End of Semester 2

Today marks the last day of my lecture of my third semester for my degree. Finally there is time for sigh of relief. I have been struggling a little this semester, especially after the end of TRIUMP. When you think that you'll be free after the end of a certain event, you are wrong. I was wrong. Well, it was the end for some of the members but for the higher committees there are still paperworks and followups to be done. Wrapping up is a tedious process, especially given that you have put all your effort in the event that you don't feel like doing anything at all after the end of it. Combine that together with the responsibility for other smaller events in my organisation makes me both physically and mentally exhausted. I must admit that I cannot give my full commitment to my other member's event. I'm sorry for that. 

I was lucky to be offered an opportunity to go to Italy for a mobility programme called Erasmus+ next semeser. This opportunity came by when I was executing TRIUMP. Some said I used "connections" and I don't really deny that, but I relied on my own ability to secure that second interview. The "connection" that I used were merely used to get into the interview. Anyhow, there seems to be no news from the International Office of my university upon being announced as one of the students that will participate in this programme (there will be only two from my university). I keep my fingers crossed and hope that I may go. One is for the cultural exchange, two is that I get to meet my three friends who are studying in the UK. I'm thinking it must be fun to travel together in one of the European Countries. They are excited and so was I (though some of them seem more excited than I do). My family is happy and I hope I won't disappoint them if somehow somewhat this mobility programme got delayed or worse, cancelled. One of my friend already was given false hope as he was chosen for a mobility programme to Indonesia only to find out later that it wasn't confirmed. He already told his family and his family already getting ready to send him. Tragic, really, and sad. I hope that doesn't happen to me.

Anyway, all assignments, projects (the hell with them) and reports have been done and sent for grading, what is left now is only the final exam which is another 40% of the final equation. I'm fairly confident in two out of the four papers I am gonna sit. One of them, Mechanical Vibration is hell and I have no fucking idea how I am gonna manage that. Another paper, Fluid Mechanics 2 is not too bad, but I kinda fucked up my first test and on the verge of losing my solid A. Anyway I'll do my best, as always and hope for the best. Maybe that is the most important aspect in any endeavours. I tend to forget that but I have kept reminding myself ever since.

That has been it, a short and rather messy update. 

Bye. 

10 Things I Found Out In Japan

As some of you know, I went to Japan last week for a 8 days 7 night trip with couple of my friends. We landed at Haneda, Tokyo and toured around Tokyo for one day before heading off to Hiroshima, the land of the atomic bombing site. We stayed there for a day before departing towards our two days trip in Osaka, the city where Universal Studios Japan lies. After having fun at USJ we moved our asses to Kyoto where the famous Fushimi Inari Shrine with thousands of torii gates at (you should google what torii gate is). As our flight back to Kuala Lumpur also departs from Haneda, we then continued our journey back to Tokyo for another night to pick up some souvenirs and shopping. It is quite packed and there was a lot of leg work but it was all well worth it for me. 

I discovered 10 things that I learnt from Japan. Actually there's more, but these 10 are the prominent ones that some might find it peculiar enough as it isn't really found or practised in Malaysia. Without further ado, let's begin the list!

1. (Almost) Everything Is Automatic

Where's the handle?

Source: http://datab.us/

From the standing pee bowl located in the men's lavatory to the tap water to doors. You can almost find them to be lacking our usual push/pull handle to flush the bowl. Don't fret because I was quite lost too the first time but eventually you will know that it will flush automatically once the sensor detects that you are leaving. You'll be happy to find the sensor operated tap is almost in every public toilet. We do have them here in Malaysia, but its not everywhere. Pretty cool right? Yeah,  the water was literally pretty cold too because it was winter. 

2. (Almost) Every toilet has toilet paper!

You lao sai? Use Hiroshima's toilet roll! 100% radioactive-free

No joke. The staff constantly replenish the toilets with this godly tool. You have less to worry about stomach suddenly emergency call. Besides, their Western toilet cubicle (yes, they have Western and Japanese type cubicle) have the electronic type bowl which you can press to have a jet water clean your butt hole. Honestly, it is quite weird. You can also adjust the water pressure and temperature! 

3. English is below par. 

The level of English proficiency is worrying. They might understand you but not be able to converse properly. Best to learn some proper Japanese or bring someone who knows Japanese language well along your trip. However, there will be 1 in every 10 Japanese who knows how to speak English. We met a few who can speak English quite okay. Chances of finding English-speaking Japanese is higher in international branded outlets like Nike or Tesla (hehe). 

4. Stores have artificial food displayed outside

Photo from wikipedia

They are so real you'd want to dive in and eat them straight away. Common sightings in shopping malls and food street.

5. Pretty girls everywhere

Nuff' said, the number of pretty girls I saw in Tokyo exceed the total number of pretty girls I saw in KL on any particular visit. No joke. Even though they wore makeup, they are so pretty that you would stare at them to have a gaze at those belles.

6. Amazing toilet reservoir!

First you pull the lever to flush your bowl.

Then the reservoir will be filled by the water-tap, and you can wash your hand with it! The water will flow back into the reservoir. Damn water efficient this one. BANZAI!!!

7. Politeness is no joke

We all know that Japanese are known for their politeness and how respectful they are towards others. This particular case is so extraordinary I had to write it up in this list. In my bullet train rides, once the ticketing staff walks from the back of the carriage to the front of the carriage, he would turn 180 degrees and bow to the passengers before proceeding to the carriage in front of us. Talk about being respectful! This is a whole new level!!! *I'm sorry if you can't imagine it, I didn't take a video of it because I was beaten down and slept most of the time in the bullet train*

8. Rubbish bins are segregated

Almost all of them are like this. Combustibles or non-combustibles? Plastic? They even have this in their fast-food restaurants! Talk about recycling... You have some hard time determining where your disposal should be in. Great effort, Japan.

9. Paying bill through "board"

I don't know the particular term/word for this, but they practice this everywhere though only strictly emphasized in some shops, namely the Starbucks in Namba. They don't take the money that you hand to them directly, they will ask you to put it on a board like this one below (example only), only then they will accept it. The staff at Starbucks were very insistent on this. Not sure why though...

10. First come first sit!

We traveled a lot by train, and I saw that the culture of giving up their seat for their elders is not commonly sighted (or maybe we coincidentally didn't saw them). Most of them grabbed seats whenever they found it and sit on it. Some elders sat while some stood. Probably they are trying to train their body... but I may be wrong. 

And on Fridays and Saturdays, you'd smell the scent of alcohol in the train especially at night. They would drink after their working hours. I guess that's just one of the ways they reward themselves after a week of tiresome work. 

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I was supposed to finish this before my semester starts but end up I procrastinated and left it to rot. Suddenly found the mood to finish this up so that I could share with others what I found out in Japan. Of course, there are many other trivial things that I didn't write it down... and I probably forgot some of them but Japan is really an interesting place to visit. I'll be sure to visit Japan again in the near future if my wallet allows me to. I thought of really migrating there though, but I missed Malaysian food just after a week.... Maybe next time =)

Wrapping it up 2

I never really did gave my first post a second look because its really just a rant. I was partially out of my mind while writing that post, though it is not entirely untrue. There were some typos that really can give the wrong meaning. I don't really want to correct it, so let's just leave it there.

I didn't mention that I joined my faculty club as the second vice president (yeah, SECOND) in 2015. Truthfully, there was no second vice president ever in the club before. The higher committees of the last term only did made up that post in order to keep me in the club so that I can organize the competition. The competition that I have been writing about in the last couple of posts. It's no longer national though, we only narrowed it down to selecting few universities that we want to invite rather than having it open. Lots of things happen, probably better this way. We'll aim higher next year. 

I come to know a lot of people while holding my post. Some of those I knew them before but never really did made friends with them. Others were new friends. We collaborated with another club so I get to talk to many of them. It's an incredible experience so far. I'm starting to learn what managing people looks like and how selecting good team is actually very very important. I'm no natural  leader, I admit. Personally, I would do everything by my own, but I simply can't in this case. Time is one of the constraints. But I am trying. I try hard to distribute work and make sure to follow up. However, it doesn't always ends up meeting my expectations (people postponing and stuff). I absorb everything and try to make mistakes and learn. Tbh, the most important lesson I've learned so far is to gather a group of people that you can trust and rely on. I've already seen a few that I can rely on, and possibly in my future activities, I will include them in my committee. My vision isn't just until the competition. 

Most of the time I am afraid how the competition will end up. In my mind, there is a ninety percent chance that it will flop. I can think of a million things going wrong on that day itself. That sense of fear consumes me sometimes makes me work harder, but other times it makes me procrastinate even more. It is so scary. There were times where I think back and ask myself can I take everything back? If I did, I wouldn't be in my faculty club as I am now and I wouldn't get to make friends with so many people. Because obviously I cannot reverse time, eventually the thought wears off and reality kicks in. The competition in on!

Honestly, I have big plans that I want to execute in my university. After this competition, I plan to organize an TEDx university event at my university, of course. I had the thought since last year after seeing UTP did theirs. I figure if they can do it, we can too (this thought actually led me to organize a trip to KL to attend TEDxYOUTH@KL 2015 where I brought 36+- people there). I've sent my application last week to TED and still waiting for their response. They said it will take up to 8 weeks. I still have time. The intended date is in November. 

I am actually making myself stepping into the dark abyss because obviously I have never organized such big events myself. Learning to run before walking is truly a devastating experience but since I am already running on the treadmill, might as well as keep on going. 

Uni aside. I realized how ungrateful I was saying my birthday celebration was sucky. I actually didn't mean to say that I did not have a grand celebration or something. It's just that I wished everyone was present. It is my greatest desire to see my friends gather around, having fun, chilling and just talking and laughing. Those are the days that I cherish most, and are mostly a rare sight these days. It seemed somewhat cynicism took over us. Pride took over us. Prejudice. Ego. Jealousy. Insecurity. Embarrassment. The young, clueless and naive of us just faded away, consumed and eaten by our age. 

People come and people go, and I have yet to accept the latter fact.