First week of my final semester

This is the first week of my final semester in NTU. Without realizing it, I have been in NTU for 3.5 years. Many things had happened and I have also changed a lot. Still, I am trying to enjoy my last moments in NTU and hope to achieve as much as I can.

I have only 3 modules, 11 AUs this semester. They are MP4010 Mechatronics Systems Design and Analysis, MP4J02 Marine and Offshore Structural Integrity and CM101 Java and The Internet. Since my timetable is so free, I decided to audit two very interesting modules, which are MP4005 Fluid Dynamis and MP4J03 Marine Engineering Systems and Control.

This week has been quite interesting. I crashed Nano lecture, attended talk by Red Hat CEO, got rejected by PSA, went outing with Red Cross buddies, jogged at SRC, played badminton for the first time since 2000, chatted with a financial consultant, helped Dung with his FYP, attended FYP meeting, Grad Dinner meeting, LDP Workshop meeting and so on.

Hopefully next week will be even better. I am going back Kampar for CNY!!!

  

Year 3 Result

Return to the "Year 1 Kok Hou"

Today I sort of return to the person I was in Year 1. See below.

7.20am - Woke up

7.55am - 1st Breakfast at Canteen 14

8.10am - 2nd Breakfast at McDonald

8.20am - At LT1, waiting for the lecturer to come

8.30am - MP3001 Lecture

10.30am - MP3007 Lecture

12.30pm - Library

1.00pm - Left NTU

2.30pm - Reached Raffles Place. Medical check-up at Drs. Bain & Partners

4.30pm - Lunch

5.00pm - Reached Red Cross House

5.30pm - Left Red Cross House

6.45pm - Reached NTU. Dinner at Canteen A

8.00pm - Library

9.30pm - Reached my room

10.30pm - Bathed

11.00pm - Writing this. Planning to study till midnight

Year 2 Result

Compare to my Year 1 result, this is quite disastrous. However, I am still happy that I can maintain my scholarship. Well, I need a 4.8 next semester to return to first class. Time to work hard.

And I also wish to thank Joseph for helping me a lot in the last semester. I could not have achieved a 4.47 without your constant nagging :)

PS: Joseph, I promised to help you treat others if I obtained a GPA of 4.5 or above. Too bad, you are on your own now.

Exam

Finals are coming soon, and I am not prepared at all! My first two papers are on 23rd April: CSC 425 - Similation & Modelling and MP2011 - Engineering Graphics and Machine Components. One is a Computer Science elective while the other is a drawing module which I hate with a passion. Both carry 4 AUs, so this means that half of my final will finish on the first day. This is not good.

Despite having ample time to prepare( more than one week), I wasted it on slacking. Now it is just less than 5 days before final. I need to study hard for this. I cannot allow my CGPA to drop even lower as I still plan to graduate with first class honours. My aim for this semester will be 4.50. Even though this may be a bit far-fetched considering my situation, I still believe in miracle :)

All the best to those who will be facing their final examinations soon (and that includes me)!!!

Another Emo Post

Just finished my 2011 tutorial. How naive I am to think that I can attend a hands-on tutorial without even attending any lectures. Needless to say, I screwed up big time, as usual. 2011 tutorials have been a torture for me every week. I just cannot draw properly. At first, I blamed this on the fact that I hate drawing( It is true, I did not choose Design stream because of this). But today, a thought crossed my mind.

I have not been paying much attention to my studies since the start of Year 2. I always think that we should enjoy ourself in college/university. A college student should participate in a lot of ECA activities, make a lot of new friends and have fun. Because of this, I am contented with leaving my studies as it is, only to work on it during exam time.

Just now, it dawned to me that if I continue like this, I would become a damn lousy mechanical engineer. I cannot draw well, I cannot understand gear and chain well, I suck at fluid mechanic, not so good in thermodynamic etc.

We study not just to get good grades, we study so that we could be good at something. When I graduate, I will be bearing the title 'mechanical engineer'. I will have responsibility toward the society as an engineer. How can I fulfil my responsibility without the necessary technical knowledge?

In conclusion, there is always a reason why certain modules are being taught. As students and future engineers, it is our job to study and understand. You cannot just simply ignore you studies because you do not care about your grades. It does not work that way.

LDP & Red Cross Orientation

I had LDP and Red Cross Orientation on Saturday (19/09/09). Since I am a LDP exco and also Red Cross Main Comm, I decided to go both (LDP in the morning and Red Cross in the afternoon and evening)

In the morning, we had our LDP orientation. Around 20 LDP freshmen came and we started with some ice breaking games. After that, our President Serene gave her speech followed by the VPs. As Head of Academic Department, I told the freshmen about my department and encouraged them to join. I left before lunch so that I can reach Sentosa before all the games start.

In Sentosa, the heavy rains disrupted all our plan. Luckily, we had expected this and proceeded with our wet weather plan. I am the programmer of one station together with Hindri and Guo Yang. Our station is called Land-mines. The team had to navigate their team mate who was blindfolded to reach the destination while avoiding all the land-mines(mixture of flour and water). Throughout the games, we had to modified it abit so that the game could run smoothly.

After that, it was time for the Lost Ring. I was in charged of Sing-a-Song. In this game, the group must come out with a performance with song and dance. Then they had to perform in front of strangers.

The Red Cross Orientation ended around 9pm. Despite being exhausted, it was very enjoyable. My only regret was that I could not participate fully in both orientation. Hope next year they wont clash again.

PS: Refer this and this for last year LDP orientation.

Updates

It has been a long time since I last updated my blog. So I think it is time to write something.

Studies:
Second year is not easy at all. I am taking 6 core modules and 1 elective this sem. Till now, I haven't touch my tutorials at all. EID Project is now a year long thing and will take up two hours per week. I am also planning to do URECA Research Project.

CCAs:
Red Cross - I am elected as the RCHN - NTU Chapter First Aid Officer. I am happy and honoured to be elected but this also means more work for me. Have to stay back during recess week for the Standard First Aid course.

LDP - I am currently the Head of Academic Department. I am busy handling Peer Tutoring Session now while ELS and Peer Lecture is coming soon.

Red Cross ISP Project Kasih - As Logistics Officer. Workload expected to increase as it is nearer to December.

LDP Project L.O.V.E. - As Publicity team. Workload expected to increase as it is nearer to December also.

Entertaiment:
I haven't had much time to watch anime lately. I have 110 eps of Legend of the Galactic Heroes and 36 eps of SDF Macross sitting in my harddisk, waiting for me. I had finished rewatching Justice League and currently rewatching Batman Beyond.

In conclusion, I seriously need time management skills. I have always prioritize CCAs, friends(social life), sleep over everything else. However, I spend too much of my leisure time on entertainment and not on studies. I need to put in more effort if I intend to maintain my CGPA.

Thats all for now. Back to watching Batman :)

Freshmen Orientation Camp

Finally, Malaysian Student Association Freshmen Orientation Camp 2009 is finally over. I have mixed feelings about this camp, 50 % tired, 20% frustration and not forgetting 30% joy. This time, I am no longer a freshie, but a senior and will be leading the incoming freshies. I joined Welfare, since I know I will not be a good programmer or photographer.

For the first day, I was the Hall 11 SA, who was in charge of welcoming the Hall 11 freshies. Seeing all of them got a Hall and I could not get one, I was seriously depressed. The feelings continued till night time when I still could not find a place to squat. I finally got a place to, which is Benjamin's room. Thanks to Ben I can stay in Hall 11 and do my work as FOC Hall manager.

My bad mood continue in the second day. But then, when I was browsing through files in my computer, I found and rewatched the video of my birthday celebration in NTU. It was really memorable. My OG mates planned a surprise for me and it was fun. Now, I can still remember clearly what happened in FOC 2008, how we played together, had fun, bonded. OG mates may not be your best friends in NTU, but they are most probably the first group of people you meet in NTU and for that, they are special. I realised this and wanted the freshies to experience the same thing. That's why I swallowed all my frustration and worked hard in the camp.

As a welfare and senior, I tried to take care of the freshies, answer their queries and inspire them. However, I do have regrets. I was exhausted and didnt talk much after a few days. I did not have much time to interact with the freshies in my group. I wanted them to feel what I felt last year but I couldn't. I can only do my best. I hope I had done a decent job as Hall SA, Hall Manager, Admin SA, Welfare and senior.

Lastly, 3 cheers and 3 cheers and 3 cheers for FOC!

Year 1 Result

I am thankful for my first year result. Nothing spectacular but it is good enough for me. I hope that I will be able to maintain my result for the next three years.

'Stuck Piston' Problem

Today, I had just finished my Physic paper. At first, I was very happy cause the paper is quite easy and I can do all the question( not sure correct or not lah ). But after gearing from Joseph, Wai Ming and Tim, the question 4(a) actually is more complicated than I think.

This is a standard thermodynamic question with a piston and cylinder of different cross-sectional area, bigger in the upper part and smaller in the lower part. Then they add a weight on the piston to increase the pressure adiabatically and the question ask for final pressure and temperature. I just calculate the pressure, P1 and then the temprerature T1 using formula. According to them, when pressure increases to P1, the volume V1 is actually smaller than the V of the smaller part. Meaning, the piston actually 'stucked' in the upper part. The V will be the volume of the smaller part. And the pressure, P1 is wrong cause the piston is supported by the wall of the lower part. Then, we have to use the V of lower part to find new P2 and T2.

Summary, for a 6 marks question, first use the extra weight to find P1, V1 and T1. Then, V1 is smaller than V so it is illogical. We had to use the V of lower part as final volume. This make the P1 and T1 wrong. Using the V, we find another P2 and T2 as answer.WTH!

Ok, if you are confused, sorry. Just ranting. :)

People in NTU

Yes!!! I have finally finished my CAs today. But that also means that my final exam is coming near. In fact, it is just less than 5 days before my final starts. Why am I still writing this? Some may ask. I am still slacking because it is not my style to suddenly become hardworking or studious. I prefer to tale it slow and easy. For example, I revised my Life Science last night. Even though I havent revised the last two chapters, I still went to sleep cause it was already half past twelve and I started feeling sleepy. This is insane, some will say, but this is me.

After coming in NTU, I had met different kinds of people. Some are very disciplined, always studying and revising, but still can sleep early.This type of people are quite rare and most of them can get good results(I think). Some like to slack in the first half and start to work hard in the later hallf of the semester. In some of the extreme cases, they will isolate themselves from the outside world and just engulfed in their studies. In this period, many people also become very sensitive to noise and disturbance. Everyone you see may eventually transform into a violent beast if you disturb their studies. Another strange phenomena is that the usually empty Study Room is now crowded with people who only study at the eleventh hour.

I am not saying all this things are entirely new and strange to me. But coming from a small town where people work and study at relatively lower pace, this is consider to be mind opening. Enough talking(or writing) already, start study!

Lack of awareness in Open Source Software among NTU students

Today is the NTU Software Freedom Day. Although a lot of activities are planned by the NTU Open Source Society throughout the whole day, nobody really knows about this particular event. In most of the talks and workshops, there were just around 10-20 people in the lecture theatre It's partly due to the lack of publicity but the main reason is that many NTU students are not aware of the free and open source software development. I am no expert in computer but I use a lot of FOSS in my daily life. In my opinion, open source is the future for all software. And as students, we may not have enough money to buy proprietary software like MS Office, Adobe Photoshop and so on. In this case, free and open source software can be a perfect solution for the students who are not financially independent. After writing this, I hope that free and open source software will continue to develop and to all NTU students, let us embrace the world of FOSS.

Banner Painting

Today, out of boredom, I went to help my Block Manager, Wei Le to paint the block banner. I was not very helpful, just doing petty things. This was the first time I tried painting a banner. It was a new and fun experience for me.

Mid Autumn Festival

This is the first time I am celebrating Mid Autumn Festival away from my home sweet home. No special feeling, just another usual day. Last night, Chinese Society of NTU organised a grand MAF Celebration. My friends and I went there and had a enjoyable time. Therefore, I want to thank all the committees in Chinese Society for making this a success and providing us with great entertainment. We tried paper-folding, made mini mooncake, and also went to the fortune telling stall. According to them, I can only improve in my studies if I work hard. So true, but is this considered fortune telling cause even I can say that :) Well, I had a good time there. It is always fun hanging out with friends.

An Eventful Day

Today is the LDP Orientation. Like any other orientation, we began with games, talked about serious stuff and went to Sentosa. I had a good time there, made some new friends and sabo a lot of people by throwing them into the water. But then, sad things happen. When I was busy 'saboing' people, I forgot that my handphone was still in my pocket. As a result, my phone was spoiled and now giving out a strange smell. Not to mention it is not working at all. Then, after going back to my room, I was shocked to see that I didnt bring back my clothes. It looks like not a big deal but it is because the T-shirt is my Form 6 class T. At 7.30 pm, I took the 199 bus from Hall 11 to Boonlay, MRT to Harbour Front, then Sentosa bus, and walked for 15 minutes from Beach Station to East Pahlawan Clothes. And my clothes was not there. Damn it, who is the bastard that took my shirt! Dissapointed and crestfallen, I went back to NTU gloomily. This is a just a rant. The class T means alot to me. I had a great time in Form 6 and the T-shirt reminds me of those time. Although the T-shirt is gone, I will still treasure those precious moment in my heart. That is the most important time.

In conclusion, all the unfortunate events happened due to my carelessness. I hereby swear that I will never be careless again. Hopefully :)

A normal day in NTU( But with an interesting video)

Today I attended a lecture about molecular diagnostic. At first, it seems like a boring lecture but the video shown to us is very funny. I just want to share it. The link to the video is here . Go watch it if you have time. It shows that science is not always dull and boring. I also attended the meeting for MAE Publication Subcom. I have always been an avid reader but not a writer, so I think I will have a tough time. Nevertheless, I will have to work hard and brush up my writing skills so that I will not be a burden to the publication team.

Life in NTU

I have been in NTU for more than six weeks now. Can't really describe my feelings at this moment. I had never left home for such a long period, so this is really a new experience for me. Life in NTU is quite fun, I have met a lot of people, made some new friends, and learned a lot. I am sure all these experiences will not be the same if I had choosen to study in UKM. I am grate ful to have a chance to study here and I will definitely live my university life to the fullest!

Some pictures of NTU

My room

My study table

My hostel, Hall of Residence 11

LKC Lecture Theatre

Chinese Heritage Centre