Aegis-DoGz-

A new semester has started.. A new level for me.. Tougher challenges ahead.. Im now enrolled in First Year of Bachelor Of Science (BSc) Geophysics.. My studies was actually stalled for 1 year, compared with other students of my age.. the first 6 mths was my own choice though, as I had chosen the July intake in 2009.. Then during the 'switch' from foundation to degree, the next 6mths I was stalled due to miscomunication of the university..

It all started with me choosing the degree courses that i wanted during post-SPM period, ie, march-june 2009.. I actually had lotsa choices before hitting Geophysics..

At first, well actually not first, initially I wanted to be a Pilot..
I enjoyed travelling.. visit new places, countries, etc etc etc.. And a pilot is one job which 'forces' you to travel.. However, all hopes were lost when I saw that pilots need to have good eyesight (at that time).. I have good vision, the only problem is I have difficulty in differenciating colours near black (dark green, dark brown, dark red, dark maroon, dark blue in certain situations)..

Being an air steward also crossed my mind a few times.. but thinking that they have a lot of requirements and may not be able to work until the usual retirement age, oh well..


The next one came to me with much interest and passion..
Hotel management / tourism management..
A totally big difference from my other choices.. choosing an art stream course aint easy for a science student.. especially when my science subjects are quite good, not very good of course =P (and of course, except biology)
so as expected, received a lot of objections and disapprovals from all areas, including family and friends.. In the end, gave up on it..

my parents always wanted me to go for great jobs..

Civil engineering
None of the engineering courses ever crossed my mind when choosing.. its just wayyy too lame.. haha.. the main thing is still i dont have any interest in those engineering stuff.. thank god i did not choose civil or mechanics.. just look at all those pillars in buildings.. force here force there, then moment, then torque, then wadeva force that will make u go crazy xD

Quantity Surveyor (QS)
math math math.. I enjoyed math.. but math-ing everyday is still gonna kill off all my brain cells.. so, SKIP!

Acturial science
nothing fun to me.. predicting stock changes everyday? would rather play facebook tycoon games.. xD

Geologist
I first heard of geology in a Curtin brochure.. guess that's the reason i ended up here in Curtin.. the course description immediately attracted me.. even the pic above makes me so wanna go out there to play work.. but my dad opposed it for some racial issues (well, i think its quite true here in malaysia >.< ) so i ended up with Geophysicist almost similar with geologists, just that i get to touch on computers too!

so this is where all it began...

March-June 2009
i clearly understand that i need to go perth on the 2nd year, and the course only accepts march intake.. but I had confirmed with the marketing agent in Kuching - MMS.. they say my studies wont be delayed.. my parents also confirmed with some staff in Curtin Sarawak that my studies wont be delayed too, if i chose geophysics..
so I took the july intake in 2009 for Foundation in Engineering & Science.. studied for 1 year, completed my foundation, and enrolled for BSc Geophysics..

May-June 2010
a few weeks after registration, I was told that Geophysics was not offered in July intake 2010 coz there are not enough students.. but the subjects are all offered in other courses and they are still running, so i dont see a point for me not to take the course, and i insisted in sticking with Geophysics and not switching courses (I CAME TO CURTIN COZ OF GEOPHYSICS U DAMN IT).. Then the enrolment officer said that i can choose the subjects i wanted to take, (4 subs in sem2 2010, and 3 subs in sem1 2011, then 1 sub, which is a pre-requisite, in sem2 1011 together with my 2nd year in Perth campus).. so i agreed, and enrolled in it..

July-August 2010..
in order to confirm what the officer said (because I faced a lot of miscommunications between curtin staff, and worse, no communication at some point between departments) I personally contacted the lecturer in Perth.. to my surprise, I was not allowed to take the 1 first year subject together with my 2nd year subjects in Perth.. I must complete that subject in order to proceed to 2nd year as it is a pre-requisite.. then all the troubles began.. (note: I had already started my 1st year 1st sem for 2-3 weeks already)

August-September 2010..
i had actually forgotten everything that happened during this period.. I was busy dealing with activities, then the all new degree life, and also this issue..
my mum came over to Miri all the way from Kuching to discuss this matter with the CEO.. he said he would discuss with the staff in the coming meeting about the compensation.. I had chosen to stop for that semester, made a last minute flight back to Kuching..

September-December 2010..
waited for quite long for any results.. approached some uni.staff and had agreed to help me remind CEO.. only then, the university gave response.. The university agreed to compensate the living costs and air tickets for that semester (around 2k plus).. but did not look into the time stalled..

January 2010..
became impatient as there were hardly any results.. all the response before that were reasons like PVC not around, wait for the next meeting, etc etc..
I lodged a complaint to Curtin Perth, CC-ed to PVC in Miri campus.. immediately, there was response from almost all parts.. PVC in Perth directed me to the responsible departments, the complaint and grievance department in Perth contacted me, saying someone will be assigned to follow up with me.. then that "someone" contacted me for appointment.. the PVC in Miri referred to CEO, CEO called me on the next working day.. He confirmed with my mum that the university had agreed to compensate ONLY the balance of my 1st year course fees (ie, around RM12k).. the earlier compensation of living costs has been neglected..

I was told "this is the best the university can do"..

So here I am now, back in Curtin, studying 1st year, 1st sem..

*all images are from google.com.. i DO NOT own the images and ARE NOT related to me..
*names and people involved are avoided the best way i could
*all personal opinions (except the judgement toward the miscommunication of staff) are removed to prevent bias

HEY ALL!! im back =D

just had my internet fixed after 3 weeks being here in miri..
okay.. miri is still the old same miri..
just that i had moved to a terrace house rented from a mirian.. obviously -.-
the rental fee in villa is just too high for long term living..

anyway..
the weather is still the same..
maybe has "improved" since last year..
there are more "clouds" as you can see below..

the "clouds" are also more advanced..
they are thicker and can block most sunlight from reaching the earth..
the best thing is, it stays close to the ground, to give us more shade =D
anyway..
it sucks having those "clouds"..
stupid big companies producing them just for the good of themselves..
plantations..
constructions..
developments..
they all sux..
made citizens of Senadin suffer, especially uni students..
FUCK U LA!!!!


just some more updates =D

these drawings are drawn by our chemistry lab instructor, Mr Jason.. he indeed has the potential to be a comic guy =D













and also, our campus has just opened their new gym..
with RM30/mth, they giv u an access card (in which u can kongsi wiv many many other ppl =P)
not bad eh? =D
will upload some pics of my new room and house..
^^

woots!!!
finally got my Foundation Sem1 results...

to me, im quite satisfied edi..
it clearly shows my strengths and weaknesses in the academic field..

my chemistry - Grade 6 (credit) 65%
Engineering mx - Grade 9 (HD) 90%
Physics - Grade 7 (D) 78%
Programming in C++ - Grade 7 (D) 73%
WRS - Grade 7 (D) 76%

if you had realised, i did not take into count my malaysian studies results..
why??
obviously, its useless and has no relevance with my course..
so, no matter how many marks i got, NO POINT!! haha

goin ANTAC tml...
its gonna be a tough 5 days camp!!
good luck all! ^^

just a mini post about the happenings and some special features in Curtin University Sarawak Campus...

as we all may quite know, similar to swinburne, the student council has a very high power in a university..
they are our voices..
they are the bridges between students and school management..
in Curtin (miri) the student council president even have a reserved parking space only for him/her.. (will take d pic when i came to it ^^)

well, the voting for nx yr's new batch of student council committees has just passed..
yeaps..
its just like voting for the government of the school...
like voting BN

DAP

or PAS

that is gonna rule the school..
bt here it is not tat sort of racist..
they don shoot each other lyk DAP n BN n PAS do..

in Curtin (miri), there are 2 parties competing for nx yr's student council committees..
the 1st one, also the current ruling party, United Democrataic Party(UDP)

and the opposition party, VOICE OF CURTIN (VOC)

as you can see, it is like what we usually see during the voting season..
each party promise this promise that..
for BN i noe that their promises are quite empty la..
bt here i am not sure..
maybe nx yr i will know.. ^^

they pasted notices all over the school..

cool rite? xD


there's even a voting area at the Curtin Main Building..
handled by lecturers...
now u can see how strong the student council is? ^^

oh ya..
besides student council, there is another thing call eVALUate in Curtin here..
it is some sort of survey which allows students to rate each subject and lecturer and also to voice out opinions and suggestions..
i heard from one of our lecturers that from what she knows, Curtin (MIRI) is the university that listens to feedbacks of their students the MOST in Malaysia (among all universities la)..
any complaints or suggestions with proper and strong evidence, point, etc, the school management is sure to take action..
there is no other university in Malaysia that listens almost 100% to what the students think..

so that means, if u behsong tat lecturer, die ah him/her nx yr..
no need see liao xD

well, im gonna do my part in the eVALUate now..
and also to continue on my studies for my final exam which commences 2 weeks from now =.=

stay tuned~ ^^

A FEW WEEKS AGO~~~
garh... i noe i shud hav updated this post long ago..
the John Curtin Weekend 2009 is a week b4 i went back kch for the JOTA..
2nd weekend of october..
well.. as the registration is quite early, and that time i only noe pei fong, n he is not the type to go tis kinda stuff, i went to register myself.. (bored die at home arh xD)

well whatever it is, i joined..
RM10 for the whole trip..
got T-shirt worh.. worth it liao la xD

well the journey started on a tmd early morning..
woke up 6sth, took my bath, waited for the bus which arrives on 7.30am at the bus stop outside my premises..

our destination: RUMAH GINGDAN~
the trip took about 1.5hrs..
tried to sleep bt jz cnt..
maybe due to the seats not suit my sleeping methods..lols
then finally, arrived~~~^^

well, not as expected, the longhouse we went is no longer a longhouse anymore..
it is rather semi-D houses....
it is said that the former longhouse has been burnt down..

our arrival was very the welcomed by the villagers..
they prepared tuaks (luckily no malays in our group =P) for us..^^
they dressed in their traditional Iban costume n played their traditional Iban musical instruments..



then comes a Tarian Ngajat~ cool chin! xD

their shield~^^

saw a very cute child thr oso.. playing handphone lagi!! xDD

well this is the tuak we were served..
we were given about near half of a glass..
tastes nicer than beer =D

after all those presentations n speech stuff, we went to our own foster parents' home..
as soon as we put down our bags, their daughter came n asked us
"lu tau makan durian??? makanlah!"
this may sound nice..
bt its jz d beginning of the torture..............

they had a cat.. dnoe whether its theirs o not la.. bt its cute ^^

they rear a dog too.... =.=

their backyard are used to store their crops and plant new plants... dnoe wat they are used for..
perhaps sold? or planted on new grounds..

oops!! i tink tis pic was left out when i was rotating all the pics.. ^^ or rather.. accidentally rotated it ==
anyways..
the guy thr is my foster dad..
d food is nice =D
n they cook damn lots of rice >.<
after lunch, another of my newly-met friend's foster parents brought us visit her farm..
and man... it IS big...
11 hectares... imagine tat!


tis is a fruit almost similar like rambutan...
nicer than rambutan! =D


then i had d chance to actually pluck a fruit tat i loved so much too..
they called it buah tarap.. or darap.. wateva.. i called it tat way too =D

i plucked one down.. n was bullied by the others cz they din ate much =.=
i had to eat most of it.. bt it WAS nice!!
and the flesh inside, A LOT!!
unlike those sold in markets, only a few biji inside =.=

the fruits were part of the 'torture' actually..
after tat, most of us were brought to visit a real, traditional longhouse..

they even have astro ahh........

even better than the chalet u live in Damai... ^^

i was kidding..
those 2 up thr are houses that cannot be joint to the original longhouse cz it was toooo long..
below is the traditional longhouse..
25lots of 'houses', it is about 10ft per house.......... i 4gt d figure edi actually >.<
they rear cocks chickens too ^^

there are a FEW fire extinguishers placed on tiangs of the longhouse..
bt most of them are already either expired or no pressure dah..
fail arrrr the government...

it is sort of their Iban culture that they serve foods n drinks to visitors..
yea... we were 'tortured' again in that traditional longhouse.. >.<>.< onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX-hSPMsGTbECuWcT-VH2rMbULNnJezg9OuS3PsalLDfZR0EKh4oLiSMuBjbu-0zj8swtPufNoj4CeHPGvCppJOmPHWChJudxNIPKIz6snT34GI7GcUroR3TVIOZLV7dDAghOBSpK5G1U/s1600-h/Image033.jpg">
b4 our dinner, we went to another longhouse..
AGAIN, DRINKS n FOOD...
we were stuffing as much food as we can n reli suffered badly due to food =(

and then DINNER was a real torture too >.<


tat nite, was FUN!!
they taught us their traditional dance - TARIAN NGAJAT ^^
we oso had games n dances bla bla bal~
many tried, bt failed to get it..

on the other hand, many escaped the dance by pretending to be photographers xD

that's for the 1st day anyway..
we slept soundly.....

and..

woke up at 7..

breakfast was kinda light.. *thank god!!!*

and my foster mum brought us to her dnoe whose de kebun xD
together along with quite a few ppl, we prepared ourselves..
my foster mum was kind enaf to let me drive their HILUX!!! xDDD
damn! xD
well i drove d black one and her son-in-law drove d white one (below)..

n u see that german shepherd thr??
it jumped up onto d hilux by itself..
no need any external help, oni an order by master, up he go! ^^ pro chin.. pro pro than ohjiji de xD

everything's set!! and off we go!!

our adventure began with simple simple plucking those rambutan-like fruits which we are gonna bring home =D




these are bario paddys ^^
which are sold at quite a price in the market..

then, off we go to our next adventure - DURIAN!!


we werent that lucky..
we could not detect any durians, whereas the villagers get the durians lyk they can see it thru those grasses...
damn....
we found one!! bt it was rotten.... so we left it....

these are baby durian trees ^^


well, our luck came and we found 4 together ^^

as monkey as i am, i climbed d langsat tree to pluck langsats xD

then, we took a short break while an uncle climbed up a buah debai tree..
a fire was set up, and we ate those freshly picked durians =P


a beautiful effect caused by the sunlight shining towards the smoke created by the fire ^^

behold, buah debai! =D

this is d tree d uncle climbed up..
the video has been posted up in my facebook..
take note! no gears no nothing..
only a some sort of cloth which fix the position of the branch and a long cloth to transport water up..

and we were down thr preventing the branch from slipping...
while waiting, my frens bullied this small boy xD







this is d effect stated earlier taken by my fren using his camera..

after all d work, back we go...
our durians effort =P
took a nice refreshing bath and LUNCH!! woohoo!! xD

seems lyk this dog wants to have his lunch too xDD

as we were already tired, we took a rest and waited at the tuai rumah's varendah..
learning how to play their instruments! =D

this instrument, i tel u ah, is reli lyk a bazooka...
don bliv, take a front view of it..

aint cheating u rite? =D

this lil baby wants to learn too xD
cute die......



a grandma joint in the fun ^^

oh well...
the time for our departure has almost arrived..
every1 had gathered at the varendah...

we took our group photo and our family photo.....
while some others are busy getting phone numbers of hot babes xD

the time for depart has arrived...
the bus has arrived to pick us back home......>.<

we say our goodbyes, and left the memorable place..............


below are the things tat my foster parents gave me...

3kg of bario rice @@ tats a lot!!

a pack of buah debai!! (it costs around RM8 per kg in the market!!)

some of the rambutan-like fruits and langsat ^^

and last bt not least, DURIAN!!!!!! xD

damn they were tasty! xD

took them out n placed them into a container to be frozen.. they're way nicer that way.. trust me ^^


oh yea..
it seems that their iban culture reli never faded...
not only their instruments, costumes, food, bt oso their slogan...
we noe it..
we read bout it b4..
Rentap said it...

AGI IDUP, AGI NGELABAN!!!