idiosyncrasies of a lady: July 2008

please be safe....

This afternoon while eating, I got a call from my mother. She was at Anjang's house in Subang Jaya where they held the doa selamat ceremony before Mama and Nenek's departure. They are going for their umrah. Hearing her voice really made me miss her ten times more.

Suddenly there it was again..the same memory that has been playing in my mind like a video over and over these few days. A clear visual of my mom chasing the express bus which I missed by three minutes. I was supposed to be on that bus to get back to Pahang. Wearing a baju kurung, she was running with all her might despite her recent ailment after the bus - carrying my laptop bag along with her. At that moment I thought I had already missed the bus. There's no way the bus is going to stop. I went after her and tried to tell her that the bus was not going to stop but she didn't hear me and kept running. To my amazement, the bus did stop and I was able to get on it. I was still stunned by what had happened when I kissed my mother, thanked her and got on the bus. I couldn't believe that my mother chased and stopped the bus.

On the phone, she told me that she was driven by her instinct and asked me if I'm embarrassed by it. How can a child be embarrassed when a mother is putting herself aside for her child's sake? On the contrary, I'm overwhelmingly touched by it and couldn't thank her enough. It really showed me that a mother will do literally anything and sacrifice practically everything for their children. I'm blessed to have a mother like Mama and a father like Papa. They are my everything. So Ma and Nenek, please be safe while you are away...

disastrous experiment

Last night I landed on my bed at 3.30 am after finishing some of my countless assignments. My body was so worn out but my mind wouldn't stop thinking about all my unfinished work and suddenly the thoughts of all the tests and quizzes for the next two weeks made it seemed like there's no way I was going to sleep. As much as I wanted to doze off and shut my body down, I couldn't sleep until around after 4.00 am. The thoughts of a quiz and an experiment I was about to have in less than four hours slowly fading away...

I slept for a mere couple of hours and had to prepare for my least favorite experiment in chemistry. I went to the lab feeling so clueless due to excessive brain activity and couldn't think straight without straining my neurons. What upsets me more was that none of my group members really understand the experiment. Still clueless, I forced my brain to think of answers for the 10-minute pre-experiment quiz. The experiment went on disastrously. It wasn't like our first experiment which we did rather flawlessly. Yeah, today didn't go so well and I'm in no mood to elaborate...

note: this is our first experiment. that's why we look happy

A Special Relationship

Since before I came to UMP I've been reading a book by Douglas Kennedy (for those who didn't know, he also wrote the best-selling novel-turned-movie Pursuit of Happiness). It took me quite a while to finish it as the beginning was a bit too slow. Not too mention the lack of free time I have here in UMP. Only recently did I have the chance to finish reading it. The story only gathered it's pace after two thirds of the whole paperback book and suddenly I felt like I can't let go of it.

So, the story was about a single anti-marriage American journalist who finds herself thrown into a foreign life in a far more foreign world. She suddenly find herself pregnant and married to a British foreign correspondent whom she only knew for a few months. She eventually had to move to England and try to adapt with the totally different lifestyle. She had the most difficult delivery and was shocked by her husband's sudden act of trying to separate her from her baby. Left with literally nothing she tried to win her son back.....and she finally did.

The story made me think of how unexpected the world, or life, could be. We can plan all we want but in the end it depends on the will of God, or karma, or whatever you want to call it. Things can go our way all the time and suddenly there's a drastic change of luck...and everything can just seem so wrong.

my TE blog

As a first task for my Technical English class all of us had to make one blog account just for this subject. It's like a class journal which my lecturer will occasionally check. You can check it out by clicking here or just click the link. You can also check my classmates' blogs from there.

thanks MAMA and KAK ITA!

thanks for all your advices and comments. they were very much appreciated. i know you guys will always support me and have my back. and don't worry, there may be sharks and alligators but this lioness won't fall for them. (^_^)

MINDS

MINDS or Minggu Induksi Siswa was what our orientation programme was called. It was held by our seniors as the facilitators for all the freshies including the 'direct entry' students. So this is what happened during the 4-day programme..

DAY 1 - 1/7/08

Mak Uda, Auntie Baby and I arrived at UMP around 10.00 am and headed straight to Block W where they held the registration process. It was a long and grueling one since there were about 1500 new students waiting to be registered. However, the seniors and facilitators were friendly, funny and very helpful. So, the process went on smoothly. After the registration we head to the hostel to take a first look at my new room. I was fortunate enough to get a room which is the nearest to the hostel entrance. At 5.00 pm we had our first briefing and were introduced to the facilitators.

DAY 2 - 2/7/08

We got up as early as 5.00 am and after washing up we went to the mosque for our Subuh prayer. There were more briefings that day. They explained about the library system, the faculties and whatnot. Admittedly, it was a bit boring but we didn't have any other choice than to sit and listen to the rigmarole.

DAY 3 - 3/7/08

This is the most exciting day as we get to go on a tour around the campus. The freshies were separated according to our faculties and our seniors led my group to the Chemical Engineering Lab. After a quick briefing, we were taken on a tour around the lab. It was very exciting to see all the enormous machines that we will be handling someday. The first machine we saw was a blender. Yes, a blender. Only this blender is a hundred times bigger than the one you have in your kitchen. It is a chemical mixing machine which is used to make things like shampoo and soap. I was surprised to know that there is a machine which they use to extract protein from worms to make into cosmetics (Yeah...I know. EEW!). The most interesting part is when we got to the bomb tester. Although, I didn't take a picture of that thingy. (sorry!) We were told that UMP is the only university in Malaysia that has the license to own and handle the bomb-testing machine. Our last stop before heading out of the lab is my favourite room which I called 'The CSI Lab'. Well, it's not exactly like the one in the CSI series but at least it looks like it. (you know how much I like being a forensic so pardon me for being overexcited..hehe..)

DAY 4 - 4/7/08

This was the last day of the MINDS programme. We got to loosen up and have fun during the workout session that afternoon. The Vice Chancellor closed the programme that night and at the afterparty it was our turn to get even with the facilitators. They did the 'sifir siput' which makes anyone look retarded doing it. Sorry dear facis but we couldn't stop laughing when you guys did the 'sifir siput'...

PAHANG..here I come!

I'm nervously excited and on my way to my new place. The trip should take about 3 hours and we've been on the road since 7.00 am so we'll probably get there at 10.00 am. A few more hours to reach there. So UMP, you better be ready because here I come!