That little bit of FEAR

Fear. During the Stamford Commencement Speech in 2009, Steve Jobs mentioned about fear being a driving factor for people to live life to the fullest. On the contrary, living in fear of death day by day as cynical as it may sound, might just turn out to be true somewhere down the road.

During my repeat year, I lived my last half a year before the end year exam with the fear that I might repeat the past once more... i.e. screwing up my academic year. I could not afford for that to happen anymore. I could not bear the guilt as to the amount of time and $ I had put to waste. And more importantly, how could I let it happen in the first place? I just couldn't live with that face. 

Fear, at the time, drove me to persevere. I can't recall the origin of this story but dad mentioned about a war general bringing his troops onto the enemy's shores. They were out-numbered and his men were far from confident in facing what lies just beyond the hills in their sight. The general ordered his men to burn all their ships. So the ships were decimated to ash and the men were furiously thinking of a way for them to get home! The general told his men that there is only one option left and that was to more forward and succeed in their coming triumphant battle. This sparked an intense determination among his men and they were as united as ever. Because, they had NO ALTERNATIVE. 

This fear back then reminded me that I had no alternative but to get through the year. I've used it in 3rd year but with the hustle and bustle of internship applications and massive amounts of project work, this fear was not as intense. But this fear of mine was a double edged sword. Yea it reminded me of my lowest moments and it also haunts me as I am reminded of the misery I went through back then. This feeling just creeps around the bottom of my heart as I am busy with work in the foreground. I could feel it and it is distracting.

It is 2 years since then and I can still feel it holding me back and really affects my self esteem. Part of me just wants to get past this hurdle as fast as I can and part of me wants more time to work (hah yea weird but that's the feeling). Part of me just wants to get a job and part of myself just wants to do my best in my Exams!! Yea the smarter fellows would tell me to toughen up and do what matters in the short term first and cross the bridge as we come to it. 

But I must not forget why I am still standing here in London. The reason I am going through this miserable life style and the reason why I had to in the first place. And that is to excel in my exams. I cannot screw up. I can not and I MUST NOT. 

I'm just hoping that this coursework month would tide away this coming weekend so I could get a proper start on my revision. Exams are just about 2 months away and there is still the whole job search coming within the next few weeks. I pray for wisdom, a whole lot of luck and I pray for your blessing.

Until next time ;)

Hip Hip......!!!!..... Hooray?

Well I've just got home from my usual weekly meeting with my FYP supervisor. For once he mentioned that I've sort of fulfilled the main criteria of the project which is to essentially implement a bio-inspired bolus algorithm coupled with a meal library. I'm sort of in the improvement phase so that's pretty good to know :)

So last weekend was a bit of a disaster. I had to head in to uni on a Sunday to work on my FFM project with Edwin. Well thanks to William's copy of last years work (THANK YOU WILLIAM!!!), it ain't the same thing but we managed to use some of his info and sort of completed our chunk of the work. Really good stuff.

Later that night I had my usual internet browse and I decided to pay the Accenture Malaysia Careers website a  visit. Oh looK! The Return Home Program is open!!!! That was around 10pm and I started working on it ASAP. The tough part was structuring the cover letter. I decided to make this cover letter different from my usual generic versions.The cover letter practically took up my entire night. I think I finished the application at approximately 1am. Fingers crossed. 

Well that's not the only issue. According to Jonathan, the interview process would involve a couple of phone interviews prior to the careers fair. He mentions that the phone interviews were very much like HR type of interviews. I was afraid that it would've been case interviews over the phone I guess HR interviews would make things a little more interesting.

Nope that's not all. I did a search on Google and it appears that some candidates which applied via the fair (management consultancy) had case interviews over the phone! In fact, 2/3 case interviews!!! Oh man. Is it time to panic? Well I don't think I am prepared for the cases and with the amount of work to be done before end of term, it's gonna be a pretty rough ride.

You know what they say, no pain no gain right? And it's now or never.

Until next time ;)

Scumbag brain

You know one of those time where you just think too much and it practically ruins the rest of your day?

Haha well this happened countless number of times especially whilst I am tucked in bed trying to fall asleep. 

It's 11am now and I was just doing my usual browse on the web when suddenly it dawned on me once more; THERE IS ONLY 4 WEEKS LEFT UNTIL END OF TERM.

End of term. The significance? 

• There are only 2 terms of lectures in 3rd and 4th year so that makes this end of term my final 4 weeks of lectures as an undergraduate.
• It also means there isn't much time left to complete my work before end of term. Here's the checklist:
  - EES coursework 1 & 2 both falling on the same day
  - FFM coursework which seems to be a b1tch coz I haven't been revising and the coursework seems  quite extensive. Will be working on it this weekend onward
  - FYP background report. Not too sure what I should be writing about but I'm guessing some sort of an update report on the status of my project. Mostly noting the changes and challenges.
  - SES coursework 2. This shouldn't be much of a prob coz Chester (tqtqtq :P ) has handed me a copy of his work from the previous year. It's pretty much the same or perhaps only the date has been altered. But I will be working on it as soon as I'm done with my FYP background report.
• UKEC careers fair is almost here!!!! Time to step up my game and end it with an ultimate finish.
• Exams are just around the corner!!! Hopefully the few courseworks above would add towards my revision regime which should take place as soon as I get most of the work out of the way

And most importantly, a time to GROW UP!

It has been a pretty unusual week. Monday began with the commencement of Marketing which I find to be pretty interesting and intellectually engaging. Thursday's work on the EES lab work was pretty good in my opinion. I think I might have hogged the computer for a bit too long coz I was the one doing most of the simulations. Maybe I'm just trying to compensate for my lack of competence in this subject later on :P

Worst part was FFM. Zomg. The coursework was released today and my heart just sank when I first saw the question sheet. It consisted of 5 questions with unknown difficulty trends. All of them seemed technical (in terms of finance) and required quite a heavy amount of real data analysis from Yahoo Finance. It is gonna be sooooooo fun!

Had dinner with the usual bunch and Jonathan joined this time. He was working in RBS as well and I've heard that he's doing pretty well. But he kinda expressed his discontentment working in the company saying "I don't even know why I'm working there". lolz. He IS drawing quite a large salary chunk so I guess that's sort of a motivating factor. 

That put me in the thinking mood once more. Like where would I be in the next half a year? What will I be doing? Did I follow my gut feeling or just ride the waves and see where I end up? I guess most people would test the water and jump in hoping that the course of work life would bring them their plateau of specialization. As naive as I may sound, until that time comes, I will be sticking to my gut feeling and taking a step closer to my goal. 

So yea this is still another NOTE TO SELF IN HALF A YEARS TIME ----> How did things turn out?

Work beckons. Until next time ;)

M0ther Fukker who lives next to me

OK time for a weird post. There are 4 people living on my floor (including myself). Flat 10, 11, 12 (me!) and 13 :

Flat 10: Cool Indian (or probably middle eastern) dude who lives just opposite my room. We've never really spoken much but he's friendly and seems to be always smiling. Occasionally turns on speakers when he listens to songs or watch movies but it doesn't bother me much. 

Flat 11: Anna who moved in just a couple of days before I arrived. She's part Greek part German. Pretty friendly girl with a slightly snobbish character. Well because.... she IS pretty competent in terms of academics and she speaks very American! She's a Masters student in the business school under a scholarship. Respect! She talks pretty loudly at times but usually during the day or before 11pm to say the least. Still not that bad and doesn't really bother me.

Flat 13: ZOMG. Blardy scumbag! Indian fellow who I haven't seen much. We've only said hi a couple of times. BUT I HEAR HIM EVERYDAY. He speaks pretty loudly! We ARE living in bedsit units so loud noise are pretty audible across the rooms. He speaks as if the person on the other end of Skype is deaf!!! And almost always, he turns on the speakers! The main problem is that he does this almost every night after 11.30pm. It goes on until 1am or so. I can hear his 'OMAIGAWD!' and 'HAHAHAHAHAHA' rather clearly. I don't want to be rude so I've never mentioned this to him before. It's like saying: "Can you please not speak in your room". It's pretty annoying at times. But I guess we all have to bear with some of the short comings of living in bedsit studios. Also, there were occasions where I  found strands of body hair on the shower floor and I swear that he was the person who last used the shower. FUK U!!!!!

Anyways, I haven't done much work in the past 2 days apart from some programming and a few job applications. To add to that, I just remembered that I am supposed to submit my supervisor a 'Progress Update' type of report by the end of term. Hmmm..... that's like..... less than a month to go? Shitz..... and interviews would be taking place then. Talk about rough seas ahead. On the bright side, I should be done with 2 pieces of EES coursework within the next week so that leaves 1 FFM report, 1 Marketing presentation, 1 SES coursework and 1 FYP report. 

I love EEE Final year :)

Until next time ;)

A time to prioritize

Just another one of those days in uni. This time I had a new lecture: Marketing. Yea most people think of marketing as a form of advertising.

"Hi. Oh you're working in the marketing department? Could you show me your latest advertisement?"

Not exactly. There is more to it than just advertising. I'm thinking more along the lines of market segmentation and business planning. Really looking forward to the rest of the course.

I met A on the way back after the lecture. A returned to the UK after graduation to secure a job but things are not working out as planned. He's a pretty bring fella. Speaks well and more than presentable. Unfortunately the UK economy isn't as good as how it was a few years back. Most people have the mentality that you should work in the UK since you're from a UK university. Here's a pretty good analogy:

"You've just purchased a Ferrari. Why are you not driving it in Italy?"

I just lolz myself. Well yea the $ is pretty good in the UK considering the strength of the GBP. But that's not the case for work opportunities and even more adverse for centralized cities such as London. Job cuts have been conducted quite heavily affecting many of the corporate firms especially. And there came the question on why a firm would pay to hire foreigner if there is a readily available local graduate? I guess this applies to many other countries but the UK is really seeing some major downfalls due to this whole scenario. Unemployment is starting to become a major headline in some of the local newspaper as a matter a fact.

So I wouldn't find A's situation entirely surprising. I've tried applying to a couple of UK firms as well but as expected none of them got through even to the 1st round. But A's a readily employable individual since he's already graduated! Imperial College 2.1 and no one's offering him an opportunity. Kinda depicts how bad things really are over here.

Well enough about the UK employment crisis. Looking at projects, my FYP seems to be going quite well (at least in my opinion) all thanks to Dr. Herrero. I've made a couple of really minor and humiliating mistakes in some of my codes and he's corrected them for me. Talk about babysitting but I'm glad he's willing to help me out knowing that coding is not one of my strengths. Oh and I've also discovered that Dr. Herrero lives just about a street away from where I live. lolz

Oh and I've got a reply from UKEC with regards to my CV re-submission. It was approved so I sent in an updated CV earlier in the evening. Fingers crossed. Also, Sunway dropped a message in the morning inquiring if I could make my way to the UKEC fair and look them up for my management trainee applications. Good stuff :)

Another day closer, another 5 weeks and there goes Spring term. Looking forward to the UKEC career fair in April.

Until next time ;)

A mistake!!!!??!!?? NOOOOOooooooo!!!!

Another boring day and I was supposed to be finishing up my EES coursework.

Didnt happen :P

I did wake up particularly early though. But practically didn't get much work done even towards the end of the day. lolz

So I decided to take a peek at the CV I submitted to the UKEC careers fair. I was being all hyped up about the fair. Part of me wishes that the fair would come by in the next week but then again..... who wouldn't want more time to prepare?

Well I took a look at my CV once more. After my personal particulars I wrote a short stanza about myself and my aspirations. This is how it sounds:

"I am Final Year (4th year) MEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering with Management student at Imperial College London."

OMFG>>>>> 

I missed out an 'a' after 'I am'. ZOMG ZOMG. True it is a pretty minor mistake. The rest of the CV was fine. But this was the start! And a part which was meant to land an impression!! FAKz.......

There are two ways how this may turn out:

(1) The HR personnel would perhaps just skim through and not notice that mistake. This happened with Maybank I presume. 

(2) Reads first line. Discovers mistake. Dumps my CV into the 'unwanted' pile without considering the rest of the document. 

It's quite worrying considering I shouldn't have made such a mistake in the first place. 

Well I submitted the committee an email asking if I could re-submit my CV. 

*Fingers crossed*

Until next time ;)

Loneliness swallowing me up

My final year routine and I do really mean ROUTINE: Head off to lectures. Back home. The end. Number of face-to-face conversations in a week? A handful if I'm lucky.

Yes that's all I have been doing this past couple of months. Some say I brought this upon myself. Some tell me not to be a cry baby and whine about it. True in a sense, but does it hurt to have a little support to help me get through the day? 

The way fate works to put me in this position. FML..... I only pray that the dots connect in the end......

Seriously...... FML

Remembering our lowest when placed higher above

It's one of those nights where I rekindle some of the past 'at present time hardships' which has brought me to where I am today.

So its been about 2 weeks that me and Dad discussed about accommodation for the graduation trip in October 2012. We finally settled for Tune Hotel in Westminster London which wasn't excessively expensive (approx. GBP55/night). It appears to be one of the newer London budget hotels and rooms come equipped with air conditioners! So the $ was paid and no more scouring through lists of hotels/hostels. 

But that wasn't the issue. It dawned on me once again. I haven't got much time left in my final year. I've got a rather heavy load on my shoulders and I cannot screw things up. I WILL MAKE THINGS WORK!

The 15th February 2012. That's like the half way mark towards the end of my undergraduate degree. It feels as if EEE 1st year was a life time ago. Things have changed so much! 

Dad talked to me about his work in office not being appreciated by his superiors. I understand how he felt because I was in a similar position while working on my business economics coursework. It is very frustrating and all we can do is just be tolerant about the whole situation. Dad says that its just how things work in the corporate life. He then speaks about mom and himself looking towards retirement which is just around the corner. So it occurred to me once more that a lot has changed and will continue to change the moment I stepped into university. We are so busy looking for a path to develop ourselves that we forget about the times we are missing out:

I was young and naive to comprehend the adversity of current scenarios. Shrouded by short term goals I sidelined the crucial aspects which were not of my top concerns. One thing for sure, I never found out exactly how mom and dad is funding my education. Mom says that there is a reserve of funds and that I would not need to be concerned about any shortages which may cause mitigating circumstances in future. My priority was rigidly set: To make my way here and come home with success. At that point, success was simple. Success merely meant to graduate. Taking a deeper look into THIS success would mean to achieve at least an overall second-upper class degree. But that was just about all I the aim I had. It soon developed into shorter term goals which sounded like: "I just want to pass this year", "I just want to get to the next year and the next and so on" and "I just want to be eligible for a MEng degree". Because things were tough and I couldn't keep up.

I was following a compass without a known heading. 

I was never the studious type. Never the type who was good with exam papers (which essentially made up the majority of 1st and 2nd year). I struggled with exams. I failed; returned; got through and failed once more. I was a wreck. It was one of those times where I no longer knew what to do.

Escape was one option. And I considered it. But not for long. I gave it another shot and returned as a 're-examining' student. So I returned to uni once more, as a 'forced leave' student which was not enrolled for lectures but allowed to utilize the on-campus facilities. It meant time for me to catch up with what I lost before and to catch in on things which I never took the opportunity to look into.

That year, I decided to retrace my roots. To rethink of the reasons why I had put myself in that position. It was a long year away from class but it felt as if time passed twice as slow. It gave me time to re-position myself back on the far moving track but this time, with a destination.

That year, I attended company presentations, explored available career opportunities, seek career advice from the career advisory department and most importantly; catch up on my studies. 

Things are working out so far. I have retraced my passion and aligned it with my career aspirations. I am thankful for all that has gone by to define who I am today.

There is one last hurdle in this journey. A question to myself 5 months down the line:

""Is there anything more important than passion and determination? Fate maybe? And most importantly, wasn't it all worth it?"

I dare not expect my future to be laid out plainly right in front of me. Like what the late Steve Jobs has mentioned:

"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

In the meantime, I will seize ALL opportunities set ahead of me and to give my very best for this final lap. This I promise you ;)

Until next time. 

Looking past that job for a career

The 10th, 11th and 12th of February 2012. A weekend with a few big names. A weekend in a grand venue. A weekend for future aspirations. Truly a weekend to remember.

It was the Careers in Asia Summit 2012 event which took place at the London Canary Wharf Hilton Hotel. I've never been there before this but the Canary Wharf Hilton seemed to me to be one of the smaller hotels I've come across before. 

DAY 1: So it was meant to be an EXCLUSIVE networking event on the 10th which fell on a Friday. It was a networking event to meet the potential recruiters and maybe land a promising first impression with hopes it would bring me a notch above the rest of the applicants. That day, I skipped one of my lectures just to give me some extra 'preparation time' before this grand event. Networking event you say? Well that wasn't the case..........

It turned out that the networking event was just like any other careers fair. It was just the regular booth setups with a couple of recruiting associates. Sigh...... I was a little disappointed but hey it's a careers fair! Might as well get the most out of it since I was there. 

My first stop was MSD (Merck). Thinking that I could put some of my FYP knowledge to good use, I approached one of the personnel and told them about my insulin calculator used in insulin pumps. The lady whom I was speaking to was of Chinese decent and she had a little difficulty deciphering what I had install for her. So she got assistance from one of her colleagues. It appears that BOTH of them knew nothing about what I was talking about. In their defense, they mentioned that such technical issues would be handled by their specialized personnel who were not present at the fair. At best, they told me to check online for any possible career opportunities. What a bummer.......

So next off, I went over to JTI. It appears that JTI is looking to recruit 5 people........... FOR THE WHOLE OF ASIA. Apparently that means 1 candidate for Malaysia and Singapore respectively. The dude representing the Malaysian office didn't seem like a cheerful guy emitting a slight gesture of annoyance probably due to the number of people he had to talk to throughout the event. So I kept my questions short and handed him my CV. The end.

Next was Petronas. We were greeted by a chubby malay fellow who seemed quite friendly but not the most articulate in terms of speech. Basically he didn't know much about the energy business coz he wasn't able to comply to one of my questions saying that I would need to consult with the engineers who will be present the next day. He was a HR personnel btw. In an attempt to shove us away he directed us to his superior who was this HR lady. So I offered to shake her hand and............

Well yea its in her religion but its just a very awkward feeling to be rejected a handshake. lolz. She told us that Petronas was looking for well rounded talents which will be put through a fixed programme nevertheless but other opportunities present themselves along the way and we are not obliged to only follow one path. Sound promising. Oh and she says that she's met me before. I was like WTF? Like when? She mentions that she's seen me in the careers fair at Imperial College last autumn 2011. Really? Like really really? Can't remember. LOL

Onto the main event. SCHLUMBERGER. Schlumberger Business Consulting (SBC) to be precise. They are a privately owned consulting arm of Schlumberger which specializes in service based operations within the oil & gas and energy industry. Management/Strategy consultancy in the oil & gas field at its best. I tried preparing some info regarding renewable energy which I eventually presented to the attending consultant at the fair. Acting like a total douche...... he replies saying that SBC doesn't do anything like that and that's probably in 20-30 years down the road. So MX questions him about some trading of oil and stuff and he starts opening up..... opening up his 'douche'ness if I may. And it struct me.... I've met him before!!!! It was that same fellow back in the Singapore Careers fair in September 2011! Back then I inquired about fresh graduate experience and how an EE engineer could contribute (I thought it was Schlumberger instead of SBC). All he did at the time was hand me a company brochure and to apply online. THAT WAS IT. What a B@stard. And here I am looking like a total fool in front of him. MX tells me that its an art of the trade. To look good on the outside but having bad intentions to win the game. Dirty dirty

Before heading home, MX decided to pay Maybank a visit. So I slipped in a couple of questions about their management programme and my CV while we were there. So that was it. End of the so called networking event which appeared to be just one of those normal careers fairs. Made my way home through the cold and tried to get a good nights sleep.

DAY 2: Woke up earlier coz I was supposed to meet up with aiwoon and mx at the fair. There seems to be less participants at the fair today. Probably because most people had already attended the event on the first day. Met a couple of friends at the entrance of the fair and suddenly I received a call from an unknown number. It was Maybank! They called up to schedule me an interview on Sunday morning. I tried getting an interview that day since I was already there but they didn't have enough interview slots on the day.  So again...... feeling quite reluctant to stay any longer since there was already an interview scheduled, but I decided to once again make the most out of the event. I stayed in for a talk by Maybank. The company presentation was conducted by Pn. Nora who was the vice president of Human capital management. She spoke with a very charismatic tone. She exuded an 'strong lady' aura which served as an integrator of the company. Very much like mom! One of those presentations which really made an impact on me. She explains the modern Maybank being a multinational enterprise which is undergoing rapid development with no plans of stopping just yet! So it struct me. True I had no interest and intentions to work in the financial industry. But looking over finance, it was a enlarging multi national company! There were opportunities for project management and corporate governance which really compelled me further to look into Maybank.

DAY 3: I was really looking forward to the interview today hoping that it would be Pn. Nora sitting right across the desk. The interview was scheduled at 10.30 am so I took my time getting prepared in the morning. At 9am I received a call from the careers fair asking me if I was on my way. It was 9am and i replied saying I am still home. Well..... they told me I have been rescheduled for an earlier interview at 9.50am and that I should try to get there ASAP. WTF!!!!! So I rushed my way there and thankfully I arrived there at the venue just on time. I was sent to conference room 409 down the hall. So I made my way there and politely knocked on the door. I was greeted by a cheerful malay fellow of about 40 years of age. En. Mizal is the vice president of IT who also has a cross departmental role as Pn. Nora's 2nd in command. Yea I was a little disappointed that it wasn't Pn. Nora but it was good in a way! En. Mizal was a very down to earth kind of guy. He spoke to me very casually stating that he is on the lookout of potential individuals who would one day rise up and be a great asset of the Maybank's future management team. Mentioning that banking itself is fundamental but not of an essence in terms of corporate guidance and expansion. 'Sponges' I presume. Someone capable of being developed and lead. He understood that I do not posses much of a financial background. So we just continued talking about our backgrounds and I tried bringing up topics on corporate governance to show some of my managerial concerns in terms of a career. He paused saying that he finds it very comfortable talking to me and that he sees potential which would be complete with a little guidance at the start. Oh boy what an honor to hear that. He points to a pile of resumes on his desk with yellow and green labels. He tells me: 

"You see this pile of CV's. There are green and yellow labels on them. Green labels represent candidates who will be forwarded to the next round. And to make you day a little more cheerful, I am sticking a green label on your CV"

OMG 

I mean... I was utterly flattered! Well its probably one of those HR techniques to make a candidate feel good but I will just hope for the best. 

Mr. Mizal has earned a spot as one of those very influential people in my life. He tells me:

"Work to seek that career of yours. NOT work just to get a job"

YES sir! 

I was never really interested in the interview with Maybank in the first place; thinking that I would just treat it as a form of experience. Guess I was wrong. It was truly one of those experiences which change my views on the future. Thank you Careers in Asia. Thank you Maybank and thank you En. Mizal.

Until next time ;)

1 Valentines day celebration in 24 years

Hi baby!

Just in case if you're reading this some distant time in the future, well..... it's the 14th February 2012!

We're into our fifth year this coming 12th March 2012! And we've only celebrated the big V-day once (in 2010).

I know it hasn't been easy for both of us to have gone through the whole long distance thing for such a long time. But I am so glad that you have stood by me for all this time. I just can't imagine how life would be without you in it.

Well I'm coming home in 4 and a half months time and I promise that our V-day celebrations will never be the same :)

Lots of love from London and more back home this summer :D

Finding opportunity in disaster

Well I was supposed to be preparing for my networking session cum careers fair which starts tomorrow evening (10th February 2011) and spans almost the entire weekend. I wasn't aware of the participating companies until after I had applied. Apparently there will be 11 companies:

- 2 of which are banks 

- 3 pharmaceutical/healthcare firms

- 1 Singapore general recruitment firm

- 2 Oil & Gas firms

- 1 heavy equipment manufacturer

- 2 tobacco companies

So I thought I'd give the healthcare firms a shot with my FYP since it IS health related. It appears that NONE of them deal with insulin pumps. After checking the availability of job positions at their international recruitment sites, it seems that all the positions I had interest in would require a degree in Pharmacy or medical sciences! So that's 3 crosses off the list.

The tobacco companies sound to be an attractive place to kick start a career. Supposedly they are quite generous with salary payments according to a few sources. So I thought of giving it a try. But the only thing I can relate to is the manufacturing field so I'd give a shot with asking them about their manufacturing facility. Oh and there goes my dignity since I really do despise smokers. No offence to friends and family, but seriously..... smoking ain't good for you and EVERYONE else.

I've applied to the Singapore recruiter back in September 2011 so that's another cross. Dad used to work for the heavy equipment manufacturer and he's advising me to stay away. Another cross. YAY!

Next up: Oil & Gas. Both conglomerates in the industry. Thing is that I HAVE ALMOST ZERO KNOWLEDGE about the field. So I was supposed to be brushing up on my knowledge on Oil & Gas but things just didn't turn out that straightforward. 

Well firstly I just couldn't get my mind off the fact that I MIGHT be putting myself in a less favorable position  once more. Meaning to say, personally I'm not very confident about attending the networking session as I have not fully gone through my homework. Secondly, I don't want to make a bad impression which might torment me in return sometime down the road. BUT, it's my final year and its a pretty large scaled (regional) group of companies so it probably wont do any harm. It's also good experience before the big show in April. 

Secondly, like all career related agendas, a part of me says that none of these companies would be truly capable of manifesting my passion. I have decided to devote myself towards finding my place within the mobile technology sector and none of these companies offer such opportunities. This kept my focus away from learning about Oil & Gas!!! It was as if I am in the midst of preparing myself for the UKEC careers fair in April! My research kept diverting towards telecoms.

To make things worse, I got a reply from the business school about our Innovation Management coursework. Well we got a C. C C C C!!!!! I was pretty frustrated throughout the day because she mentions that we should have used a systematic approach in comparing patents and compiling them based on the companies. I remember sending the course lecturer a couple of emails stating that for our choice of equipment (the Compound Bow), we were unable to locate any source of financial data or material which states a portfolio of patents based on companies. None of the companies listed any details and even community sites was of no help. Basically, we were unable to list patents based on companies. Nuff said.

But thinking about her comments a little deeper, it was probably possible to implement a systematic approach in analyzing the patents. That was the only flaw which I could think of. On top of that, there were 7 people in the team and only 3 of us actually put in the effort to complete the report! A couple of them even had the dignity to 'copy and paste' information directly off WIKIPEDIA!!!! Fakz..... I mean we are educated men and that's the best they could come up with? Sigh.... On the other hand, it was me who proposed we choose the compound bow. There were a few other products but I was worried about material base and structure. One of which was the Football. I didn't manage to dig out any technological patents (only designs). So that would mean the only technologies worth mentioning are material changes and perhaps a few design approaches. The other was the stopwatch. It took a bit of thinking, but the stop watch is just...... a watch?? sure it may be tuned to suit different sports but how fundamentally different would it be? So I suggested the compound bow, merely because we could split it into components (so we could work in individually) and there are visible changes in the components throughout the years. Well yea everyone agreed in to it but I still feel a little responsible for choosing the topic. So to those who actually put in the effort, I am truly sorry. Truth to be said, I did the most work out of anyone. Peace :)

It's less than 24 hours before the networking session and I'm still trying to read up on the Oil & Gas industry. In the worst case, I'd just pop them a question about the industry, jump to the next company, pop them a question and the next and then the next and then I'd walk out the door and make my way home. Oh and not to mention the weather forecast which says: SNOW IN LONDON on the 10th February 2012. I take that back.... its ALREADY FREAKIN SNOWING  *Prays to got that it doesn't get too cold*

Until next time, I mean tomorrow night ;)

Of choices and weighted returns

Question: If you could have just one item. Anything one thing in the entire universe. Be it fiction or fact. What would it be?

I would want a time machine. A time machine of any sort. It could be the form of a futuristic car or even a wrist strapped watch! Yea that would be awesome! 

My reason is simple and rational: To seek my future answers today and to know what is coming ahead of me. Made a wrong turn along the way? Simple! Just make a leap back in time and turn the right way round! Or even more effectively, just find out what lies beyond the horizons and ALWAYS make the right choices. 

A little more than a decade ago (zomg..... I'm old! Noooo!!!!), I was sat in front of a talk by Mr. Adam Khoo. It was one of those 'how to be a high achiever' or 'Unleash the straight-A scholar within you' type of seminars. Oh wait it was't a seminar. It was a publicity campaign to advertise the seminar. It was one of those crucial years where a really big final examination took place at the end of that year (I can't remember which one it was but I think it was UPSR?) so dad wanted to mentally prep us for the episodes to come. I have read Mr. Khoo's books which illustrated his journey towards being a top scholar. Well yea his story was pretty inspirational so we thought his seminar would be a life changer.

I was young and naive science minded student. Back then it was all about science subjects thinking that science would be a big part of my life. Not too shabby yes? So the talk commenced with Mr. Khoo introducing himself while re-iterating his life story. It was an expected start but it had the feel of a business proposal. He then made a remark which I can't seem to remember how it sounded exactly. Basically he mentioned that business people would reign over the techies and that is just how the world works. Yes I was young and I didn't really comprehend how society worked. I was pretty disappointed with the talk but I didn't let his words affect me (not too much I guess). We stayed throughout the programme but made no commitments thereafter. 

The next 10 years being a science scholar went pretty well. I was very passionate about science subjects especially Biology and I found the growth of mobile technology to be rather astonishing. On the contrary, my passion for science meant that I had no exposure to the more qualitative subjects like management and economics. It was a straight path which I had been following all this while.

Is there an end to this journey? Am I stuck here? Those were thoughts that never came to mind. All I wanted to know was where am I heading to in my next stop? Well after mom and dad suggested that I took A-Levels after my SPM. TARC was really near home and I was entitled to a 100% tuition fee waiver (applicable for all students achieving 8 A's and above in their SPM). So it was a no brainer. Get the exact same certification as what you would expect from the more expensive institutions out there relatively at no cost! 

Do you believe in positive peer pressure? Well yea it happened mid way within A-Levels. It was just after the AS-level examination. So a few buddies and myself got into the 'Apply for all the foreign universities' mood:

It was just a handful of us that got into this frenzy. We were sending out applications to Oxbridge which involved postage of documents and written material. We sat for the SAT I and SAT II just for our application to the NUS. I even sat for the SAT's twice!! Talk about being desperate. The whole process involved a quite a sum of $. This included postage costs and examination fees for the SAT's. There were also a couple of interviews along the way which took up quite a bit of time as well. Sure I had my fair share of rejections but the overall result was pretty positive. I received rejections from both the Singaporean institutions and Oxbridge as well. On the other hand I received offers from all of my UK applications! The downside was that the respondents were a mixed bag. I didn't really do much research on the UK universities but here's the list:

(1) Southampton - Said to be pioneers in Electrical and Electronic engineering. Illustrative material on the websites made the university setting look rather modern yet laid back with a near sea-side town kind of feel. According to some reviews, Southampton was ranked as the 2nd best EEE university in the UK!!! But that was just one ranking website. Still worth a shot!

(2) Manchester - Sounds cool yea?!! A city campus setting with a reasonable rating for EEE. Another addition to the list

(3) Bristol - A little outskirt from the larger towns but it was a collegiate university. Think traditional Harry Potter Hogwarts styled universities.

(4) Imperial College - Was not among my top choices because I never really heard of this place. Seriously....... until I looked it up, it was ranked number 5 in the whole world!!!! ZOMG. That made it number 3 in the whole of UK!!!!! And it was solidly holding the number 2 spot in EEE within the UK. Did you just say that I received an offer to be enrolled in UK's top 3 most prestigious universities? Zomg........ 

OK so it was a simple guess which one's I picked in the end. Oh and these were conditional offers with each university expecting a different degree of grades at the end of my A-levels. Imperial college was by far the one university with the highest demand. There was a AAA requisite for Imperial whereas the rest demanded a range from ABB up to AAB. At the time, I was standing at AABC so I had to really up my game in A2. Unfortunately my grades were stuck at AABC even after resitting a couple of papers in A2. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't make the AAA grade for Imperial College.

I had practically given up hope on Imperial so I enrolled at Nottingham University Malaysia. Nottingham was a new branch set-up in Malaysia set-up by the original Nottingham university in the UK. It was a great choice as the institution provided world class facilities with an opportunity to go abroad at the UK campus in some parts of the degree. Mom and Dad were very supportive and we even got our accommodation settled! Bro and myself would live in a double room and drive to uni together. Swan was there as well!! It would have been a great and comfortable start of my tertiary education. The registration for Nottingham were all complete and I was waiting for the official offer letter to arrive. The administration notified me that they would courier me the university starting up kit in a couple of weeks. So I was pretty excited to commence my life at Nottingham. It was going to be great!!!

The coming weeks involved me waiting for my started pack to arrive. One day I received a letter in the mailbox. Printed on the envelope was 'UCAS'. A strange feeling went down my spine as I opened the letter. So I was assuming that they were about to notify me that my entry was not permitted due my results. Well it wasn't so........ It was a letter which stated my commencement at Imperial College. I was rather confused at the time due to the shock and uncertainty upon reading those words. So I made a long-distance call to the UK to clarify the reading in the letter. I explained that I was unable to make the grade so what would the letter mean? The kind lady on the other end of the line explained that I was on the borderline and Imperial College decided to give me a chance!!!!!!!

Have you ever had this feeling that your chest was heavy, you felt happy yet frustrated at the same time? I was really happy that I had the chance to enroll in one of the world's most prestigious universities but I was also persistent on going to Nottingham as things would seem to be very enjoyable with great company. Adding to that, I would have to deal with my student Visa, flight tickets and luggage all just under 2 months (a little more than a month and a half). It was a mix of feelings that I just couldn't embrace at the time. On one end, I was excited that it was an opportunity which doesn't come by everyday. On the other end, I just wanted to rip that letter into pieces and thought that it never arrived. 

Mom and Dad if you are reading this, I am terribly sorry but it was really how I felt at the time. Looking over at the college tuition fees, it would just cost too much. Yes COST was one word which I did not pay attention to when applying for the long string of universities. I was driven by short term goals and at the time, it was to just obtain as many acceptances as I could. True that most people would look at things in the long term. I get questioned a lot: "Why would you want to pay so much if you could get the same degree cheaper elsewhere?". A question that I an unable to answer as I am still a couple of steps away from graduation. But the reasoning at the time was simple: If you had a choice with everything else not becoming an issue, wouldn't you? My short term struggle at the time was to gain acceptance and to give me choices. So at the moment, I would answer the aforementioned individuals with a question instead:

"Why limit yourself if you know you could go further?"

Mom and Dad always told me to always do my best in my endeavors and think about crossing the bridge when we are at its gates. So I was still pretty reluctant to settle with the cost of education there. Considering tuition fees alone, a four year MEng degree at Imperial College would enable me to fully complete 4-6 masters degrees at the local Nottingham campus!!! And that was just tuition fees alone! 

So it was a choice which would affect my future and perhaps suppress the economic stature of my family while I am away. At the time I put myself out of the picture thinking only of funding. The JPA scholarship was closed and my family income would definitely not comply with their requirements (not low enough to be bestowed the scholarship yet not high enough to effortlessly let me embark on this voyage). We had long deep discussions on the matter within the week I received the offer. We had to decide quick as the clock was ticking and preparations had to be made either way. Mom and Dad made made a good point that such universities don't come by often. Adding to that I was given a 2nd chance knowing I had not achieved the required grades! Opportunity cost as to what I look at it even today. Mom and Dad also reassured me that they are financially capable. Stating that no matter how things turn out, my families expenditure would not be affected. At that age, I was not able to value the amount of $ spend on my education abroad. All I knew was that it was a REALLY big amount of $.

It was a collective decision in the end and I embarked on my education here at Imperial College. A commitment and responsibility which I am willing to accept. I am yet to see the fruits of my labor and toll on my family thus far but I promise that I would comprehend the whole situation one day. Thank you Mom and Dad :)

Until next time ;)

A little extra effort for that little extra step

For some reason I've never been able to fall asleep before 2.30am especially after the 2nd half of January 2012. Perhaps its what Dad calls melatonin acting against me. Especially last night I started to feel really groggy around 9pm but yea I couldn't let my day end so early. I kept myself awake by surfing and playing a game or 2 on my mobile. And I was practically wide awake thereafter!!!! I spent my night tossing and turning on my bed but thoughts of the future just kept me awake throughout the night. I had to be awake a little earlier the next morning for a meeting with my FYP supervisor so sleep was pretty crucial at the time.

So my meeting was scheduled at 11am so I had my alarm wake me up twice (2 alarms set at 2 different times). BUT no it none of them went off. I glanced at the clock and it was 10.10am!!!! Zomg..... that's like 2 hours past my alarm! So I rushed my way to uni and thankfully I arrived just 5 minutes after 11am (Yes I have long toilet sessions... shhhhh ). 

The meeting was held to introduce me to phase 3 of the project. Phase 3 involved the integration of a 2 compartment stomach absorption model which is a proper food absorption model as proven by Dallaman and gang. The model involved a series of differential equations which made the model look pretty complex. It took quite awhile for me to digest the material (at a glance to say the least) but Dr. Herrero was in the midst of 3 datelines and he has a big conference in Barcelona this Wednesday so I didn't want to keep him away from his work for too long. So I tried clarifying as much material as I could and assured him that I would look up the Dallaman report for a more concrete understanding of the model. 

So there I was making my way to the EEE department to meet with William. We were supposed to go over another piece of coursework together so I sent him a text to confirm if he was around/making his way here soon. Well he said he would turn up at 2.30pm. But William was not very known as a very punctual person (not always but it does occur). He turned up just after 3pm which wasn't that bad I suppose. Oh he passed his grading btw :P

That's practically my usual start of the week. A large dose of FYP which I managed to code most of during my wait for William in uni and a relatively quick start on a piece of coursework which is due in a weeks time. 

Later that day I received an email requiring EEE students to re-confirm our academic course selection. The email included a link which I assumed to be a link to the course selection website. Well it wasn't so this time. It led to another link which led me to a list of students all their selection of courses listed. I noticed that I am the 1 AND ONLY student taking 5 management subjects. The norm was 3 but quite a number had 4 in their list. The difference was that the students with 4 management subjects are registered for the minimum number of subjects (7 subjects). In a sense that would put us all on a similar level considering the options chosen. Difference was that I decided to register for the maximum number of courses (8 subjects) with Marketing being my extra module. It was quite a relief to know that quite a majority are also taking the minimum number of technical options (3 subjects :P ).

Why not just opt for the minimum number of subjects? My course tutor suggested the same as well. I have always made it rule to never settle for the least. It applies to almost all of my endeavors. "Put in that extra effort" , "Go that extra mile further!" , "Suffer for a short term and benefit in the long term". These are examples of what I tell myself when I am given a choice. 

In my 3rd year of study, I personally felt that I pushed my efforts a little over the limit in terms of course selection. Sure it may not be a wise thing to do but I did it anyway so no point crying over spilled milk. I took the maximum number of subjects in my 3rd year (9 subjects instead of the regular 8). The trouble was that the extra subject I took (Control engineering) was conducted over the Autumn term 2011. Coupled with the other courses I had that term, I was swimming in a neck-high load of coursework. 6 subjects to be precise. That meant 6 lecture courses to follow and more than 6 pieces of coursework to complete all within 1 term!!!!!! That term was really he11 for me. It felt as if I didn't have much time to even take a breather. Adding to that, I was busy sending out internship applications. Yea the year was pretty tough and there was a lot to handle. And I just can't stand it when people say they have it rougher than my course when they only have 2 or 3 courses in a term. That's half of what I have done in a term!!!! Half!! 

Unfortunately Control Engineering didn't turn out to be a subject which I followed very well. Prof. Astolfi seemed to be a pretty great academic but I just couldn't understand what he taught!!! The notes was pretty hard to understand too. To make things worse, he recommended a course text which was written in a foreign language!!! FML......... It was a past-exam paper learning experience which didn't turn out too well. But in the end, my calculations proved that taking the course (though not scoring beautifully) did indeed add a little extra to my overall mark!!!! So not all was lost and I gained a little in the process!!!!

So that was my lesson. Think nothing about doing less as effort never goes to waste. Knowing that I have attempted more than 9 subjects a year over the course of my degree, I stepped up my game again and enrolled for Marketing which I feel would be a great learning experience and would really sharpen my analytic skill + thought process.

May my inner dragon soar in it's element this 2012!

Until next time ;)

I'll have a flat white please

So it started snowing a while ago. I guess the weather forecasts are pretty accurate. It's been snowing for over 3 hours and the roof's are already covered in a coat of white. Wonder if this will be my last time experiencing snow ever in my entire life :-/

Remember me being stuck with my FYP? Well my supervisor replied earlier this evening. The unusual thing is that he's attached a brand new set of codes! Code which I was stuck with but this time it works but it was written by him. I do have a bad feeling from the tone of his email. He mentions that I have made the code a little too complicated and that this is advanced Matlab programming. He included a smiley right after that line but I'm seeing it in a rather cynical way. It sounds as if he's expecting my coding skill to be much better than what I have to offer. Fine I guess its true to some extent that I should've adopted better coding styles but I've only barely coded properly for about a year. I mean I feel that I have improved a whole lot from where I was before and I seem to code things rather intuitively (which also mean rather inefficient and non-elegant coding methods) so that I understand the fundamentals a little easier.

Sigh...... I really appreciate his help (he practically did my chunk of the work!) and I think at this point I can only try my best to impress him upon completion of the next set of deliverable's.

*Pray's for smooth progress from now onward*

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann or more commonly known as Gurren Lagann is a story of an underdog belittled by his surroundings but later illustrates his triumphant journey in changing + saving the world. It's an anime which I watched during term last year (3rd year 2011). Ah.... the memories.

The anime starts off with Simon being the main protagonist of the film: 

It was a world where humankind inhabited in underground caverns as a demonic race reigns the upper world. It was a form oligarchy which was held supreme by this demonic race known as 'Beastmen'. Yea it sounds pretty corny but please bear with me.

So human kind lived in hiding not knowing that an outside world existed. Well ok they were more or less banished from the outside world by the Beastmen to make things clear. Simon lived in an underground village known as Giha Village where he was tasked as a digger. Digging was a means of expanding the underground colony and he was a perfect match with the drill. He was the best digger in the colony but he is often belittled by the rest. Depicted more of a coward with no self-pride and despised by the opposite gender. But Simon was content with life. he enjoyed digging and he often prized himself with treasure which he digs out on occasion. 

Here comes Kamina:

Kamina is a man full of pride with an ego too large for retention. So yea he exhibits a hint of arrogance and rebellious in nature. Even so, he is a 'bro' to Simon, always telling Simon to keep his chin up as Simon will be the one to drill towards the heavens. Kamina was an adventure seeker who was always keen on seeing the outside world. I can't recall his reasoning but it had something to do with his late father who left the colony to become an adventurer. So yea Kamina was a spirited man in seek of the truth and not wanting to settle.

There came a day when Simon stumbled upon a small but strange drill shaped object which glowed as Simon held it in his hands. Digging a little further he finds a large head-like object which glowed in sync with the little drill pendant. The first episode continued with a colossal head-shaped-torso-weird looking mech which comes tumbling down into Giha village. In its pursuit was a young lady clad in a skimpy outfit known as Yoko:

Like a true man, Kamina steps forward to subdue the beast with a..... err..... katana? lolz. With the help of Simon and his drill, Yoko saves Kamina in the process. Simon then tells Kamina about the odd head-shaped object he found which turned out to be a mini gunman (The mech with the head shaped torsos are known as gunmen). Once again like a true man, Kamina rejects the gunman and tells Simon that the gunman belongs to him and he had no intent of taking advantage over his findings. So Kamina pilots Lagann (the name of the gunman) and subdues the foreign mech with its special weapon: DRILLS. Yeap yours truly by Simon:

So Kamina, Yoko and Simon embarks on a journey to hunt down the beastmen in search of the truth and of their origins (The truth of why they are banished to the underground life). They had their fair share of hardships and conflicts which later bloomed into friendship. 

They then formed the Dai-Gurren team which set forth to subdue the Spiral King which reigned over the land with the beastmen being his henchmen:

Under Kamina's lead team Dai-Gurren advances through the lands. With the enchanted powers of Lagann, Kamina combines his mech (Gurren) with Lagann which formed the ever-powerful Gurren Lagann (yea what  creativity. lolz):

Kamina was an optimist who never faltered whenever things got rough. He kept pushing forward and channels his determination to Simon with his famous saying: "Believe in me who believes in you" whenever Simon doubts his own capabilities. Kamina was often depicted as the character which instills courage in his comrades especially his partner Simon. The catalyst which sparked the light of hope over humanity (in the context of this anime of course). Unfortunately he meets his doom in one of the very important battles in their journey. He fought till the end with his spirit held high knowing that his efforts would not go to waste. 

Simon is hit hard by the incident. His closest friend, his idol and his 'bro' is no longer by his side. Simon goes into a fluster rendered incapable of controlling his emotions even when in control of Lagann. Team Dai-Gurren was at a standstill. With no direction they stalled to rethink their plans. But instead, the beastmen arrives to teach them all a lesson. This time around there was no Kamina to defend them and Simon was unable to operate Lagann. So Team Dai Gurenn gets a good beating this time. But not all hope is lost. A mysterious girl named Nia reminds Simon of his pro-found courage and determination during his adventures with Kamina. And obviously the late Kamina wouldn't want to see his bro all held up without him around. So Simon starts believing himself, "Believe in the Simon who believes in himself". LOLZ. So Simon returns with a blast and finishes off all of the beastmen with Gurren Lagann at full force. 

The episodes to come illustrates Simon being a leader of team Dai-Gurren. He is shown as a mature leader with a charisma matching that of the late Kamina:

Ok so it's a pretty corny story with a fictional twist making it akin to a children's show. But the music and portrayal of scenes make the story truly EPIC 

Looking over the story once more, it is the journey of an underdog who was never appreciated by the masses but finds hope in the eyes of the few (Kamina for one). The drill was a metaphor used to portray diligence and achievement. The drill was no wonder tool but with every turn of its handle, it paves a path closer and closer towards our goal. SO never stop turning that drill and one day we shall reach the stars.

With a little passion, all it takes is a push of determination and optimism to get the gears running. It's been a year since I watched the anime and yea true its a freakin anime!!!! But I'd say I've learnt a thing or two from the underlying values of this epic saga. Go watch it! NOW!!

Until next time ;)

2012 Honda Civic

So the new Singapore-Malaysia's edition of the 2012 Honda Civic has just be confirmed with some images:

Omaigodd....... wat kind...... Seems as if the Civic just aged 20 years in an instant. The 2007 civic was so youthful and sporty. The 2012 version just seems a little too mature looking. It lost a lot of its sportiness and the lights on the trunk just doesn't go well in my opinion.

So bye bye Honda Civic. Hello Hyundai Elantra :D :D 

A path trodden by failure and rejection

Well yes it a follow up to what entails from the journey in seeking out that special cup.

Every now and then you meet a very inspirational person whom you have come to respect and adhere to his preaching s with extremity. I took a course called Entrepreneurship under the Imperial College Business School (No longer known as Tanaka Business School. Why? Well.... it appears that Tanaka hasn't been a good boy and he was caught read handed. lolz). The Entrepreneurship course commenced with a lecture by Mr. Simon Stockley. He was a pretty hefty fellow. Big boned I'd say. He spoke with a very charismatic tone which simply honed my attention to what he had to say. Simon was a banker in a retail bank if my memory doesn't fail me. Why is he teaching at Imperial you may ask. Well here's his story and I will try to recall as much as I can (I'd wan't to rekindle this thought someday in the future):

Simon was a retail banker. He was soon promoted as a manager of his branch office somewhere in the UK. He tell's us that it was a positioned he had worked towards for his entire career. But that was just about it. It wasn't a great life which he expected. One day his superior called him into his office. His boss sat him down in front of his desk, asking Simon to look on the table in front of him. Laid on the table was a pen. Mr. Boss-guy asked Simon to pick the pen up and handed it to him. Mr. Boss took the pen from Simon and he told Simon:

"You see this pen which I'm holding? It's just like you. I can use it but I can also do this: *Mr. Boss throws the pen into a waste paper bin next to his desk*"

It was indeed a cruel scene in corporate life which I had to picture and probably come to expect in the near future. But that wasn't the end. Simon resigned from his job at the bank and assisted his wife with her hobby-cum-small business venture. Mrs. Stockley had a knack for designing hats. Yea HATS and she was pretty good at it apparently! Most of her hat designs themed for wedding functions and most importantly, she enjoys it! One day they were approached by a magazine publishing company which proposed to the Stockley's that he would want to co-produce a magazine catered specifically for wedding hats! It was a pretty novel idea and with no sign of local competition. It had potential. So the Stockleys agreed with the magazine and the the editorial commenced. The magazine was a success. Though not a regional blockbuster it was a leap from where they were operating at. 

As the foundations of the magazine were laid, Stockley got in contact with a couple of friends which operated consultancy based businesses (I'm guessing he provided Financial consultancy judging from his previous occupation). His wealth slowly recovered as he contracted small consulting gigs ever so often and so did his net-worth as an individual! He was back on track after seeing life from a down up perspective. But that wasn't it. Not much of an implication career wise (not at this point to say the least *touch wood* ) but there was a night after work where he returned home late from work but had no appetite for dinner. Mrs. Stockley found it rather unusual but Simon insisted that he was fine. So later that night a horrid discomfort woke him from his sleep. He soon started regurgitating blood. Mrs. Stockley called up the emergency hotline and by G0d's will the ambulance arrived within the next 20 minutes or so. 

Simon was immediately brought to the hospital and doctor's treated him immediately (not sure if an operation was involved). The doctor says that it was due to a stomach ulcer!!!! The doctor even mentioned if the ambulance hadn't been around the area, an extra half-hour wait would prove to be fatal considering the amount of blood loss. It was exactly what happened to my grandpa who had a stomach ulcer 2 years ago. Thankfully we were quick to take action and grandpa has fully recovered.

OK so maybe some parts of the story didn't match up that well and there isn't much of a relation ( i mean I did and I still do). Simon tells us that we shouldn't be hampered by academics and monetary rewards. Money for one is simple yet necessary element which job seekers seek. Personally I would and probably still am having the same perception but hey who doesn't want $? He tells us that opportunities are everywhere and it depends on our effort to seek them out and of course, a whole lot of LUCK. He also made a remark stating that Finance, though an important and well sought after career, is a deep trench. Though aligned with ones goals, it's almost never a continuous learning curve. To make big $ we have to be entrepreneurs (hence the course) and more importantly we must have a passion for what we do. PASSION is something which you may or may not have found yet. So he urges us to highly consider Consultancy as a starting career path. Consultancy is a business line which sees all types of businesses from an objective perspective but almost always a subjective solution. It was the exposure and learning that a fresh graduate needs to develop inspirational goals. And consultancy as Simon mentioned is a perfect way to kick start a career in finding one's true calling. 

So maybe some would see Mr. Stockley's claims as a crude way of contrasting the Consultancy line of work with that of finance. But his message was sincere. We had to do something we are passionate about. Life is very short and sheer happiness itself is not everlasting. He must be very glad with how things turned out. Not being hampered with unemployment, Simon seeks to grow other important 'assets' which he share in life and has learnt to appreciate even the least significant of returns of the day. I for one, will always remember him as a figure which reminded me of the reason I stepped out of my comfort zone. Drilling for the stars! 

As for the drill; until next time ;)

The cold and its fluff

So its like 0 degrees or maybe even lower out there. I'm all warmed up in my room...... tired and sleepy but not about ready to call it a day so its time to put in a post or two.

Well I was busy coding away the 'vectorial' form of calculations for my FYP and I stumbled upon a road block on how the right combinations of Bolus-Basal-Rate would be extracted for each time iteration. It would depend on a benchmarking notation which initially was based on the Risk Index. But that itself is time dependent! So I coded the rest of the program in the vectorial notation and sent a long email to my supervisor close to 12am that night to clarify my findings. And I thought my project was proceeding pretty smoothly :-/

Anyways, like I said its freezing cold out there. Got up early (ok so I missed my alarm and I was almost late) for a 9am sustainable energy systems lecture. Met William as usual and he's getting his grading done this Sunday! Awesome stuff! I know he'll get through and he's pretty determined. Maybe he's devoted a bit too much of his life to kendo but I hope he doesn't neglect his studies. 

Back to the story about seeking accommodation for the graduation trip, I went to have a look at Barkston Rooms just around Earls Court. Its basically a youth hostel and we all know how youth hostels are built and operated. I wouldn't rate it as the best hostel to live in especially for such a relatively long stay for a trip (1 week). I would rank it among the few hostels which I would try to avoid but hey I'm not that old and I just need a bed to rest during the wee hours. It was on par with the hostel that me and Swan bunked in when we were in Paris. The receptionist handed me a key to a room and he told me to view it myself! lolz talk about 100% trust in strangers or 100% laziness perhaps. So I made my way up to the 4 bed 'dorm'. I'm thinking when they mentioned a 'quad room' its basically a 4 bed dorm which had all 4 beds vacant. Zzz...... There were 2 bunk beds in the room with a small fridge and a sink. No bells and whistles but the room was decent. It was generously spacious and I would be pretty happy with it. So what's so bad about the place you say? Quite subjectively the toilets and showers. There was a single toilet in the hallway which was shared by another 3/4 rooms on the same wing. The shower was located on another wing which wasn't too bad. The thing which really put me off was that there were 2 showers (not the most luxurious looking) which looked so-so in terms of hygiene but one of them doesn't even have a shower nozzle! Wadafak............ I'm guessing there are 2 showers shared by 2 wing-length of rooms and one of them is already out of service!?????!!! Seriously? Zzzz...... well it is a youth hostel so it's to be expected I guess.

I will have to inform everyone about the hostel. Personally I'm willing to put up with the place since I've had worse experiences *cough cough.... Chamberlain... cough... house*Cough** Considering that Easyhotel was pretty restricting in terms of floor space. It's practically a bed and a toilet with almost zero floor space. Oh and did I mention no windows? Haha yea. A price to pay in return of clean facilities and a prime location.

Oh and the best part of my day? A rejection email from none other than Accenture Singapore. Remember my 2nd post of this blog stating myself writing a long winded letter to accompany my exam transcript? Well yes it was for Accenture Singapore. I worked pretty hard for this application and I had put a lot of thought in answering all the questions in the application. Well it appears that Singaporean's really do just want perfectionists to join their ranks. Sigh......  a quiver of disappointment sharply puncturing my ego and self esteem at such an important time of my studies.....

Guess I'll put this into a separate post so until next time ;)

New found pas-time

Ah the second day of February. That much closer towards the halfway mark of my final year as an undergraduate. You mean I've been here for almost 4.5 months already??? Mother of G0d......

I think I've come to enjoy blogging lately. Just kicking back chilling with my favourite tunes (churned out through my DAC + Grado SR125i combo of course) while I'm typing away just makes me feel more relaxed and accomplished in some sort of way. Peculiar ain't it? :P

The day started with Chester inviting me to a lou sang dinner which I've NEVER had in the past 2 years if I'm not mistaken. Sadness much. Well I've just recovered from my illness and I actually felt pretty good so I agreed with dinner later in the day. But that feeling soon changed as I left the house for a meeting with my FYP supervisor. It's freakin freeezzzziiinnnnggggg bringing the season to a whole new chill level. It felt almost sub-zero as my ears felt as if they were about to fall off my head. No joke. It hasn't been this cold in quite a while. Anyhow, the meeting with my supervisor didn't go as smooth as I expected. Rest assured it wasn't in a bad way. Remember me toiling away at the code the past couple of days even when I was sick? Well it wasn't what he had in mind (or how I thought he wanted it). So it was back to square one...... almost I guess. He explained his idea more clearly this time and I think I've a thought or two on how to implement it from the work I've done in the past few days. Safe to say that not all hope is lost then :P

So I returned home after the hour long meeting as I've cancelled my 'nurses appointment' later that afternoon thinking I've already fully recovered. But the trip home felt as cold as the journey towards uni and I felt as if I was about to fall sick all over!!!! Dammmmiiitttt....... Ookkaaayyyy...... I'll be honest, it was probably just a feeling I had and was mostly influenced by my thoughts that I MIGHT be sick but in fact I wasn't. Hahahaz. I did feel that my throat was feeling a little out of the ordinary so I decided to pass on Chester's yee sang and hibernate at home instead.

Well it was the usual stay-home and hope for a 100% recovery before the end of the week in preparation for the Careers in Asia summit held the following weekend. Stayed home and Dad was online. We talked about accommodation for the graduation trip which then led to a small pick on ........ you've guessed it...... CARS. Yes I'm thinking if I was gonna work back in Malaysia I'd need a car. So we were discussing about prices and suitable first car 'candidates' which boiled down to a handful. I don't really have a preference but I do have a certain liking towards the 2010/2011 Honda Civic. Just like all pretty things in the world it does carry a rather hefty price tag. I mean...... the drivers compartment+dashboard looks like a friggin fighter jet cockpit!!!!!! How cool is that! 

Well of course reality tends to limit mankind in either a monetary trade in place of time and risks. So I've looked past the jet cockpit dream and took aim on the Kia Forte/Cerato as a more realizable alternative. 

Its a technological marvel priced economically relative to its competitors in its class. The exterior looks a tad plain but it has the necessary hard lines and edgy-ness which gives it a distinct look from the regular 'I'm old and I'm playing safe' look. Did I mention a 6-speed gear shift even for the A/T transmission? I can't really comprehend how that adds up to the experience but who doesn't want more right? :D

$ really played an important deciding factor and for what the Forte had to offer, it was a pretty good deal considering that its about 30grand cheaper than the Civic and that's no small sum for a fresh graduate!!! So dad mentioned about Sime giving employees an INTEREST FREE car loan for Sime licenced vehicles! ZOmg interest free?? The catch was that it had to be a BMW, Mini, Ford or a Hyundai. I'll save some research time and cancel the first 2 choices off the list. So it was either  Ford or a Hyundai. The Ford had only one attractive mid-class model which was the Ford Focus. It was a pretty decent hatchback but it didn't look very attractive. And sure Ford doesn't really hit me in the sweet spot considering what they did to Bob Kearns (with reference to Intellectual Property protection). An easy skip for me. 

So there goes. Just one on the list. Hyundai was pretty famous for their Sonata but that was a higher-end model which costs more than the Civic. Dad then mentions about the Elantra. Elantra..... Elantra..... sounds really familiar. It glanced my mind as I tried picturing the outlook of the vehicle:

D@mn was I right. Kill it before it lays eggs!!!!!!!!! The picture above illustrates the 2005 model. Thankfully...... that's not the one Dad was referring to. He said the 2012 model will be launching soon (I've checked and it will be in Malaysia this 22nd February). Here's how it will look like:

 OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG...... can you just feel the sleek lines slipping off the picture? I mean come on...... its like comparing heaven and earth! The 2012 model looks millenniums away from its predecessor. The specs say that its a 1.6cc vehicle with a 6-speed transmission. Wow now that's one good looking car! Its supposed to be priced competitively with the popular bunch but early reports say that the 1.6 would be priced approximately around 90-95 grand or so which is probably a tad more expensive that the Forte but still much cheaper than the Civic. And of course we'd have to wait for its launch before making and concluding remarks about the vehicle.

The beauty of it is that Dad might be able to get it under the interest free loan!!! That's great! The nominal interest rate in Malaysia is around 3% for this range of vehicles. So lets take for an approximate 60month (5 years) payback period. That saves about 12grand depending on the amount of down-payment!!!! 12 grand is a lot of $!!!!!! The catch here is that Dad will be retiring on the 22nd July (and its his birthday! :P ) and if the offer stands he will have to purchase the vehicle before that date. Yes its another race against time. 

Well it kind of depends if I will be getting a job before that and of course if I will be working in Malaysia being the least of my worries. So I told dad that I'll try my best (AND I WILL) in the coming few careers fairs and I am praying that G0D does the same in setting the pieces ahead of me.  

Yea you guessed it, I spent a chunk of my day looking at cars. Not a hobby I'm trying to get into (I hope not) coz my other hobbies are already taking a toll in my finances. But other than that.... I've been lazing around surfing the net and playing games. Oh and I managed to finish Transformers: War for Cybertron today! Slightly repetitive shoot-em up game but great great epic plot which I just too awesome (it is Transformers :P ). So to Optimus and the rest of the Autobots:

Thanks for the memories :)

Will be waiting for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron this fall when the king makes his debut.

Ok that's all for the day. Until next time ;)