Alex's Wedding

7th January 2012

It was the day of Alex's wedding. He's my cousin btw. ;D My family went down to Melaka for the wedding and it started at the church where they exchanged vows.

When they reached home, it's the tea ceremony time.

Of course, there was the dinner at night. How could there be no dinner right where everyone Yum Seng.

After dinner, I thought that's all but no... I was asked by my cousin to go clubbing. Apparently, my other cousins told him that if he didn't go, they wouldn't attend his wedding when it comes. XD emotional blackmail. hahaha.. First time to a club.

During this wedding, I saw a lot of my kiddy cousins growing older and i felt that I am growing older too. Now I kinda understand what the older people meant when they frequently said 'wah, you changed already'.

God Bless Alex and Yu Kar

God Bless~

Grueling process to US

30th Dec 2011

Throughout this whole year, my one aim was to go to UNT for Masters and now that I am going, I am thinking of writing down a short (hopefully) description of how to get to the US.

1. After you have an idea where to go and what to study, you would need to see the requirement of the university for the course you are wanting to go. Most of the course for Masters in the US would require you to pass a test, either the GRE (most of the courses), GMAT (business i think) or some other test.

Mine was the GRE and there's a general GRE paper and specific GRE paper. You can take the specific ones to 'show off' your knowledge on a particular field, but it's not necessary. Of course, it would cost more also if u take the specific paper, but you MUST take the general paper.

GRE is tough, and I once heard it's 'the mother of all test'. It's also expensive (appx. RM 560). If you fail, you have to pay the money again, so better don't fail. There are books to guide you through the examination and it's best to study about at least half a year. I rushed through it. I think I studies like.. 2 - 3 months. Good thing I passed.

2. Besides the GRE, another test that international students need to take would be an English proficiency test. You can take either TOEFL or IELTS. I took TOEFL and it wasn't that tough. Just be on your toes as it's also pretty expensive (appx. RM 480)

3. If let's say you passed both the test, then YAY! I suppose the university will require some recommendation letters, a completed application forms, registration fees, writing sample etc. Check for the requirements and go get all of those done. Don't get frustrated or discouraged when your lecturers don't reply to your email about the recommendation letter. BUG THEM! :p

For institutions in Texas (I don't know about other states), you can actually send applications online on applytexas.org. It's really cool in a sense that you can complete application and send to many schools at once, and you can pay through credit card online too. 1 application will cost around USD 50 - USD 75. So if you apply for 4 schools, it will roughly come up to appx. RM 700.

4. WAIT! this is one of the most torturous part where you have sent them everything and you wait for their reply. There is no certainty when they will reply, and in my case, my wait was pretty *tut* long (like half a year long).

5. Let's say they have accepted you. Hurray! Quickly ask them to send over the I-20 together with all your necessary documents. Now you have to pass the visa interview. In order to schedule an interview, you first need to fill up the DS-160 form, pay USD 140 for the visa fees at Standard Chartered bank, pay USD 400 for SEVIS fee, and schedule an interview after all the payment. This is the website for Malaysian if you want to apply for a visa. http://www.ustraveldocs.com/my/

In the meantime, go renew your passport, take a visa photo (white background, 2 X 2 inches), look at the possible visa interview questions and get prepared. My interview was supposed to be 7.40 a.m. I reached at 7.10 a.m and there were already 5 person in front of me. My advice, schedule an appointment early and go early, cause the jam is terrible in KL. Early appointment will make parking hunting easier. Remember to bring pertinent items to the interview (valid passport, visa photograph, I-20, financial documents and any relevant documents depicting strong ties to country). Also, look for a place to stay there. If you are staying with friends or relatives, then all's good and well. If you are like me, going alone, better make sure u have a roof before boarding on the plane.

Be confident during interview. My interview lasted less than a minute, 2 minutes top, and I was told that I passed my interview. YAY!

6. Now that visa is done, book an air ticket. Mine was really expensive. You can go through agent or book straight from the airlines, but going to the US, there must be a transit. More often than not, there will be a change of airlines. Even if there isn't, it's normally cheaper to buy from an agent. But it's good that you check it yourself. Buy early to avoid dissapointment.

7. Shop for relevant items. Winter clothes are really expensive, but nothing can be done. It will be winter when I go there. Advice: need not buy that much, cause it's cheaper and of better quality there.

8. I suppose the last step before boarding the plane would be to meet up with loved ones to say bye bye.

Next year will be my first year in a foreign country, experiencing winter, boarding a plane by myself. It will definitely be a year of many firsts for me. It's a little scary thinking about it, but I am taking the leap of faith.

God Bless~

Nostalgic

27th November 2011

2011 has been a great and adventurous year. I have had many first times this year and it started with my first airplane experience to Bali with my friends. First time out of country with friends also. It was really great, seeing one small part of the world where their culture is so different. People are more laidback and I liked it.

Of course, my second flight was also this year to Terengganu and I went to Lang Tengah. It was also my first time snorkeling there. It was great to see the clear waters and the clear sky at night where there were lots of stars.

Very importantly, this year is my first year stepping full time into the working force. Being a mentor in a child development centre has been an awesomely wonderful experience. It's also great that we have birthday celebrations and boss pays for it. XD. It helps when colleagues are friendly and willing to guide. They are all sweet and they gave me a farewell with a present! manis giler.

Most of the kids are lovely and I will definitely miss all of them dearly. Some gave me presents for Teacher's Day, my birthday and .... on other random days as well. One of them asked me whether I will take the stars which she gave me overseas. :x

Sometimes we adults don't realize how small things matter so much to the young ones.

December is coming. Christmas is coming. The season when I like it's festive mood and listening to it's music. This year will end close to perfect if I pass my visa interview and get ready to go to Texas. Hopefully I would be more equipped in a few years time to help more people.

God Bless~

Of life and death

26th October 2011

Recently there has been many deaths occurring around the world. It makes me think a little how life can be so short and death so quick and sudden.

There was the flood in Thailand which claimed quite a number of life.. the death of Steve Jobs, the 2 years old in China and more recently Simoncelli. All these news are not good news and the deaths of the 3 latter individuals had cause people around the world to react in a certain manner.

Of course everyone around the world was in a rage over the death of the 2 years old China girl who was ran over and nobody seemed to care for her life. People were talking about it from the office, to the restaurant to the online community condemning the act and baffled at how can we humans be so inhumane towards other humans, so young a child at that.

Millions of people were mourning over the death of Steve Jobs as well. People were crying and saying what a lost to the world as someone so great has passed away. I don't have any Apple products and to me, his death did not made that big of an impact to me. But it got me thinking, what constitutes 'greatness'?

I came across this article http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_comment-steve-jobs-wasnt-great-he-wasnt-even-close_1596888 which made me think of what constitutes greatness. Of course, comparing Jobs to Salk is like comparing an apple to orange and is by no means a comparable comparison but it really got me thinking, what constitutes 'greatness' and how do one achieve that 'greatness' to be a legendary figure?

I suppose one trademark of 'greatness' is that the person leaves a footprint behind to the world. both Jobs and Salk managed to leave their footprints behind. The bigger the footprint, the greater the 'greatness' of a person. Question is, how do we leave footprints?

Surely to be able to leave a big footprint, one needs to be quite intelligent to be able to influence most of the people of its' time. So great intellect which affects people is one measure of greatness.

Another measure of greatness would be how one has helped the world for the better. Mother Teresa is 'great' but I am not too sure whether she's intellectually great. Her heart is great and she left a big footprint with her big heart. I suppose a truly 'great' person is someone who is an intellect with a heart.

GREATNESS = INTELLECT + HEART

I want to strive to be someone with both as I can see the danger of having only the mind and not the heart.

Whatever it is, the death of these 3 people are landmark deaths and we hope their deaths can only change the world for the better. Maybe China is going to have a policy change. Maybe more people will strive to have both intellect and heart. And maybe, there will be more safety measures in the future for athletes.

Maybe, all of us should start valuing our lives.

God Bless~

The PERFECT Dream

29th September 2011

Most of us have dreams. We dream about many things. We dream about having nice cars, big houses, a prince charming or beautiful princess, lots of money, having a good and healthy life etc. But how many of us are living our own dreams?

Taken from http://chris-bradley.org/2011/02/02/awesome-houses-inspiration-bedrooms/

When I was young, I dream about going to school to play with my friends.

As I grew up, I dream of becoming a smart student and becoming a scientist, among other occupations such as sailor and astronaut.

Then I realized that I like numbers and finally I chose a course which have to do with humans.

Dreams change and my point is, are we living our own dream? Or someone else's dream? Who puts the idea in our head that we need to have lots of money and have new nicer cars, new bigger houses, the latest handheld technology, lots of money and plenty of booze?

Those dreams are the dreams of the world and if those are your dreams, then you are not living your dream because it can never be satisfied, as the world will always have another dream they are selling.

In advertisements, the advertisers sell this concept of the perfect dream. The family buying a new house suddenly lives harmoniously and happily. The dude who used the perfume suddenly becomes a hottie. Having a new car would make you weave your way effortlessly on the road (although this will never work in KL). We buy into these 'dreams' and once another product comes out, the perfect dream is imperfect and we are fed with more of these 'perfect dreams'. We slave ourselves with long working hours to achieve these dreams in exchange for less time with friends and families.

So, are you living your dream? Or the dream of the world? Is there really a perfect dream? There is, for those who believe in heaven. For those who don't, a perfect dream can be as easy as living with dignity by making the world a better place.

We often forget, that often, the most precious things in life are free.

God Bless~

Consumerism

25th September 2011

Consumerism is chiseling away the life of our planet. While some of us are eating awesome food here, others are dying of hunger.

Taken from http://www.chrismadden.co.uk/eco/consumerism-illustration.html

I got this thought when I was in church today. With the advent of group coupons (groupons), we can get so many exciting deals and the demand for things is on the rise with the so called 'deal'. We can get buffets, exciting adventures but what are the cost of demanding so much?

While we may eat to the brim of our stomach for RM 40 - RM 60 with the deal, we are demanding more food to be put on the dining table in the restaurant. And with about 2000 plus people buying it, you can surely bet there would be a huge demand for animals, plants and seafood to be slaughtered, harvested and fished. And that's just for 1 of the restaurants. Multiply that by the constant deal and the wastage at the end of the day, maybe the picture is not as colourful anymore (for the life of our world at least).

What about the travel industry? With the cheap flights and discounted prices of holidays, there would be an increase of pollution, from airplane, to nature being invaded to more food being provided for tourist.

I for one, admit that I do purchase these deals every once in a while but where are we heading to with such rampant consumerism? Surely the world cannot consistently supply us with our cravings as it is never ending and always on the rise. But if we don't put a stop to it, then sooner or later, our world is going to be so barren that we are gonna starve ourselves. (ok this might be a slippery slope argument. sue me).

Taken from http://sal.am/tag/consumerism/

I guess all of us should take a step back and think a little before purchasing things. The most important thing would be to be contented with our lives and what we have. If we are contented, we wouldn't think that a buffet or a discounted travel package is such a great thing because we are simply happy and satisfied with how things are and need not look for 'extra' things to complement our life. It's pretty simple. Things work in a demand and supply dynamic. When the demand goes down, so does supply.

Taken from http://www.herdarkmatter.com/2008/12/two-thousand-eight.html

On another note, why not use consumerism in a positive manner. Another idea which popped into my head when I was in church is how companies like Groupon can utilize the people's purchasing power. If only they could feature a home (refugee, autism, spastic, old folks etc.) every week, I think it would be of great help to the home. I think Malaysians are a good lot and are willing to help. Just maybe we are caught up with everyday work and the awareness is low as to how to help. By utilizing this vast network that is already established and the ease of donating by just a few clicks, this could be a great power to be leveraged (or at least I think so). Positive consumerism anyone?

God Bless~

Years gone by

10th September 2011

I am feeling nostalgic and contemplative now. A feeling which I have not felt for quite some time due to my busyness I suppose. Was it because of the weather or was it because of the departure? Looking back at the years gone by, I would proudly say I love my life and I am very blessed even till this day for having good family and friends by my side.

So many memories made and cherished. Were there regrets? Yes, but I can count them with my fingers. If I could turn back time, I might not make the same mistakes, but oh well, such things made me realize what I shouldn't do in the future.

Today I sent one of my friends at the airport. My first time sending anyone away. Will there be more to come? I kinda like airports.

My work is pretty ok. Kids in kepong are not that bad. I got a present from one of my students already in my first week there. But where is my life bringing me to? Or where am I bringing my life to? What does future holds for me?

Sometimes I feel that life is so futile. What's the purpose of having a nice life? It is going to end one day. My thinking could be a little weird since I think not many 23 years old thinks like me. I think most of them would be roaring to go, wanting to earn money or to change the world. Am I grounded in reality, or am I a pessimist?

God Bless~