So, I’ve pondered on the thought of getting back here for, lets just say, for quite a while. For the netbots that are reading, let’s flash through what major changes have occured.
I got the JPA scholarship to Japan
Currently enrolled at INTEC Education College under the Look East Policy
Currently learning Japanese
And… that’s it.
And so, let’s move on to… NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS! (Though it is already March)
Who doesn’t make a new year resolution every year, amirite? But then, who DOES their new year resolutions anyway? Pondering that aside, I decided to do one, and well, try my best to stick to it. And the resolution is: LEARN CHINESE! Well, specifically, learn a new language every year, and this year is Chinese.
BUT WHY?!
I mean, I’m already learning Japanese currently, so why? To screw up even more? Well, not really. To me, learning languages is just, well, interesting. And besides, as I am already learning Japanese, why not Chinese too? They both use the same (almost) character. So, it’ll be like drinking water while diving. Oh, and Japanese kinda falls into last year’s resolution.
To that extent, I’ll be doing a Language Monday, where I’ll post stuff about Chinese or Japanese every Monday, be it collections of things I’ve learned, or about what I’ve read regarding the two languages.
That way, this blog gets updated, sorta, at least in a consistent manner.
Let’s hope I’ll last doing so for at least 6 months.
Pardon old chump, it has been quite a time gap since I’ve updated you.
So, dear netizens, I’ve been quite busy, and do note I emphasise “quite”. SPM results came out a month ago, searching my direction in life, yadda yadda yadda. You know, all that stuff. So, what’s new in this monochromatic life of mine?
Whoopdidoo! I got called for the JPA Engineering Scholarship a few weeks ago! Fingers crossed that I (quite far-fetched) will get the scholarship. And now, tomorrow, I need to do a certain test; “Critical Reasoning Test Battery”, the courtesy of Permodalan Nasional Berhad. It comprises of English, Maths and IQ questions. Damn, I’m rusty as hell.
Anyways, that concludes this (worthless?) little post.
Interviews. A dreadful word this one is. Especially for a introvert like, say, myself. The overwhelming pressure is just overwhelming. Nevertheless, I got called to the JPA Engineering Scholarship interview, set at Kolej Komuniti Pasir Mas. When I checked that I got the interview, I was so effing happy, ergo for a moment before the fact that I need to struggle harder to get this scholarship dawns upon my mind.
A few things, I chose this scholarship out of the fact that it is advertised. I was an MRSM student, so, naturally, I should’ve chose MARA scholarship instead right? Well, the thing was, there were rumours of MARA scholarship not being offered this year, so I just applied whatever was available to me. Out of boredom, I decided to check out MARA’s website and there it was, just a click of a link before it appeared, ever so small. I was so infuriated at that time. So, out of greedy desperation, I decided to apply for MARA too. To my (not really) surprise, I could only choose from either: JPA, JPA-MARA or MARA. And the process of changing from one scholarship to the other, it is just so tedious. Thus, I stuck with the option of choosing JPA instead of MARA (regrettably).
Out of the four countries, I was stuck between choosing either Germany or Japan, Both, being such industrious nations, offers a holistic environment for obtaining a degree in chemical engineering. A bit of research, mainly looking at rankings of universities here, Japanese universities seems triumphant over those Deutschers. Thus, Nihon became my choice. Besides, Japanese universities leans towards research while German universities lean towards practical studies. This allows me to really contribute to the field of chemical engineering itself rather than just focusing on being ready for my career. And I can learn Japanese too (said to be one of the hardest languages to learn).
PRE-INTERVIEW
After the fact that I need to go to the interview passed on, I was asked to do a “Ujian Khas Biasiswa Persekutuan”, which was a personality test, consisted of 2 sections. Meh, it was a piece of cake. Then, I readied my documents as asked. What was weird was that the attire for the interview was white, plain collared-shirt, dark track bottoms and sport shoes. Why? I don’t know. The admission committee of the scholarship are trolls maybe? Anyway, I just prepared a set of formal attire just in case. What worried me the most was the interview itself. I Googled (who doesn’t?) interview questions for scholarships, wrote my own answers and interviewed myself in my room. I repeated the Q&A again and again till I was bored with talking with myself.
INTERVIEW DAY
Okay, so, I may have misled a few parts. I prepared the interview questions and answers the night before the interview itself (How’s that for living dangerously?). The following day, I was agitated as fishishiskebab, I wore the attire with dismay. I did the Q&A. I ate breakfast, but wasn’t full. The moments between my waking up till half an hour before the interview was a blurry past. So, the interview was at 2.00 pm. 1.30 pm, I went to the mosque to pray Zuhr. At that moment, I met Nabil, a friend of mine. O, what a relief. I also met a few new friends. They told me that the “interview” was actually not an interview at all. It was actually a group discussion on a particular topic they’d give. And it had 2 modules, which were in Malay and English. I was infuriated, partly because I wasted a bit of my time, and also because it is harder still to “sell” yourself. Interviews give you the chance to show the interviewer why YOU should get the scholarship. Group discussions doesn’t give you the chance to directly “sell” your qualities.
Interview time. We went into the college and gave the receptionists our documents. We were then asked to have a seat. The interviewees mainly consists on Malays and quite a few Chinese. We were then divided into 4 groups, with two groups doing a module each and then switch. My group (Me, Nabil, Li from Kuala Krai, Athirah of MMP, and two other dudes, sorry dudes, forgot your names) got the English module first. We were given the topic “Social Media: A Threat To Social Security” while the other group got “Facebook Raises Social Awareness”. We were also given mahjong papers to write whatever. Nabil got appointed as group chief. The overall presentation of ours were, not quite bad I guess. But the other group’s presentation was, quite interesting because of their leader’s Chinese accent which made it like he was promoting something (pardon the racial stereotype). I was quite satisfied with the presentation.
Malay Module. Man, this was the part that got me tripping. An initial mix-up occurred. We (Group 1) mistakenly heard that we were appointed as Group 2. Thus, we did the second assignment instead of the first. Presentation time, both of the groups had the same question. *DRAMATIC MUSIC ENSUES* Thus, this led to a comparison between our two presentations. Man, the questions asked by the panelists (?) were killers and they were determined on proving us wrong. Thus, that concludes the “interview”.
I wanted to do an article on preparing for the interview for future scholars, but, alas, fishishiskebab it.
We all went our separate ways and wished ourselves good luck.
Andy and Red, at the beginning of their lifelong friendship. Source: imdb.con
Spoiler Alert, maybe?
Considering that the movie included Morgan Freeman, I had to watch it. The movie roused something inside me. Nope, not diarrhoea. But, something.
“Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
Whenever something makes me realises something, I’d usually say that Adele is rolling in it. And goddamn, did Adele did.
It made me realise that whenever life seemed to be pointing a gun, point-blank at your throat, hope is a good thing.
So, the movie was spectacular. At first, a feeling of anger towards Andy’s injustice, as he was thrown into prison for something he did not do. Andy’s behaviour in prison was admirable. In my point of view, he was unfettered by the overwhelming sense that prison is dank and dark that many people cringe for every time people think about it. I’d say he was calm. He turned the overwhelming odds against him around, gaining freedom AND money on the way.
I also love the friendship bonded between Andy and Red, something that I think, isn’t so cherished in the 21st century. Onion ninjas was in the vicinity when Red missed Andy. His memories were still in the prison, even though he was on his way to the Pacific.
“Get busy living, or get busy dying.”
Now, this really struck my heart like a freaking arrow through my blood-pumping organ. A flashback happened, like the one in Ratatouille, where that food critic remembered his childhood, and I realised that my life is pretty damn dull. And I’m a teenager, a realm of possibilities, hope, wonder, curiosity, excitement, and sleeping in rooms stinking with unrecognisable odours. I’ll be sure to hold on to this one.
Now, don’t take my word for it, as I suck at conveying stories, (cries silently in the corner,) but I’d dare, nay, I believe that this is a must watch for anyone.
So, my days just went from, ugh, I’m bored, to, shit, I’m late! Oxford Language Centre is really something. I initially thought that it was some lame, boring, English class. Boy, sure glad I was wrong. The people and environment there is awesome! It is fun and conducive, well, I don’t want to sound like the advertisements for schools, so I’ll leave it at there.
I also have finished my first online course! Coursera, a really great place to fill up your time. I took a course called Learning How To Learn from the University of San Diego. It was taught by Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terry Sejnowski. Both of them were great, and tried to make the class a bit more fun with weird ass analogies. And the weirdest thing is, it works! I grasped the things they taught, (Well, some of them at least!) and I learned a few tricks under my sleeve to fight the world’s most destructive disease, procrastination.
Don’t start on procrastination, because we can talk about it, um, later, or something. Procrastination is to blame for the low counts of post in this blog (Not that anyone reads them,). Procrastination was the reason I almost didn’t finish the course. Procrastination, mother of all demotivation. A technique I can share is the Pomodoro technique. Set a timer for 25 minutes, and concentrate your ass off the shit you want to learn. No cellphones, Twitter, Facebook, no selfies with the hashtag #abouttostudy :heart: :heart:, no texts, nothing! After the 25 minutes that seemed like an infinity, let out a sigh of relief and freaking reward yourself with a tub of cookies n’ creme ice cream (not that I did that though,). Trust me, this shit works.
I was also hooked on a new series, Hannibal. I was at first, hesitant to watch it, I don’t know why. But, after a lot of recommendation from friends (2 recommendations are something right?), I started watching Season 1 of it. It is not for the faint-hearted, or weakstomached. It is a psychological thriller, meaning there are a lot of weird ass shit going on there. The murders are brutal, and signified a meaning. Will Graham, the protagonist, is sorta an FBI agent, and has a empathy disorder, making him able to feel empathy towards the killers, thinking like them, making them traceable. Hannibal Lecter is Will’s psychiatrist and the main antagonist. I wont spoil too much of it for you guys. But, I’ll share the killings though, to give you a sense of what went on. One of them, pierced through a stag’s horn, and the lungs were taken. Another, also stabbed through a stag’s horn in a cabin. A couple was ‘angelised’, the flesh on their backs were torn in half, bent upwards into ‘wings’. And there’s more but my stomach is feeling funny. Season 2 is more clenching, with conflicts as an all time high, but, that is for your consumption, huehuehue.
So, my first post in a while. I planned this post since Sunday. But, I just enrolled into a 3-month English course to fill my time and had to put it off. A weird feeling started to cover me this week. I entered the English class that Sunday morning, sitting awkwardly in the reception room, waiting for my placement by the receptionist(?). I kind of, unconsciously stared into a classroom, and I made eye contact with someone in there. Talk about awkward. And to my (not really) surprise, I was to be in that classroom!
I entered. I sat, and I looked around, then I lowered my gaze, as flat as the floor. I repeat this process of adaptation for a few rounds. The class was a female-dominant environment. In a classroom of 20, only six males were there, including yours truly, Then, the teacher came into the class. An old, sagacious looking, bearded, turban-wearing man. He sat right next to me. My heart raced. My body started to shake. He then told me to introduce myself. I knew it was unavoidable (obviously) and the class went on.
It was presentation day that Sunday. I was to observe the habitat, figure out a way to settle into this new environment. I watched the presentation with great concentration. It was on super foods. Out of the three groups that was supposed to present, only the first two presented, due to the envy of time. So, I was placed into the third group and was expected to present on the next day! Oh save me!
I followed the class into a discussion room after class to discuss about an event on Wednesday. A cooking competition of sorts. I just sat down, stared blackly, and I went home after the discussion.,
Now, the awkwardness and anxiety of a first day is oh-so-normal. What triggered the need for this post was after I got home.
I entered my house with blankness. Emptiness. Void. I sat on the sofa and I just sat there. Why? I don’t really know. Considering that it was already 1:00 pm, I ate lunch. After lunch, a weird feeling stirred. I became restless but at the same time, I felt very lethargic. My heart yearned for an activity but at the same time, I felt like doing nothing. It was as if a battle was commencing, urges after urges, cancelling each other out. These wars of conflict went on till I was about to go to sleep. Then, it disappeared. Weird huh?
This blog had been tucked away from the world since its inception. Pickled for half a year, I have now gathered the courage, motivation and time to pour into this very first post of a long would-be journey, or lame story, whatever, of my life. It’s funny, how one would think it would be a great idea to start a blog while laying in bed at 3:23 a.m.. So, I created a WordPress account, set up the blog, then went to sleep.
Wakey wakey, because it WAS a bad idea. Had I realized this sooner, I wouldn’t been burdened with the fear that the blog would be sitting quietly, plotting, wanting to exact its revenge on me soon for the abandonment. Thus, time flew by and I have finished secondary school. Unemployed, The blog had risen to the surface of my mind. Thus, I spent countless day trying to execute a perfect resurrection of this blog.
Yes, this blog would be filled with mindless rants and chatters between me and my mind over the course of, roughly, my lifetime. Or youth. That is the point of naming this blog, “salt and pickles”, inspired by a Malay proverb, “asam garam” which roughly translates to pickle/tamarind and salt. The proverb meant the experience one goes through in his life.
Popularity? Fame? What do I plan to accomplish by making this blog? I am as sure as I am about life, uncertain. To share thoughts with like-minded folks? To share the product of my creative process? We will all find out soon enough. I believe that is enough of such a magnificent first post. I might follow up on this soon. Notice the key word maybe and soon.
amassment of scrambled thoughts. 