My Life...

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Short Announcement

#527

6th March

Hey guys! As I mentioned in the previous post before, I wish to make some quality posts to make this blog meaningful.

However, I'm still searching another way to improve it since this blog had long gone unknown and just post everything without realizing it.

So, I planned to switch to another website or blog, so that I can manage my posts even better rather than staying at the same spot.

By then, it's going to say goodbye to this blog then, which accompanied me for over 7 years!

To be honest, I never thought I had this kind of perseverance to maintain my blog write everything I want and express on here.

Well then, till I find the right place, by then you could switch over there and see more posts for some random thoughts in my head.

See you soon on the other side!

Sunday, February 25, 2018

STPM vs Matriks

#526

25th February

(Source: Mrs. Belanger's English Class, www.belangela.wordpress.com, edited)

Alright, first of all, I'm kindly appreciate the weather today becuz' it finally rains omaigosh.

Recently, the weather was way too hot even during the night could reach up 30 degrees something.

Well at last it cools down a bit and now I can blog where there are some random thoughts come along.

Anyway, people around me, especially in local universities, would like make comparison between Matriks and STPM. This is true as recently, several keyboard warriors just post anything about this topic in the confession pages.

And then, I was like, "Really? You all quarrel just to compare these?" Seriously, it did happened for some times and ended like in a week I think.

Anyway, as I enrolled in STPM, so I can talk much about it, yet I wish to say something about Matriks as well becuz' lots of friends are from Matriks. However, there are still some misconceptions in between these two programs like saying someone can get this easily but hardly can get that, or anything else.

I tell you what I'm full of my thoughts and personally, I don't think these two programs should be compared to each other. Yes, STPM and Matriks are not for comparison. In fact, they are almost equal if you look from certain aspects.

Alright, I'll list my points one by one, I'll start from lifestyle.

So, since my school offers STPM programs, so it's no doubt that I went back to my school again and graduated for the second time at the same hall, but some schools do not offer so they need to transfer, and that's the different case.

Talking about lifestyle, school life would be as normal as what we had done before, just that we became much more crazier than ever (becuz' we want to spend our time amazingly as we can before ending that memorable 7 years). Studying period is just from morning until 1.30pm something, and that's the end, unless you have extra activities in school.

Basically if you live in big town, you can spend your time leisurely by hanging out and so on, but not before exam time lol. Yupe, it is just pretty normal as what you did in secondary school.

But things go different for Matriks. This is because most of them are sent to rural areas where they have to move a lot of things inside the hostel and start the so-called hostel life but not school life.
It is indeed different from home becuz' there's no longer your own lovely bed, no air-conditioned room, bathroom has to be shared and the list goes on.
Sometimes breakfast has to be prepared by your own, no food which could compete with your mom's homemade lunch or dinner, and most of the time you have to spend your life entirely at that blocks.
Well, it is true becuz' there are hardly any place you could go when you are in rural areas even during weekend, unless you have enough money to go home, back and forth, which is highly unlikely if your hometown is pretty far away.
Every decision has to be done by yourself and you have to manage your own time and make sure you get through your life as meaningful as you can.

The next point, it would be the education system.
Since you already knew that STPM took about 2 years while Matriks would be only 1 year, there's no doubt that STPM students study more than what Matriks students study.
I confirmed from my friend and this is quite true due to the difference of studying period, someone said STPM could be a good reference for Matriks as Matriks syllabus contain part of that of STPM.
So, this turns out that STPM students gain more knowledge than Matriks students, but at the same time it depends on how the students apply them on daily life problems or in future.

Thirdly, this is the most interesting one, the examination system.
I actually looked through my friends' Matriks examination and I was quite shocked becuz' there's a huge difference between them, which I think should be quite obvious.
Well, you know that STPM is one of the toughest examinations in the world, right? Yes, I had said for quite a lot of times, I'm still consider this statement is true, but maybe not in future I guess, as I felt the difficulty is gradually decreased, yet the formality and standardisation remained.
I think most people said that this exam is tough, I have the reasons too: Exam time is very limited, unexpected (but very standard) questions, tricky spots, and way too much theories and formulas to memorise.
Well, as the semester system introduced, I feel like it is a good thing since we can repeat for the first and second sem examination, and this would give another chance for us to do it better, I'd personally repeat one time, for PA just to make it from B+ to A-. However, there's no repeat anymore for third sem examination.
Somehow, most teachers encouraged us not to repeat becuz' it consumed a lot of time and that happened after the third sem examination, you only have like several days to revise the whole thing from Sem 1 and Sem 2, this could draw a big problem for those who couldn't manage time well.
Basically, 3.0 above is considered really well done, till the legendary 4.0
A lot of people tried to compare this to Matriks, becuz' Matriks is much more easier, they have ample time to finish exams, not much of tricky questions, and I think you can get 4.0 easily, and that's the grade of what my friends got.
Maybe you could sense the value of this 4.0 in two different programs right? Yupe, you'll be the judge. I personally feel that STPM examination system is somehow about both luck and effort, which mean even you knew that you wrote that freaking correct answers and confident could get an A yet things just, turn the way you offense.

Then, the part where most people argue about, the co-curriculum system.
A lot of people, again, said that it is easy to score that 10% in Matriks but not in STPM.
Well, think about that, you could be active in several school activities to get those marks, and it turn out that when you rethink about it, why don't you focus on that 90%, which could decide your future even more?
I know I know, not all schools could give you the chance to get that good marks, but, if you are able to attend a lot of school activities and able to take part in competitions, then it could be no problem.
Even if it is just participation marks, or you enrolled as one of the presidents in certain clubs (since you are the "dailou" among all juniors lol), that could make a huge change though.
So, if you feel like that 10% is important, then just go for it, but don't forget also to make your 90% effort being well done too.

Lastly, the outcome, from both STPM and Matriks leavers.
STPM is internationally recognised so if you scored pretty excellent in your grades, then just apply any university you desired and make the best for the offered scholarships and interviews to enroll as well.
This could be different from Matriks leavers becuz' they can only enroll in the programs offered by local universities, and they are hardly get any recognition from foreign universities.
But then again, STPM leavers do have a problem as well, as this happens every year, most people who score well, didn't offered the courses they want, it might be their second choice or even below of that.
I should say that I'm really lucky becuz' I get the university I want and offered the course I want too. I was convinced that I could get my first choice since Johor is really far from Penang (and maybe gov want to send you further).
This is really a challenge for those who did bad in examination, but to no choice they have to either take colleges' programs in order to further their study, and this might seems wasting time.
A lot of seats in universities are firstly reserved for Matriks students, so ya, I might say those who took STPM are really the warriors among the Malaysians, if you are one of them, you should be proud of it, becuz' you had went through that.

Alright, I think I will give a simple and short paragraph to make everything clear.
Don't always compare these two pre-U programs becuz' in my opinion, both leavers, each have their own potential and could give benefits to each other as well.
I'll give an example, Matriks leavers have experience for hostel life but not STPM leavers, so they can teach STPM leavers to make use of that lifestyle. On the other hand, STPM leavers have more knowledge from what they learned, they could provide more ideas and knowledge for Matriks leavers on how to score well and study efficiently.
As you can see, these two different groups of people, they are both alternatively beneficial for each other, right? That's why both of them should be together in university, I mean, they are equal at certain points, no comparison should be initiated from anywhere.
You might find STPM leavers are smarter than Matriks students, but no, sometimes it's on the other way round, and I think a lot of people should change this mindset as well.

So, these are my thoughts and opinions about STPM and Matriks, I hope that those who read this could digest what I said for such a long post.
Maybe you have own ideas and thoughts about this as well, if you have any of them you could just comment below here.
I'll appreciate and wish for those who are waiting for their results especially SPM students, good luck and have a good day.

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

A Long-Waiting Post

#525

6th February

You know, sometimes I keep being oblivious to matters that's kinda important to me.

Well, as long as I'm still updating this blog, don't think I had disappeared for nonsense.

Yes, I won't disappear for any nonsense. I just feel like, writing blog would not be my main routine anymore, cuz' if there's nothing interesting, I won't talk.

Yet, somehow I decided to make a quality post instead of talking every event per post, it does match the idea of fitting every essence of each event to provide a simple yet fulfilling view of a certain period that I had gone through.

So here is it, no more long halt, and I'm actually finding the ways to go back to what I had been done when I started this blog, where you can see funny posts but it is all about my thoughts about something that we, all of us closely related.

And you know what? I'm still picky on using formal languages cuz' it might make your blog boring, I guess? But I try to minimize them as soon as possible, so that you could see some quality article or my thoughts in this one blog.

Okay, that's it, a reply for the long wait, and today I'll talk about anything in my thoughts and what had happened to me recently.

First of all, final exams of Sem 1.

Indeed, I had finally went over the first exam in UTM and I'm quite sure that, the nervous feeling had completely gone, like, you already knew that next week is exam, but you're still chilling there, look through the books and do exercises, and prepare to end them in a blink of an eye.

I think most of you would thought, "How would you score well in exam?"

Honestly, I don't know whether this is true or not, but I found that most of the theories and concepts, you can easily learned directly from Internet, and time is getting more and more flexible, if you manage it well.

Well, it is a true fact that independent learning is one of the keys to success, you can do that anytime since you are young, but not until university level, and still didn't learn after your graduation.

This is quite somehow like an offense to those who don't like learning, but I guarantee you the effects would be undoubtedly beneficial.

So, don't always rely on lecturer notes, you can make your own notes so that you know better what is going on, ask lecturers if there are questions. If you are still very shy, don't worry the Internet is the best partner, yet the reliability is still a doubt because there're maybe some error in the resources.

As well as discussion with friends, it is even more useful that solo studying, by then score well in exams is totally not a problem. This is how I got through my first exams, which I think not that tough as I thought, very standard and you sure can pass.

Secondly, this is more about what's going on during the holidays.

Basically, I was just chilling at home, but I'm happy to say that I fulfill my long waiting wish to be a temporary gamer by playing PS2 again lol.

You know, that kind of feeling is unbearable, I know it is not that kind of independent learning, I admit it. Damn, at least I don't play it whole day long, that's the good one, and I leave some time to just look through something on Internet related to fun knowledge. Yeah you can find a bunch of them in Youtube, the most easiest media to access I guess.

Of cuz' of cuz', hanging out with friends is the damn thing I'd done for a few times, but F4 gathering did not happen. Well, maybe, I hope so, maybe next time it will. I'd been hanging out with Kar OOn, Tze Yin and Shea Ching last week, and I was quite enjoy it.

So now, I'm waiting for my temporary return to UTM this Saturday and come back Penang again for a short CNY holidays. Yes thanks to seniors UTM had applied two days off earlier, which mean I will be back to Penang again next Tuesday lol.

Ya I know it looks very weird right? I know most people just took their own holidays until the third day of CNY or even two weeks to "ponteng". I mean, that's risky and not worth the attendance marks as you don't have any more chance to skip classes.

I think that's all for the recent event.

Well I think I might update some pictures sooner or later.

Bye for my next post, bet it would be in good quality ^_^

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Singapore

#524

26th December

As I said, the next post after Recap Sem 1 would be talking about the one-day trip to Singapore and no doubt I quite excited for this trip haha.

As a record of mine, the first foreign country to visit is actually Taiwan on December last year, and the second one goes to Singapore.

So, basically you should know that Singapore is a small country but very well and modernly developed.

Well then, maybe your first impression about Singapore would be high-rise buildings, residential buildings equipped with modern facilities etc. But that is only true for some regions in Singapore, and the rest are actually quite flourished with green plants and reserved parks.

The main tourist attractions are mostly focused at the south part known as Downtown Core, but if you want more entertainment then Sentosa Island i.e. Universal Studios is the best choice.

Okay, so let's talking about this journey, shall we?

This trip wasn't planned (or may?) and I just follow my friends for the trip since this is quite a good chance before exam.

Among seven people including Jia Le, Chung Yang, Pei Ting (these three are Johorians), me, Jun Xian my roommate, Mei Yean and her friend (dunno her name XD), four of us had went to Singapore to work so it would be very easy for me to learn very quickly.

Trust me, my roommate had worked there for entirely 8 months, so definitely he knew everything in Singapore while my 3 Johorian friends lead us the best transport to Singapore (and also the custom).

Since we went there two days before Christmas, so you can imagine how terrible would be the traffic on Johor-Singapore Causeway. So make sure, if time allows, take the best time to Singapore.

Our starting point set at Skudai Parade, and we took a bus direct to JB Sentral for about RM2.70. After reaching there, the first thing you have to do is passing through the Malaysia custom which is pretty easy and pretty fast with automatic machines.

The next one is depend on your luck, there are lots of buses for you to ride on to across the Causeway, and the price ranging from RM2 to RM4, depend on the drop-off destination.

Yet, a worse thing we experienced is the traffic congestion, which took us 30 minutes to reach the custom and another 1.5 hours to across the custom due to long queues.

Well this should be expected but it was considered fast that day, so such condition sometimes could be inevitable but another smart way is to pick a suitable time to across to Singapore.

After safely passing through Singapore custom, then you could either take bus or MRT to downtown core. However, the fastest way is taking bus because there is a highway straightforward to the city centre.

Well, not quite a good day for us as we waited the bus for almost another 1.5 hours and we decided to change another bus.

Malaysia Custom

Singapore MRT Station

Outside square of Somerset 313.

Reached Newton Circus and so we decided to have lunch at Aston's, a western restaurant at Bugis Street Mall.

This was recommended by Jun Xian, and one set meal cost $10.90. Even it looks expensive if change it to Malaysian Ringgit, but the price included one main course and two side dishes.

That was the first lunch in Singapore and quite fit the stomach for whole day long.

After that, we took a walk and had window shopping at Orchard Road, consider a must when visiing Singapore.

Hmm... How should I say? I couldn't spend much money during the trip becuz' there are way, way too much branded stores along the streets with countless malls.

Same as what I saw in every MRT, out of MRT there will be a shopping mall and my gosh the money couldn't spent on those items too.

Just then, we took MRT to Gardens by The Bay, and it is a humongous place to walk through every single part of it.

But, somewhat this is what I said before, a very peaceful and nice natural park best for jogging and strolling.

It is just behind the iconic Marina Bay Sands so you could witness the full view of it here.

Some places in the Gardens by The Bay required paying fees but if you want it a free trip there're lots to look and walk for free as well.

Anyway, we walk across Marina Bay Sands and went into Shoppers At The Marina Bay, another big mall as wide as Marina Bay Sands.

Here again, lots of branded items and it is very much like a luxurious version of Paradigm Mall.

As the sky goes dark, we decided to leave Singapore around 7.30pm as we have to catch up the time to avoid traffic congestion.

We took the MRT straightforward from Marina Bay back to Woodlands, waited for another bus to custom.

Fyi Malaysian passports are now eligible to use automatic machines to pass through Singapore custom, which is a recent good news as this will be pretty easy and save a lot of time as well.

Fortunately, the journey back to JB Sentral through the Causeway is very smooth and it took only about 5 minutes lol.

It was around 10.30pm so it is very usual that that place won't be stuck at that time, but it is still depend on the dates and contingency like traffic jam may happen anytime.

Malaysian custom is easy to pass manually because we are Malaysians right? So, if you want to choose automatic machine, it is okay but that was much slower actually.

Our dinner just settled at JB around 12am lol couldn't believe that lunch can hold me for such a long time.

...Ready for it? It's the time to see some selfie and wefie pictures!!!

Anyway, here marks the end of the first trip to Singapore, and pretty sure that I will visit Singapore again next time, probably next year.

The total money spend for this trip is a fair amount of $25 including lunch, MRT and some drinking stuffs.

It is quite reasonable when visiting Singapore, so I can't argue much about it.

This have to thanks to my friends who guided me throughout the trip and I can make such a simple post.

Well, maybe you would ask about where is Merlion? What about Singapore Flyer? and others...

But because of time limit so we couldn't visit that much places in such a short time, so maybe I would take pictures on those attractions, or maybe we would go to Universal Studios next time.

Since this trip is insufficient for me to post travelling trips, so I would end this post here.

Waiting for my next trip to Singapore again, and there could be much more to talk about.

Bye!

Recap Sem 1

#523

26th December

Well hello there my dearest netizens...

Yupe apologize for the really unpredictable long halt since the end of October and yet this is the only best time I could blog though.

Oh dear, classes of Sem 1 was over and now preparing for the FINAL EXAM!!!!!

Basically, after the week of final class, there would be a week for studying, so either you want to take it just for studying or having a trip is on your own.

Lots of people went back home but necessarily for those who live far away, like me and my roommate and some other friends lol.

Thanks god I'd finally done all assignments in time and make it through all tests as satisfied as possible.

Well, basically this is a recap post for all of the events since the last mid-sem break, starting 21st October.

29/10/2017

Alrighty this is a meaningful for all of the graduates as this day is the graduation day of UTM.

For what I know is that that whole particular week is a graduation week, because we can't fit in so many graduates in the hall for one day so the graduation ceremony is separated according to faculties.

Like this day, it is the graduation day for all Faculty of Electrical Engineering's graduates.

Remember that I mentioned about that direct line? Yupe, our current 老大 is Bryan, who is studying PhD now, graduated from Degree!

So all juniors in the direct line decided to share and buy a gift for him, as well as congratulations to him ^_^

Unfortunately I didn't get any pic with him but there's another group, which is CLESIC, also have another same kind of attendance where we got a banner showing congratulations to the graduates too.

Yupe that's how it looks like and for sure it will continue until me as well lol.

Of course I will attend the ceremony continuously each year cuz' it is really meaningful right?

31/10/2017

So as you may thought that being an engineering student, study life would be boring right?

Nope, it's not actually, but I spent plenty of time enjoying and... pretty much different from what had I done during Form 6.

Like this one, it is a field trip organized by my lecturer to Imagineering Institute in Iskandar Puteri (formerly known as Nusajaya).

It is an institute, related to electric and electronic engineering, studying research on IoT and this is quite an opportunity for us to learn something new outside of campus.

Surprisingly, the invention amazed me a lot as those applications and research they are currently undergoing or already proposed to the world had came out results that are effective to solve world problems.

There are tons of demos but couldn't remember any of them now lol, but at least a group photo might good as well.

17/11/2017

I should say that this day is quite a tiring day, well becuz' of two events crashed together.

One is 工大华文班三处联谊会 and another is CLESIC Orientation Bonding Camp + AGM.

The first event was done in the morning, and continuing the second one in the afternoon until the next day.

So the first event is obviously from 华文班 and it is a sports event i.e. badminton competition.

I can play badminton but that's a long time since Form 6 lol, and now I'm much more enjoying playing rather than competition, but it is still a very fun event and let everyone relax as well.

Unfortunately I had to leave early for the next event, which is CLESIC Orientation Bondng Camp + AGM.

Okay presenting the group photo without me inside lol.

It is an annual event that let seniors and juniors gather together and know each other.

Welp of cuz' not just a simple meet and talk but there are games and steamboat dinner as well. This might be a better relaxation for me, away from those stressful assignments.

So what about the AGM? Yupe it's the passing down of position in CLESIC to first year juniors.

I dunno why I just been chosen as treasurer without any interview or what lol.

But guess I just take it for sure.

21/11/2017

Again, another event held by 工大华文班, it is known as Students' Activity 学员活动. Such event will be conducted once each semester and this event mainly purposed for the non-Chinese students to play, learn and experience Chinese cultures.

So, for this sem, it was titled "Huállywood". Sounds very familiar with "Hollywood" right?

Now you get it, it is a one-night show for all students to shine and act a mythical Chinese story.

These stories are those you had heard before, including 年兽, 牛郎织女, 屈原, 嫦娥奔月 and 十二生肖.

I was honoured to be the MC of the night, but pretty sure wasn't doing well cuz' it is the first experience of mine to host an event.

But anyway, at least I learned quite a lot and now I'm pretty wish that I could do MC next time.

Talking about the students' acting, some of them speak Mandarin really well (of cuz' with the help of faci) and quite funny as the stories progressed.

All in all, most of them enjoyed this event and considered a success as well.

If you want to see more photos of this event, you can click here for the album on Facebook.

24/11/2017 - 25/11/2017

I should say that this week is a week of culture, as numerous events related to Chinese cultures just dropped in one by one on the list.

These two days were specially for PTUTM 工大中秋俱乐部 for the event called "《启相•熙辰》园游会".

It is also an annual event but different theme each year, and this year is mainly about Chinese zodiacs.

As I went there with my friends, I was quite amazed again, by those decorations along the carnival. You see, there're exhibitions, games stations, stunning lanterns, drawings, sculptures, shows and concerts, and the most fascinating one is the floating lantern 水上灯笼.

Talking about food, most of them are prepared homemade by themselves, but not actually impressed me as the price is not cheap at all.

Anyway, the overall presentation of the carnival overwhelmed any flaw I saw through.

These are the photos taken by me, but not including the shows as I didn't have time to watch all of them.

Instead, you can see the photos of what performances had done by clicking here to see the full album of Facebook.

15/12/2017

Back to 工大华文班 again, it is the day of 慰劳宴, a subsidized lunch event for all of the members and AJK of UTM Mandarin Class.

Well, nothing much to say about this, besides having cheap Western lunch and game.

Of cuz' but not least, photos must be taken too!

15/12/17 - 16/12/17

It's a week before Winter Solstice and CLESIC UTM (with a new batch of committees including me), organized an event "锺灵冬至圣诞之夜".

Well, we prepared one day earlier to make 汤圆 at 15/12/17 and it is the first time ever celebrate 冬至 away from home.

So, everyone took this chance to 搓汤圆 and gather to prepare for the main event next day.

The event took place at 柔佛锺灵校友会, and there's a buffet organized by the 会长 there, and new members like us need not to pay anything for the food!!!
Wow wow wow... It's quite a big surprise for us and we only have to pay for the items preparing for this event.
On the other hand, there is a present exchange session too since it is still an early celebration for Christmas.
I didn't took much photos so just imagine how actually warm of the feelings there with all juniors and seniors meeting each other together.

All of the important events ended right here, but recently I went for a one-day trip to Singapore with my coursemates.
However it is way too much to compact in this post, so I'm going to talk about it in the next post.

Now, lots of you maybe questioning why am I not have anything to say about my class?
The answer is not particularly clear to me as well, but let us start with assignments groups.

This is my assignment group for IoT project.

From left to right: Me, Sheng Wei, Tessa and Fikri.

Well, this project is massive for us. Think about it, you could actually do it even though there's completely no concept of what IoT is.

But a simple way to describe IoT is connecting device through Internet or Bluetooth to control, transfer and receive data from two different devices.

That's what you done before like hiring a Grab or Uber taxi, but our project is far more easier than that.

Our project is quite similar to TAGla, but pretty sure that we made a simple prototype that looks alike with it.

Yet, we improved it a little bit by adding lights and effect on the sound.

Finally, we made it in just one single week lol!

Most importantly is the set up and programming, as there're lots of apps preset for programming for us to complete the project, of course plagiarism is not allowed so we changed a little bit on the programming and citation added as well.

This is my assignment group for world problem case study.

From left to right: Me, Hariz, Fahmey, Fatimah, Farah and Zhong Ying.

Now this group was arranged randomly by our lecturer for the subject called "Graduates Success Attributes".

This is a subject which kind of like teaching you soft skills and their application.

Somehow there is no examination for this course but assignment carried a very high weight on our marks, up to 80%!

So, there's no doubt this assignment should have a group with good cooperation and teamwork.

I was very lucky to have these friends in my group as they can do work well and pass up the reports to me by the date I set.

Most of them are hardworking and we managed to pass up the report first among four other groups.

I'm sure that we may not be the best group but at least, we done quite pretty well.

And hope the marks could carry us to get a satisfying CGPA.

So, about the class activity, it is more from this subject too, as there are lots of group activities, and so I conclude that this course is quite a relaxation course for us, abide from the assignment given.

Below are the pictures taken from my lecturer during several group activities: