Sketching my way up!

Finally! I can go online from my room. OMG. You can’t imagine what kind of hassle i have to gone thru in order to activate my celcom broadband. Stupid Digi put my name in the black list due to closing of my previous postpaid account amounting 16.20RM not yet cleared. As far as I can remember, I deciced to close the account at 1Borneo digi centre & I settle the payment.  The digi rep should have asked me to clear the balance instead of just listing my name in their black list. Due to the black list, celcom refused to register me to their broadband account unless I clear my name. Dang. I was so freaking pissed when the guy that supposed to help me register called and said he can’t register me.  I was on the way to EPF in Bayan Baru with my classmates.  I asked her to drop me off to Queensbay so that I can settle my case with digi. Oh, and dang, the one in Queensbay is not the digi centre. They refer me to the nearest at Bukit Jambul Complex. Shit. So i went back to the campus empty-handed (OK, not entirely empty-handed. I managed to grab a discounted jeans at Forever 21, haha). To cut a long story short. I settled everything, and here I am.. blogging from my room.  and guess what? celcom broadband connection sucks. But i got no choice. 

For all the time I’m not online, I’ve been spending my time sketching trees and landscape.  It’s hard, I tell you! My first assignment, I totally failed composing a nice, artistic sketching. Mine looks like a botanical, scientific drawing. It is a technique for a representation and scientific interpretation. I can’t help it! I’ve been drawing scientifically throughout my undergraduate years. There are no shading and coloring in scientific drawing. It should be clear, neat and accurate. I really need to practice back on how to do arty sketching. So dear lecturer, sorry that my first assignment sucks. I am still not used to it.  

Anyway, second assignment require me to sketch a nice landscape composition with pencils and pen. I love sketching using pen & been doodling with pen on my sketch book. ekekeke.

Seriously, I need more practice. more example to improve my sketching skills. I am way behind others. There were 11 of us in the class. A mixture of local & international students. We’re going for the oversea trip soon! We’re going for hiking this monday studio class! woohoo! 

BTW, I’m browsing amazon & other local e-bookstore, thinking of buying one bible for landscape arch. I almost faint by just looking at the price. More than half a thousand for a book?? Oh, I need sugar daddy now. hahahaah! Gotta check out Borders for books this weekend.

Please don’t laugh at my sketching below. 

Moving in

Good morning everyone! I am here in my room in International House, having my coffee and muffin.  I started moving in last night & spent the whole night cleaning & scrubbing the room.  The room has a dusty smell. Now, all you can smell is apple green. Thanks to cheapo Tesco apple green liquid floor detergent & the antibacterial spray cleaner. Ha,ha. 

It is such a nice room meant for foreigner and postgraduate students.  I am lucky to have check in to this building (I thought so). However, there are a few things that the building maker overlook on the design of the rooms.

1. It is a room fit for one but 2 rooms adjacent to each other share one bathroom.  The bathroom air circulation is so poor. They should have install exhaust or some kind of fan to take out the hot air out.  However, I fail to see one. In the end, the smells and the air retain in the bathroom.
2. I am staying at the ground floor, near to the main building.  No sun shine to my room (which is good), so the room stay cool. But the problem is, I want sun to shine to my room in the morning! Awww. I love sunshine.
3. The location of the room without any direct sunlight makes me have to switch on the light even on daylight. Waste of energy.

I detected two wireless i.e. USM hotspot & TM hotspot from my room. Unfortunately, both cannot be connected. Yikes. I need to figure out what wireless/broadband/wimax provider I need to subscribe to.

I did more site survey & time myself by power-walking from my room to the tennis wall.  I managed to identify 1 tennis practice wall (in which 4 person can practice at the same time) near to the track & field stadium at the north-east of the campus. It takes me 20 minutes to get there. It is quite a distance, but I will soon polishing my tennis skills once I am settled with classes schedule and buy a tube of tennis balls. J

I can’t wait for my first studio class this Monday. It’s going to be hectic. The lecturer warn us that, anyone pursuing to get married or something in between, better to put the plan on hold and those who stay single, to please remain single for the next two years. Ha,ha. I kinda startled when she warn us. I know, perseverance is important in surviving the next two years of my life.  I hope I’ll strive (wishful thinking).

On the other note, I hope no one forgot about me back in KK. I do not receive any news or hi, how are you yada yada except for my ex-colleagues, which call me almost everyday. thank you ya’all. I know some still calling me regarding the work, I don’t mind. It’s the only thing that left for me there. J Please hassle me with more phone-calls yeah?

I have yet to explore Penang on my own. I know the way from Georgetown to Jelutong, Gelugor, Bkt Gambier, Sg Dua and the road to Queensbay as we rented car to move around for the past two days.  My dad driving whiles me, the co-driver instructing him on where to go.  I use my nokia map and GPS to know whereabouts.  Ain’t that hard to know the road system in Penang.  I’ll try to get someone’s car to drive around Penang. Oh I hope I have my own car here (wishful thinking). You know, once you get used to driving, you can’t tolerate anything lesser than that. Ha,ha.

I went to IPS first thing in the morning to access internet in their computer lab.  Thank you almighty for approving my scholarship and loan.  The scholarship covers the tuitions fees for less than 10k as budgeted for Master student and the loan meant for my cost of living.  I used up quite amount of my saving for the initial start and to settle down here which leave me dry now.  The approval relief my worries on how am I going to sustain myself living in Penang. Oh well. Everything happened for a reason. 

Oh I looooooove Queensbay! It makes me feel like 1Utama located in KK ( meaning: huge mall with seafront view). Did I tell ya, I went straight to their Forever 21 store?? OMG. I went ga-ga & I’m losing my mind there. Oh gosh, no need to go to KL anymore as I can get my whole wardrobe in F21, Queensbay. No, no! Bad habit! Hello new wardrobe!

I see familiar store that I’ve missed so bad (and my wishlist for KK).  Sakae sushi. TGIF. Topshop. Forever 21. Diva. Etc.

Tomorrow task: 

1. To find out my way to Queensbay using public transportation.
2. To find out who staying next door. I guess she hasn’t check-in yet.
3. To sort out relevant documentation for the scholarship & loan.
4. To get ready for classes! Woohoo!
5. To iron my shirts & skirts.
6. Off to Tesco Extra (again) for my shoes organizer. I need one for my 2 slippers, 1 flats, 1 croc, 3 heels (see, I am not taking my whole shoes collection)
7. Need to find regular kaki’s  and/or Penangites for hawker stall feast. Anyone?

 

I saw a very nice future development (but heavily expected adverse impacts) of land reclamation along Jelutong Highway by one of the biggest developer. I hope they are using silt trap with small mesh to control the impact of activity to the sea.  Did I tell ya I adore their condominium and another on-going development next to the posh condo? Oh, and their office building stand handsome & tall along the expressway. Oh, I loike!

 Is anyone visiting me here next week? Anyone care enough to know how am I doing here? I wonder how is he doing. Kau ok ka boss? 

Day 1 : Relocation to Penang

Hello ya all! I’m blogging from my room at Tune Hotel. Oh, how cheapo this hotel is, makes me realize I rather splurge on other amenities rather than stick to the basic. Yep. Ha,ha. But I shouldn’t complaint too much.

I started off the day by taking the first (and only) direct flight BKI-PEN which takes about 2 hours & 50 mins. Oh the captain, drop dead gorgeous,  i tell you!  

Landed 20 minutes early & hoping that I can catch the academic briefing at 10 am. Upon arrival, it was already 10.05 am & guess what? They just started with the welcoming speech of the dean (in which supposed to start around 9 am?). ha,ha. After the tea break, we were ushered by the coordinator to the landscape studio. They were expecting 16 landscape architecture students registering today. I managed to get to know my first classmate, an Iranian guy. Very friendly & helpful. Oh and Nicholas Saputra is in my class. I’m serious! hahahahahaha! Ok I’m kidding. Saputra look-a-like is what it is.

After registration, I was walking around the campus trying to figure out what to do next. I supposed to register myself at the Institute of Postgraduate Studies (IPS) but I have yet to settle my tuition fees. I encounter problem that the fund allocate for the tuition is in my maybank account.  The bursary do not accept my debit card! I was so devastated, tired & hungry at that time. Luckily there were 2 international postgrad students, an African lady (i presume) and another hottie South African (I presume too) helping me out. I can always register tomorrow, but then in order for me to get the accomondation in campus, I need to register. I walked to the International House & managed to book a room there. However, the lady in the office can’t promise me that I might get a room there.

My second choices (should be the first) would be referring to the housing department to get a room in the hostel.  It is located at the southeast of the campus while the HBP (Housing, Building & Planning) located at the southwest, approximately 1.8 km away. Some more, it is located off-campus but facing the Bkt Gambier gate.  If I want to stay outside the campus, it is convenient for me to stay around Sg. Dua or Batu Uban. Of course in campus is the most convenient as I can just walk to the class. 

Anyway, my attempt to register formally failed today. I almost gave up & wanting to go back to KK. But the great one consulted me & said go on with what I have planned.  Imagine, I am walking around with my dang crocs biting my feet with my almost 10 kg hiking bag carrying my certs and macbook around. I almost cry walking from the international house to the Tekun hostel. OMG.

I did site surveying for the whole campus and its surrounding. Thanks to the site surveying skills i pick up from my tree-hugging job, I managed to map out the area in my head instantly.  

I sorted out the dilemma of taking preparatory classes for those come from non-construction field.  I will be taking basic land surveying this semester along with the core subjects such as GIS, basic ecology, botany, graphic studio as well as theory & philosophy of LD. 

I can’t wait for the classes to start but at the same time, I am terribly scared. I hope I can switch back to student-mode thinking just in time for class.  ah. 

Another long day tomorrow.  I hope ya all in KK doing just fine. I terribly miss you all!  

Can’t wait for the great one to come to PEN.  We’re going to have a hawker food feast! char koay teow! chee cheong fan! hokkien mee! orr chien!!!! sup kambing!! and the ice kacang. ekekekeke. and the woo tau koh. *drool* ok, enuff of food! 

Thank you note

This is seriously painful than breaking up with a guy. Like I said so many times in my twitter, I hate saying goodbye. As of today, I am officially resigned from the company. It’s been like a year and a half & I cherish every moment & experience I get from the organization. I started my working life as Environmental Executive in one of the firm here with zero working experience & nope, I skipped the internship thingy when I was an undergraduate. So I am practically green in the working life. As of you, my avid reader, I have blog about my encountered problem in transition between student and working life. But I have survived. I gain lots of experience. I encountered problem meeting deadline, handling and dealing with tough clients & other consultant/associate, overcome my fear of presentation ( I presented up to Putrajaya level yo! ) and so on.  I had fun, overall. 

But the most important thing that I will be terribly missed is my colleagues. We seen each other, sometime for almost everyday, 7 days a week (including weekend island gateway, drinks, over-time or simply going out hu-ha-hing). The pseudo-company Nickolas & Rakan-Rakan created by bunch of EIA division is totally disbanded. That’s sad.  The joke created when the 3 of us, getting a new room meant for the division. LOL. 

Lotsa other memories that I totally cherish. For the seniors, thank you so much for all the guidance & etc. I totally appreciated all the advice and help gotten from ya all. For the newcomers, I wish you all the very best in your future endeavors. Learn as much as you can from the experience and you will do fine in the working life. 

I’ve inform some of the clients on my departure & inform the respective executives that will carry on with the Project. Some email funny & yet, warm good luck wish email to me. Thank you to all that wish me luck.

As for me, I am sad to leave the career I used to have goal and aim but, at the same time I am excited in what the future might brings me. I ain’t deviated from the environmental field, it is just that I’m narrowing down myself to more specific field in environment. Landscape architecture is practically the most modern of the environment profession that combine science, design and technical philosophies in one holistic goal, to make human environment, the concrete jungle a better place to live. It also involve in urban planning and some other site remediation. So, there! I am not totally changing my career path.  

My first semester as Master student, I am required to learn back all that I have learnt in the university i.e. botany, basic ecology, GIS application and even EIA. So, there is nothing to lose! My tiny bit of working experience will definitely not gone into waste. I try to get a project-basis EIA work with the professor in the university. *wishful thinking*

i spent the last few hours of my working life today by attending meeting for the Study. Ha.ha. I so love one of the technical committee member. dang cute ( as in the character, not physical whatsoever) and funny. ommo. Look so not serious but gave a very technical & constructive comments and suggestions. I salute that! and he brought badminton racquet to the meeting. that IS cute!

Ok I better start packing now. Will blog again when I’m in Penang.

To the rest of the reader, thank you for reading this. I will continue blogging about my life back as a student when I’m in Penang. So keep on reading & do not hesitate to leave a constructive and/or destructive comments here. I welcome all!  

Till then, KK-ian, enjoy your life here. I didn’t expect that I will enjoy KK life. I was so reluctant to move back to KK as I prefer KL but hey, I love my hometown so much & I am so going to miss KK.  

Bittersweet ending?

It hurts so much that my heart ache.

Why is it happening this way? I am coming close to what I have dream of but I am being melancholy about it. Where is the enthusiastic iDa?

I don’t fancy goodbyes. I hate farewell.

But what is there left if i stay? I will suffer more, will I? 

I will be in the waiting-mode. Wondering what & why. I hate to say, ‘I should have done this’ in the future. But at the same time, I hate to  say ‘I hate myself for losing this’.

Only if the said doesn’t appear in my life. But at the same time, I cherished the tad moments invested for the past few months.

Argh. life is unfair. How am I going to go around about it? I want both. I am greedy. I want both.

I’ve been wishful thinking of both but why does it has to come at the same time? 

I hate to choose. 

So I am wishing/praying hard that both will come to me. The one I leave behind will find/come to me when I’m pursuing the other. amen.

On the other note, the official Project/Study hand-over will be at 3 pm today. I am still trying to draft additional information letter for one of my EIA project. heh. So much of being too dedicative aye?

Today would be my last day visit to Core Fitness too. Ah I am soooooo going to miss everyone there! *cries*

… and I have yet to pack my stuff to Penang. Blame it on procrastination habit I pick up from here. ha,ha.

p/s : Remember what I said to the great one before moving back to KK? I said, good night. Not good bye.

This time, I neither said good-bye nor good night. hmmm.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

This is the first time I’m watching a sequel that is better than the first movie. I may be bias  in reviewing the movie but … sa skaa (quote: Flo).

I’m not going to write what I love about it here. Go watch it yourself! I’m going to watch it again, tonight or tomorrow night. ha,ha. 

Ms Fox is one foxy lady. I would change my sexual orientation for her if she’s hitting on me. hahahahaha!

I love the ‘twins’ character! very funny!

Another issue on the movie plot that I can relate to is to leave home for college and the challenge of long-distance relationship. I’ve been on both situation & it is happening again.  I hope somebody got the message. 

I love the battle of Autobots & Decepticons in Egypt! Nice blue skies & lotsa palm trees kinda backgound & the robots.

On the other note, they throw a small farewell party at work yesterday.  I was kinda sad when giving out the last speech especially when NF said the emotion and description of the bonding is beyond words. and they sang ’season in the sun’ for me. Somebody sang enthusiastically & the whole clan were startled.

The inception submitted today & I’m in the mist of preparing the powerpoint presentation for the tuesday presentation day. OMG. That would be my last day working in this company. he,he.

KK Jazz Fest 2009

 See you all tonight & tomorrow night @ Tennis arena, Sutera Marina Club!

 19th June performance (check)

 Vocal Workshop (check)

 20th June performance (check check check!)

 

 

It’s almost 3 am and I am still wide awake. Ha,ha. I just came back from the third KK Jazz Festival 2009 held at tennis arena, Sutera Marina Club. I would say I had fun throughout the entire festival

Great peeps enjoying the music together (you know who you are JusT & Peter), yes I have to drag you to the dance floor! he,he.

Anyway… I love the venue, great combination of indoor tennis, jazz music & marina club. I so love the drapey color lights. 

It was a 2-days affair of music encompassed every style associated with jazz, both contemporary and traditional. It is rendered to be an annual event here in KK. I love every performance on both night especially our local talented Double Take as well as the Son2Nos. Nah Youn Sun from Korea really moved me with her vocal. The fusion of local ethnic music ( incorporating that kulintangan instrument) with modern jazz element by RIMBA never fail to impress me. Jun Kung & the Junk Unit wrapped up the performance this year. He and Eugene Pao rawks!

Double Take

Nah Youn Sun

Eugene Pao

Eugene & Greg Lyons

So what about the crowd? 

Justin Timberlake?

Latino dance anyone?

Fire burning on the dance floor

Reporting from Tennis arena, Sutera Marina Club, 

Yours truly.

xoxo

 

Penang Jazz Festival 09! Here I come! 

Means to an end

Note: This post is not to critisize but rather on my personal opinion.

I almost give up my way to my personal legend for the opportunity given to me for the past few months.  It was an impossible task to carry & a huge responsibility for me to run the whole 20-months of Study. I am quite skeptical at first with the proposal study outlined during the proposal stage & we were competing with few other huge and established consultancy firm in Sabah.  The Study outline carries quite a significant weigh in getting the contract & I am quite surprise we managed to ‘get something our of nothing’ kind-of situation.

I am quite blessed to be given the opportunity to handle such a huge task with my 1 year working experience & when the person in charge of the whole thing normally would be a person with at least 10 years experience (and maybe with a title of Dr. or Ir. in front of their name). So when it compare to me, I am a padawan running around this field with such limited knowledge and experience. But I am WILLING to learn. I put my head into different kind of reports, guidelines, Master Plans, etc in order to understand the existing environment & how relevance the terms of reference. I tell you, it doesn’t need a PhD or a 10 years experience to know all that. All you need is the willingness to go extra mile to learn & critical as well as practical-sound thinking. I managed to outline the whole thing in one piece.

Team work also important in succeeding the chase to win the contract. This is the pillar of the whole Study team. I am grateful that I have a very competent team & my superior should be grateful too for that. We have established a nice working environment and everyone pretty much know each other’s character & able to manipulate the strength of each individuals in order to contribute to success of the aforesaid Study.

Anyway, as I am still green in this, my task is to coordinate & to make sure everything will go smoothly, on time. I freaked out at first. I know NOTHING about project management. For such covers vast area of Sabah, I almost fainted thinking about it. But I take the challenge. I know I may not get direct increment or any monetary gain as well as name (as I am only the coolie) but I know, the outcome of the challenge, I will be able to gain the knowledge & ways on how to run the whole Study. I would directly encounter problems but at the same time, I will get plenty of experience & technical-sound knowledge. I keep on telling myself that over and over again & that overcome the fear of handling the Study.

It is such a shame that I have to let go of all that. The next person should be grateful to be given and carry on the responsibility I am carrying now and not to moan & groan about it.  I know it is, quite impossible for such a small organization to carry out such a big task but I keep on telling myself (ok this is lame, my high school motto, urgh), what we do we carry through. I keep on holding to that.

Everything will not be as bad as it seem. It just require careful planning & lots of courage to brace yourself to handle such relatively new level of responsibility. So the reluctance & the sour face ain’t going to help the smooth power and task transition. Like I said, team work is important.

I am doing a 20-months planning when I am just supposed to work on the work for the 2 weeks left I am as tree-hugger. And I am not complaining. 

It is a passion to work & to sort things problem. Not for the sake of monetary (or even name) gain.

I don’t know other people perspective on job, but I put my head into it & the interest to learn more grows. 

This is just my humble opinion.

I will be OT-ing the whole week (and even weekend) to finish up the inception. I am willing to carry my last report when I am just supposed to let others to take over everything. To others, competitors etc, yes we will successfully running this study so far & I am sure the next person will be able carry the task without any problem. Only if they open up their heart & mind to it. 

Maybe I am being too,overly positive. But positive vibes send out to the universe, the universe will give back positive feedback to you. Gambate!

p/s: The post title is not refering to the Emmanuel Kant’s ‘means to an end’ morality , categorical imperative. But its up to individuals on how you look at it based on the above scenario described. 

Island Hopping @ TAR Park

Island-hopping with dear Piare & her clan from Peninsular! At first I wanted to bring them to Manukan Island but soon end up to Mamutik Island & Sapi Island.

I tried Parasailing today! One Word: AWESOME!  

Completed another task: Snorkeling alone without any dive master to help me at Sapi Island. I managed to reduce my hydrophobic to minimum. I am able to flip around (with life jacket of course) between floating facing the sun & the sea bed. he,he.

Woohoo!

I love this pic!

(@ren: so worth the roxy! Her pario color reminds me of the halter bikini!! wargh)

Oh I should be doing a medical check-up today. Oh well, can always go for the check up tomorrow

iPhone 3G-S

Just as I expected. But not much hardware improvement as I anticipated. Modest revolutionary nonetheless. Click on the image for more info! (photo credit: Apple).

The new iPhone 3GS (s meant for Speed) are:

1. Processor 2x faster than the existing iPhone 3G;

2. You can shoot video, trim the footage etc by just tapping your finger. Video in VGA though;

3. Comparable to existing other cell phone with modest 3MP with autofocus function;

4. Voice recognition & control. Yep;

5. err.. build-in digital compass. So you won’t lose your way around;

6. Internet tethering!! ;

7. Better battery life ( I hope so) but it is still non-removable. yikes;

8. Nike + iPod!! Woohooo! Finally! Nike + (I’m Apple and Nike freak. so haha!);

9. Bigger storage! yeay! 16GB and 32GB!;

10. Sending MMS instantly without using the swirlmms (or smthg like that);

11. Hardware upgrade that supportOpenGL|ES standard (Better graphic for gaming-purposes I suppose?);

12. Connectivity – The standard 7.2 Mbps HSDPA is supported;

 

My  wishlist (let down)the upcoming model:

1. Second-front camera ( I don’t care if the quality sucks);

2. Built-in FM transmitter (So I can sync my ahem.. iPhone to my car stereo without third party transmitter);

3. Apple logo on the back will glow – just like the macbook family.

 

I’m sooooo getting the white! mark my word.