never mind, I still enjoyed the performance coz i was busy observing how the pipe organ works.

After the concert, Classical Bin was already hungry like mad, so we went to the food court to have our dinner. My other church friend didn't want to eat coz she's eaten, so she just watched us eat.

Since dad had already driven the car back home after work, Classical Bin gave me a ride back home with her classical driving in her classical manual car. Thanks Classical Bin!!!

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"Any classical people free this Sat night, 8.30pm?" a custom msg put on gtalk. But nobody replied. Custom msg off.

Then Kuochun came online...
"When are you going back to UTP?" I asked him.
"19th perhaps, why? going for MPO is it?"
"guessed correctly. But nobody wana go..."
"where's all your classical gang? Make announcement at fb la, surely can find people to join you."
I was thinking..fb network too big la, later too many people want to go susah pulak, so decided that the offer only opened to gtalk contacts. Ok, custom msg on.

Waited for people to reply while downloading videos from youtube. But nobody replied, maybe it's either because people who are online that time happen to be people who are not classical, or maybe they did not get what i mean as I put "any classical people free" instead of "MPO concert." Ok fine, never mind. Custom msg off.

Had a few people's name in mind. But later decided if want convenience just get people nearby. In the end just went with Henry, as he is having internship in tower 1, so save energy since i wanted to get the student price using student card. Then I don't need to borrow people from tower 2 and their student card in order to get another student price ticket in the event somebody else who lives not very near decides to go.

That night's performance was very nice, considering it as a whole. First, it was Michael Torke's colours of music which consists of Bright Blue Music, Purple and Green. There were actually two more colour pieces composed by Torke which are Ecstatic Orange and Ash, but were not played by the MPO. The next piece was Korngold's Violin Concerto in D, with a violinist called Benjamin Schmid. And I just loved that violinist! The way he played was just so funny and cute, and of course skillful. That piece that was played also became one of my favourite pieces after that, especially the 3rd movement, made me so addicted to it. I actually downloaded it from youtube and played it on my laptop everyday. =) The last piece was Ives Symphony no 2, and that one sounds like a medley of church hymns, as some of the parts played are also hymns which we sing in church.

The whole mpo performances that night lasted around 2 hours plus. It was indeed a worth watching show to go to despite the pre-concert event and the post-concert event where I got sesat-ed many times because of my carelessness. But it was still worth the time and money going for MPO concerts. And that night we also had very nice seats which were in premium box G seat 1 n 2. And I think Henry enjoyed that too.

The end of classical stories..but no pictures, always forgot to take pictures after mpo concerts, anyway, thanks to all my classical friends!

Be a Brand of Yourself

I came back from Tertiary Students Camp around 2 weeks ago, but I was too lazy to blog about it earlier. But the urge to blog it came to me now, as this camp really gave me a new set of knowledge and another experience to remember. I really loved this camp, made me have this sense of belonging as though i have finally came home after wandering so far. And the fellowship with church brothers and sisters is like the 'one family' kind of feeling. You know what i mean if u're in my church and experienced this before. In this camp there's a particular session shared by Timothy, talking about branded goods and us. It somehow made me awake and came to realize that all this while i've just been so ignorant...

Talking about branded goods, do we buy them just because of the name and ranking they have in the society? It seems that owning such branded goods makes us feel a higher class than other ordinary people who only owns simply goods with just normal standards. There are some, in fact many who wouldn't go out of the house without wearing something brandedly. They just want people to associate them with the branded goods that they own. For instance, there's a person who only goes out wearing or using Nike goods, and other people who gets along with him knows him as a "Nike guy". So under such circumstances when he is already known to be associated with Nike all the time, all the more he wouldn't leave the house unless he has Nike logos all over him. As we come to think and ponder, isn't such people living a very pitiful life? They have to be bounded by the brand "Nike" wherever they go, and if they go out without having that Nike brand with them, they wouldn't be themselves anymore! Why must a human fall into such pathetic state as to be a slave of a brand? We initially are humans created out of the image of God, and we're listed top in the priorities of God, so we're even more important than the angels! And we as high class human beings are leading a life under the bondage of branded goods which are simply man-made goods. Isn't that sad?


Perhaps some of us would think that we buy branded goods because of its quality, alrite fine. It could be better to buy something with higher quality which can last longer instead of something of lower quality which spoils easily and needs replacement from time to time. However, how do we explain the pirated branded goods which are selling so fast in the night markets? Why do people actually buy them? It is merely because people just want to look rich and of higher status when they are using branded goods even if it's pirated since it's not easy to differentiate between an original and pirated good!

One important lesson i have learned from this camp, that is to live a life of ourselves to God, to be a brand which God hath made us. Each and everyone of us itself is already a brand, and certainly very branded indeed, so it is only degrading if we were to transform ourselves into the worldly branded stuff. Okay, really thanks to Timothy and the subang group for their sharing. Benefited greatly. At the same time looking forward to the next Tertiary Students Camp to be held next year. Emmanuel.

Happy Father's Day

I went to dad's room. It was 7pm but dad was on the bed already, getting ready to sleep.

Me: Dad! Happy father's day...
Dad: Thank you. Okay, happy father's day so?
Me: Ha? oh..happy father's day so........go back to sleep la.
Dad: Ok good. Everybody sleep early tonight.
Me: .......

Initially we wanted to go out to have a father's day dinner, but the VIP was so tired and wants to sleep already, so everybody just stay at home and sleep. Such a unique way to celebrate father's day, it is dad's choice anyway. Oklor, everybody go sleep la, goodnight!

Happy father's day again! love u dad!

A Memorable Sunday

Eversince i entered uni and had so many problems in life, i have not been in such great happiness and fun as yesterday, when i had this so called 'MPO trip' with a total of 13 friends from UTP, which consists mostly from our chi orchestra group. The 14 of us including myself came together to watch the MPO chamber concert held in Dewan Filharmonik Petronas.

The journey began when all of us coming from different places met at one place called Imbi monorail station. The reason we met there was because 3 of them from outstation was going to put up in Hotel Nova, which was situated within walking distance from Imbi station. N the rest were all coming by public transport. After checking in to Hotel Nova for them and collected the key, I waited at Imbi station for all of them to arrive. Soon, Philip and the group from klang came, and we started talking like we've not seen each other for 10 years. After that, Henry and Wei Di came, and the first thing Henry received upon arrival was a bomb from Philip saying that he is so fat! And later the others continued to bomb him as well..kesian.. ;p When all who are supposed to come have come, we headed to Hotel Nova to leave the luggages first before going to KLCC for the concert.

The initial plan was that everybody meet at 1.30pm at KLCC for lunch, but everything was delayed as i had expected and the group from imbi ended up reaching KLCC at around 2pm. Yun Chuan also reached late at around 2.45 just in time for the concert. However, Xuan Hui and Robert reached KLCC during the first half of the performance, so they could only come in during the interval and watch the second half of the performance. So, basically everyone was late except Chee Hong and Christon who reached KLCC much earlier.

As this was the first time i watched the MPO chamber concert, I found it more interesting compared to the normal MPO concert i watched previously which was the full orchestra. For those of u who don't know, the chamber concert is actually a mini group of performers where only selected instruments are played at a time depending on the repertoire. The first performance we watched was a suite for violin, clarinet, and piano, and it was quite interesting to see that the violinist and the clarinetist must actually have very deep '默契' as they both were playing the melody and the piano was their accompaniment. The second performance was a solo cello. She looked quite nervous when she came on stage, but to me her playing was very good although i don't really know what she was playing, somehow she looked angry and full of energy when she was playing certain parts, and the piece she played was kinda dull coz it doesn't sound like any lively piece. The third performance was a duet by the tuba and marimba. This was also quite fascinating coz it was the first time i'm seeing a marimba. I was quite impressed with the lady playing the marimba because instead of turning the page of the music sheets, she actually throws the sheets on the floor after each sheet is played. And if i'm not mistaken, the lady playing the marimba actually also plays the flute in the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. The last performance was another duet by the violin and the piano. I think I enjoyed this the most as it was a familiar piece that was played. It was a Sonata No.2 in D.

After the whole thing ended, we had a chat with the violinist who played in the last performance whose name was Ionut Mazareanu and he was from Romania if i'm not mistaken. He was telling us many stories about the orchestras in different countries which i've mostly forgotten. Then, we also chatted with the other musicians in MPO and found out that one of the chinese musician was the brother of the owner of a particular bicycle shop in Tronoh which we know.

After all the chit-chatting bla bla bla. we wanted to go to the Times Square area to hang around and have our dinner, and some of them wanted to go back to the hotel. In order to travel from KLCC to Times Square, we had to take the PUTRA LRT to Dang Wangi and from there take a monorail to Imbi. As Xuan Hui was totally blurr with the public transports in KL, she began to ask how do we get into the station, then i was like obviously we have to go to the counter to buy ticket la. Ok! Since she doesnt know how to buy the ticket, i went to buy it for her. Then, Yun Chuan and I went across the ticket machine first as we were using the touch n'go, so we waited for Xuan Hui on the other side. And Xuan Hui took such a long time to get across, guess why..coz she actually took the LRT card and placed it on the touch n'go sensor and waited for the 'tit' sound, but there was no sound, coz the LRT card is actually meant to be inserted into the machine, and it was Chee Hong who corrected her. Wa...how we laughed when Chee Hong told us about that.

When we got into the train, there were only 6 of us. So we counted who else we might have left on the road and started calling them up. As we were busy trying to contact them and finding out where they are, we didn't realize that we have actually reached the destination, which is Dang Wangi. The operator announced 'Dang Wangi station' and the door opened. Some of us were still talking and none of us made any move. Then i went to the other side of the door to check which station we have reached, and i saw the board saying 'Dang Wangi', and apparently i hadn't come back to my senses yet, then I thought 'Isn't Dang Wangi the station we're suppose to get down?'. At the same time, I heard Henry shouting "Dang Wangi!! Out! Out! Out!" We immediately pushed our way while the door was still open, but before all of us could get out, the door was already indicating that it was closing. I tried to hold the door of the train like i used to do in the lift but it was no used, because there was another door which was the door of the LRT station, and that door was already closed. N the best thing was, the train door was closing when Xuan Hui was on her way out, so, congratulations to Xuan Hui, she was stucked between the train doors. But fortunately she was able to pull herself back from being stucked. In the end, Xuan Hui, Yun Chuan and I who didn't manage to get out of the train were left inside behind the closed doors. So we had to get down at the next station and took the next train from the other direction back to Dang Wangi station. At the next station, Xuan Hui still asked, '我们要在这里下啊?' and Yun Chuan was like '还不下?' we laughed like mad all the way back. I could not imagine what if Yun Chuan and I managed to get out of the train at Dang Wangi and Xuan Hui was left inside the train, will she get lost in KL? Definitely.

After all the shopping around at Times Square and Low Yat, it was time for dinner. Chee Hong's parents came and they brought some of the people from the group out for dinner. The rest who were left went to have dinner in Shabu-Shabu, a japanese restaurant and had steamboat. After everything, we went separate ways back to our respective homes.

One day's journey was enough to make me dead tired by the time i reached home, but it was worth the energy, it was so enjoyable going out with this bunch of ppl and we had so much fun! I fell flat on my bed as soon as i finish settling all the plans for the next day. I even had some slight leg cramps before i sleep, probably because i had been walking with that stupid heels so much, somemore it was my first day of that stupid cycle. So my leg couldn't stand the pressure. Anyway, here i would like to thank everybody for all the fun and all of u really made my day. The day which will remain in reminiscence forever.

There goes...goodbye foundation studies!

Counting down 7,6,5,4,3,2,1..................ping pong piang! Finally the most awaited time of my life has come, 29th may 12noon. This is the time my final exam is officially over! n also the end of my foundation studies! After i finish that last paper introduction to problem solving and programming, i went up to my engineering friends and laughed at them, coz i have finished my exam and they still have 1 last paper at 3pm. Wakaka! After that, i returned to my room and decided that i should start packing my things, it was then that i realized that my things are actually so much! Don't know where to start my packing. So i took a few pictures of my room, as it would be the last time i stay in this room, will be moving to another village next sem.

my bed, n my monkey =)

my store, it shows i shower n brush my teeth everyday.

my book rack, many unneccessary books actually

my study table

It is time that i say goodbye to this room already, which is in such a strategic place (first floor near the staircase) and having such a nice room number (016). Goodbye foundation! Goodbye village 2! N Goodbye all my friends! see u all again next sem!