Convocation: What does it mean to you?

Completing our studies in university has been a milestone for many people in their lives. The only ceremony that indicates to you that someone has completed their studies in university is their convocation. Without a convocation, I believe that nothing tells apart a university graduate from a non-university graduate except for the depth of their knowledge. So if someone reads and learns a lot, he would still look and sound the same as a university graduate as long as he's willing to learn.

A convocation is the symbolic meaning of someone officially finishing his education, mostly tertiary education. For some, it may mean a lot because the convocation marks the end of their university studies and their entry into the working world/into open society.

Then, this question suddenly struck me, "If you have been working for several months, what does the convocation mean to you?" And the answer to that question was "Nothing". Why must it be so? When you work, the symbolic meaning of convocation (entry into the working world) is no longer relevant because you have already been working for some time already. 

What do I think about convocation?

The convocation I had was a complete waste of time, energy and resources. There are two primary reasons why I was at the convocation:

1. For my parents and family members so that they can be proud of the fact that I completed my university studies.

2. To meet my friends from university and catch up.

Those are the only two reasons why I went for my convocation. Other than that, I feel like the convocation wasted my time, energy and resources.

Just imagine yourself waiting for 3 hours just so that you can be on stage for 3 minutes to take your 'scroll' which is empty.

After some thoughts, I hope this is not the only convocation that I will be attending in my lifetime. Hopefully, the next convocation will be a more meaningful one for me :)

Madness Knows No Limit

It's been a while since I last updated this blog. The last post was about 5-6 weeks ago after checking my blog.

As a matter of fact, I started working about 5 weeks ago and since then, it has been a little crazy somehow. And madness seriously knows no limit. Here's why:

1. In the past 1 month, I have travelled more than 3,000km by car, possibly more than 5,000km. This is a lot considering that all these travels are not because of work (I can understand how a salesman can travel 5,000km). There were even some weekends that I travelled from KL to Teluk Intan, then from Teluk Intan to Seberang Jaya in Penang and finally from Seberang Jaya to KL again. That should be about 700km. And there was 1 day that I travelled more than 500km @.@

2. I have quite recently started running again (last week to be specific). Here's the crazy part: I went running at 11.00pm at night =.=''' And that's because I can't find time to run in the evening.

3. Was in one of the craziest discussions that I have heard. The topic is political, so I won't share about it here.

That's all for today's update I suppose. I'll try to post more updates whenever I am available.

Why Malaysia Can Never Be A Truly Developed Nation

I have never believed that Malaysia will never be a truly developed nation. It is only recently that I've actually managed to find out why this is as such. First of all, what do you define a developed nation in the first place? The normal definition for developed nation is when the economy becomes a high-income encomony. Hence, I have searched for the definition of a high income economy here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_income_economy

"A high-income economy is defined by the World Bank as a country with
a Gross National Income per capita of $12,196 or more in 2009"

Yes, we might just be able to achieve this criteria considering the fact that the USD is collapsing and the fact that life in Malaysia is getting better. However, let me just take a different approach in defining developed country

A developed country is a country where the society is developed and refined. What does developed and refined means? A developed society is a society that occupies the moral high ground. Qualities such as courteous, selflessness and patriotism should be emphasized in the society. Why do I consider these qualities paramount to a developed nation? Just imagine a nation with income per capita of higher than USD20,000 but the residents of the country are habitual queue-cutters and demonic drivers, like in Malaysia. If this is the case, what really makes us human as compared to other so-called 'lowly' animals? What is the point of earning more than others when we're morally unsound?

For those of you who do not know, I often take public transport to work during my internship period. Taking public transport really gives you a whole new perspective to the Malaysian attitude and culture. There are times when you feel like Malaysia as a whole has matured as a society with courtesy as one of its core values. However, there are some things that saddens me more than anything else.

The public transport in Malaysia, as you and I know, isn't the most efficient public transport system in the world. During peak hours the public transportations will always be full. However, it only takes a little bit of effort just to go into the bus/train (not hovering near the entrance) so that everyone else behind you can enter the bus. This simple gesture of being considerate goes a long way to letting other people enter the bus/train. If you don't believe what I have just said, take the bus during peak hours and you will notice that you can actually stand very comfortably in the innermost part of the bus when your fellow passangers near the door is struggling to find a place to stand.

The following are the few qualities that I think a high-income/developed societies should have:
1. Courteous
2. Selfless (has big-picture view)
3. Responsible
4. Efficient (maximise use of time)
5. Considerate

With that, I'm signing off for the day

Why is Brain Drain Happening?

Based on my personal observation, Malaysia is a very nice country. We have a peaceful country, unlike many countries where civil war is a commonality. We have a fairly robust economy where everyone is allowed to earn a living. We also happen to be a country that is blessed with not many natural disasters. If you're a citizen of Malaysia, what else could you ask for?

Let me state the fact. We have produced many young, bright and talented people. The list of names of former Malaysians (emphasis on former) who have made it big in another country is almost countless.

It was only recently that a former Malaysian became the head prosecutor in a state in the United States. Now, this is where the media will put that person's name in one of the first few pages in their newsprint. It appears to me that we seem to want to claim credit for having a former (once again) Malaysian serving as a head prosecutor in the United States. As far as I'm concerned, I have no interest in knowing who the person is.

Have we asked why so many bright people left?
I have a theory about why so many people left our beloved country to work elsewhere in the world. A layman would typically tell you one of the following standard answers:
1. Better job prospects overseas
2. Higher salary
3. Better lifestyle

Of the three, there is a 90% probability that people will say the first two answers. But as I thought about it, I discovered that these are only minor factors that led to so many bright students leaving the country to serve another country.
The Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs states that there are 5 different levels of needs; physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, self-actualization. These levels of needs are satisfied from the lower-most column in the pyramid to the top-most column in the pyramid. The top-most column in the pyramid can be deemed as the least-important need, or so people thought.

Based on my observation, the average Malaysian would have already satisfied the bottom-most column in the hierarchy. Now, put yourself in the shoes of one of the brightest student in Malaysia. Safety will definitely not be a problem.

Technically, the next point of consideration should be love/belonging (friends and family). However, this is not happening in Malaysia's brightest students because esteem (self-esteem, confidence, respect by others) has replaced love/belonging as the third column. They have valued items listed under Esteem as more important than feeling love/belonging.

Why is this happening?
For those of you who have left your home to study in another place, you will know that it is very difficult to leave your hometown and parents to study elsewhere. It is not easy for most people to leave behind everything that they have built in Malaysia behind; the friends and family who you will dearly miss.

Based on my observation, the brightest students are feeling that their effort and talent is not appreciated by the nation. Yes, the other factors that they left are job opportunities and better income abroad. But in this case, the brightest have felt singled out and not recognized as well as appreciated.

Personally, I have heard of a case where a 4A-STPM student being offered a place in the University to study Biotechnology (Biotechnology is her 7th option in her UPU application form). Last I checked, she has since left the country to study in NUS, Singapore. I'm guessing that she has no plans of returning after completing her studies

There are times when I ask myself, what will happen if this 'tragedy' repeats itself for 100 other students? It basically means that we have lost 100 of our brightest future leaders (bear in mind that they're our brighest students)

Gender Equality: Are We Serious About It?

It has been many centuries that women has been looked down upon as the weaker sex. From the beginning of civilization, women has been deemed to be weaker and it was in the 1970s or 1980s that gender equality has increased in prominence.

It is not that gender equality has never been discussed in the past. It has been discussed by many great philosophers of the past. In fact, feminism/gender equality dates back to the 1800s where the idea of feminism was started by John Stuart Mill, a philosopher from England who created the 'harm principle'. In the modern world, gender equality has become almost a universally accepted principle and all women are granted the same rights as other men, e.g. right to equal pay. However, there are times that you will see women getting lower pay compared to their male counterparts. The rationale given are numerous.

I am a believer of gender equality. I have always believed that women should and must enjoy the rights enjoyed by men. However, there are times when women who lay their claim on gender equality AND still want to maintain that they should get preferential treatment by their male counterparts. This is what I would call too much

Not too long ago when gender equality was not something that is in vogue, men used to buy the ladies that they like drinks, presents and so on. Women have always been the passive party in relationships and they have always had and expected men to approach them. And this mindset has continued to be the main belief of many modern women

This is something that I find hypocritical: What is with the double-standard when laying claim on gender equality? Claiming gender equality has always been fine with me. I will always treat my female friends as equals. But women who expect men to do everything for them and still want to lay a claim on gender equality will only be utter hypocrisy. In life, you win some you lose some. You don't win everything and lose nothing. So if you expect to be treated equally, please start to treat others equally

Here's what I think an understanding lady can do:
1. If men offer to buy you something or do something for you, please let them do it. After all, they are willing when they offer. Otherwise, it will be better if you ask first if they're willing. Worst-case-scenario: going dutch. Not that you're going to lose anything anyway. Imagine that you're dining at a very upclass restaurant and you have to pay for two. Your monthly salary/allowance will dry up in no-time
2. Not all men are created equal. After all, we're still humans. Some men are just more timid while others are more confident. Do not expect all men to be the same. If you're interested in a guy, please use stronger indicators, not indicators that guys don't even understand. It's sometimes very difficult for some guys to read women's body language

So, to the ladies, please be more understanding to guys. We're not gods, we're only humans and we're not perfect
For the guys, if you think that the content of this post is rational, please tell your female friends about this

Disclaimer: This post is the opinion of the author alone and does not represent the opinion of any other individuals. It may represent the opinion of some people. You are entitled to your own opinion. The expression of your opinion is entirely up to you

Auditor Passed Away From Overworking

There was a report in international newspapers that a lady who is an auditor with PwC Shanghai passing away from acute cerebral meningitis infection. Cerebral meningitis is defined as the inflammation of the meninges which is the thin outer layer of the brain. And like all other inflammation, the section of the meninges that is inflamed will swell and be damaged when the cells are pressed against the skull. Based on some of the reports that I have read, it appears that the symptoms of cerebral meningitis is headache / migraine and fever

[Source: http://shanghaiist.com/2011/04/15/25-year-old_shanghai_auditor_worked_to_death.php]

At another report that I read, it is reported that auditors working 100 hours per week is very common considering the peak period for reporting. And it is reported that this girl has worked more than 110 hours per week. I have to admit that this is a little bit too much considering that you only have 168 hours per week for everything (including sleep)

My thoughts
I have always had the belief that auditors in Malaysia should be paid higher than what they are paid now. I can't speak on behalf of other auditors who are not in Malaysia because I don't know how their pay scale is like. An auditor in a medium or small firm will be paid between RM2,000 to RM2,500 (smaller firms pay even less).

This is even lower than Engineers and commercial accountant by a lot. A simple comparison between Big 4 accounting firms and MNC Engineers will tell the whole story. Auditors in Big 4 accounting firms are paid approximately RM2,700 at current market rate whereas Engineers in MNCs are paid at least RM3,000. Some are paid even more. And all this is despite the fact that Auditors and Engineers are both professionals. And both Auditors and Engineers are knowledge workers

It is high time that we reward knowledge workers more handsomely than non-knowledge workers e.g. administrative staff. My rationale that we should pay knowledge workers more handsomely is because knowledge has value-add but administrative work does not have value-add. Considering that the Malaysian government is always talking about Vision 2020, all I can say is "You have to pay for the best brains". Without breaking free from this trend, Malaysia will never become a high-income nation

Recently, my friend said a very interesting quote:

"You pay Peanuts

You get Monkeys"

Disclaimer: This is not a shot at auditors being lowly-paid people. The author strongly feels that auditors should be paid for the amount of work that they are doing, not just paid what their bosses think they should be paid

Investment in Education (Part 2)

As a follow-up of a previous post, I would differentiate education into two kinds, formal and informal. Formal education comes from going to school, college and university whereas informal education comes from learning on the job and self-learning.

To prove that investing in formal education will no longer be beneficial, here's the computation based on the following situation:

Estimate of total cost to complete a Business degree (in Monash University): RM100,000
Monthly salary upon graduation: RM2,500
Monthly expenditure: RM1,300
Monthly savings: RM1,200
Annual increment: 6%
Annual Bonus: 3 months
QUESTION: How long will it take to attain payback?

Then answer is definitely more than 5 years. That is only for payback before taking into account any kind of inflation. With inflation and the time-value of money, the payback period would be so much longer than 5 years

Having said that the cost of education is increasingly difficult to bear for normal middle-class families, all is not lost. The main reason that I'm saying this is because of the increasing amount of information available on the Internet. You can literally learn how to repair a car online if you know where to find. Information is so vast on the Internet so much so that the only problem is for you to find the right sort of information online

However, to think that formal education is entirely not important will only be understating the importance of formal education. An accountant, lawyer and doctor cannot practise their profession if they do not have the right sort of formal education. This effectively makes formal education equally as important as an informal education

One simple example is programming. I have a friend of mine who studied Engineering in his university days. He went for internship for 2-4 months in an IT company, doing programming in PHP. After doing internship, he was already doing free-lancing in programming of websites. All the knowledge came from the exposure, the interest and the online sources of information. And all this came from only a little investment in time, effort, electricity and broadband connection.

On the flip side, another friend of mine who aspires to be a medical doctor cannot practise as a medical doctor if he does not go to university.

My thought
However, to think that formal education is entirely not important will only be understating the importance of formal education. An accountant, lawyer and doctor cannot practise their profession if they do not have the right sort of formal education. However, to think that formal education is entirely not important will only be understating the importance of formal education. An accountant, lawyer and doctor cannot practise their profession if they do not have the right sort of formal education.

Read: http://lexlex-truthseeker.blogspot.com/2010/08/investment-in-education-part-1.html for Investment in Education (Part 1)

Earth Hour 2011

It was Earth Hour 2011 yesterday night from 8.30pm to 9.30pm. I was in Midvalley at that time having my dinner and about to go home by bus (I went there by bus). As far as I'm concerned, the majority of the shops/tenants there did not really observe Earth Hour 2011. And I don't really blame them for not observing Earth Hour anyway

Here's why:
Earth Hour is only a publicity stunt to create awareness. It has one of the largest impact to create awareness of the need to conserve energy, either for individuals like you and me or for individuals to pressure the government to do something about the need to conserve energy (some countries in the rich world has parties that goes by the theme of Green). But if you look at the effect of Earth Hour on the environment, it is pathetic. I'll show you why in the calculations below:

There are 8760 (24 hours * 365 days) hours in in one year
We are only switching off our lights for 1 hour every year
So, the direct impact of Earth Hour to the environment is 0.0114155% (1 hour /8760 hours * 100%)
Which also means that the impact of Earth Hour is almost negligible

How can we make a difference?
1. The first and most important way to make a difference is to drive less and take public transport more. I know that the public transport system in Malaysia is just plain bad. And the government lacks the initiative to improve it because we have a national carmaker and a national petroleum company to feed. However, it would make a minor difference if we just drive less and try to take the public transport more often. It also saves you some money as well. As a large group of people, we will be able to reduce carbon dioxide emission (not much but the impact will still be greater than Earth Hour)

I remember when there was a time when petrol price was RM2.70 per litre not too long ago in the distant past, there was less cars on the road compared to when it was less than RM2.00. It was good for the environment

2. The second way that you can make a difference is to pressure your government to clean up its act, namely establish a policy to control emissions. I have heard of many methods that are used by governments especially in the European Union on how to control emissions. One of the many would be to encourage the use fuel-efficient cars instead of the gas-guzzling cars. Another method that the government can control emissions using policies is through the establishment of clean manufacturing regulations and the enforcement of it.

Hence, as voters you deserve the right to vote for the government that you put in office. It is your right and please exercise your right in voting. You can make a difference

My thought
I would not observe Earth Hour not because of the fact that I'm a pollutant. It's just that I don't see it necessary to observe Earth Hour because the direct impact on the environment is just too minute. It would be more beneficial for us to reduce our consumption of energy throughout the year instead of just reducing our consumption of energy for 1 hour of the year and leaving the lights on for the rest of of the yeare

What Makes You Think You're Special?

Recently, I answered a call from someone wanting to apply for something. What I essentially did was to tell her that the application has been closed for two weeks and she can no longer be registered.

Then, this lady told me "Is there any way that you can make exceptions for me?". If I'm the boss, I might consider this question seriously. But the problem is, I'm not the BOSS!! Besides, what makes you think that you're so special to get exceptions? If you're late, you're late. There's no reason for you to request for exception. It's not my fault that you're late!

I guess that's just human attitudes. They always think that they're special, different from other people. But at the end of the day, they failed to realize that they're just as common as the rest of us. And for my case, I'm pretty certain that this person is not that special after all. If you're special, you would've been watching out for the application deadline!

Something that just came out from my mind: "To be special, you have to think that you're average"? Just a wild thought though

Why Malaysian Death Toll From Traffic Accidents Is So High

Today, I have found an answer for why the Malaysian death toll from traffic accidents is so high. And you would probably think that it's because of drunk driving or reckless driving by Malaysians. True, in a way. But one of the many factor is:

RETARDED AMBULANCE DRIVERS

Let me just tell you what happened just now that made me so pissed off. I was driving home from Cyberjaya after sending my friend back to Cyberia. Then, as I was driving, I saw a Kembara completely upside-down and another Kancil stranded in the middle of the road.

So naturally, I went to help and found out that one of the passangers from the Kembara hurt (isn't it obvious if the Kembara is upside-down?). I called the police to make a report and asked to speak to hospital's operator.

As I was talking to the operator, I saw an ambulance passing by (without siren) on the opposite direction of where the Kembara and the Kancil is. So, I thought the ambulance was here to help and told the operator that the ambulance arrived.

After I hung up from the phone, the stupid ambulance driver drove away. If you see a Kembara upside-down and a Kancil stranded in the middle of the road, obviously is someone is hurt! But the stupid ambulance driver decided to drive away!!

And by the time I left the scene, the ambulance just arrived with the siren and all. By then, I think the victim would've already received all the first aid treatment that she would need. Really cannot tahan the ambulance. Luckily the girl who was hurt only had minor injuries. If it was a major accident, I think she could've died on the spot.

MORAL OF THE STORY: If you have a car and someone is hurt during an accident, better send the victims to the hospital yourself. The ambulance will take too long to arrive to the scene. And the victim's life might be put in danger if you wait for the ambulance to arrive

Pain-Phobia?

We are humans. And our attitude leads us to avoid pain as best as we can. This is a reflex reaction that is ingrained in our brains over the centuries of evolution

However, that is the least effective way to grow ourselves. There's a saying that goes "something that doesn't kill you makes you stronger". This is in fact a very true situation. I believe that there are times when I have put myself through unnecessary situations that has made life more difficult for me. Ironically, these situations have helped me to grow as a person

As it is, I'm a person who's very academically daring. I believe that I'm not afraid of making mistakes and learning from such situations have helped me to improve academically. There's also a part of me that is always reluctant to put myself into difficult situations. One example is to approach people. I have to admit that I'm a social idiot. Although I appear to be calm for most of the time when I approach someone to talk, I find myself very reluctant to do so. Perhaps I'm just a naturally shy person or an introvert

As much as I'd like to improve myself on this point, I don't really work hard enough to improve myself on this. I sometimes tell myself I wanna improve this but the real effort doesn't really come in. That's where the plan to improve my sociability fails miserably. I'm starting to feel that I'm not trying hard enough to improve myself on this sector of my life. Stepping up will be difficult but it's a necessary choice

If He Goes, Then I Go

I was recently extremely intrigued by the "If He Goes, I Go" attitude that some people give me when I invite them to do something together (group activity). Usually, it's all right if one or two people does it. But when 5 people does it, it'll definitely wreak havoc.

Here's what happened to me:

I asked A-E if they wanna do something together. Then the "If He Goes, I Go" cycle when A says that he'll go if B goes. Then B goes on to say if C goes, I'll go. Ultimately, basically everyone will depend on the last person (E) to decide on whether to go. Then, one fine day, E decides that he'll not go because of something that he has to do. So, here's what will happen:

If E doesn't go, D doesn't go
If D doesn't go, C doesn't go
If C doesn't go, B doesn't go
If B doesn't go, A doesn't go

This usually ends up with everyone not going. Personally, I don't mind it if they each have their valid reasons for going. But when I get lame excuses for not going (and I feel like you're giving me lame excuses), I get a little frustrated. It gets more frustrating when you can't do a group activity simply because people give you lame excuses and you don't have enough people to do the group activity. PLAN CANCELLED

The thing that I don't like about this attitude is when I have the question of "Can't you decide yourself?" in my head. Then, the next question will automatically come "If E eats shit, you wanna eat shit?".

All of us are born and brought up differently. Hence, past experiences and core principles in life will definitely be different. There will be times when people have different interests and such. But when people want to do the same things with their friends simply because their friends are doing so, then I think they're making a very big mistake.

To quote Steve Jobs from Apple Inc. : "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life". Cheers ^.^

Facebook and MSN Chats

I'm currently in my study week at the moment. Exam weeks are coming and there isn't enough time to study anymore. But I'm here blogging for a reason. That reason is to talk about Facebook and MSN

Recently, I was just pondering about how I've been spending my time (I have 24 hours like everyone else but I don't seem to have enough). So after some deep thoughts, I found out that I've actually been spending WAY too much time on Facebook and MSN. Just to quantify it to you, I actually spend an astounding 3-5 hours on Facebook and MSN combined!! The only one thing that came to mind is: if I had used the 3-5 hours on Facebook and MSN more wisely, I could've done so much more with my life instead of complaining with not enough time.

For those of you who know and do keep track of the amount of time you spend on Facebook and MSN, do let me know. I've seen an acquaintance who is so addicted to playing Restaurant City on Facebook that they spend at least 3-5 hours on that single application (not counting the other applications and MSN/YM chats). I can't blame him since Facebook is one of the latest BIG thing on the Internet.

Well, with this realization, I'm currently trying my level best to reduce my time on Facebook and MSN while trying to utilize my time better by doing something else like reading, playing sports etc. Let's hope everything turns for the better. All the best to my fellow coursemates for finals too!

An Iranian International Student

Today, I would really like to share my experience of meeting an Iranian lady who is also an International Student in my University, MMU. She is a very nice young lady with a very open mind. I really enjoyed talking to her on various matters because of her open views

First of all, I'd like to stress the fact that she's an Iranian. Iran is a Muslim country. Therefore, she MUST be a Muslim. Her country does not allow renunciation of the religion and this is a matter of the nation's choice. I do not have any problems with that. However, what fascinates me the most is the fact that she's really open to other religion. Despite being a Muslim, I really enjoyed her company because she is very receptive of other people from another religion. This really awes me since usually circumstances change when people mention about religion

Secondly, what amazes me is of course the fact that she really reads a lot about other matters. She claims that she reads about Christianity (which I'm not in a position to judge her knowledge) but she really knows a little bit about Buddhism. All this is despite the fact that she's only been exposed to Buddhism for a very short period of time. She even knows about metaphysics which truly fascinates me because I didn't think that many people would know about this matter which is very heavily related to scientific knowledge

Having said that, it really puts the average Malaysian to shame. In terms of Constitution, I strongly believe that the Malaysian Constitution is more liberal compared to that of the Iranian Constitution. However, to see such lowly mentality from Malaysians (especially in the recent cow-head protest in Shah Alam) really brought down the reputation of Malaysia. For Malaysia to boast so much about racial and religious tolerance but not implement it is only mere lip service to the rakyats. It has been 52 years after Malaysia has attained Independence. It saddens me to see that 52 years of physical development was only followed through with 25 years of mental development.

Come to think of it, I wonder how long will it take for Malaysians to be such a racially and religiously tolerant nation? Realistically at the present rate that Malaysia is progressing, I guess I'll be lucky to be able to see a racially and religiously tolerant Malaysia before I die. Hope I won't die prematurely of course =P

When Exams & Assignments Come Along

I've been having exams and assignment due dates for the past couple of weeks. From two assignment due dates (CA1 and Adv AIS), CISA presentation and CA1 mid-term to International Accounting assignment and Adv AIS mid-term. It's been rather stressful for me, I have to admit. The assignment dues are especially stressful because of the various compilation work. However, I still managed to find some time to go for sports, go to class etc.

There's one very weird pattern that I've observed in MMU: Everyone just disappears when exam and assignment dues are reaching. The reason? Revision or finishing up assignment. I sometimes don't quite get it why everyone wants to ponteng when there's an assignment due date or mid-term exam coming up

Is it necessary to ponteng to do last-minute revision and assignment work?

Proponents will definitely say it's necessary. The most likely reason why there's last-minute work will be early-of-semester lazi-ness which will usually drag on until less than 1 week before the assignment due date or mid-term exam. Then when all these work comes in, all last-minuters will stay up all night just studying or working on the assignment until the next morning, skipping classes. I know that for some of them, staying up all night is a routine for them. As for the rest, staying up all night is only a necessity.

From an opponent's viewpoint:

Based on past experiences, last-minute work will never turn out good. The reason? You just can't compose yourself to focus on the task at hand. When I stay up overnight, my body will be so much more tired than usual, causing it to slow down. To stay up for that 1 additional hour is always a difficult task for me. Productivity drops and I don't think that's the most productive way of studying or doing assignments. So, I'll just go to bed since it's the most productive thing possible for me to do. In fact, it is advised that we sleep between 11pm and 3pm because that's the time when detoxification occurs the fastest. I have problems with sticking to such timing because of my habit of sleeping at about 1am. Since I'll usually sleep quite early, I'll just wake up and go to class in the morning. I don't skip class because I don't see a reason to do so because studying an additional few hours won't change that many things unless you've not studied at all. Stduying 1hour on a continuous basis throughout the semester is obviously far more effective instead

So, what kind of person are you? Last-minuter or early bird?

You Just Can't Teach Commitment

You Just Can't Teach Commitment

-LexLex-

Well, before I move on to explain myself, let me give you a brief history of the whereabouts of this quote. The other day, I was talking to Wing about camp stuff directly after camp post-mortem. He said that he was frustrated about some of the committees coming for the camp for their very own SS agenda. I do admit that it's very frustrating and concluded "You just can't teach commitment". So this is roughly how this quote came about

As for why I said that, there were just too many reasons. My first experience of such situation is back when I was in Form 6. Back then, I was a fairly active Interactor and organizing events was a very difficult thing to do because of the lack of commitment from other fellow committees. They were usually slow in performing the tasks given to them, poor or even slow reporting. Most of the tasks were actually done by the person in-charge instead of the committee as a whole.

Another situation where commitment was an issue was when I was organizing Dhamma Youth Camp in PBHP (Persatuan Buddhist Hilir Perak - Teluk Intan Buddhist association). Still had the same problems of committees not being committed to get the job done as soon as possible. Really frustrating at that time

Both these situations led to last-minute work, uncompleted tasks and so on. Now, let's fast forward to the years after I joined D2YC as committee. Same old problem, same old outcome, not much difference. The difference : it wasn't me who was burdened really badly. It was Chung Kai and Wing who were hit badly by all the workload. As for me, I had my secretariat role occupying most of my time.

Now, I wonder why people want to call themselves committee all that much. As much as it sounds cool being the organizer of an activity or event, it also means that you have to commit to completing the tasks at hand. Since the key word here is to commit, then let us have a comparison check : COMMIT-TEE. Let me give you something to think about

Trainer-trainee (trainee means someone who is being trained)

Employer-employee (employee means someone who is being employed)

Offeror-offeree (offeree refers to someone who is being offered)

Now, back to the root word of commit, there should be commitor-committee (committee referring to someone who is being committed). Therefore, it can be concluded that a committee MUST only be someone who is committed of getting the job done instead of someone who isn't committed

My main frustration is of course the fact that some committees are not committed to the job at hand. My advice : MAKE SURE THAT YOU CAN COMMIT TO THE TASK AT HAND BEFORE BEING A COMMITTEE

Finally!!!

After two full weeks of struggling, I finally have some time to really blog about my thoughts again. Well, I must tell you that it's been a long two weeks since I've been struggling a lot. Let's report about something important that happened recently, Beijing 2008

Firstly, something significant that concerns Malaysians. Malaysia managed to get 1 Silver medal in the Olympics after missing out from the podium for so many years. The Silver medal was contributed by the then Lee Chong Wei (now Datuk Lee Chong Wei). Although Chong Wei contributed to the nation's ONLY medal haul, I must also highlight that he lost to Lin Dan in the finals after a 'hard fight' (one of the most one-sided badminton matches in a final of an Olympic). I expected that Chong Wei will lose in the finals when he beat Lee Hyun-il in the semi finals. From the way he celebrated the win against Hyun-il was as though he had won a Gold medal for Malaysia. That was the first sign of him losing to Lin Dan. When he qualified for the finals, he lost the hunger to win. That is the main reason for his downfall. Although Chong Wei and Lin Dan are both physically and technically equal, Chong Wei simply could not compete against Lin Dan when it comes to mental strength and hunger to win. Now that the Olympics is over and Malaysia singing his praise, I think that Chong Wei do not deserve to be honoured Datukship because deep down, I know he can win Gold

Now, let's move on to other highlights of the Olympics. Michael Phelps winning eight Gold medals, surpassing Mark Spitz as the man who won the most Olympic Gold medals in one Games. He is now the greatest Olympian of all time, having won 14 Gold medals in a total of three Olympic outings. Although he did not win any medals in his first outing in the Olympics, he won six Gold medals out of eight events in his second outing in Athens 2004. This time, he went the distance and won eight gold medals out of eight events. You can refer to Michael Phelps for his autobiography

Another person that I would like to highlight in this post is Usain Bolt from Jamaica (with a population of less than 3 million), the fastest man on Earth. Nicknamed 'Lightning Bolt', he definitely lived up to the expectations. In Beijing 2008, he surpassed the expectations set on him by winning three Gold medals in three events (100m, 200m and 4X100m). Not only did he win three Gold medals, he won them with style by setting three World Records in all three events. This says a lot about how good he really is at sprinting. You can refer to Usain Bolt for his autobiography

Now that I've highlighted to you about Jamaica's Usain Bolt, I feel sad when a country with the population of Jamaica can produce a triple Olympic gold-medallist when we, Malaysia have yet to produce an Olympic gold-medallist. With a population of 27.5 million people, we have failed to produce an Olympic gold-medallist. Jamaica has won more than 40 medals in Olympics and Malaysia has struggled to even get to double digits. The problem with Malaysia : we have failed to produce an athelete with the heart of a champion. Technically, I believe that these some of these atheletes (especially badminton) stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best in the world but mentally, we are a long way towards winning our first Gold medal.

I yearn to hear Malaysia's national anthem being played at the Olympics. After Beijing 2008, I'll have to wait for another four more years to get another shot at hearing our national anthem at the Olympics in London. Before that, I hope that squash will be declared as one of the Olympic sports. Hope we have a better chance of winning an Olympic Gold medal with Datuk Nicol David

What A Lecturer!!

I have to admit that initially, I had no intention of blogging about this 'guy' that I call lecturer, Abadan Jasmon. I saw Chit Pei blogging about him, describing his most recent tantrum. However, I will not talk about what he did before the mid-term break but rather what he did after the mid-term break. (All the photographs in this blog is cropped from Chit Pei's blog)

Before the mid-term break:

He said that we will have to do a presentation during tutorial to get 20 marks for our final marks. He also said that the submission date for our homework file is in Week 10.

After the mid-term break:

He also announced that the submission date for our homework file will be Week 9. He said that he will no longer have presentations during tutorial. The last tutorial for presentation was before the mid-term break in Week 7 (3 weeks before the initial deadline). He made these announcements during the tutorial. In the lecture later that day, he announced that he will make arrangements for the students who did not have the chance to present before the mid-term break (Pheww.... Lucky for me that he changed his mind)

First of all, he broke both his promises with regards to the presentations during tutorial and homework file. I won't blame him for bringing forward the submission date of homework file because he gave us an earlier notice about the change. However, what I don't like about his announcement is that the cancellation of the presentation weeks were done without prior notice. He claimed that the reason for his cancellation was because the quality of presentation have been deteriorating over the weeks. Whatever his reasons, he should not cancel the presentation weeks without prior notice to the students.

The moral of the story: Don't mess with Abadan Jasmon whatever your reasons are. This joker really likes to change his mind

Malaysian Public Transport System

It was a Sunday. I was on my way back to Cyberjaya via public transport (bus and KTM Kommuter). I left my sister's house in Taman Desa, Kuala Lumpur at 6pm and waited for the bus to pick me up to Mid Valley. The bus arrived after about 20 minutes and off I went to Mid Valley to take the KTM train to KTM Serdang.

I arrived at KTM Mid Valley at 6.30pm. Much to my displeasure, the train was delayed. I had to wait for 30 minutes for the next train to arrive. However, there was too many people in the train at that time that I couldn't board the train. It was displeased by the fact that many of my fellow Malaysian commuters couldn't wait to get into the train. Some of them didn't allow the people inside the train to get out of the train. Although some of the people expressed their intention to get out of the train, the commuters outside refused to allow them to get out of the train. This really highlighted the lowly mentality of Malaysian commuters.

I decided not to enter the train and wait for the next train. That decision made me wait for another 30 more minutes before I could get into the next train. When the next train arrived, there was still a crowd at the platform. I was one of the few people in front of the line when the train opened its doors. Someone had pushed from behind. Although I didn't want to board the train this quickly, I was pushed into the train by force. I didn't like it but I couldn't complain more because had I not been pushed into the train, I might have to wait for another half an hour before the next train arrives.

With the recent increase in price of petrol, it is high time that the Malaysian government upgrades its public transport system. The current situation of KTM Kommuter will not ease the burden of the public. The least that the government can do is to increase the number of trains servicing the KTM Kommuter line and ensure that the service is consistent and reliable. The inconsistency of the service has caused the crowding of people at the platform. This, I believe has caused a lot of uneasiness in not only me but also many other members of the public. I was wondering what would happen to the physically-challanged, pregnant women and children.

As a good and responsible government, I urge the Malaysian government to overhaul or upgrade its public transport system especially those that are in bad condition like KTM Kommuter. The time has come for Malaysia to upgrade itself and transform into a developed nation by the year 2020