Random Happenings

EXAM!!!
I took my MUET speaking test on Monday, and was really unsatisfied with my performance. I could have done it better. The question given to us was: What quality should you show during the scholarship interview? The point given to me was: Intelligent and creative. An relatively easy question compared to others, a very good and easy-to-elaborate point, but a nervous and blank-minded candidate. Argh... Anyway, let bygones be bygones, the speaking test covers only 45marks out of 300marks in MUET, I have another 3 papers to sit for. Recently I saw many people sitting in four at the library practising speaking skills and felt relieved that everything has over for me. It's time to move on to the PSPM, the final exam of matriculation for the first semester.
We have ended our lectures and tutorials for the first semester. There is one week left for us to revise for the 'grand' exam, fighting to get four pointer! Yay, so this might be my last blog update for the study week. Maybe if I am inspired during the exam I still will spare some time to update the blog and stalk people using facebook, so stay tune!

19/10/12
Just now me and Miss Salad were having some desserts at the co-op and saw some Red Crescent vans wandering at the hostels. Then we heard some buzzing noise and also the fire alarm which we thought was another false alarm. Seconds later, we saw white smoke rising from the hostel. Oh, it was the spraying of insecticide by the Health Ministry. So we got away from the irritating smell and went towards the Dataran Kosmik. There were some people who were holding their plates and having their dinner at the corridor, poor people. Yea, this is what happened today.

Insects Update (part one)
It has been a long time since I did the insects update on facebook. As my college is located at the rural part of Banting, all sorts of insects can be found here, plenty of them, and sometimes it can be scary and annoying.
1) House-fly
Thank God that the house-fly season is almost over! For the last few weeks since we were back from the mid-sem break, flies were everywhere, covering the tiled floor of cafeterias and tables. You could find flies in the food, not just one, ugh! But we assumed that we saw nothing and just ate. By the way, a fly was discovered drowning in our favourite mung bean soup during dinner. Nooooo!!!!!!
2) Moth
Which is the place where we can find the most number of moths in the college? Bathroom. Yes, I am not sure what is the reason but we can always see moths resting on the wall of bathroom. I think those are peppered moths of a great variety, big and small, white and black, furry or not very furry. Ah, don't forget the Atlas moth! I never seen one before in Penang and am glad that I can see a population of them here. A beautiful creation by God.
3) Ants
Ants live with me peacefully in my room as I will not bother about them as long as they don't purposely disturb me. If they do, the consequence is, they will be blown some metres away. I prefer not to use the insecticide because it is not environmental-friendly and the killing will be endless. When the ants are thirsty, they will go to my 'freshly-washed' mug to have a sip and then leave silently. Hungry? Sorry, no food for you guys. I will make sure no leftovers on my table. A good example of commensalism, eh? Last night, when I opened my drawer to look for some documents at the most bottom part which is cold and dark, I found an ant colony in side a stack of test pads wrapped in plastic. The whole colony! Tiny red ants, with some big ones, and lots of white eggs, I thought. However I fail to find the queen. I didn't kill them but leave the test pads outside my room. The next morning, I mean, this morning, everything has been moved away, not a single member of the colony was left behind. One of the best part of animal nature.
4) Millipede
You can always see crushed millipedes on the floor. The red one and the black with yellow strips one. There are really too many of them and you will accidentally step on one if you do not look at the ground carefully when you walk.
5) Dragonfly and Damselfly
Red dragonflies can be seen flying freely like helicopters after the rain. If there is dragonflies, it means that the place in pollution-free! A good sign to the environment here. Damselfly is smaller and looked a bit like dragonfly but I rarely seen the fragile creatures here often.

MUET

Tomorrow will be my first (and hopefully is the last) MUET (Malaysia University English Test) speaking test. By around 11pm, I will be facing the shortest and longest time in my life (yea, it's hyperbola, haha). 1 minute to read the question, the shortest 2 minutes for preparation, the longest 2 minutes to present your points, another 1 minute to read the question, another 2 minutes for preparation, then the final 10 minutes for group discussion among 4 candidates. [1+2+(2x4)+1+2+10] minutes = 24 minutes. After test I can feel relaxed when using English (at last). Well, I will still improve myself in this language, no worry!

I am the last candidate of my group and it can be a good thing but also a bad thing. The good thing is, I can secretly prepare my points while others are doing their presentation (Ah, relax, I won't do that). The bad thing is, when it is your turn, everyone will be staring at you (Oh, everyone is paying attention to me, how nice). Anyway, I will not waste all the efforts learning English in primary and secondary schools. Thank you in advance to all my teachers and lecturers who had taught me English. I will definitely get the highest band in speaking test tomorrow.

Gambateh to me and all fellow candidates, cheers!

Biology Assignment

This is the bio song that we have done in three-day-time. Enjoy!

Thank you to everyone involved! 

P/S: Ignore my poor pronunciation, haha.

The fifth month in Banting

Previously I thought Banting is a rural area but the fact is, it is actually quite busy. There is also hustle and bustle going on within the town (of course, don’t compare with KL). We can find supermarkets (The Store and Econsave), governmental and private clinics (or even specialist center), pharmacies (Watsons, Guardians etc), all sort of groceries, bakeries, boutiques, optometrist stores, banks (BSN and Bank Rakyat), computer stores, stationery shops, restaurants and eateries (Pan Mee is a must-try!), fast food outlets (KFC, MacD, Pizza Hut and Domino Pizza), hotels (such as Garden Hotel…), musical instrument shops, branded stores which are considered as luxuries to most of us (Tutti Frutti and Secret Recipe) and the list goes on and on and on and on…

The transportation here is good enough to send you anywhere you want to go. Taxi drivers are friendly and helpful and the fare is reasonable. They try their best to send you to the destination you want. There is a bus station where you can take a bus to Klang Central which links to other parts of Malaysia (one hour ride to Bukit Tinggi where Jusco is located and two hours ride to KL). 

Oh yeah, if you love adventures and nature, Bukit Jugra (don’t forget the museum located just beside the hill) and Bukit Broga (this one requires one and a half hour ride from the town) are recommended. You can even do flying fox at Bukit Jugra! Besides, Pantai Morib is quite popular there (but too bad it is not sandy). There are some parts of Banting with kampong-feel, with cows, goats and chicken roaming the land, palm oil plantations and undeveloped forest (I am not sure whether it is actually a forest or not) with some fruit trees (Aww, I saw durian trees!). Surprisingly, I can see quite a number of species of birds here (however the ones that I can name are sparrows, pigeons, kingfishers, cuckoos, eagles, swallows etc). In addition, insects are also thrived here especially moths (Atlas moth can be found here! It was the first time I saw one.) It is a great idea to make Banting town one of the locations for backpacking! 

I am truly appreciate that I got the chance to study here. An unforgettable life experience out of Nibong Tebal, out of Penang, out of Northern Malaysia.

Stop by, and have a coffee.

After one week, finally, I am fully recover from the dreadful fever (I lost my appetite during that period, it was a kind of suffering for food-lovers like me) and it is time to back to the caffeine-addicted life.

There are many types of coffee in the world, but I used to have 3 in 1 instant coffee (such as Nescafe). It is the one I can afford, Starbucks and Coffee Bean is too luxurious for me. Coffee, to me, is not a ‘drug’ to make me stay awake late at night but an enjoyment of life. I had coffee while reading newspaper after lunch when I was at home. It is a state of relaxing as the aroma of coffee fills my mind, clearing away all the stress. As I know, some people are immune to the effect of caffeine while the others cannot sleep or will dehydrate after taking coffee, too bad that I am the latter. My dad still can sleep soundly even though he drinks coffee after dinner. How good if I can do that too without getting the risk of insomnia. I love coffee, but I try to control the frequency of drinking coffee to reduce caffeine addiction as much as possible (because I want to live independently without being controlled by caffeine).

Coffee makes me feel alive, erm, under certain conditions. Firstly, the time I feel like a zombie in the lecture hall. Secondly, the time I suffer from running nose as a result of allergy. As we know, coffee can freshen up our mind as it increases the metabolism rate of our body. It also magically cure running nose for my case (I am not sure whether it works for other people). I will be very energetic (or should I say hyperactive?) under the effect of caffeine for the following hours after drinking coffee. I see hope for the rest of the day (haha, yeah, I know I sound insane, but that is what I actually feel), and I can concentrate in whatever I do.

One of my dreams is to learn and enjoy the arts of coffee, where people draw patterns on the foam of coffee using caramel and chocolates. The photos of coffee arts on facebook are very tempting! Nice to see and I am quite sure that it is great to taste too. I read about it on newspaper. It requires a lot of practices to perfect the skills. People even use the foam of detergent for practicing (or else they have to drink a lot of coffee each day).

A mug of coffee, it is called life.