Friday, Sunny

This Friday marks the end of the two-months-long Intensive German Language course. Next Monday will be having my deutsche Sprachprüfung für Hochschulzugang (DSH). Am I ready? I’d better be! 

The A-level results come live in Edexcel website today!

Time is like a fired arrow. One month and a half has past since the end of June. This week is the 5th weeks of Intensive German language course already. And today is the release of my A-level result!

Finally the wait was over. I felt relief when I knew that I got 2As and 1A*. At least I got the grades which most people got. One more obstacle to pass before I grab my air ticket to Germany. I must at least pass my DSH. This is my biggest wish now…

Friday, Thunderstorm

It is weekends again! Three weeks have past very soon.

Went to watch “Inception” today. The story was about a very futuristic concept in which one could go into another’s dream to extract his secrets. In this movie, Dom, the extractor had to plant an idea or inception into Robert Fisher’s mind so that he dismissed his late father’s business empire. This was to prevent world’s energy domination by a single company in the future. Below are the spoilers:

At first the story was a bit tough to digest – reality in dream, dream in reality and dream in dream. To plant an idea into a person’s mind was not totally impossible because Dom had perform it once to his wife, which ultimately caused her death. Dom and his wife wished to have a fairy tale life in which they lived happily until old age. So they built their own dream life in their dream.

In their dream, they did live to old age. I think because of this, Dom’s wife didn’t want to wake up. So, Dom had to convince her that “her life was not real, the only way out was dead” (this is true if she was still dreaming) by implanting that idea into her mind in her dream. However, that inception had rooted so deeply into her mind that even when she woke up, she thought that she was still dreaming.  

Longing to go back to her fake reality, she forced Dom to commit suicide with her during their Marriage Anniversary. In case he refused, she had backup plan. She filed a letter to her lawyer that Dom was trying to kill her and managed to get three doctor to prove her sanity. So, she jumped off the building. And, Dom didn’t.

As a result, Dom became international convict  and had to leave his two children in America. Wanting to go back home, only Saito could help him. So, he was employed by Saito to plant an inception into Robert Fisher’s mind. Saito was a powerful man and showed up as Dom’s target in the first scene of the movie. Dom was hired by another company to extract Saito’s corporation secret. However, Dom almost failed because his architect “mis-create” fur carpet with polyester carpet.  Ultimately, Saito found out Dom’s hideout and offer his a chance to go back to America as a free man if he carried out his mission to plant an inception in Fisher’s mind.

In the end, the mission was accomplished. I can say it is a happy ending as Dom and his children reunion.

In my opinion, our world will be unimaginable if the technology really exists in this century. Can you imagine strangers accessing your secrets, stealing your information, and manipulating your mind!?

Thursday, Sprinkles

This morning just called to Jabatan Immigresen Selangor to ask if I could take my passport. Sadly, I got reply that they hadn’t received any answer from Jabatan Immigresen Sarawak. The passport supposedly to be ready since yesterday, according to their claim of efficient-5-days processing time. Well, hopefully everything goes smooth so that I will be able to get my passport soon.

Today’s German class go well. As usual, can relax today since don’t have much homework. Don’t really feel like it is an intensive course However, next week we are going to phase 2 of the course. I am sure it will get tougher.

Wednesday, Sunny

Today is third week, third day of intensive German language course. Time is like a fired arrow which travels in a straight line; whatever is passed, will be history. One can never turn back… Time flies and it never waits.

Don’t know why am I feeling so tired all day long? I sleep early everyday and take a nap in the afternoon, and yet in the class just can’t help to keep my eyes open… Wait a minute, I am not suggesting that Mr. Karlheinz is boring! Well, he is good, and I like him – little homework (compare to other class) and no pressure. Everyone says that he is a typical German who speaks very loudly and is extremely on time. It is us who are always late even though outside our class there is a large board hanging on the ceiling -  an idiom about punctuality (forgot how does it sound). However, in German, there is an idiom about punctuality – “Pünktlichkeit ist die Höflichkeit der Könige.”

In just 18 days, A-level results will be out. Wonder how’s my performance? Can’t wait for the day to come!

Exhausted

Intec Carnival and  Open Day (i-Code) which held annually took place at Intec UiTM Section 17 today. As last year, I took part in Larian Muhibbah, which is about 5 km long. It was a really really tiring and endurance-challenging run. Although I had ran as hard as I could, I still didn’t manage to squeeze into top ten list. But I am still very satisfied as I have tried my best.

After the run, I went to watch badminton games which were going on in Intec gymnasium. After wandering for sometime in the gymnasium, I went to join Fear Factor Alm edition, wishing to defend my glory in Fear Factor Alg last year. However, my fate let me down this time. My journey in Fear Factor Alm end with disappointment in just 2nd round. Due to enormous number of participants: instead of considering highest score for all challenges, 3 pairs of participants with lowest score were eliminated each round. It was SO cruel.

First round, I had to stand on one leg on a chair which was placed on a table, once the time started to tick, my leg started to shake tremendously. I might be too exhausted due to this morning Larian Muhibbah. For second round, my partner and I were blind-folded and with hands tied, then, we were asked to find a way out in a dark room. In this round we ended our challenge:(

Then, I went to get some food. At the same time, I met some of my friends over there. So, we decided to go to visit Ghost House. Once we had bought our ticket, we realised that there were more than two dozens of people waiting inside. I regretted buying the ticket. The long-waiting time was killing my patience. Afterall, I thought it was still worth it. They had good trailer movie for us to watch before entering the Ghost House, the design in the Ghost House was quite spooky too. So, it was worth of visit!

Around 2.30p.m., I went back to hostel. It was an exhausting and yet exciting experience today.

Signing contract

How times have I signed a contract? 1,2,3,4… Oh, it is uncountable… Let me recall:

1. Contracts “Aku Janji” with my secodary school, intec and etc…

2. Contract during my National Service in Kem Juara, Serian.

3. Contract with JPA (Public Service Department).

4. Contract with myself! (Just signed this morning during German Class)

As I know, contract is boring, lengthy and obligatory in any formal agreements. Unlike promises, wishes, or dreams, it requires serious commitment. It is neither something light-hearted nor something that can be void easily.

Well, the gist of my contract is about my wish. Only ONE, SERIOUS and REALISTIC wish. Well, my wish is to get 15 points in my A-level examination. Frankly, so far, I have never scored 15 points in my exam, from semester 1 to semester 4, the same goes with my trial exam this time.

So, in this contract, it is not only about the wish which I yearn for, but it is also a vow to myself to score 15 points in the coming A-level examination. With the contract paper, I have commitment and responsibility. With responsibility, I wouldn’t forget my wish!

Finally, thanks to Frau Maria for giving us such a creative and meaningful activity in class.

What a bad day!

First day in Cemara. Woke up lazily at 10 o’clock in the morning and did my laundry.

After doing my laundry, I went out to have lunch and then back to my room and enjoying watching movie on my laptop. Well, when I take off my ear phone………

Hell! It was raining cats and dogs outside.  Oh no, my bed sheet, my blanket, my towel, jeans…  I was pretty sure that they all soaked in rain water already. So, what to do? There was not enough space for the clothes in my hostel. So, I decided to let them to “bath” in the heavy rain. Poor things! 

Feeling lonely

stress?

no enough sleep?

whatever…

i’m going to sleep…

NIghtmare, Demonic Visitation? Mystery unveiled!

The Nightmare, by Henry Fuseli (1781)

In Chinese, colloquially, people called it “鬼压床”. Last night, I had the experience of “鬼压床”! Sounds spooky, right? I was having nightmare, but couldn’t remember what was it about. When I woke up, I found myself on my bed, I could hear and feel the surrounding. Chen Liang’s desk lamp shone on the wall. I could feel that he was just sitting beside his desk next to my bed. But, I couldn’t opened my eyes. Something surrounded me. SO tight that as if it was pushing me until I could not breath. I shouted out loud…

After the nightmare, I was traumatised until I couldn’t sleep anymore. The dream was so real that I was confused whether it was just a dream or it was real. Actually, this is not supernatural. This symptom is called sleep paralysis:

Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain awakes from a REM state, but the body paralysis persists. This leaves the person fully conscious, but unable to move. The paralysis can last from several seconds to several minutes "after which the individual may experience panic symptoms and the realization that the distorted perceptions were false". Hersen, Turner & Beidel. (2007) Adult Psychopathology and Diagnosis. p. 380

The possibly causes for sleep paralysis are habit of sleeping with head facing down, nervousness and irregular sleeping habit.

To solve this problem, just need to have enough sleep and sleep early.

New Laptop

Just get my new Inspiron 1464. It comes with genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 2gb DDR3 ram, and 1gb video memory.

I used to think of getting a proper paid Anti-virus instead of using AVG anti-virus free. But, just now accidentally stumbled into Microsoft download centre and found this anti-virus software from Microsoft. Validation of Windows is needed in order to install this anti-virus. I find it to be user-friendly and it works very well with Windows 7. 

Before I got my new laptop, I was about to cancel my Digi Broadband subscription. However, due to modem penalty which costs me about RM100++, I decided to continue the subscription. Today, I just find out another reason for not cancelling my Digi broadband subscription:

That’s right – DIgi Music. With my broadband subscription, I can access to Digi Music Unlimited for free. Non-digi broadband users need to pay RM5 monthly to subscribe to Digi Music Unlimited.

Digi Music Unlimited allows me to download 5 digital-usage-right-free songs per month. Other than that, I can also download unlimited musics and songs from the website. HOWEVER, these songs can only be played on my computer as long as I remain subscribe to Digi Music Unlimited or Digi Broadband. The songs cannot be converted, burned or transferred via Bluetooth… 

The Days Without My Laptop

It has been half-month ago since I lost my laptop (due to burglary). Do I live better without my laptop? Na ja. May be.

Today, my class ended at 12 o'clock. Wow, it was once in a blue moon. Well, actually it was nothing to be happy of. My German lecturer was sick after eating Japanese food yesterday. Hope she will recover soon.

So, I stayed back in library. At first, I would like to do my homework. But then, while I was browsing through the book shelves, I found biography of Albert Einstein - a famous Jewish scientist who was born in Germany.

Though he held lots of honourable positions in research institutions (could not really remember the names), his life in his late 60s was not as good as I thought. His infamous mass-energy-equivalent equation, E=mc2, was been used by American to make atomic bomb, without his knowledge. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had been spying on him for 9 years because the American suspected that Einstein was a German spy. His research on Unified Field Theory was not a success and his fellow colleagues looked down on him...

Well, that's it - the story about Einsteins. When I was about to do my homework, my handphone rang. Hong was asking if I were going to play badminton. Ah, bad timing... I decided to sacrifice my homework time for the sake of my favourite sport.

Now, I am in computer room, intend to do my physics presentation for German class. Oh no, time wasted again, for blogging. I had better go now!

Black Friday

It was the last day of school for this week. No chemistry class. The German students from Deutsche Schule Kuala Lumpur came to INTEC to give some presentations and have an interactive session with us. Well, it was a very light, relaxing and enjoying lesson for me. Unfortunately, the day turn out to be a bad day for me. Since the class finished at 12 p.m., I decided to stay back in library to do my revision on physics. USUALLY I WOULD GO BACK TO HOSTEL RIGHT AWAY. WELL, THIS TIME WAS UNUSUAL...

When I reached my hostel at 4.30 p.m., to my horror, my laptop on my desk was gone! I should have locked it. I should not have stayed back in library. I should have come back earlier... Everything was too late when I confirmed that my laptop was stolen. Same thing happened to Mike's laptop and Esmond's mobile phone and some money. Let me put the incident in chronological order:

12.00 p.m. Esmond and Mike went back to hostel (Kolej Cemara, Section 18) while I stayed back in library.
03.00p.m. Mike went to play badminton.
03.30p.m. Esmond fell asleep.
04.30p.m. I reached hostel and found out the burglary.
04.50p.m. We reported it to the guards on duty. They said that they could not help much as we don't have any suspect and the door was not locked when the burglary happened.
06.00p.m. We went to Police Station in Section 15 to lodge a report. After printing out the report, we were asked to look for a sarjan in-charged in Section 11.
07.40p.m. We reached Section 11 Shah Alam Police Headquarters after walking for a whole round somewhere near Blue Wave Hotel.
08.00p.m. We board T602 to Section 2. Starving...
08.25p.m. Reached Section 2 and had our dinner there.
09.10p.m. Reached hostel. Exhausting! My plan to play badminton was ruined.

Below are parts of our conversation with the sarjan which I could not forget:

Sarjan to Esmond: "Berapa harga handphone mu yang hilang?"
Esmond: "500 ratus semasa beli."
Sarjan: "Sudah berapa lama?"
Esmond: "1 tahun."
Sarjan: "Oh, sekarang sudah sangat murah, harga second-hand cuma 1 ratus."

Was he trying to joke in order to alleviate our sadness?

Sarjan to me: "Apakah tujuan kamu membuat report?"
Me: "Tangkap pencuri itu."
Sarjan: "You tere (pandai), dapat tangkap pencuri itu?"
Me: " Tak, sebab tu buat report."

Okay, if I am so good that I could catch the thief, I would not have to lodge a police report. Anyway, I don't think there is hope to get my laptop back.

Now, I am in a dilemma. My laptop is gone, and I am still bonded to Digi Internet. Should I terminate the service and pay for the modem fee or pay the bill without using the service until I get my new laptop.

Rainy Day

I like rainy day because the weather is cool, but I also hate rainy day because my clothes could not dry, my beg and shoes get wet… What a contradiction!

This afternoon, while I was browsing for reference book for ethics presentation, a group of students from faculty of education approached me. First, they asked me whether I was busy. I said no. Then, they asked me if I mind to help them. “No harm to help others.” I thought. So, I said no.

Only after that, I knew that they were going to interview me! Well, it was for their English project… So, I was given a few titles and asked to choose one. “If today was the last day on Earth what would you do?” Sounds like that. While I wrote the short essay, I had to say something or whatever that came to my mind. WHOA! It is the first time I did that – expressing ideas and writing simultaneously. I did badly :p Luckily, they helped me by asking questions so that it would not be silent on the desk. Hopefully I could help them. Anyway, I had did my best.

Speaking of that, my AS English and AS German results will be out at the end of this month. Hopefully, I could pass either one of the paper. If not, have to repeat this semester. Tiring…              

German class in semester 4

This morning, we were asked to translate a German poem – “Die Macht der Sprache” – the power of language, and translate it into our own mother tongue. As a result, the poem turn out to be Chinese poem, indigenous Malay poem, Kedahan Malay poem as well as Penang Malay poem.

reciting Chinese poem? in German class?

From left: Malay poem recitation in aboriginal tone, Kedahan Malay, and Penang Malay

It is a very meaningful poem:

Die Macht der Sprache

Und lerne ich eine Sprache neu kennen,                                      dann lehrt mich die Sprache, mich neu zu kennen.

Das macht die Sprache – die Macht der Sprache.

Und glaube ich, ich beherrsche meine Sprache,                     beherrscht womöglich meine Sprache mich.

Das macht die Sprache - die Macht der Sprache.

Und denke ich, ich spiele mit meiner Sprache,                            dann spielt noch viel mehr meine Sprache mit mir.

Das macht die Sprache - die Macht der Sprache.

Und erweitert der Mensch seine sprachlichen Möglichkeiten,          dann erweitert die Sprache die menschlichen Möglichkeiten.

Das macht die Sprache - die Macht der Sprache.

Und wenn ich meine Sprache verkommen lasse,                           dann lässt am Ende meine Sprache mich verkommen.

Das macht die Sprache - die Macht der Sprache.

Und liebe ich meine Sprache,                                                         dann liebt ganz sicherlich die Sprache mich.

Das macht die Sprache - die Macht der Sprache.

Und wenn ich denke, ich spreche jetzt hier – in diesem Text – über die Sprache,                                                                              dann spricht die Sprache eigentlich viel mehr noch über mich.

Das macht die Sprache – ich kenn die noch.