New semester

The day i step my foot back to UTM, my heart, body and mind is not alligned. My body may be on UTM but my heart and mind still in Sabah. It was quite hard for me eventhough i've been into this situation for several times...hehe...i don't know, it was just that, i love sabah very much may be hoho. However, i know that i have to go on with life, there's no turning back, i have to look forward and march forward. I began to focus my mind on my study and my service for church.

Sometimes it was quite tough as the schedule for my class this semester is quite packed and therefore i don't have enough time for other things. However, i still remember someone told that if you want to achieve something in your life you cannot bow down to the circumstances, don't give way to your circumstances, busyness is just a state of mind of a lazy people. Of course there will always be busyness, but if you are willing to spend time and manage your time and activities properly you will have plenty of time and enjoy life.

I'm the type who doesn't like to be busy, but i'm always busy because i always procrastinate, now that i know my weaknesses, i began to plan my time and activities and organize my life properly so that my life will be less miserable haha.....don't you think our life on earth should be prosperous?....who doesn't want heaven on earth right? for those who say no...i'm praying for you right now haha....joking don't take it personally ya. Thank you

Singapore Asia conference 2008

Recently, i attended a conference in Singapore. This conference attended by 37 Asian countries all over the world. On the first night of the conference we came late due to traffic jam at the first link to enter Singapore. We have to turn back and use the second link to enter Singapore. Finally, after 3 hours of driving, check-up, and searching, finally we arrived at the Expo Hall, Singapore. The first night there were 2 halls opened as there were too many people, and we had no choice but to enter the second hall as the main hall are packed. We are quite disappointed as we missed the parade ceremony( opening ceremony ). However the first night is the most mind blowing for me. As Pastor Kong preached, every words that came out from his mouth was hitting me. Pastor Kong preached about being the salt and light to the world, there were 3 kind of space we are living now 1st space, 2nd space and 3rd space, the 1st space is the church and this is the place we, christian get or receive the training, it acts as a training center. The 2nd space described by Pastor Kong as the market place, business center, government, education and etc and this actually the place where God wants us to reach out and be the salt and light to the world. Finally is the 3rd space where this is the place only certain people can reach to, for example adviser to presidents, ministers, has political influence and etc. This is the level which only some people can reach to. This asia conference truly indeed has brought changes to me, as we went through sessions and workshops, preachers such as rev. Phil Pringle, A.R Bernard, Ulf Ekman gave their best preaching and indeed it was a mind blowing for all of us, our mind began to expand and we begin to see or view things differently. This conference had brought new understanding and wisdom to me, i really learn and experience a lot of things during this 5 days conference. The next Asia Conference will be in the year 2010, i hope for those of you who have yet join this conference, i truly believe that as you join/ participate for this event, you life will never be the same. Thank you

Merdeka

31 August will always be a date that Malaysian will remember for the rest of their lives. On the 31 of August 2008, i still remember, we had a lot of fun. The day before Merdeka 30 of August, my church member went to Danga Bay, a famous place for big events in Johor Bahru to celebrate the merdeka day. We were waiting over there for Merdeka countdown. Before that, we went for dinner and went to some places to enjoy.



Four hours before merdeka day and have nothing to do, we decided to go to games centre. There we play games such as basketball, car racing and so on. Then the most exciting part is that we went to a Karaoke Box to sing. I can tell you that everybody was excited because most of them have never tried it before. There are about 15 of us and we have to squeezed to get in the small room. Even though, it was hot and quite uncomfortable at that time but we did not complain much as we are having fun and focus on the singing.



I still remember we choose aqua's song, title I'm a Barbie girl, and it was really really horrible, but that's not the point, it was the atmosphere that we enjoy, we laugh together, we make fun, jokes around and play together. After several hours of singing, at last everybody was exhausted. We leave the place and went straight to the place for merdeka countdown. Straight at 12 am in the morning the first 'bunga api' (hehe) launched and everybody was shouting for merdeka. Merdeka! Merdeka! and Merdeka, as the bunga api continues and people were shouting and having fun, we gather and take videos as well as pictures. That night we are really having fun and enjoy ourselves.



At the end of the ceremony, we went to the seaside and take some pictures. There, our cg leaders( Adrian ) planned to joke around with Yin, after planning what to do, all of us (the guys)ran towards him and lifted him up and brought Yin to the sea side and forced him to tell who he likes, however that doesn't work and we have to bring him down as we can see he almost fainted haha( evil laugh). It was very fuuny to see the way Yin reacted, even in the midst of danger, still, he did not say anything (sigh).....haha but don't woory...we'll see something in the video that i've included in this blog....it was 12 a.m in the morning, and all of us feeling tired and exhausted, we went back by rented bus to utm.



It was a very wonderful memory for me, we have gone through a lot of things and this memory will stay vivid in my mind for as long as i live. Life is good and fun when you make full use of it, there was a saying by William James " I don't sing because i'm happy, i'm happy because i sing".

Experience

Civil engineering course is one the easiest subject in University Technology Malaysia compare to the other subjects such as Mechanical Engineering or Electrical Engineering however its application in the real world is not easy as what most of us think. Civil Engineers have to deal with various kind of problems that might occur during construction for example Engineers have to deal with the design, strength, cost and etc of the whole construction process.



So just imagine, by theory alone, civil engineers won't be able to do an excellence job.Therefore, that's why we as Civil engineers have to do experiments and practical to expose us with the experiences that we can only gain when we are outside there. While studying in UTM, we have gone through a lot of experiments regarding our course.



It was very fun and enjoyable, as we get the chance to learn something new that is useful for us in our future career. Not only that, we get the chance to communicate with each other, get to know each other better and the most important thing is that we enjoy the whole process. We learn a lot of thing there, every Thursday and Friday we'll be having our practical experiments in the lab.



Being in the lab, is indeed very exciting and interesting. We get the chance to handle various kind of gadgets that were used by real Civil Engineers to construct buildings, road and etc. After the whole process we'll jot down the data that we get and use it to write a report regarding the matter. In the report we'll discuss about the experiment, the outcomes, problems that we faced and come out with solutions. It was indeed a very good way to educate students as we are require to think analytically and to be more creative.

Now as we have gone through all the experiments and roughly we knew the prospects of civil engineers, we are more confident and secure and we are one step closer to our dream to become a Civil Engineer. This is indeed and truly an exciting and enjoyable experience as we get the chance to feel how was it like to be an Engineers. So, that's all i would like to share thank you.

Survey Camp 2008

5th of May is the day we start our journey from University Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor to Kuala Linggi, Malacca for survey camp. At first, i was quite disappointed and reluctant to go for the survey camp because it was held during the semester break. However, after a week of hardship and hard work, i found that, this survey camp is one of the most interesting camp I've ever attended.



The first day we arrive at Kuala Linggi, i was astonished and amazed by the eye-captivating scenery, the landscape and atmosphere are beautiful, the ocean is very calm and the sunset is really amazing. In the afternoon, we're briefed by our lecturer on our safety and accommodation. And again at night, we spent almost the whole night hearing a briefing for tomorrow's task. As soon as the briefing was over we had a little time to spend for tidying up our stuffs.



Early in the morning after we had our breakfast, we gather in front of the hall to sing our national anthem and UTM song, as well as to hear the final briefing before we start our projects. I felt very grateful and happy as i was blessed with a very good team members. They are all very cooperative and it was very easy to work with them unlike some other team, they quarrel a lot among themselves. Our first project was to perform experiment on our stuffs to make sure they're all in good condition. Sound easy right? but guess what, it took us one whole day just to perform and to do the calculation.



The worst thing is that we have to do it under the bright, hot sun, and in the end most of us got sun burn. But that doesn't matter, the most important thing is that we enjoy it and we learn as well as we get to experience something new. During our work, we talked a lot with each other, we build-up our relationship and we have fun together. It was a very great experiences because, we did not get this kind of opportunity everyday in our life.



The first several days we work hard on our project as the momentum was there. Everybody were very excited and on fire as we kept on learning something new. We learn a lot about surveying, on how to
calculate the altitude, the height of landscape, the contour and so on. The third day was the most intense day for most of us as we have to prepare our presentation about our projects and present it in front of the judges and the audience. Our presentation will then, evaluated and will be given comments. Next, this is the most terrifying moment as we will become a dart-dashboard as the judges will shoot out 'killer' questions regarding our presentation.



The final day of our project completion, we're given a task to set-up the total station (electronic device that we use to measure the altitude and etc) in a given time. It was a great experience as we got the chance to put our skill into action of what we have learn along the way. At the first try, most of us did not manage to fulfill the required time limit. However after several trials and errors we manage to finish it. After that in the afternoon we're given a task to locate points on ground to build a small house, for me this is the most interesting part as we have the chance to put together all the knowledge that we've gained.



At night we have our last gathering and dinner with our fellow lecturers and friends. It was very fun and enjoyable as there were a lot of activities and shows performed by the students. That night we enjoy ourselves, it seems like a week is not enough for us, even though it has been more than a week we've been staying there. At last the final day arrive, this is the day we're going to leave this place. Before we leave we took a lot of pictures together with our lecturers and friends. This will become one of the most memorable event for me. As we leave that place we shake hands and thanked the 'pak cik','mak cik' and 'kakak' who work hard to provide our accommodation, foods and drinks.



When i flashed back to the memory that i am quite disappointed with this camp, i regretted. Sometimes we tend to think something bad prior to the event but most of the time it will happen the other way round. This camp has taught me a lot. Wonderful experiences and knowledge that i gained can never be exchange with anything. How i hope that there will be another camp that will be just like this, however as what i have said earlier this kind of opportunity will not come everyday in our life. That is why we need to be grateful and be thankful to what we have gone through. And before i end this blog, there is an old saying by a philosopher named EURIPIDES, he says 'Events will take their course, it is no good of being negative or angry with them, he is happiest who wisely turns them to the best account'. Thank You.

Survey Camp 2008

Jump Start Camp 2007

Recently, our first church camp was held at the Kota Tinggi Resort in Johor. It was fun and enjoyable, there are about 100 of us and I may say that this camp is one of the most enjoyable camps I ever attended. Everyone was having fun and on fire! I gained and learned a lot from this jumpstart camp, this camp was called "jumpstart' because the aim is to jumpstart our spiritual life. One of the most important lessons I learned from this camp is time management, during the camp, we are given workshops for time and money management, dancing, body-building, make-up and etc and I participated for time and money management’s workshop.

Before this, I have never think of the importance of time management, I never had a proper schedule, I just simply do what I want to do and never really manage my time properly. But little do I know that every successful person is actually an expert in managing their time, they manage their time in a proper way, they maximize their time and make full use of it and they become a very successful person. As our workshop's instructor, Dan Ong explained to us, I was very astonished and at the same time felt sad on how I manage my time, he gave us a piece of paper with a 168 small boxes from Monday to Sunday, each boxes represent an hour, so he let us write a circle for how many hours do we spend on sleep, eat or drink, study or work, play, go to church, cell group, etc and he covers all the necessity that we need to do in our daily life. In the end, I was shocked on how many boxes are left un-circled, those un-circled boxes represent hours that are lost. There are about 40 boxes un-circled, that means almost 2 days in a week of my time lost somewhere and I didn't even know where it goes!





Then, Dan told us that it is because we didn't plan our time properly. When I think of it back, it was true, if we plan, the time will never be lost, the same thing happen to money, if we didn't have a proper plan for it, the money will lost somewhere else because time is equal to money. That is why rich people are getting richer because they know how to manage their time therefore they also know how to manage their money because money and time is related to each other. An illustration was given to us between a bus and taxi if we look in term of cost and time consume, taxi is more expensive and faster and bus is the other way round.

Why taxi is expensive? Because we can buy time! We pay expensive because we can arrive faster to our destination, simple explanation we bought time. Another illustration was given to us about wasting time! An engineer earns about rm50 an hour, a tuition teacher rm30, a famous celebrity rm50, 000 an hour! So imagine if we waste our time sitting or walking around doing nothing for about 3 hours, how much we have lost? So that's some of the activities that we do in the camp. During that time, we’re divided into several groups and were named based on car's accessories' part such as alternator, carburetor, and etc. We play a lot and enjoy ourselves, there was a time when we're asked to build a boat using a polystyrene and bottles and we have to put a 'passenger' on that boat and sail from one end to other end of the swimming pool with 60% of the passenger's body must no in contact with the water. It was really fun, and guess what? My team which is Alternator won the first place...cheh show off...hehe.





We did a lot of games such as amazing race, power station, water-volley ball, extreme-makeover and etc. However the most exciting game is Power Station, we have to light on our candle and prevent it from being blown off by our opponents, once the power generator's light was blown off, the whole team are considered lose. We played that game for almost 3 hours from 12 o'clock midnight until 3 am. Everybody was on fire, and even though our body was very tired but we continued to play, even some of the most quiet person become very ravenous when playing the game!...lol...haha. The next day, we woke up early in the morning for our quiet time then we have to go for breakfast before going for session, the session was great with Dev as the preacher, he was the leader in the City Harvest Church JB. I learned a lot from him, and when he preaches everything that went out from his mouth is an inspirational word that inspires young generation to strive forward to become the impacting generation!


On the final night, before going home the next day, we had a talent time, it was very funny as everybody has to act in front of judges and church members, and we had our memorable moment during that time. On the final day, we had our last session then result announcements were made and my group won the first prize! I wish the camp will be a bit longer, however we can't stay at a camp forever because life must go on, when we start something there must be an end to it.




However, I felt grateful and thankful to God as I get the chance to participate on this jumpstart camp. There will always be a church camp and next year if I’m still around, I will surely participate on another fun, enjoyable and glorious Church camp, so that's all I’m want to share with all blog’s readers which is usually my friends or my family, thanks for your time and God Bless You!