Porcupine's Place

A place for me to pen down my thoughts I guess...

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Like that also tak boleh ah?

After studying my brains out for the last 2 hours...
Okay, maybe not until the state where my brain oozes out... Haha...

I've decided to check out The Star's website
You just couldn't imagine the shock I had!!!

The Cabinet has given the Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka (DBP) the power to advise and fine anyone not using the national language correctly on signboards.
On a personal basis, I feel that such a move by the government it totally absurd!

Being Malaysian students, we all know how tough it is to keep up with the syllabus.
No, not WHAT that is being taught but HOW it was being taught.
Initially it was English.. and then Malay.. and then English again..
Why?
"Malaysian students finds it hard to cope up with language overseas"
And so it was altered for the sake of the people.
And then THIS have to happen.

From my point of view, tradition does not move the world. Practicality does.
It is not about OUR identity, it is not about OUR language.
It is about to what extent can we utilise it in order to better our lives.

Without doubt, the lingua france today is none other than English.
A language spoken so widely that even our own foreign workers are well-versed in it.
I have seen 3rd and 4th year University who are unable to express themselves clearly through English.

I'm not trying to make fun of our students or anything...
But the situation is really, really bad...
And as we all know, interviews today are mostly conducted in English.

No wonder our University graduates are unable to land themselves with a job.
And here the Government is worried about how "polluted" our language has become.
Yo people, time to WAKE UP!!!

All in all, I feel that the Government should consider what it takes to move Malaysia forward to worrying over the ubuquity of Manglish.
Macam itu baru steady mah...

Monday, October 23, 2006

Makan bola, minum bola, tidur lama-lama

It's been like the secong time I forgot to put the title to my posts edi
Anyway, for those of you who don't know
I'm still stuck in the campus for this week...
Nope, I'm not going back for the study week

I don't think it would be possible for me to study at all if I were to go home...
I mean, there's the PS2, there's the PC (got a new one edi!), there's Astro
and and and... there's the one that I love living a 20 minutes drive away from my home...
How to study wor?
Shenyang just called me in the evening and told me to join them for mamak tonight
How I wish I could!!!
Sorry gang, but this future engineer (perasan lah tu!) will be busy studying for his coming exams...

On a different note, we get to watch football matches here!
Our hostel's TV room ain't too shabby... No Astro only lor...
Mine's called Desasiswa Lembaran and the other is Desasiswa Jaya...
Oh ya.. They have Astro in Jaya... (T_T)
Going over is just a mere 5 minutes walk from my block to theirs...

Though we're stuck in a entertainment deprived area, the mamak here is kind enough to set up a big screen TV just for our viewing pleasure at the price of a teh tarik...
It's kinda consoling haha...
Oh ya, back to the topic... Man U beat Liverpool 2-0!!!
In your face Liverpool fans!!! (Please switch on the Man U anthem in your head)

And Barcelona HAD to lose to Chelsea...
But with the way they were playing the other day... I'd say they DESERVE to lose...
Don't ask me why... You have to watch it yourself...
And to top things off... Barcelona lost... Again.. This time to Real Madrid...
Come on!!! You guys won the last Champions League!!! What the hell is wrong with you peolple??!!!

Current song: Jay Chou and Fei Yu Ching - Chian Li Zhi Wai
Tranlated it means "A thousand miles apart"
Am back blogging again!!!
Guess I could get the hang of this online diary thingy
It isn't so bad once you get used to it...
Or more like it's the only thing that keeps you sane when there's nothing else to entertain you
Well, after frying my brain with 94 episodes of Bleach...
Wait wait...
94 edi ah???!!!
I never realise I've already watch so much of it edi!!!
Now let's see...
One episode=24 minutes
94 times 24 divtided by 60 means 37.6 hours!!!
That's like going one and a half day doing nothing but letting my brain rot while watching animated characters trying to beat each other senseless!!!
Oh my god...
These serial things are just too addictive...

Speaking of which, there's an infinite amount of movies and serial dramas circling among the PCs of USM Engineering students...
For starters, we have anime e.g:Naruto, Bleach, GTO
Then there's those HK drama which I have forgotten the names
Followed by old and new movies, could you believe some actually stored the 3 hours long Titanic movie in their harddrives?!
I mean, WTH?
If it belonged to a guy, maybe he'll be watching the portrait sketching scene over and over again...
If it belonged to a girl, maybe she'll be watching the "You jump, I jump" part...
We even have Korean and Japanese drama too!
If my memory serves me well, they have urm... don't quite remember edi... Haha...
Then there's an endless amount of MVs and MP3s...
And as usual, where there's guys there would be the usual self-learning reproduction process documentary going around...
I'm pretty sure you get what I mean... Hahaha...
Due to the constant surveillance of the authorities, the trading of such valuable information has its own time and place...
These people are good I tell you... Haha...

So there you have it...
Who says engineers spend half their lifetime calculating and fomulating?

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Universiti Sains Malaysia

Well, am back blogging again...
Seriously, this blogging business requires quite a lot of... uh... discipline...
Nope... Maybe patience... Ya, patience is more accurate
Finally have the time to blog...
Other than this I'm usually busy sleeping or digging my nose...
Uni life is slightly tougher than I had expected
Some of you might say, what? A grown up man (already 20 lor) unable to adapt himself?!
What a disgrace!!!
However so, I have to admit...
I'm not much of a disciplined person...
Back then in form 6, had my parents, teachers and friends to thank...
They were the ones who kept pushing me, or frighten me with their progress whatsoever...
Seriously you guys, when I ask about how far have you studied, it's not to make fun of you
Rather, it's to shock me back into reality about how slow I'm progressing...
Haha... But that was then.. With all the teachers warning us how tough STPM could be, I was constantly on my toes along with my buds...
After 1 and a half year of studying, it finally came and gone
But over here things are slightly different...
There's no one controlling you... I mean, you are free to do whatever you please!
And knowing me, I'd use every free moment relaxing or doing something unproductive like DotAing or watching animes...
Fortunately, I was still able to study in time...
At least I realised my mistakes now...
Special thanks to Ghaddafy, Tak Jong, Li Ann, Mien Sze, Kee Hong, Su Hooi, Su Hui and Boon Pin...
For they were the ones that I usually hang out with and became my reference point from then on... Arigato gozaimasu!!!

I truly miss my Form 6 days now that I'm here...
To tell the truth, I feel that I have not done well socially...
I mean, my ability to speak and mix with people seem to have declined badly...
Or is it just me?
I can't be too sure...
Problem is, I'm still searching for this sense of belonging, something like somewhere where I could call home...
But how to do that when I'm still unable to mix with the others?

I've often envied my buddy, Sam
For as long as I can remember, he has this uncanny inborn ability to just socialise without even the need to put in any effort
People could just talk to him and feel right at home
I know I had once been like that, and that was during my form 6 years

Now that I'm put into a new surrounding, things just doesn't seem to be the way that it used to be... Similar like a fish out of water...
I do not know, but I think the people that I'm trying to mix is kinda different from the people back home...
And again, is it just me?

Coming from a English educated background, I could see that the topics here are different
The conversations are not what that I could just simply join in and chat away but rather would require me to understand first before saying anything or is it just me?
As such, I seem to have changed from once a loudspeaker, to a malfunctioning one...
It's rather depressing I might add, seeing others being able to mix so well while I fail miserably at it...
Acceptance level over here is different too... Not all jokes are appreciated and not all problems are discussed openly...
As it is, I've been one who is open to opinions, meaning I would like to tell my heart out and say something should I feel anything is wrong
The logic behind it?
Life is complicated as it is already, why play guessing games?
It's infinitely easier to break something compared to the time invested to build it...
So why let something that is minute destroy what that we have worked so hard to accomplish?
Should someone do something wrong, it would be better to tell it to their faces right?
Not in a harsh sense, but rather for the good of those involved
Everyone wants to improve themselves right?
That has been my principle in life

Though so, not everyone has the same mindset and thinking right?
Back then, things are so much simpler when we would just crack jokes and bomb each other to no end... No hard feelings whatsoever for it was all done in pure fun...
At the end of the day, no one gets hurt and everyone is happy...

Over here, not all is revealed and not all is known...
Remarks are often pent up and kept to be discussed when the party involved or concerned is not around... That's backstabbing isn't it?
Should you have done something wrong, they would assume that you WILL know where you went wrong and that you should apologise later on...
Come on, we're like what, 20-year-olds and we're already engaging in psychological warfare?
That's totally ABSURD!!!

Come to think of it, could it have been just me?
Could I have taken people for granted?
Could I have not thought of the others?
Things are not clear cut as is used to be...
Nothing is black and white anymore...
All that's left it only a patch of greyness.

Though so, all these shall not deter me from improving myself...
It has been a tough journey, but I shall not give up...
GAMBATTE KUDASAI!!!
Oh ya, I've taken up Japanese... Haha...

To those of you out there,
Please guide me should I get lost,
Please teach me should I go wrong,
Please show me the correct way should I have strayed away
Please share with me whatever that I do not have enough
And I shall do the same to you too...