A Journey into the Realm of Self-realisation

The title might seem a little misleading/vague/ambiguous but what it really wants to convey is the joy and memories that I experienced when I was on my trip across 6 different countries with 4 different types of comrades. Journey from the dual-continent of Turkey (Istanbul) across eastern europe and finally ending in the minute-breathtaking Malta.

The breakdown of the overall journey is reflected below:
1. Turkey (Istanbul)
2. Bulgaria (Sofia)
3. Hungary (Budapest)
4. Austria (Vienna)
5. Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome)
6. Malta

Before the start of the journey dated on the 24th of July 2012, I had the final paper of my undergraduate degree ever and was extremely exhausted and even had the thought of that I should postpone or cancel this trip. But, if I did postpone or called it off, it would be the worst decision ever I'd ever made in my entire life so far.

To KISS (keep it short and simple),

All in all, this journey has brought myself to understand people better especially my fellow comrades. I would  like to thank each and everyone of you that has made this trip an unforgettable one which I will definitely cherish for the rest of my life! All of us might be heading to different paths in the future in our lives, but rest assured, we shall definitely keep in touch!

Last but not least, I know I might have talked too much or uttered words which could had or might had hurt the people I travelled with (That's just me I guess). Therefore, I would like to apologise if I did offend anyone of you. Peace!

My first attempt to construct a poem since I don't know when. Hope it doesn't sound shitty :D

First time we meet,
All looked as if it was Greek,
We joked as if we're on weed,
It was then an absolute kick,



The journey was not an abyss,
Where goodbyes will always be the beast,
Out of sight, never out of mind,
Memories of this journey will always be with my heartbeat.


Signing off with a blast,
马志勇

PS - I'm officially a motherf***ing chemical ! XD

Back in UK

Been back in the UK for nearly 2 months now! Believe it or not, I just had my last lecture of my chemical engineering last friday! So, I practically have no more classes till exams next May/June.

But, I do have my Design project and reseach project going on at the same time which contribute a cumulative 80 credits! Whoops. Not so free after all!

Glad to be back in the UK. Good to see all my friends here and great to make new friends too! Enjoying my time here at the moment. Job applications on the way. Already applied to 2 companies and more to come hopefully. Not too sure will I be able to get them as they mostly want students who have the rights to work in the UK full-time and I'm not one of them. Anyhow, I will just try my luck. No harm trying!

A very chilling weekend really. Just lazing around in my room. Did some minor revision. Quite a productive weekend I feel. More design project stuff coming up next week and I guess it is back to research mode then! :(

Research project topics almost sorted out. Really interested in COMSOL modelling though haven't really got the topic yet! Hope I will be able to cope with the incoming tasks! Been doing shopping these few weeks and really feel great with what I bought. Should be taking-off to Belfast in December for winter holidays. Tickets yet to be booked and most probably will go there anyways!

Till then, got work to do..... So, ciao first! xx

Long holidays in Penang

Year 3 of my degree ends and it is holidays again. How fast can time fly? Too fast if you ask me. Can't even believe me eyes that there's only 1 year left in my university life. Many of my secondary school classmates will also be graduating the time I graduate. Some others have already graduated and even working already! Wow that is swift fast and I can't comprehand either. Well, we can't turn back time and go back the the good old times can we? We can just make full use of the current situation and make it as great as possible.

It is always great to be back home. Nothing beats home. The food, the bed, the people, the toilet, the environment. Nothing in the world beats those. Departing from Singapore was not as easy as it seems. I was telling myself when my final exam ended in NUS that phew am going home already! Wooooooooo, leaving kiasu land hahahhaa (no offense la) :P. But when it came to saying goodbyes, it was pretty hard and I was very reluctant to do so (and I'm not very good at expressing myself). I have met many friends here from many countries. I might not be very close to most of them but knowing them have been a great pleasure, especially my housemates for 2 semesters. They have made my days while I was in Singapore. Talking gibberish and laughter together have been of great entertainment. I'll miss them to be honest and it was hard to say goodbye to them knowing that it will be a very long time before we do meet again. Nevertheless, it is great to be back home in Malaysia.

What have I been doing since 5th May? Well, nothing much! Most of the time been resting and slacking my ass off in my room; catching up with my beloved secondary school friends. I wanna get a part time job but transportation proved to be a problem as I do not have my own transportation. But I do hope to do something useful :P

Things to accomplish in the next few weeks.

-Get documents for my UK visa extension (the shittiest thing to do EVER)

-Try to get a job

-Get fat? (Prolly)

-Complete reading some books left pilling up in my room

-Meet up with more friends!

Screw it, let's just do it!

Untitled

NUS Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering FYP posters were displayed on Friday! What's up with them? Nothing much to be honest. Posters only larr. LMAO. Approximately 200+ posters were on displayed at the Engineering Auditorium and I was there to 'steal' some ideas for my own FYP next year. Well, it was a goner attempt as wherever I look they were all the same (at least to me though). Met up with some Singaporean friends who were also there with their posters. Didn't dig in for the free meal provided though which I should had lmao.

I was told by a friend that they had 2 types of projects. One was computational simulation while the other is laboratory experiments. Both have their pros and cons. Well, to be honest, I would want to choose the simulation type as I am quite interested in computer simulation but again I'm pretty weak in Matlab so it might not be the best choice :( She also told me that some even required Java which they had no basic background to it when they took the project and had to start learning from square one. Tough luck mate. Really need to consider many factors that would come into play next year. :(

Congratulations to one of my friend, as he won 2 prizes for his poster. Best poster voted by fellow colleagues and best poster by the panel of judges (lecturers etc). He's a real hardworking fella; all the best to him and the other 4th years who are graduating this end of semester. As for me, I still have 1 more midterm this Monday; Petrochemicals and Processing Technology; so much too read, my brain's reaching saturation point :( and I have not really looked into other subjects because I'm focusing on this midterm and also partly slacking lmao. Most of the midterms I had I think were average not too good neither too bad. So, have to step up during the finals.

I had one of the best chemistry subjects ever under him. Really enjoyed it. :P

Hmmmm yeah remembering one of my chemistry mod lecturer last semester. As he said:

"Education is not for the sake of examination only. Education is to open up the eyes. But we live in a world where one needs to have examination unfortunately."

I had one of the best chemistry subjects ever under him. Really enjoyed it. :P

Reality check 1 2 3

Yes! Reality check! Hmmmm... Let's see recess week over in 3 days and 4 mid terms coming up. *Sighs*

Had one mid term before recess week and was an easy one but I think everyone else also found it to be extremely easy. :P

Took sometime off uni work and travelled to Langkawi with my roomate to chill for abit. Now am back in the tensed Singapore mugging for next week's mid terms starting from Wednesday till Friday. Pfft. Dang, can't sleep till late already :(

Well, there's nothing much in my mind which I can write down now. Just trying not to leave it too empty :P So, yeah will be back prolly after midterms? or perhaps after the 2nd semester ends? :P

Ciao ~

3 weeks of hell officially begins!

Kick-starting this hellish 3 weeks would be a project presentation by your honourable Mr. Ma to the whole class (FML). The very last ever ever project/presentation for this semester. Because I studied 2 years in UK, so I was assumed to be the best candidate to give the speech for our group. Hahaha. Oh well, I'm the noble man loh to sacrifice myself =.=.

Actually I started revision already but 2 weeks of revision of 5 modules is kind of tight if I don't get it started. So, yeah nearly done with 2 modules already although past papers are yet to be attempted so far. :) I wouldn't say my life in Singapore is as bad as first thought although it's just fucking insane here how people do their work hahahaha. But again, I think if you could really work efficiently and management time properly I think it should be fine. But then again, probably engineering students face a more hectic situation as they do more modules and stuff in my opinion (not saying that the arts side is easy!). Every course has its own difficulty I believe! :)

So here I am sitting in the living room, after 2 sets or self-rehearsal for tomorrow's presentation publishing this post. I don't really like presentations but well I think it will be a very common thing in the near future when we work. My dutch housemates thinks reverse. They think presentation is the easiest job in a group project. It's because they say you don't have to do anything but just talk (but with sufficient understanding for the matter of course) or not you'll just be talking gibberish all the way trying to smoke your way through the presentation. Hahahaha. But I think it's the asian culture in general; I stress in general to dislike presentations. Although there are people I know which are extremely well-trained to give public speeches and presentations. I really admire them. I do strongly agree that presentation in an extremely important aspect of life which one has to get use to it.

Apart of that, I have been catching up with Bleach in terms of the animation. Hmmmm, not really impressed by the animation because as usual they have this freaking 5 minutes recap of previous episode and the bloody actual episode is less than 20 minutes. Real bull. And sometimes just shows some insignificant scenes hahahaha.

Well, wondering why I'm doing this when exams are just 2 weeks away? Hmmmm, I have no idea too! Probably because I have this presentation to accomplish. I think after tomorrow 11am, I will be on full time mugging mode as I will only have the exams to concentrate on and nothing else. So, do wish me luck for my presentation tomorrow, although I doubt anyway will see this post by today hahahaha. Goodluck to everyone who is having exams or are going to have exams and yeah looking forward to going back to Malaysia in December as well as Cambodia!!!

Peace-out :D

Exams are coming, so are the holidays

Yea i think in about 6 weeks or 5 i will be having my 1st semester's finals. FML. and to top everthing off, we're only given 1 week of study break to revise 5 modules before exams start. Aiks. So, revision starts now I presume! :D However, I still have 2 projects to go and 1 more class test. Damn it man so so so lazy somemore... Kiu mia ar... :(

On the bright side, at least, I'll be having 5 weeks of long holidays to enjoy after that and to think of what appropriate modules to choose for sem 2. Hopefully not any modules which require intensive and mental mathematics which requires me to pull my hair off my head again :(

Now it's 15 minutes to 11 am and I'm goin to start doin some research which I have to discuss with my group mates on Wednesday as well as completing a tutorial due on Wednesday too and revise for a class test on Friday TOO ! XD

Totally awesomeness! :D FML :D