First public speaking experience

I got a call from Uncle Kit on Saturday afternoon. Initially, I thought he wanted to ask me something about the murder of Tang Lai Meng or some social issues in Sungai Long. When he said that he wanted me to speak in the forum in KL Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, I was surprised. I honestly couldn’t believe it. I thought DAP was lacked of speakers(so he called me) I was wrong. There is a panel of distinguished speakers, I am the only “nobody’ among the speakers. I didn’t take long to decide speaking. After my cousin said he could fetch me back to KL, immediately I gave Uncle Kit a return call telling him “I can make it!”

I was at my aunt’s house when Swee Kuan called me to confirm my particulars. I was quite excited and my Aunty somehow overheard that I will be speaking in the forum. She started getting panicked. Minutes before that, I told her I was just going to attend the forum. She then psycho me trying to convince me not to go, she said what if I get arrested under ISA, OSA, ICAC, BCAB, PWC, JGHFUXXXX just the month before I am leaving for London? My future will be ruined……bla bla bla….. She even took the script I drafted and trying to read what am I going to speak. When she read something about UMNO in my script she started nagging again
“UMNO is UMNO business lar, you don’t talk about UMNO lar. You just say you support Ming chi enough lar, later police arrest you……”

I was like,oh….ok ok. No UMNO. Lol. I also did not tell my parents that I am going to speak in the forum. First, they wouldn’t believe me. Secondly, I think if they believe me, they would stop me from going. Therefore I just told them I have some urgent matter to “settle” in KL. Of course they let me go.

I took the whole night trying to write up my full speech. It was a sleepless Friday night; the only thing kept playing in my mind was the piece of speech I am going to deliver.

Saturday afternoon, after watching Lin Dan beating Sonny in the Badminton World Championship we started journey back to KL. I was getting more and more nervous. I clearly couldn’t remember the last time I spoke in front of public. If I’m not mistaken it should be during primary school in the story telling competition or Pertandingan Syarahan. And that was in front of a bunch of school kids!

I reached the Chinese Assembly Hall on time. I was surprised that the whole room was full! Full house man~ previous forums I attended weren’t like that. Guan Eng suggested that we shift to the second floor(a larger hall) to accommodate more people. I can feel the warmth of the public. When we walked up to the second floor, surprisingly my nervousness and tensions all went off automatically. Suddenly there was a burning desire inside my heart to deliver a good speech.

When it was my turn to speak, I started quite shaky and eventually got better. The feeling on stage is good, everything just flows on smoothly that even I myself was surprised. The thunder applause from the floor definitely helps a lot. Tony said my speech was better than what they expected. He said Guan Eng was quite worry of my speech before the forum. As long as I deliver a decent piece of speech I am satisfied.

Right now I am in a dilemma. I want the news of this forum to be published in the papers(mainstream media I mean). However, I do not want my parents to see me in the newspaper! Sigh, I will have a tough time explaining to them by tomorrow. Maybe I can wake up early tomorrow and try to “get rid” of the newspaper? What’s a good excuse? Raining – paper got wet? Stray dog bites our newspaper? Or wind blows our papers away? Or maybe I can just say, that guy just looks like me, it’s not me~ ;p

And last but not least, Thank you Uncle Kit for giving me this opportunity! Thanks for having faith in someone without any public speaking experience like me to deliver a speech in such a big big forum!

Stupid, stupid....

Something stupid happened to me yesterday. It's really stupid and this is not the first time. I locked my laptop(as usual) when I surfed net in Coffee Bean. After around 5 hours of surfing net, when I was about to go, I realised that I lost my key. Gosh~and i was rushing to gym at that moment. I try to look around the whole place(including the toilet) and couldn't find the key. I even went back to my car to make sure that I din left my key there.

Out of desperation, I asked for help from the coffee bean staff. Initially, they tried to unscrew the chair so that I could take the lock off. However, it's very hard for to unscrew the chair. In the end, I gave up. I said "just cut the lock!".



And i tell you, it's not easy. The staff used a plier and a hammer to knocked on it. Almost all the customers in coffee bean are looking at us. he tried and tried and tried and tried..... In the end, he managed to cut off the lock. The guy beside us look at him smiling and he replied "For customer!"



I quickly packed up and went off. When I reached my car, I saw the key just under my car.



WTF. I already have a feeling that I might find the key after cutting off the lock. Dammit. I need to be more mindful from today onwards. These few weeks I was like daydreaming all the while, I couldn't concentrate on what am I doing, my mind and thoughts are just "flying" all around. Basically my brain is not functioning. The last time, I left my room key in my room and I need to hook the key out using a long bamboo stick.

I've no idea what happened. When I woke up yesterday, the feeling of out of job is just weird, very very weird. I feel as if I lost something after I returned my laptop and PwC Tag. I am no longer a PwC staff. But i can still feel the PwC spirit burning in myself.

The IAFG is on right now. I was there in Deloitte Office for the Chess Game. We were Champion for the past six years. However, we lost it this year. We were actually leveled in points with Deloitte however we lost due to head-to-head results. The atmosphere was really gloomy just now. I feel bad. I wish I could contribute for the table tennis team.

I am going back to school!

Last Thursday was not a good day for me. Before i left client's office, i received the mail from Heather Browning that I am not offered a place for the MFE program. Of course, this was what I already expected, however I was still slightly disappointed for not getting into one of my dream Universities.

It only took me a day to get over it. As what my senior told me, this wasn't a bad thing after all. At least I know where my destiny is! Very true indeed, for the past 6 months my future was so uncertain that I myself do not know where will I end up - study or work? Which university or which company? This uncertainty was also one of the reasons I did not tell any of my friends that i am applying to UK Universities. In short they are not aware of my plan to further study. Now that I can tell all my friends that I will definitely go for LSE. I have just tender my resignation letter to the HR yesterday.

This morning, I got my statement of results from the examination department and the confirmation letter from Mr. Lai that I have completed my degree studies(due to the fact that I have not attended convo, UTAR can't give me a transcript nor degree cert - sounds stupid right? After all convocation is just a ceremony!)

Upon getting all the documents, I immediately posted the reply to LSE accepting their offer. They should receive my letter in a-week time. By then, my conditional status will change to unconditional on the net.

I feel good getting back to school, can't wait for the day to arrive. This two months in PwC was a sweet and great experience. I managed to get involved in a couple of activities - SNG outing in FRIM Kepong, IDG, KSP Night, and I might still play for the IAFG table tennis team next month(though I am resigning end of this month). SShhh~ don't tell anyone ya, especially those friends from EY, KPMG and Deloitte. lol!

A trip to one place or to seven places?

Saw this poster in Genting's casino yesterday.


What stunned me was the wordings - Win a trip to one of the seven wonders
Gramatically, it's a trip to one place(since its one of the seven wonders). However when you have a closer look at the chinese translation you will get stunned.

The chines translation reads "Win a trip to the seven wonders of the world"

Confused? So am I!

Anyway, to sidetrack a bit. I reached the casino around 11.30pm yesterday. At that time I won seven bets in a row.

Side bet RM5000 on big.



Another RM5000 on Big


It was as if I was winning on any bets I wagered on. However things do not turn out good for long. As soon as the clock strikes past 12midnight(my birthday is over). I lost 10 straights bets. I went down hill empty handed.

Luckily, I'm not the driver, else I will be blogging from Hospital! lol.

Updates

It's been a long long time since i updated my blog. Had been busy for my last semester in UTAR and after that with all the job and university application. Just now, when I first logged in to my blogger account, I found everything so unfammiliar. It seems that I am a first time blogger. Lol. Anyway, blooging life is fun and i'm looking forward to have it back. Hopefully i have the time(to blog) when i start work.

Lotsa friends have been asking me about my future plans (whether to work or study). They're confused. lol. ok, here you go. I will work at the mean time, and wait for all the universities offer/rejection before deciding on anything. I will be working in PwC as an audit associate. I actually went for two interviews - KPMG and PwC. KPMG rejected me, I am wondering why cos i thought i did equally well in the interview session for both PwC and KPMG. This Friday will be my first day at work in PwC. Hopefully things wil not go so hectic for the first few months.

For my Uni application. I applied to 7 Universities.

Bradford University - MSC in Finance (conditional offer)
Aston University - MSc in Accounting and Finance (conditional offer)
(Aston rejected my first choice of MSc in Finance and Investments)
Manchester University - MSc in Finance (rejected)
Cambridge University - MPhil in Finance (rejected)
Oxford University - MSc in Financial Economics (decision pending)
LSE - MSc in Accounting and Finance (decision pending)
Imperial College - MSc in Finance (decision pending)

There are currently 3 pending decisions. However I am not confident of securing any of those 3 unis. If i decide to further study, i will need to choose between Aston and Bradford. Right now, I still have a month time to decide(Aston offer will lapse on the 2nd of July).

A call from UK

Received a call from my cousin yesterday night(Just an hour before Man utd played Totenham). His first question was, "When is your Cambridge Interview?" I told him that I haven't even sent in my reference letters and transcripts. He then asked, "Have you bought your clothes?" I said "yes, i bought a few." After a second thought i replied "You mean new year cloths or the winter clothings to UK?"

It was as if I'm definitely going to UK. Brother, so far I have only got one conditional offer from University of Bradford. I haven't sent in the other applications. My lecturers are not done with my reference letter(too many bad things to write about me?).

He told me that he's coming back this June and leaving for UK on the Sept 11th. He chose that date cos the ticket is cheaper. He also said that he's going to work part time in Old Trafford in March as a waiter. During their break(working break, not halftime), he could go and watch the match. When I heard this, i was so "jealous".

I should have applied to University of Liverpool. Then i could go to Anfield and get a part time job! *back to reality* I told him that if i secure a good job, i might stay back and defer my plans to study. Provided I'm satisfied with the pay, working conditions and employee welfare! lol. Am i too greedy?

Summons

Damn! Last Wednesday, I got a phone call from my brother saying that I got a summons on PLUS highway somewhere around last month. My speed was 132km/hr while the speed limit was 110km/hr. A year ago, Samy velu said that he is going to increase the PLUS highway speed limit to 120km/hr since the PLUS highway is one of the straightest highway in the world(according to him). Anyway that suggestion was repudiated by the cabinet. I also know that there is a grace speed of 10% allowed on top of the speed limit. This means that if the speed limit is 110km/hr, you are able to drive up to 121km/hr(without getting summons). If Samy Velu suggestion were to be accepted at that time, I would have escaped this summons(120km/hr + 10% = 132km/hr).

Should I feel bad? Not really though. I should have been lucky not to be caught on this speed.



I showed some of my friend this picture and they claimed that I was hitting the fuel pedal with a neutral gear. Please lar~my friends, if you do so, only the “tekong” meter will increase. The speedometer will only increase according to the wheel’s speed. Have a look at this picture. The meter on the left is the “tekong”.



I know it’s dangerous. Anyway I’m still alive here, blogging. That was also my car’s top speed. Driving at such a high speed, my car’s spoiler…..






Yes, it was blown away. Luckily the spoiler didn’t hit on any motorist or I would have indirectly caused an accident.



Took me a few hundred bugs to repair my car. *heart pain*


I promise that will be the first and last time of me taking a picture while driving at such a high speed. As I do not want my car to be like this….

Or either like this…

This is even worse…


Final advice. Don't ever speed!

Speed thrills but kills!!!

SHE forever green autograph session

It’s fated. I was supposed to go back ti last Friday. However, my cousin told me that he had to work overtime and he will fetch me back on Saturday morning. Initially I didn’t think of going to SHE’s autograph session as I was quite tired that day after doing some stuff.

While I was on my way back to Sungai Long, I heard SHE’s interview on MY FM. This ignited my enthusiasm and made me determined to meet them. After all, Balakong is just within 10 minutes drive from my place. Since I haven’t been to the newly open Jusco, this might be a good chance to “kill two birds with one stone”.

I reached home at around 5.30pm. The autograph session starts at 7pm. I quickly prepared my dinner and get it into my stomach ASAP. When eveything’s done it’s almost 6.30pm. I purposely “dye” my hair blue to be in the limelight (among the fans). When I reached there I could see crowds inside the open car park(the autograpgh session is inside the open car park). I quickly park my car and try to get into the open car park. The person in charged didn’t let me in as I do not have any ticket.



I went to Speedy outlet and enquire about the ticket. Thanks god, there’s still ticket available. However I need to purchase an album to get the tickets. Since SHE Forever album is sold out, I chose SHE’s Hong Kong Live concert CD. I happily went into the car park only to find out that there are actually two types of ticket - yellow and green tickets. The ticket I got is a yellow ticket which I could only stand at a further area. I was grumbling as I feel being “cheated”, when a guy with two green tickets slipped one of his tickets to me. “I have an extra ticket, give you one…” he disappeared into the crowd in just the blink of an eye that I didn’t even managed to thank him. I whispered inside my heart “This could just be my day!”

I managed to make my way to the front row. The whole car park was crowded and it almost looked a mini concert instead. This is the biggest autograph session I’ve ever been to. The air is stiff and hot with the big crowd, luckily it is open air and situation doesn’t look that worst. Anyway I was still sweating profusely and my whole shirt is wet. SHE arrived late(just like most of other artists - due to traffic jam?) around 7.30pm.

Selina looked pretty from afar with her light make-up. Hebe seemed a little sexy by revealing her shoulders and her seductive actions. Ella, as usual is always that “handsome”. There were a few ceremonies beforehand. There is the opening ceremony of Green box in Jaya Jusco. SHE and the VIPs released the balloons on stage together with all the fans who are holding balloons(which was distributed earlier by “santa clause”). After that, there’s an “instant birthday party” for SHE as it’s their fifth anniversary as a group since their debut album in 2001. Birthday song is sang and SHE get to cut a super huge cake.

No more balloons on the stage

After the ceremonies, the Emcee, Phoebe decided to play a game. Either Hebe or Ella will pat Selina’s back and she will have to guess who is “culprit”. Ella was the one who patted Selina’s back but her “oscar winning acting” plus the fans misleading accusation towards Hebe confused Selina. In the end, Selina made the wrong guess. SHE sang two songs after that – “electric shock”(chu dian) and “what’s to be done”(zen me ban). The singing session was short, making way for the huge crowd of fans to get SHE’s autographs. The queue of the autograph started at the left side of the stage. Pity me; I was at the other side. Luckily, SHE was very efficient, the queue moves quite fast.

In just fifteen minutes, I reached here.

While the autograph session is going on, Phoebe distributed some of the prizes out.

Another five minutes, I am here.

Two more minutes,

Five seconds to see SHE

Two seconds.....

Camera is not allowed on stage, so that was the last picture I took. I saw Selina first as she was sitting at the most left hand side, with Ella in the middle and Hebe at the right. Selina was signing with her right hand and she stretched out her left hand with her palm facing her left side shaking the hand of the fans before me. When it was my turn, I stretch out my right hand with my palm facing right (I dunno why, it’s a reflex action as I thought selina would stretch her left hand out “normally”). Both of us change side twice before we get to shake hands. Selina raise her head up and smiled at me. Ella signed my album with her head down. Hebe had a glimpse at me after signing (perhaps my blue hair caught her attention! ;p). The whole process of getting autographs took place within 10 seconds. It’s short but I feel contented.

I headed home immediately as both my legs are numb after standing for almost half a day. I took a picture when I reached home as I don’t want to “waste” my blue hair away.

My “war trophies”

p/s : The open car park outside Jusco Balakong is simply a perfect place for autograph sessions. Hopefully, there’ll be more autograph sessions there(convenient for me) ;p

Seed of Darkness horror party

Went to the horror party in Zouk with Jia Hao yesterday. It’s the first time I stepped in any club(some might not believe me). It’s true, I’ve never tried clubbing before and I don’t like clubbing. Now I’ve done everything that I could do at the age of 21. I registered with the Election Commission, I went into Casino and now I’m in Zouk.

We reached there quite early at about 5pm. We are supposed to reached there by 6pm. So we went to KLCC for our (early)dinner. I didn’t know that KLCC was just within walking distance from Zouk. Maybe next time I can park in Zouk when I go shopping in KLCC.

When we went back to Zouk, the make-up artists from Sense & Style Beauty Accademy were already there. There were going to put make up on the us to “transform” us into “ghost”. I was the first one up for experiment.

This is a photo of me together with my “creator”-Emily.



When I was in the process of “transforming”, Vic Teo reached. He took two Cd’s and have a test on the sound system. He sang the theme song of “Seed of Darkness”. Initially, I couldn’t recognize him, until Jia Hao told me. “That one mar Vic Teo lor…” After that Vic Teo also went for make-up. He brought a pair of “wings” as he is going for a “angel look”.

This is the photo of us together in costume. Nice huh? Should I name this picture “Angel and Demon”? lol. Dan Brown will sue me for copyright infringement!



This is us in the artist room packing up something.



We have some fun after that, trying to scare each other out. I managed to scare a few people with my horror look. After that it was time for Vic to perform. He sang two songs. The first song is “So Sick”. The original singer was Ne-yo. Of course Vic didn’t sang as well as Ne-yo but his vocal is quite powerful and he managed to add a new sense to the song. Jia Hao said that Vic’s song is not as R&B as Ne-yo as he kept trying to show off his vocal by pitching up his tone. Anyway, it’s still a decent performance. His second song was the Seed of Darkness theme song – “Jing Ling”. It’s the same name as the Chinese name of this movie. I couldn’t listen clearly to the lyrics and it was as if Vic was singing in some weird language. Of course when it comes to singing “Blurry”, Jay Chou is no match, not even Vic. Perhaps Vic’s Mandarin wasn’t that good. He’s from Ipoh and his first Language is Cantonese.

It’s Q&A session after that and there are some prizes up for grab. Argh~ I forgotten the Em-cee’s name. He’s a guy with a very nice voice(of course every Em-cees have a nice voice, am I talking rubbish?) The questions asked ware damn easy, even a 3 year old kid can answer. Answers were given out before questions were asked. The em-cee first read the synopsis of the movie and asked questions based on it. Questions are like

• name a cast in the movie?
• Is Seed of Darkness a horror movie?
• Who is the sponsor of the movie?(Posters of Singer are around the club)

Does this scenario sounds familiar? Yea, it’s like the tips giving culture in varsities. Just like the Em-cee giving out querstions before asking questions.

Amber Chia came in the club after the game. When she first walked in I could’t recognize her as well. Jia Hao even asked me, “that one is Aamber Chia arr?” She looks very tall and of course with a perfect body, slim and tall. She apologized for arriving late. She said that she had a Chinese New Year shoot and she had to arrive late. When she finished her “speech” many of her fans flocked around her to take photo.

The best costume ceremony was the last event before the party ends. I manage to be one of the finalists but didn’t get to win any prize. There’s only one prize up for grab. I went to the washroom to clean my face. Coincidently Vic Teo also came in at that time. He looked at my clumsy and cautious action to remove make up and asked me, “First time remove make-up arr?” He added “I used to remove make-up so I’m not scared of rubbing my face hard” He also taught me the correct technique to remove make-up around my eyes. I told him that I’m wearing contact lens, he said “me also same mar~” He also said that if the make-up around eyes are not removed and you leave it overnight, your eye brows will drop due to the chemicals. We have some chat after that. I asked him why he didn’t take part in “One in a Million”. He said that Malaysian idol’s experience is enough for him and he doesn’t take these competitions seriously, he is more to “playing” while taking part. I asked about his age. Surprisingly, he is at the same age as I am, 21. I wonder if he’s underage, could he enter Zouk? He also said that he is no longer studying, he stop study since SPM.

I took a “human” photo with him before leaving. He looks tall from afar. But when he stands beside me, we are almost the same height(I'm 176). Perhaps he is too thin and this makes him looks tall.

We stayed in Zouk for a while before leaving as the whole Jalan Ampang was jammed. Reached home at around 1am and I got a good news from my friend – Liverpool thrashed Charlton 3-0. I have a sound slept that night.

Laptop ----> pendrive

My laptop is gone. In fact it never was up for grab in the Investment Game. When I consulted Mr. Ng on Tuesday, he told me that Acer sponsored a laptop for this Game. Since then, I was targeting for the laptop. However Mr. David decided to cash out the laptop since its worth more than the first prize.

Till now, i still can't get over the disappointment of not qualifying for the Game. Perhaps this is one of my weaknesses - overconfident. Moneywise, it's worth for me to participate in this investment game. I pay RM5(registration fee) and get a t-shirt, a free meal and a pen drive. However effort-wise, the IRR is lesser than my required rate of return!

Right now my "study engine" had definitely warmed up. Next week will be my study leave. For this semester, everybody is aiming GPA 4.0 since there is only one single subject to be taken care of. I'm not that greedy, I just wanna maintain my current CGPA. Hopefully this time I could turn things around.

Honeymoon is over!

Yes, honeymoon is over and now things are on a faster pace. I was relatively busy with assignments for last week. This week is even busier and the following weeks will be worse. Last week I passed up an assignment regarding Disneyland Paris and this week I have another assignment on capital punishment/death penalty on drug traffickers - a very dry and bored question. My housemate, Jia Hao got a very interesting question. It’s about the bumiputera and non-bumiputera issue. I wish I was in his group, then I could have plenty to write. This is a moral subject and the assignment is in Malay. This is my second Malay assignment in UTAR and hopefully this will also be my last assignment in my life.

I have big trouble when doing this assignment. All the while I thought my Malay should be better than my English. In fact in secondary school, my Malay is better! I still remember during secondary schools when I write English essays, I would ask my teachers the translation of some vocabulary from Malay to English. Now, it’s the other way round. I couldn’t even remember some basic Malay words and my whole assignments seem like an English assignment translated into Malay. When I ask Jia Hao some very simple words, he jokingly said, “Your Malay so poor, next time how to become MP?”

Now all my assignments are done. After all there are only two assignments since I’m taking only two subjects this semester. I was very free for this semester until last week when I started doing assignments as I haven’t attended a single lecture for this semester. Next week will be week six and I have an “Investment Game”. I’m currently preparing on it. Hopefully this time round I could make it to the final. After this game, I would be preparing for my finals. When all my friends are having holiday after the finals, I need to prepare for the GMAT test. I guess I will only have around one week holiday when my new semester starts, which is also my last semester. There’s not much time for me to waste, need to tune into study mood by now.

David Tao "Love Can" World Tour Malaysia

Went to David Tao's concert yesterday. It was great. The best concert I've ever been to(I've only went to two concert, LOL. Jay Chou's vocal sucks - always sing out of tune!). David Tao have a big voice and vocal and impresses everyone there. The concert started at 8.30pm and ended at around 11.30pm. David Tao sang for almost 3 hours non-stop without any guest artist. This also makes everyone who bought the ticket feel worthwhile.

The climax during the concert would be when David Tao invited one of the female fans on stage to have a duet. Her name is Celine. When she first reached the stage, she wanted to hug David, but David replied "Let's hold hands first...". David holded Celine hands and sang "tian tian" to her. A scene which i feel very "lum"(romantic). I believe there are some female fans down the stage are with a broken heart when they saw this.

This is the female vocalist that duet with David Tao the song - "Jin Tian ni Yao Jia gei wo" (you will marry me today) which was originally sang with Jolin Tsai. She look pretty right? Wonder whether she wil come out with an album on her own.

The encore part is also great. David sang with all of us "ai hen jian dan"(love is simple). The atmpsphere that night is really frenzied, The fans are enthusisdtic and David Tao is simply brilliant. I will never forget what happened during this night.

David Tao “Love Can” World Tour In Malaysia 2006

If you still remember, I won two David Tao's concert tickets from 988. I went to 988 to redeem my David Tao’s concert ticket yesterday. 988’s office is just nearby Bulatan Pahang – a place that I’m quite familiar since I’ve been staying in Setapak for a year. However I still took quite some time to reach to 988’s office. It is actually inside MAA Assurance building and the building is located far from the main road. You need to pass by small lanes to reach there, it’s a bit “ulu”.The prize redemption office is in 16th floor.



Look at this, it is the usual office scene we usually see – very untidy and messy. But very often this type of office is the most productive office. It’s just like my study desk – super messy! Lol.



The staff there took my IC and asked me to take a seat. I saw this photo album on the sofa. The photos are taken during the 6th Global Chinese Music Award last year. I managed to snap some photos in the album before the staff passes me the tickets.


Anyone could figure out who is the female artist on the right?


On top of the two tickets, he also gave me some Hotlink merchandises(I thought I only won two tickets!). The staff told me that other prizes - Hotlink top-up ticket and David Tao’s poster haven’t arrived and I need to redeem it at a later date. It seems that I need to “visit” this place for a second time. Hopefully the next time I come here, I could “accidentally” meet some artists.

The ticket I won is the second most expensive(RM 262). Initially I thought I could get a VIP ticket. Now it’s less than 24 hours before I could see David Tao in person(though quite a distance) and I’m getting more excited as I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time.
Oh yea. I just compared the David Tao’s ticket with jay Chou’s – “The One” concert three years ago. That time, I bought the most expensive ticket only at RM222. I wonder why David Tao’s concert costs a lot more Jay’s. May it be inflation or David Tao is the ultimate R&B king?

This is the Proton’s Malaysia Open Final ticket last year. The ticket seller is the same –Axcess Tickets Sdn. Bhd. That’s why the two tickets look almost the same. Even the exemption clause behind the ticket is the same!

What is GMAT?

What is GMAT? This question had been pestering me for a few days. Initially I found this website from a University’s site. But it’s a US company and I’m required to pay USD250 to take this exam. I don’s have any credit card so this way doesn’t work for me. At last I found a company – Princeton Review which has a branch in Malaysia providing this course. I phoned them and got some details.

Actually the course I applied only requires me to take GRE. Just in case I might want to take up an MBA in the future, GMAT might be useful. Most of the universities accept GMAT scores up to five years old. There’re 4 parts in this exam. The first two parts test your English. Both are 30 minutes long. The third part is about mathematics and the duration is 75 minutes. The last part is verbal and also takes 75 minutes. There’s an optional 5 minutes break in between so the whole exam is roughly 4 hours long. This is by far the longest exam I have ever come across.

I went MPH yesterday and found some text reference on GMAT. The books are expensive. It costs from RM70 to RM 130 varying from publisher. Does anyone knows where and how to get cheaper books? The book has got very detailed explanation on the exam and how to tackle it. Part 3 and part 4 is particularly interesting. It’s a multiple choice question which has got 5 options. You have to take this exam on a computer and the tricky part is that you have to answer the question according to the order. This means that you can’t skip the questions that you don’t know how to answer. It actually goes like this. You start with say 500 points; the computer will give you a question. If you answer the question correctly, the computer adds some points to you and you get a harder question. Similarly, if you get the wrong answer, the computer deducts some points from you and you get a relatively easier question. In other words, the computer will try to “adjust” you to the mean points.

I’ve gone through the math questions. It might look complicated at first sight. It however involves only simple basic mathematics. Perhaps only form 5 standard. However it requires critical thinking and reasoning. I like these types of questions the most. After all maths is always one of my favorite. The only problem for me is the language questions. I have not taken any English exams and classes for more than a year.

Princeton Review offers the course at RM3999. Due to the time and financial constrain, I might buy some text reference and do some self study. The exam fees cost RM300. I planned to take this exam by December. This means that I have an extra “subject” for this semester. Lol.

P/S : There’s a bloggers forum tomorrow night. Check out the details in Kit’s Blog and Screenshots.

UK Education Fair

I went to the UK Education fair in KLCC Exhibition Centre yesterday. I got quite a lot of information and brochures. Initially I had wanted to find out more about the MBA programme. Most of the MBA requires work experience, especially those good MBA so I couldn’t take a MBA straight away. I might need to consider doing MA or Msc. The duration of the course is 12 months. The tuition fees for MA or Msc is around £10600 and the living expenses there for a year is roughly £7500. When we convert it to Malaysian Ringgit, that’s almost RM130 000. Unless I could secure a scholarship, it’ll be hard for me to further studies in UK. My parents expect me to get a job after I graduate. If I were to tell them I need another RM130 000 for studies, I can’t imagine how will they react.

There’s a couple of scholarship up to grab but it’s very competitive. Take the British Chevening scholarship for example. Last year they received almost 1000 applications, in the end only 28 are granted a scholarship. Most of the scholars have working experience so chances of a fresh graduate without working experience getting a scholarship is low. Now that I’m kinda “lost”. Last time I wanted to do ACCA, then after going to the ICAEW fair I said I wanna work while doing ICAEW. Now I make up my mind to take up a master. Now I’m at a crossroad, really need to take some time to make a good decision.

School starts tomorrow. The timetable is out. I need to wake up at 9.30am tomorrow for tutorial. It’s hard for a person who used to wake up in the afternoon like me. This is my timetable :

Monday 9.30-11am BM(T)
2-5pm PM(L)

Tue 12-2pm BM(L)

Thu 8-11am PM(L)
11-12.30pm BM(T)

Fri 8-10am BM(L)

I will most probably skip PM(it’s a LAN subject). This means that I only need to attend 7 hours of classes a week. On average it’s only one hour a day. If I failed to wake up on Friday morning, this means that I’ll attend only 5 hours of classes a week. This is the best timetable I’ve ever got!

Some updates from me

I had been playing Football Manager 2006 for the past few days. Totally do not have any time for other activities except sleep. It is now year 2015 in the game and the only “original” Liverpool players in my squad are Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso. I had won 10 consecutive Champions League for Liverpool and right now I’ve lost some motivation to continue the game. After all, most of the “real” players like Ronaldinho, Micheal Owen and Thiery Henry had retired. I’m now virtually playing with all those “fake” players which are created. I’m now looking forward to playing Football Manager 2007 which I believe will be out very soon.

Last week, I went back my hometown for a few days. I did a couple of things. I registered as a legal voter and cut my hair. Most of my friends are eligible to vote in the next General Election as they are born in the same year as I am - 1985. If you are reading this and haven’t registered as a voter, please do so by exercising your right as a citizen. Registration is carried out in all Post offices throughout the year. If I’m not mistaken, after you register, it will take 6 months for you to be listed in the voters list. If you do not wish to miss the next GE, you better act fast.

Talking about the next General Election, there are 3 dates that we should take note – Aug 2007, Apr 2008 and Mar 2009. Some parties are suggesting that Pak Lah might dissolve the parliament next year as it is Malaysia’s 50th National day. He would then take advantage of the voters’ patriotism to get another clean sweep in the GE. If Pak Lah were to dissolve the Parliament just after our 50th National day, this term would be the shortest ever ruling term by our government. April 2008 is another significant date as after this date, Anwar Ibrahim would be able to be active in politics. This means that he will take over the presidency of Keadilan and will be able to contest in the Parliamentary Seat which I believe will be Permatang Pauh. If Pak Lah would like to diminish the “Anwar factor” in the next GE, he will definitely dissolve the Parliament before this date. March 2009 is the latest date Pak Lah would be allowed to dissolve the parliament. He would not be allowed to dissolve parliament any later than this date as our last GE is in March 2004.

During the same morning where I went to the post office, I went to the Immigration department as my friend needed to update his passport. I saw this poster hanging on the wall.



You think they can achieve the target? No comment from me. Oh yes, before we went to the Immigration department, my friend did take a photo as he doesn’t have any of his latest photo. So we had our breakfast, took a photo in the photo studio, went to the post office - register as a voter and went to the Immigration department to update his passport. We did everything in just one morning. This is the wonder of living in a small place like Teluk Intan. Every place is just within reach in a few minutes. In Klang valley, it’s almost impossible to do so many things in just a morning. I remember two years ago when I went to Pusat Bandar Damansara to make a passport; it took me almost a day!

I get my hair cut another afternoon. I had been tiring of combing and gelling my hair so I decided to cut a baldhead. The last time I’ve been botak is when I was in form 4. My discipline teacher cut the hair for me as my hair is too long. He even collected 1 dollar from each of us(all the students that been caught keeping/dying long hair) after the hair cut. That’s the cheapest haircut I’ve ever paid for. After all it’s a very unprofessional haircut from my discipline teacher. This is how I look after the professional haircut from an Indian Barber last week.



I guess none of my groupmates will see me in such short hair as when school starts, my hair will grow long again.

Exam is over~

At last my exam is over. Didn't really perform well especially in my account paper. I have quite a number of heavy subjects this semester. My next semester could only get better as it is a short semester and i need to focus only on one subject(another subject is a LAN subject which will not affect my CGPA).

After my exam on Tuesday. I went to KLIA to bid farewell to my cousin who is leaving for UK. He is on a JPA scholarship. I was thinking that if I were to put in more effort during my form 5, I might be the one leaving for UK. Lol.

This is definitely not the first time I have been to KLIA but it is the first time I drive there at night.



Look at the numbers of JPA scholars who are leaving for UK. My cousin said that they board almost one third of the plane. They have a short briefing before leaving. The "person in charge" kept reminding them, "You orang pergi sana untuk belajar, bukan untuk main. Lepas belajar kena balik khidmat untuk negara......blah...blah...blah"

My cousin will come back earliest by next winter. So it will be at least a year before i could see him again. A few weeks ago, He told me to go over UK and look for a job after i graduate. Well, not really a bad option. Might consider it!

Tax assignment and Cash Flow Statement

I had wanted to finish my tax assignment and catch up a bit in my studies during this weekend as final exam is just around the corner.

During Friday night, when I was still figuring how to do my tax assignment, I received a call from my old friend. He said that he is in KL. He asked whether I wanted to go Bukit Jalil for the “Pesta Tanglung”. Initially, I was quite reluctant to go as one of my friends who had been there told me there’s nothing much to see. But my old friend said that there are a few secondary classmates joining them. If I don’t turn up, I will need to wait for some time to hang out them. I have no choice but to meet up with them.

Though Bukit Jalil is nearby, I had never been there. Theoretically, I know how to go there; practically I do not know the way there. Therefore, I just try my luck. Even if I don’t go on Friday, sooner or later I have to drive there as I’m going for David Tao’s concert in October.
When I was on my way there, I saw an accident just in front of South City Plaza.



After parking my car, I bought the ticket and meet them inside the fair. The “Pesta Tanglung” is just beside the stadium. They are altogether 6 of them. Two are from NUS, one from LimKokWing, one from IMU and another from UPM. I had not been seeing them for years. When we started chatting, I realized that most of us still remain the same. Same at the sense of, the way we joke, the way we speak and the way we crap.

Of all the Lanterns, I love this dragon the most. It is made using plates, spoons and other kitchen utensils.



This is the world’s smallest Qur-an



I went home quite early at around 12am as I need to wake up early the next morning.
On Saturday, I had earlier planned to go Klang with my friends. There’s a ship, MV Doulus in Port Klang. There’s also a bookfair on the ship. My friend told me that this ship comes to Port Klang once every four year. Therefore income derived from the ship is exempted from income tax as it is a casual call.



There is this one book that really caught my attention.



If you observed well enough, you will realize that “units” are used instead of “RM” on the price tag. I guess this is for the convenience of the seller. When the ship sails to another country, they do not need to change a new price tag. All they need to do is just change the currency equivalent to one “Unit”. In Malaysia, 100 Units is equal to RM8. Therefore that book is RM24.

This is list of Fireman on the ship.


See anything familiar? Haha, Jalur Gemilang is there, there’s a Malaysian fireman on the ship.

I came back in the evening. Was very tired as I was out for the whole day. I watched Astro Talent Quest 2006 before I slept until Sunday afternoon. It’s another day that I totally didn’t touch my textbooks.

Today, after my lunch, I started doing AAP - cash flow statement. When I was half way, my friend called. It’s entertainment club’s treasurer. He told me that he is working on entertainment’s club theme song. He asked me to go over and give him a helping hand. We changed the lyrics of Andy Lau’s “Kick Out A Future”(ti chu ge wei lai) - Shaolin soccer’s theme song. Now the lyric is done. We are now searching for the Karaoke version of this song as we are going to sing it with a different lyric. Hopefully I can get it done by this week. Besides that, Entertainment club will be shooting a second video clip on Tuesday. If everything goes as planned, you would be able to watch it by Wednesday.

My tax assignment and Cash Flow statement? Let’s not mentioned it, it’s not done yet.