Update!

It has been more than half of a year since I last updated this blog before heading to India.

I'm currently enjoying a short semester break, a period of time where I can temporarily escape the hectic university life. Yes, it is hectic, considering the fact that we have to attend six days of classes per week. The Saturday is just another day of waking up early in the morning and dragging ourselves into the classroom for hours of lectures. How about Sunday? Having greatly deprived of adequate rest throughout the week, it is the only day that I'm allowed to sleep until whatever time I want. After that, I have to revise the topics taught by the lecturers for the rest of the day if I don't want myself to get embarrassed when bombarded by questions from lecturers in the next day. I would find myself guilty if I don't revise something on any day. Time management is the tricky part. It is hard to decide to work, play or sleep.

The diagram above explains everything.

Nevertheless, I never imagined how much I could have learnt during such a short semester. In short, as a first year undergraduate taking Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), I'm required to study three main subjects namely anatomy, physiology and biochemistry. Anatomy has been generally recognised as the most dreadful subject that everyone of us must face. It deals with every single detail of the human body structure, thus posing a large workload one has to strive very hard to gain an understanding. However, I can see it is of great importance to absorb as much knowledge as we can from the scale of a single cell to the gross structure of human body, as it is the basic of everything. Physiology is dealing with the function of human body, whereas biochemistry gives a macroscopic view at the happenings such as metabolism running in the human body.

I once heard a comment from a working doctor:

"One need not to be a genius to choose this career, what it takes is actually the diligence, perseverance and self-discipline."

I agree. Medicine is a field of wide knowledge. Unlike how we have been studying in the secondary school, there is no fixed syllabus or textbook in the medical school. Information is everywhere, and from the well-categorised source of medical knowledge, we need to put in great effort to integrate, store and apply the knowledge.

Yes, we study a lot. No matter how badly we are going to forget the details after several months, we are forced to cram everything into our mind, and expected to recall it during examinations, especially the oral test called "viva". I have been lack of confidence at speaking, moreover sometimes it is not easy to understand the English spoken in their accent, I'm always afraid of having any kind of interaction with the Indians in any session. Not to mention I'm always confused by the indication shown via shaking head. They shake their heads for saying yes and do the same for saying no.

India is a unique where we can observe a lot of extremities. We get to see how the poor blends with the rich, how the wealth mirage is accompanied by severe poverty, how the high-tech companies and skyscrapers mushrooming in the cities where man power is still the main workforce of everything. Men form a the line to carry and pass bricks, they build ladders using robes and woods to reach the great height without using machines.

If I'm asked "How's life in India?", I don't know how to provide an answer. I can't think of a positive thing to share with. I came across with a lot of negative incidents: Open defecating or urinating, reckless driving on the road, dirty streets where people spit and litter everywhere, unscrupulous auto rickshaw drivers who love to earn more via cheating, slow action by staff in public sectors, unstable electricity where at least ten blackouts happen everyday, beggars chasing after you, extreme weathers, not-so-tasty-food, terrible road condition, the over-obsessed students, the lack of courtesy, and more. Life has been depressing knowing I have to spend five and a half years in this land. By the time I'm back to Malaysia, I am a man of 26 years old, if everything goes as I wish.

Life is tough in India. I'm truly honest to point out this. We need to be mentally strong or else we are going to trap ourselves in the maze of troubles. It would be a different story if one goes to some other countries such as Australia or UK. Frankly speaking, I feel a little envious when I see friends of mine are currently going for their tertiary studies in those countries. Every photo taken there seems to be more scenic.

However I'm very grateful to have been granted the chance to pursue my dream in India. I believe the hardship and challenge could help to train and prepare myself to traverse into medical field in the future. I do not regret to have chosen this pathway. People often say it is good to enroll in medicine or dentistry in India. I'm not sure if this is plausible. From my point of view, I could just say the way we are educated in the college has been a great experience. We are able to gain great exposure towards some aspects where it is not possible in my own country. For example, we have relatively complete specimen and enough number of cadavers to study in the dissection halls. Professors are professional, they are highly experienced at teaching undergraduates. I'm impressed by each of them. I'm quite sure they are much better than the professors in my own country. I guess this is the only positive thing I'm able to talk about India.

There is a lot of stories to share, hopefully I can come out with another interesting article after this!

My new gear

If someone asked me if I ever wished to own a DSLR camera a month ago, I would definitely give a firm "no". However I was quite surprised by how things have turned out to be too, and yes, I'm now shooting photos using a little more advanced camera - Canon EOS 1100D.


I used to have an incorrect perception towards some technical knowledge of the photo shooting world. I thought megapixel fully decides how a camera is worth its price and rating. I had never gone deep into how a camera really works. I was always wondering why people would have chosen a heavy and bulky camera ( I didn't know the referred camera is called DSLR ) rather than a convenient compact camera which has a higher megapixel value.

I was introduced to more photography terminologies and some insightful operating theories of cameras when I stayed with my previous college roommate for more than a year. He was holding a Canon EOS 500D equipped with a lot of accessories. Under his influence, I spent some time to read articles of introduction to photography and related guides from Internet as well as reviews of entry-level DSLR cameras. I managed to catch some ideas of several factors to be taken care of during photo shooting such as shutter speed, aperture, ISO etc.

Picking up photographing as a hobby isn't as easy as we might think because at the end of the day we are still bound to one of the most important considerations - money. If you have no idea of how much an amateur photographer would spend for basic DSLR camera sets, I shall give you an example here. While we are gradually improving our photographing skills, we need to upgrade our gadgets such as lens. My roommate spent more than RM2000 for normal camera set, another RM3000 for additional lens and digital flash. Sometimes a single lens would cost more than the total amount of money that my roommate spent for all of his photographing gadgets! It takes a considerable amount of money, time, passion, patience, skills building and experience to enter a semi-pro stage.

Why did I decide to own a DSLR camera out of a sudden? My family has been sharing and using a 10mp compact digital camera. I realised the quality of photos could have been better due to some limitations in compact digital camera. I wish to take great photos of each of my family members. Secondly, when I'm in India in the coming August, I wish to capture memorable moments and share it with friends and family. I was attracted by the advertisement of this latest product of Canon, the brown-coloured entry-level camera model which was released in March 2011. Thrust by great interest and urge, permission was gained from my parents, and I finally hold it in my hands.

Just a few weeks after the original set of camera bought, I further equipped myself with several important and handy camera lens and photography accessories as shown below.

Canon lens EF 50mm f/1.8 II

If I'm not mistaken this is the cheapest Canon lens available in the current market. It still costs about RM300. Almost every Canon DSLR user would go for this popular lens as their second lens because of its large aperture. What can a large aperture give? It enables photos taken at night or dark areas to be clearer and most importantly it gives great bokeh (out-of-focus area).

As you can see, the background is highly out of focused, leaving a soothing and blurred effect. A compact digital camera would hardly give us this kind of effect.

Canon zoom lens EF 35-80mm f/4-5.6 III

You might be surprised by the fact that this lens is as old as I'm. Surprisingly it can still fit into my camera body and function well after I found it out in the storeroom. However it doesn't come with image stabiliser (IS) technology. I'm wondering how much its virtual market price is about since no one is selling or purchasing this lens anymore. But I'm happily keeping it in my camera bag although I seldom shoot photos using it.

A tripod

For shutter speed slower than 1/30 seconds and above, the photos taken are prone to handshakes under normal zoom range without the aid of a tripod. Therefore to perform some photo shooting that requires a longer exposure time especially during night time, I bought this tripod with RM50. Moreover, by switching my camera to self-timer mode, I can include myself into the image! For more advanced photo shooting options such as high dynamic range imaging (HDRI), I need to combine three photos of same position but different exposures, therefore a tripod is needed.

I took a family photo with the aid of my tripod.

This is a sample of photoshopped HDR image.

Nissin Di622 Mark II digital flash

Nissin is a third party brand. It does not build cameras. I'm supposed to buy a Canon digital flash, however the market price for getting one having similar function and specification of the one shown above is around RM900. Accessories produced by third parties could be very cheap, and some of them could still guarantee a decent quality and performance. I had gone through the reviews of different third party digital flashes via Internet and asked for some advice around. Eventually I found out the one I bought as shown above has a great reputation. The price of RM470 is within my budget too. Controlling lights could be difficult for beginners. Despite shooting repeatedly to obtain the preferred result, I can see the potential of how the colour and tones of a photo could be greatly improved by applying a particular amount of flashlight at a certain angle properly. Direct flash using built-in camera flash often creates harsh image with annoying shines and shadows. Digital flash is capable of rotating and light filtering, thus it is a versatile device to add more artificial lights. It gives a vibrant colour tone too.

Photo of my grandmother without using a digital flash.

Photo colour enhanced with some removal of undesired shadows compared to the previous photo. Flashlight is bounced from the wall onto her left face.

There are still a lot to explore and learn about. I would appreciate any advice regarding photo shooting given. Hopefully I can share great photos with you guys!

Poor customer service

Since I am having holiday until early in March, I would really like to enjoy this precious period by doing something else besides communicating with the world via Internet. As an ASTRO user, I used to subscribe to some channels that I prefer to watch such as sports channels and documentary channels. However it would be wasteful to keep on subscribing to these channels considering the fact that I was staying in college for months while none of my family members is interested in sport or documentary. Now it is time to resubscribe to those channels.

On the last day of 2010, I browsed through the official website of ASTRO to gather some information and found out recently there is a newly introduced package called high definition (HD) package which includes some sport and documentary channels! I was so delighted. I made some calls to seek for customer service, and as expected, we will need to reinstall the hardwares. However the installation fee and the cost of new hardwares are waived as long as you are bound to an one-year-contract with extra RM20 added to current subscription fee per month, which is quite reasonable. I was promised that their technical team would reach within 10 days. What? 10 days?

"Maybe this HD package is in a high demand in Alor Star nowadays," I thought.

So the days passed by until it was the seventh day of waiting. I was wondering, if they do take care of customer satisfactory, they wouldn't choose to perform the installation procedure on the last day of promised period. I tried to reach the customer service again, and he confirmed with me the technical team will surely contact my father as the account holder in the next few days. So I kept on waiting. I hoped it wouldn't take long because there were some interesting football matches I would really like to catch up. Moreover, my holiday is going to end soon with everyday passing by so swiftly.

It was the tenth day, and I realised they had missed out the important phrase. The "ten days" was meant to be "ten working days". Thus I was again told to wait for a few days in frustration. However we didn't receive any phone call even though we had been waiting for their service for more than 10 working days!

I constructed an email to voice out my anger and disappointment. Having called ASTRO for more than 8 times, I wasted about RM10 as I needed to key in the numbers, listening to the repeated instructions for a considerably long time that charges during the calls. To my surprise, it was clearly stated my email would be read and replied within another 3 days. I recalled my customer service with Dell when I discovered my newly bought laptop was having some problems with a faulty hard disc inside. I sent an email on the first day, and got the hard disc exchanged on the second day. I was so shocked by their efficiency.

I couldn't wait anymore. I got the phone numbers of the technician in charge of my residential area and started calling him. However, the office number directed my call into irritating voice mails, whereas no one picked up my call when I dialed the cell phone number. This lasted for 3 days.

When I was about to cancel my subscription, they contacted us. Right at the time I was constructing this blog post, 17 days after my initial call to subscribe the HD package. Typical customer service in Malaysia, I would say. Don't ever think you can always dominate and monopoly the market when the fundamental support is actually from customer's trust.

And, customer's trust is earned, not given.

Censored

This is how the front cover page of TIME magazine gazetted in the first week of October should be.

I received it. But it has been censored by marker pen.

IELTS result

Finally the IELTS result is released! Here is my result:

Listening: 8.5
Reading: 8.5
Writing: 7.5
Speaking: 6.0 =(

Total: 8.5 + 8.5 + 7.5 + 6.0 = 30.5
Overall band score = 30.5/4 = 7.625 ≈ 7.5

Here is the reference of band score:

9. Expert User - native speaker level of the language.

8. Very Good User - excellent command of the language, a few mistakes only

7. Good User - handles language well, some inaccuracies, communicates adequately

6. Competent User - reasonable control of the language, difficulties with unfamiliar

5. Modest User - adequate in own area, difficulties with complex structures

4. Limited User - adequate only in familiar areas, difficulty understanding expression

3. Very Limited User - problems communicating, limited communication abilities

2. Intermittent User - many difficulties, basic information only

1. Non User - understands a few isolated words only

I am quite satisfied with the overall performance despite the poor response rated for my speaking test. However I can't recall much regarding the experience during the tests.

I tried my best and stretched my ears to the max during listening test. However I couldn't catch up the fast conversation by some speakers with thick British accent in one of the parts. I have got some luck to score well in reading test.

Although 7.5 is lower than 8.5, it is still considered as a relatively high band in writing. I think I did pretty well in that paper as I applied a wide range of vocabulary and structures of sentences in appropriate ways. I wouldn't have achieved this band if I did not force myself to pick up the habit of blogging and intensive writing since I failed to score well in SPM.

The examiner who conducted my speaking test was very professional. She is a woman of more than 60 and has a perfect pronunciation. However, she looked very unfriendly, serious and strict. I tried my best to give my best answer for every question or task given, but I just couldn't escape from the fate of getting such an unacceptable band. In fact, if I obtained a band higher than 6.0 for speaking, even by only an addition of 0.5, the overall band score would be 8.0 or higher! =)

In conclusion, IELTS test is interesting and exciting. Every candidate needs to pay full attention to focus on every test after a certain period of training and preparation. Having boosted with confidence, a little luck is still desired.

Respect our name

It has been a long time since I noticed quite a number of my friends have preferred people to address them by their own coined nickname. In my opinion it has nothing wrong to have a nickname for better recognition among newly met friends, as long as it is related to your abbreviation of your name, your character, your appearance and others. For example, my name is Jin Xiang. Some of my Malay friends find it hard to pronounce words starting with the alphabet "X", so I always recommend them to address me in the way they pronounce "Siang" in Malay language. Both of the words are homonym, moreover the word "Siang" brings the meaning of morning in their language. Some of my Indian friends have long names, so they abbreviate it.

Normally Chinese names would not appear to be too long nor too complicated. It usually consists of three words - rarely two or four, and the first word is the surname that enables you to track back your origins and the line of ancestors. For instance, my full name is Lui Jin Xiang, a typical Chinese name that does not fit into the first and last name system existing in Europe because people tend to relate first name to surname. In order to show my Chinese name as Lui Jin Xiang, it is a must to give my name by Lui as last name. We show respect to our ancestors, so we don't put it behind. So, for me it is a little annoying to categorise my surname as last name.

Perhaps you don't know, or even some of the Chinese don't even feel the importance and underlying obligation to be proud of your surname as well as your name given by your parents. It shows a good example of how influential it can be, when we come across with some historical facts of some heroes sharing the same surname with us did something great, we would feel glad and honored. How if that person had been notorious? We would really feel guilty and sorry for him. There lies an invisible link among Chinese of same surname. How about the name given by your parents? Do you think it does not carry any meaning? Or they had not been considerate enough to give you a unique name you desire?

And here comes the main point of updating this post. I do wonder what the motive of getting an unnecessary nickname is. I have no comment on people who changed their names because of some beliefs and religious needs. I guess every Christian would need to add an English name in front of their surnames for the reason I have not discovered. However sometime I sense that several of those who changed their names, either in a formal or informal way, have shown disrespect to their own identities and sheer western advocacy. Maybe you don't like to live with your current name because it is too common, fine, reflect on what you have omitted, feel obligated and rectify it. The reason is simple. It is your identity granted by your parents! Appreciate the only naming system that conserves you and your ancestors' identity relations.

Change or not change?

I'm currently operating Compaq Presario C700 notebook which is relatively old considering the fact that my father had been using it installed with Windows XP for years ago before passing it to me. Now it appears to be terminally ill. The fan is constantly giving out irritating noise as if it is overworking although the cooling effect is fairly dissatisfying. I suspect the easily accumulated heat is one of the factors contributing to the occasional system lagging. However there are credits I can still give. I particularly enjoy the sensation of typing on its keypad. As a gamer, despite the graphic limitations that allow its user to run only gaming applications with low graphic requirements, I love the widescreen too.

My Sony Ericsson K618i has been following me for more than three years, it is gradually exposing its glitches too. The main faulty aspect that annoys me is the "instant auto-shutdown" of my phone. Whenever I insert it into my pocket and walk for some distance, it would automatically shut down, causing inconvenience as people can't reach my phone to give me a call. The phone needs only a small knock from sideways to slump into unconsciousness. I guess it must be the battery being unable to hinge to the terminal in an appropriate and functional way. To type instant messages in Chinese has caused me a hardship too. It takes a long time to fully read the pinyin (the standard system of Roman spelling in Chinese). Therefore it is considerably slow and insensitive. Furthermore, the metal plates which are responsible for adapting the charger are severely corroded. Whenever I want to charge my phone, I have to give it a "comfortable position" so there is current passing through the loosely connected junction, not to mention it might break and cut the circuit if slightly disturbed.

Actually I don't mind using old products as long as they are still capable of performing routine tasks in a satisfying way to users. However if I'm given the chance, I would certainly change both of them, or at least one of them. My parents are generous enough to sponsor whatever I want without further consideration, but I don't really want to spend too much of their money on my needs without further consideration too. I thought of smartphones, especially iPhone that has dominated the recent market with its cool-looking features. I thought of laptops my roommate recommended to me by introducing a lot of terminology which is not layman-friendly such as those modeling codes of hardware. I'm clear that I have to be clear to my requirements before choosing any product from the vast available options I can simply grab.

I do hope to accept any suggestions you might be able to share with me.

Is it that hard to compromise?

Having only healthy vegetarian food in my college hasn't been as convenient as what I think it could potentially be. There are only two cafeterias inside the college compound, one is Mamak cafeteria providing mainly Indian orientated food and one is Malay cafeteria which is just situated one floor below my apartment unit. There are two other ways to get your stomach filled - from the food stalls at the roadside opposite KTT, or from the food catering aunty whom we call her Aunty Mira.

Under normal circumstances I have no problem at getting nutritious vegetarian food at a reasonable price for every breakfast and lunch. Mamak cafeteria provides trays of mixed vegetables in buffet style. By paying only RM2.50, it is quite a considerable saving for a happy meal. It would be a little expensive to cater my lunch by filling up my own container at the stall prepared by an old woman who has her secret recipe attracting a great number of loyal customers every afternoon. To my personal liking, I would rather pay RM3.50 for delicious bean-based vegetables and potatoes.

After having my dinner just now, I had a conversation with the senior person in charge at the counter, and I felt a little offended when I was trying to compromise the flawed way in charging the food price. To order vegetarian food without frying, I have only limited options, that is to order foods separately. It is very unreasonable to get charged RM5.00 for a plate of white rice with an egg and a plate of mixed vegetable considering the fact I could have eaten a plate of fried rice with almost equal or even greater quantity of mixed vegetable and rice by paying only RM3.00. When I asked if it is possible to charge less since it is imbalanced in comparison with other options in the menu, I was fairly surprised that at first he replied which price I prefer in a harsh way, and grumbled something like you shouldn't order if you don't like to, instead of have considerations compromised whereby it is easy to set a fixed reasonable price to the combination above, at least for vegetarian food.

I can be a picky eater when it comes to healthy food, or choosy in catering food. I haven't been taking any fried chicken in KTT since months ago. Besides, I would really feel guilty whenever I use a polystyrene box or plastic bag. I don't mind washing extra containers by myself and I think it is time for everyone to show some concern towards the current main global issue especially those who are highly selective like me, but in a different way - rather to dine in his own apartment which would in turn result in a used polystyrene box for each meal taken. I couldn't say it is indifference shown, but it is another ironical scene to look at because well educated people would have reflected on what they should do before getting it done, however in this case, it is clearly seen that because of the long term habit practiced so they don't feel like holding any obligation.

Untitled (You may suggest one.)

Perhaps I shouldn't have concerned too much. Perhaps I should respond to all unpleasant sight by just a smile, and stay happy because it actually favors us. No criticism, no so called "harsh comments" or "inappropriate action". Perhaps I shouldn't have placed my perspective of views in equal to those, which in turn would easily spark some misunderstandings. Perhaps I should be one of those saying: "Aiya, like that one la, why care so much?" Or perhaps I should just remain silent, be your obedient students and get focused in term of academic attention, score a string of As in examination, or try to secure the top in the world award to appease them before flying to India, then leave here and be happy ever after.

But I don't. To refrain myself from the urges to share something neglecting its fact as either positive or negative has been something more difficult than to keep my mouth shut. Some people don't understand the fascinating and intriguing part we could indulge ourselves in during arguing against a statement or topic by contributing constructive thoughts, and have a great assimilation of others' thoughts, so that things can eventually end up obtaining a valuable outcome. Curiosity and sense of accomplishment are playing a main role. People tend to lost the interest concerned in the sense that he doesn't prefer to share his very personal piece of two cents could be a result of flawed environment he was being brought up. For example, the repeating cliche during constructing an essay without really trying to inject some fresh ideas whenever possible, could curb his sharing ability.

When something has been done with a large margin of improvement, I speak. When I saw something flawed or wrong, I speak. Before I speak, I do something which most of the people don't, that is I reflect on whether I'm trying to contribute to, or encourage the flawed or to the wrong. At the same time, we can't dispute the fact if we don't stay in the flawed, we are the ones who face disadvantages. It can be a hard time to balance everything during this stage, but this is what prepares us to have equipped all of the traits needed in order to push ourselves to a further level of aptitude in the future.

We can choose to show indifference towards the flawed, because of "it is none of my business, as long as I happy, it doesn't matter." or "I can't do much to change that, don't let myself to get into trouble, so just let it be." Here is a question to think: Are we entitled to do so? And here comes a good lesson to learn - to be able to achieve the goal with minimum arousal of less significant circumstances which might in turn lead to a complication that may defeat the purpose of the initial intention. Expect the unexpected and accept the unacceptable. Which one do you choose?

I'm officially 19 years old =)

Notifications of Facebook and text messages started to pile up within my laptop and handphone to the extent that although my fingers were working frantically, I couldn't manage to reply the all birthday wishes on time, all of these happened when it was near 12am of 22nd March.

I remember whenever it was my birthday, my family wouldn't fail to celebrate it, either inviting my friends to my birthday party or having a special dinner together. But this time it is fairly different.

I felt so warm, mainly because of that I was greatly surprised by my family. I sensed something fishy at 9pm yesterday as my sister suddenly asked me the song I like the most. Out of my expectation, they made a four-minute-video including the compilation of photos since my childhood moment running in slide show mode, to wish me a happy birthday which had been previously done for 18 consecutive years in my own house. Thank you Papa Mama, Jin Sheng, Jin Yao, Mei Mei and Ngen Ngen =) It is the best present I have ever received!

Lovely written cards from my friends.

At the same time I received a handmade birthday card from her! =) It was agonizing to have the envelope in my hands but I had to wait for 4 days until I was valid to open the envelope. Those words in the card tug deeply at my heartstrings, but I would like to apologize for not revealing them for the-reason-you-should-know =)


A mixture of old friends, relatives as well as my teacher and even my favourite lecturer left their wishes on the wall of my Facebook profile. I appreciate that very much =)

Things turned crazier when my friends planned to trick me in a cafe outside my college.

Ouch >.<"

I finally know how a face bumps into a cake feels. I know whose idea this is!

Here is the second vanilla cake. I like vanilla so much!

Thank you for enlightening my birthday =)

Birthday, in another perspective which is often emphasized by saints, is actually exactly what we can call it as a "disastrous day" of our mother. So instead of just having a blast with friends, we should actually spend some time on that day to reflect on how those days passed by when we were being ignorance but gradually raised and educated by our parents with great care and love after giving birth to us. 19 years has just gone in just a glimpse, what is left is what has remained in my memory, and I shall cherish every moment I had, which I only had.

No, I don't prefer this one.

This question can be interesting, how does your seat in your current college or university look like? Do you feel comfortable with the designated lecture hall or classroom you enter every weekday and spend hours of time dealing with the new syllabus or enduring the sleep-inducing tone by your lecturers? I guess everyone of you have no problem recognising the "tuition chair" ( I couldn't find any suitable word to name it. ) with the small flipping board. Yes, it is small, and brings a lot of unpleasant moment whenever I am to sit on it, which in turn urges me to voice out my personal opinion regarding this popular facility provided throughout the Malaysia.

Honestly, when I was a primary school kid, I was sick of sticking myself on the old wooden table with drawer and chair whole day long. At the same time, I used to have a funny thought that sitting on the tuition chair must be very comfortable, cool-looking or any adjective that describes something good.

Now I realise the chair doesn't bring as much joy as I expected. The main aspect that fails to withdraw my affinity towards the chair is the small flipping board, or perhaps I should call it the small pad. All of us bring our pencil box during lesson, and thanks to the small area that cannot even accommodate a normal textbook, our pencil box would always end up laying on the floor beneath the chair.

It drives me mad whenever I'm trying to solve any question with the aid of a calculator. There is no sufficient space to get calculator a good spot, but to place it above the paper. I come out with a good solution to avoid the calculator blocking the text in paper, that is to place it on my thighs. And at this time you can pay attention using your ears. Trust me, occasionally there will be sound of calculator hitting the ground as a result of falling down, and after that I know how strong our calculator is to withstand the impact and remain intact after collision, nice quality control, Casio.

Actually every invention would come in handful in particular aspect. The tuition chair can serve better, but not in KTT. I prefer sitting on an ordinary chair, having ample space to have my work done comfortably on an ordinary table. Hah, just a personal rambling, do tell me if you have the same feeling :p

The hectic and memorable holidays

I have been relatively busy throughout these weeks as well as holidays. Make it short, my friends and I in Kolej Teknologi Timur are having a hard time preparing the first activity under the name of newly formed Chinese Cultural Education Society (CCES), which is the Chinese New Year celebration. Even when I'm now approximately 700km away from my college, I still have to compete with fast-running time to have my "homework" done and bring it back to Sepang.

I am the one leading the work related to decoration. I couldn't help scratching my forehead while trying to figure out a full plan concerning how the main hall which doesn't look like a hall at all, should be decorated. Certain artworks cannot fit to the framework of my initial planning due to limitations such as those pillars obstructing the vision towards the stage (actually there is no stage) and the extremely low ceiling. As I mentioned, my college is actually further modified and equipped from shops on an incline plane, so you can imagine the main hall consists of four lots of different height interconnected by staircases of three to four levels. I can even knock my head on the ceiling if I jump forcefully, no kidding.

We are going to get ourselves a formal exhibition displaying Chinese culture as well as Chinese New Year tradition. I searched and gathered the information needed using days and it took me another week to complete thirty slides of PowerPoint and those A3 size papers would be printed in full colour. At the same time I had to complete more than 20 pairs of spring couplets. It was overwhelming tired.

When there is motion, there is also friction. Thing doesn't come as smooth as we wish. 24th is the day of CNY celebration, however those inconsiderate allocate some candidates to take their internal examination until one day before 24th, that means we don't really own enough time to put on our decorative stuff in the main hall. It is even saddening and disastrous to receive the order calling us to take off our red tassels which had been set on ceiling before holidays. I am fairly annoyed and irritated, but what can I do?

Besides, I need to spare some time to manage my another private blog written in Chinese. Not to mention it is now the time I have to cope with the A2 syllabus. Much effort should be invested. Nevertheless, I still enjoy keeping myself busy with this activity. It somehow brings reminiscence of days I was busy with willingly committed activities during my secondary school life.

Honestly, I am starting a new relationship, my first relationship. I guess my family wouldn't even know that until they reach this line in my blog. Yes, we had a great time despite the fact I could hardly choose a time to hang out with her as I needed to respond to some gathering invitations. People were intrigued as I changed my relationship status on my Facebook profile. I would have revealed her identity if I wished to and I just hope everything can behave and go naturally =)

After this I would upload certain photos of this, or perhaps photos of my girlfriend and I =)

The Beneficial Course

In the last two days, I spent my time in Lu Jiang Cultural Centre located just a stone throw away from The Mines shopping Mall. It was a two days and a night course or camp held under the support of more than 20 college mates having an intention to explore more about Di Zi Gui (弟子规).

Di Zi Gui is an ancient Chinese teaching advocated by Confucius, where it has influenced a lot of learners to behave positively and wisely. It is not only a compilation of intelligence inherited from the Chinese ancestors, it also serves as a guidance to a happy life. Some people might have misconception such that Confucianism is religious and it could pose conflicts to their existing mindset about the way to live their life. In my opinion, unless you have not been exposed to those Chinese historical stories or anecdotes at all, you would at least have a sense of resonance with the Confucian teaching because Di Zi Gui is closely related to the analogy extracted from those allusions.

We reached the centre at about 8.30am on the last Saturday. A teacher welcomed us through a polite ninety degree bow. We were really surprised as a man with approximately three times our ages could show his respect to us in this way. He spoke softly, gracefully and gently. This is a trait we could seldom come across with especially in this modern era with everything should have done quickly and harshly. The place is clean and interspersed with traditional Chinese decorating. Lanterns, calligraphy couplets, wood carvings, the ambiance had really thrilled me as I have a great interest in these! The staff were dressing in samfu and cheongsam too!

The courses were fantastic and insightful! Because we had only two days and a night, the courses were tightly packed. I particularly salute Teacher Song, a kind woman whose great proficiency of linguistic skills were shown in her fluent speech conducted in many languages and even dialects!

We were introduced to Di Zi Gui, learned about practicing healthy vegetarian diet and sharing of allusions which I miss a lot since primary school. Di Zi Gui is based on eight-fold virtues: 孝(filial piety), 悌(brotherhood), 忠(loyalty), 信(trustworthiness), 礼(propriety), 义(righteousness), 廉(cleanliness), 耻(shame).


There was a session of movie sharing. I strongly recommend the Korean movie to you, namely "The Way Home" which tugged at my heartstrings to the extent that I phoned my grandma after that to express my love to her which I had never done before. However she didn't seem to have any response to my words. I expected, as I have written somewhere in my blog that my family is very conservative, we don't take much obvious action to express our love to each other. However, we do know how much we love each other.

Talk about love, I eventually realised that family love is the foundation of love, it is the fundamental relationship that everyone has the responsibility to carry. How could we expect ourselves to have a true friendship, or to have a long term and "high resistance" relationship with the one we have chosen, or in my case, to have the compassion needed in my future profession towards the patients, if we have failed to do so to our family?



An ideal place to live =)

Randomly arranged? Designed?

Note: I would like to apologize for not being able to convey my thoughts precisely due to my limited access towards the terminologies involved and scarce proficiency in the language used. Ignore the syntax errors, and try to broaden your mindset to walk with me. This article is not written under the intention of offending nor challenging any believers that hinge to the conviction that our world is created by the only entity namely God. I find it fairly intriguing when I recently discovered I do have some points to raise in response to religious topics which I never really concerned.

To which extent do you believe our world is perfectly designed? You would be indoctrinated by tonnes of preaches convincing you the “truth” since childhood if born in a family held tightly to Christianity. You might question what you had been perceiving, or you might not. Most of those converted clearly understand the conflict they experienced that you might not. To those holding fideism, which compartmentalizes reason and faith, and believes merely on faith, believe or not, the argument that seemed as solid as rock to you has been an object of ridicule in some others eyes, mostly allegedly you may guess, but you should also be careful it is possible that the one with blindfold might not necessarily be those defying your faith.

In this article I focus only on the aspect whether the premise “world is created and perfectly designed” could be a strong argument. In certain books, some experts including scientists pointed out that the discoveries of science are actually in the direction of proving the existence of an intelligent creator. Cosmology, biology, physics and many other fields related on the basis of science are actually contributing to the conviction of theism, according to them. For example, the human genes, the biological molecules are miraculously coordinated. The laws of physics are designed such that the integrative complexity could be resolved using mathematics and logics. No one could explain why the speed of light must be approximately 300000000 metre per second. In similar context, they infer all of these behave beyond the naturalistic explanation. It is unnatural, where there is no chance to have the same situation happening if random ways are to replace it.

They always amaze us by using probability to show us how impossible it could be if random way goes. Yes, random nature is the point I advocate. You tell me in order for the human DNA to function properly, it takes certain probability to account for the systematic and perfect matches by monomers namely nucleotides, and to be able to synthesis proteins using amino acids, so it takes another probability. It goes on until how these biological molecules interact with each other, how the blood clotting mechanism is, how systems in a human body work by calculating the probabilities, and deducing it is almost impossible that human stays alive! You could have told someone, look, the probability is one over ten to the power of integer with astronomical number of digits behind, it is approaching zero, so the world we are living is not randomly arranged! You got a point, I have come across with a lot of so called evidences such as “do you know that if the earth is orbiting slightly nearer or further to the sun, the earth would be either too hot or too cold to sustain life? How amazing!” or “if the universe is expanding at a rate that is a little faster or slower, we could not have a universe that would be capable of supporting life!” They are indeed amazing, but to me it makes no sense to support theism.

People often attribute the fine-tuned universe we are living to the mighty creation by the god simply because it provides a better explanation where science has failed to do so, especially to explain the origin of universe and life. Now try to reflect on the probability. Let say something will happen by the chance of 1/100000000. When it does happen, can we say “99999999 circumstances have failed, and the one happening is right beside us.”? The same logic goes on if you insist to use probability. You say “our universe is created by god because it is fine-tuned!”, why can’t I say “according to your probability 1/N to have such a fine-tuned universe, we can have equal number N-1 of not-fine-tuned universes besides the one we have!”? Isn’t that there are more chances to have something not happening than just happening? As you know universe is vast, who knows there are universes in other dimensions of realms with more physical elements other than just time, space and matter? It could just happen =)

Thank you for finishing my rambling, sorry if you felt offended or annoyed, but that is truly what atheists think, and they may have the same feeling when you say "yours is the wrong one."

Not to forget to thank SuSu my senior who borrowed me the book "The Case For A Creator", I learned a lot =)

Revealing unpleasent sight

It was a lovely afternoon when my roommate was enjoying the breeze in the balcony. Suddenly he smelt something. To his surprise, he saw a guy holding a lighted cigarrete above him in another balcony.

"What are you looking at? Strange? I'm not going to die because of this lah!"

It is quite an unexpected as well as unpleasant sight to me, considering the fact he is a JPA scholar, the educated one who is going to traverse into medical field, and has the responsibility to advise people to stop smoking. However he is not the only person practising something ironic and contradicting to his prospect in my present college. They are a lot including seniors. Moreover, it has been stated smoking inside the college compound is prohibited and penalty of RM100 would be charged towards violator. Well, I haven't come across any news that any kind of penalty had been charged on them since I was here six months ago. The guards ignore that too, so do some lecturers and wardens. I can't tolerate indifference shown by the administrators. Honestly I have no prejudice towards smokers, but in my point of view, smokers are not qualified to contribute himself in health care related career seriously. Even if they are, don't you think that their patients would surely doubt their credibility in diagnosing ailments or prescribing medicine?

Put this aside, I would like to share another thing that was annoying. It happened for days continuously in the last month. When I was in my mood of revising and there came a deafening bang inside the hostel. Apparently someone was trying to get into our nerves by lighting firecrackers. My instinct told me that was another immatured scholar, but I could never identify the nuisance maker. In my previous secondary school, if you tried to challenge the school rules by having such explosives, you would be expelled without any tolerance or consideration.

Please return me the serenity of my lovely tiny college :(

My beloved father

This post is dedicated to my father, and everyone who loves his or her mighty father.

It has almost been four months staying far apart from my hometown. I could only return there occasionally to meet my family.

I didn't know I would actually miss them so much - my siblings whom I always exchanged hot words with, my parents whom I still owe them a big hug and "I Love You!", my grandmother whom I put aside her conservative advice, or even took it as jokes. Not to forget my grandfather who had passed away on April Fool eight years ago, whom I had missed the golden time to fulfill filial piety.

I thought it wasn't a big deal to be here since I would have gotten used of the hectic lifestyle here but thing doesn't appear to be easy, especially when it was the day my father stepped into a new age, without his eldest son beside him during the celebration.

As you can see that's how powerful time has been leaving irreversible traces between the 15-year-interval.

Here is a short description about my father:

My father, Mr. Lui had been working as a teacher for decades before playing an significant role as the well honoured headmaster of one of the most prestigious local primary school. He had endured and at the same time surmounted the intense hardship all along the way. Having said that he is experienced in the educational career, he always had a lot of interesting, disheartening, and the stories which could tug at my heart strings. For instance, he shared the incident of how he persevered to travel more than two hours per day to a school located in rural area when he was a fresh teacher, and how his first salary was scammed by a senior teacher. I'm sure if he is to publish his memoirs, a great number of readers will be attracted, however he doesn't seem interested. He never failed to be the responsible head of household. He indoctrinated the importance to have a close-knit family, and to bear in mind that nothing stands more valuable than family. I have inherited almost all of his good traits - drawing, Chinese calligraphy, the rational way to think, and to be noble. It will always be a great time whenever he is beside us.

Here comes some photos of the celebration.

For those who can read Chinese, do kindly click on it to view the reflection by my father.

So, I'm here to wish my father a happy birthday, stay happy and healthy!

I love you papa! :)

Consequence of exam-orientated culture.

I'm currently tackling Cambridge International A-Level program. So far the syllabus of text books doesn't really pose much trouble to me but I had soon found out what I have to surmount - laboratory sessions. I'm utterly clueless in handling the apparatus in appropriate way. I'm puzzled to select the suitable one before proceeding to the next procedure if the list of apparatus required isn't provided. Well, I attribute it as a part of consequence of practising an exam-orientated culture in my previous school life.

Honestly I've forgotten how many experiments I had conducted during my high-school period, but I can tell you experiment wasn't something significant to us at that time, just because there wouldn't be any practical test in SPM. We could memorise everything written in black and white in order to tackle the question concerning experiment planning, without having the urge to grasp more. Every class of my secondary school comprised of more than 45 students which in turns results in an insufficient capacity of science laboratory. We had been going through almost every experiment by our imagination, or sometime we were lucky enough to observe the demonstration by our teachers in front of us only.

I have to accept the fact that regurgitating the particular reference books would in turn ensure us to score well in papers but it seemingly doesn't benefit us in the same way whenever it is the time to put it into practice. To traverse into medical field, we should have acquired the proficiency in this part. So I come to here, my new college, equipped with merely the scarce experience in this part, hoping that I would be able to polish my practical skill other than struggling for an improvement in linguistic skill during the short period I'm going to stay here :)

The day I had forgotten

"Hi Jin Xiang, are you free now?" she phoned me, "Can I have a chat with you?"

"Hi, sure, no problem." I was rather shocked about what brought her to make this sudden call.

"Do you know what day is today?" she asked, smiling. I knew that from her intonation.

"Err..." What a typical question, but it took me about ten seconds before I could only barely break the silence.

"Oh no! Please don't tell me you have forgotten it!" she uttered in dismay.

"Sorry, give me more time to think about that," I replied.

"Okay, now you try to recall, what had you done on the same day of today in last year?"

"Wait a minute, SPM trial examination?"

"No."

"We met each other in the tuition centre?"

"No! I'm kind of disappointed eh, I don't expect you to forget this important day. But obviously you do." She reiterated, "That day eh, you called me in the canteen after school. Then?"

I know she would be glad if I could complete the part she left for me. However I had a short-term memory loss. I kept contemplating.

"You gave me something..."

"Oh!" I cried, "Happy birthday!"

"Yup... how can you forget it?"

*The conversation above ended up with apologies and wishes*

Actually I did consider about her birthday since she asked the first question. But I thought it would be silly if it was not. Honestly, I'm very sensitive to numbers, however it is contradicting to say - I don't surprise to have myself forgetting about that, considering the fact that I don't always give every friend of mine a sincere wish whenever it is the moment they have grown older, not even to my closest friends.

Perhaps I should start writing them down.

When I was not at home

My homesickness ceased after staying for a week "in the middle of nowhere" (that's how people locate my college) but not when it came to a couple of days before departure to home. Thanks to my first examination week that has been postponed to a week after this holiday, I would have to reschedule my activities during this holiday. However I have squandered half of it before realizing I have only 5 more days to deal with the books (more than 15 kg) I brought back, but not now. I'm going to use this moment to share something I haven't updated right at here :)

This is how my college looks like.

As you can see the smart-looking guys are my housemates. The first person starting from left is Alee from Sabah, the diligent Malay. The guy in white is John from Sarawak. His greatest interest is Internet business, the field where most of us are not familiar with. The guy standing on my left hand side is called Maegyvear, a Kadazan hailed from Sabah also. Being active in Christian Fellowship and crowned to be "The Prince" during the orientation week, he is undoubtedly the most renowned person in the college.

Thanks to the seniors from the same secondary school of mine :)

I bought a new table for comfort after getting frustrated by the books jumbled up on my small desk, yet the books still jumble up easily. You guys know why.

"Learning is like sailing against the current, you would lag behind if stop moving."

These words are creative indeed.

This is one of the myriad types of bugs I have to confront every night. Somehow the mosquito here appears to be more furious. There was a spider hiding in my sport shoe too, luckily it escaped by the time I grabbed the shoe.

Time to get home :)

My little sister collected these while I was not at home!

First Blood

The title above flashed spontaneously in my mind when I'm going to share my fresh experience in my college. I had my very first blood donation two hours ago.

Before being able to summon my courage to allow my precious blood to be isolated and the needle to penetrate my tender skin *exaggerating* , I didn't know which type my blood belongs to.

It is type O ( I don't know if it is RhD-positive ). How good would it be if donating blood would return monetary reward to us since type O is the "bestseller" :p

I was pretty worried actually, considering the fact that I saw some of the donors turned pale after donating blood. Moreover my Biology lecturer shared his first blood donation to everyone of us - he suffered hyper ventilation and collapsed after that for not taking breakfast.

It was fast - it took only 5 minutes to fill up the packet (450ml) and the needle didn't really induce much pain. I have made a promise to join the second donation.

Try to involve yourselves if there is any blood donation campaign near your area, help the people in need :)