Kai Xuan's Farewell

Kai Xuan, a friend that I have known since form 1, will be leaving for London tomorrow evening. He's going to pursue Actuarial Science at London School of Economics (LSE).

 

 

It's always heavy hearted to have to see a friend leave the country, not knowing when will be the next time we get to meet again. This occurrence has been going on as generally the bright young ones of Malaysia, are learning to spread their wings and fly.

 

Last night, a few of us ex-SMKTBMs rendezvoused at Menjalara Blockhouse, to bid our dear friend farewell.

 

Yoges, Kai Xuan, Yugesh and Surren. Man! they've grown!

 

Joanne and Khai Hong

 

Me and Kai Xuan

 

Joanne and Kai Xuan

 

I wish you all the best Kai Xuan, and hope that you'll shine no matter where you are! Don't you dare forget your humble beginnings and your lovely friends!

Have a safe flight tomorrow and God speed.

 

Cosplay at Monash

The Monash Anime Otaku Club had their culture week this week. Today, they held a Cosplay which involved a few anime and manga characters which I wasn't familiar of.

The cosplay started at 2pm. It was initially staged near the foyer, unfortunately into the midst of the cosplay, rain started to pour. Everyone had to get relocated to a pretty dingy area with bad ambience. So.. the pics taken weren't that good. Or perhaps, it was just me having a bad day.

Anyways, I did not let loose the opportunity of practicing my photo taking skills!

Here are the pics! Enjoy!

A complicated simple task - Rube Goldberg Machine

Today was D-day for our Rube Goldberg Machine. The Machine had to involve each of the following motions to turn a ringing alarm clock off.

  • Oscillation, (1 full oscillation)
  • Sliding,
  • Rotation
  • Rolling,
  • Free fall

Each of the above mentioned motions can only happen once. And the whole cycle has to take a min of 20 seconds.

 

Our Goldberg Machine was hence created based on the restricted laws.

 

Goldberg Machine (built by: Christopher Ho Tjah Tjin, Eugene Lee Eu-Juin and Bernard Leong Tat Meng) towering with haughtiness!

During the actual evaluation run, the odds had to happen. We were eventually penalized 2 marks for having failed to perform the Oscillation motion successfully. Pleading, persuading and convincing proved to be useless in entitling us to pocket that petty 2 marks.

 

Witness our successful test run video clip:

 

We had to succumb to disappointment and cede failure as lady luck had to be absent when we needed her the most.

We finally got a performance score of 16 (out of a max of 18). Me being a perfectionist couldn't find it justifiable on why achieving the max score was a far reach.

No matter, we will not let this deter us from continuing to strive for the best. We shall move on, and push through all the upcoming challenges with all our might! We will climb to the peak of every mountain and sail to the deepest of every sea.

I sought pride in our team of 3, being united, strong, positive, determined and contributing. Chris and Bernard, GOOD JOB GUYS!

My hardship with BISS

I was given admission into Monash Univeristy based on my AS grades and my A-levels Mathematics grade (I sat for my full A-levels Mathematics at the same sitting as my AS subjects).

This was the case as I was applying for the July intake of the University. My final A-levels results will not be out until end August.

The A-level results were finally published on the 14th of Augusts, but BISS had failed to present us the results on that very day. I had to make a long distance call all the way from Malaysia to Shanghai, to inquire about the results. The only answer I got was "the results aren't out yet". All my other friends from all around the world who sat for the very same exam, were informed of their results on the very day it was published. 

Upon publication of the Cambridge A-Level results, the candidates were meant to be issued a Provisional Results Information (ie results slip) by the school. However, BISS failed to present us this document. When I had to follow up on when the school will be issuing us this "results slip", I got a response saying that "Cambridge don’t produce them".

See below the email conversation I had with my school:

(Wednesday, September 17, 2008 10:03 AM)

Dear Mrs Lee

Thank you for your email. I am in the office from 7.30 am to 5.00 pm each weekday and I will have the envelope with Eu-juin’s results statement. The statement is only from Edexcel as Cambridge don’t produce them. The certificates from the exam boards will not arrive with us until mid-October November. Universities do know this and they do have the means to check the validity of the results with the Exam Boards so please don’t worry.  I have also provided a letter from the Principal for you confirming Eu-juin’s results.

Please let me know when you wish to call.

I hope this helps.

Lynda

Lynda Middleton  


I then replied:


(17 September 2008 18:52)

Dear Ms Middleton

I am absolutely certain that Cambridge does provide schools and institutions which undertake its examinations a "Provisional Results Statement". Perhaps BISS failed to preamp the need for such an important document required of a student to proceed with the application of their university education.

Having made thorough research, apart from universities in Australia, even top universities in the UK and USA (ie Imperial College, University of Leeds, University of Michigan etc) insists for a copy of a Provisional A-Level Results Statement, issued by the above mentioned examination board, upon the application process.

To your best effort, please try to acquire this required statement from Cambridge. I have been facing many obstacles due to different sorts of complications with regard to me having done A-levels in BISS.

I hope my experience will allow the future BISS graduates a smoother university application process, as hopefully BISS will by then become more experienced in handling such cases.

Regards,

Eugene Lee Eu-Juin



In her next reply, not only did they not apologize for the wrong information and lack of experience in dealing with this sort of cases; they even put the blame on the student due to their own incompetency.

In fact, this reply only came to me 2 days after my above sent email. Isn't this obvious, that she used that 1 days' time to get all of these sorted, and come back to me, bullshitting about the results slip having been sent on wednesday?

See below the reply:

(9/19/2008 9:43 AM)

Dear Eugene

Thank you for your email. I was disappointed to hear that you have felt unsupported by BISS in the University application procedure. Mr Christian did in fact spend much time with emails back and forth in full support of your application to Monash.   Had you made him aware of any further complications in your applications he was there to help at all times.   As far as I am aware the A level examinations ran professionally and smoothly. We had an examiner from the UK who was inspecting Shanghai schools and dropped in unexpectedly one day to check on our examination procedure. We were complemented on the efficient and professional organisation of the exams.

Last week when I contacted Cambridge on behalf of Sarah Wildmann the provisional results statements were unavailable. However, Mr Harding, the GCSE Examinations Officer has informed me that only on Wednesday morning the provisional results statements arrived and I have placed this in the envelope which is waiting at school for you for collection. I can assure you that it is not the case that “BISS failed to preamp the need for such an important document required of a student to proceed with the application of their university education”.

Your documents are ready for collection. Again, I am sorry that you are leaving BISS feeling that you have been unsupported.

Lynda Middleton  



As I'm the first batch of Year 13 that graduated from BISS and the first person who successfully entered university, I must say that BISS did very little in ensuring that its students are of good quality and that the school is credible in the eyes of International Universities.

Do you not think that BISS has been extremely irresponsible in what they do and what they say? In fact, I am truly disappointed that the school actually puts so little effort into ensuring the welfare of its students. All they are concern on is profit making. I hope that my experience allows all the future BISS grads to be well prepared in dealing with these sort of situations. 

TRULY DISGUSTED...

Happy 45th Birthday Malaysia!

"Malaysia Day is held on September 16 every year to commemorate the establishment of Malaysian federation on the same date in 1963. It marked the joining together of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore to form Malaysia.
The formation of the new federation was planned to occur on June 1, 1963 but was later postponed to August 31, 1963 in order to coincide with the sixth Hari Merdeka. 
Several issues related to the Indonesian and the Filipino objection to the formation of Malaysia delayed the declaration to September 16 of the same year. The postponement was also done to allow the United Nations team time to conduct referendums in North Borneo (now Sabah) and Sarawak regarding the two states participation in a new federation.
 The formation of Malaysia was made possible through the introduction of the Malaysia Bill to the Malayan Parliament on July 9, 1963 and consent from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on August 29, 1963. 
Prior to the formation of Malaysia, Singapore and North Borneo unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom on August 31 1963, thus coinciding with the sixth anniversary of the Malayan independence. 
Malaysia Day is not a public holiday. However, it is coincidental with Birthday of Yang di-Pertua of Sabah, making the day a public holiday in Sabah."

*extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Day


Our wonderful, multiracial and multicultural Malaysia was given birth to on this very day (16 Sept) 45 years ago (1963). This was the day where we Peninsulans, Borneons and Singaporeans, conglomerate to become as a single united nation, finally gaining the idnentity of being Malaysians. 

Make this day memorable, by flaunting our deep pride and snoberity of being a part of this wonderful creation - Malaysia. Don't let the flag down, and don't let Malaysia down! 

The Power of the Mind

I came across this interesting email that is being forwarded around!
Check it out!

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the  huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! 


Haha, I guess people who can actually read the above passage are people who are good at skim reading.
Skim reading is a high speed reading process and involves visually searching the sentences of a page for clues to meaning.

Mooncake FRENZY II

As I'm still developing my photography skills, I will never let loose any opportunity of capturing any memorable moments! 

Bernard and my dear dog, Chinno

Below are the some frozen moments of Bernard's first attempt of making mooncakes! Enoy~








Mooncake FRENZY~~

As preplanned, after uni Bernard came over to mine to make moon cakes. He was determined to mug some of my amateur mooncake skills.

I was up for a new challenge today, making Shanghai Mooncakes.

Shanghai Mooncakes are basically mooncakes with either lotus or red bean fillings. However, it niches on its exterior flaky, crispy texture instead of a "bready", chewy texture.

Having Chef Meng working alongside Chef Juin, we practically ruled the kitchen! =D


The lotus fillings were rolled into equal portions.

Mixture was thoroughly combined to form a dough

Pastry with dough engulfed in it.

In HOT oven!

VOILA! Final product!



MUSA election campaign II

Today was the opposing team, SMILE's turn to perform! 

Their performance was rather different as I felt that it portrayed a symbol of togetherness and unity. All the board members for smile were involved in the campaign. 

There were no solo guitarist or solo singer! They were all performers under the lime-light together, chanting the promises of what SMILE can offer! 

Here are the moments!

"VOTE FOR SMILE!" they chanted

Knowing the members

SMILE members sing together

Filled with the vibrance of joy, spirit and colour!

VOTE FOR SMILE!!!

MUSA election campaign I

This week is Monash's MUSA election week. The current ruling party is SPEAK and its opposing party is SMILE.

Throughout this week, the parties are campaigning during lunch time outside the cafeteria. As soon as I arrived uni, SPEAK was campaigning by performing a live band! 

Here are some frozen moments!

The band

The crowd

During the singing, SPEAK had their representitives roaming the "stage", flaunting their "Stand out! Speak up" motto.



Didn't manage to get many pics as I'm still crap at taking pics! No matter, I will keep improving my photography skills! (:

Call me Chef Juin!

Today was yet another of marking an achievement in my baking record!

I downloaded the recipe for PingPei Mooncake (Snow skin mooncake) off the internet, sorta altered it to be slightly healthier (ie less sugar, less shorterning etc); and took myself up for the challenge of making my first ever Mooncake.

It was rather difficult for me to snap pics of the process of making the mooncake, as my hands were constantly preoccupied with kneading the oily dough. So I had to make pauses in between, wash my hands thoroughly clean and snap pics!

Enjoy the wonderful moments (:


The armies are formed in lign!


The machineries are all gered up


My first attempt was a disaster! Dough was lumpy! 
Abort and reform!


It's time for the reinfocements (lotus fillings)
to come into action with the dough!

When 2 becomes 1

My 1st completed piece of mooncake!


One by one, they were shaped into beauties!


Voila! MISSION ACCOMPLISH!

COMING SOON..... Shanghai Mooncake!

My first ever Portraiture



Today, we were initially informed that SMILE and SPEAK will be campaigning for the upcoming MUSA elections. As we arrived the cafeteria excitedly, we were set up for disappointment as the campaign was not to be held today.

This was the only picture of the Smile's campaign booth that I got



I then sought the opportunity to learn some portraiture skills from Chris, as Bernard was willing to be our photoshoot model. 

So here are the photos!





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