The day started early and I’m tired now.  Convo session supposedly started at 730am but we are Malaysians aren’t we all?

Here are a few shots I randomly took after the convo.

That’s a huge frog.  Yea, frog as a convocation gift.  KATAK.

Even Spongebob paid us a visit.

You count yourselves how many cameras we had to smile to. -_-”

Four Seasons Resort Langkawi is one of the two 5 star resorts along my destination just beside the neighbouring Tg. Rhu Resort.

The hour long flight and a mere 20 minute cruise along the roads of Langkawi Island brought me to the north end of geopark at Tanjong Rhu Beach.  Ever wondered why it’s called Tg. Rhu?

Tg. Rhu or Casuarina Cape is home to Casuarina trees, mangroves and limestone hills.

Even though most of the beach is owned by the resorts, there is a public beach right at the end of Jln Tg. Rhu that is home to local traders.  Boating activities are as low as RM 180 for a boat rental for 7 people.

Tg. Rhu beach fronts the Andaman Sea, with gentle stroaking waves and a 1.5km white sandy beach.  IMHO, it’s not that beautiful in comparison with Pulau Perhentian but its exclusiveness appeals to the luxury class foreigners from Arab.

Rooms at both resorts starts from RM 1,600 per night to RM 17,000.  I gathered from the locals here that Michael Schumacher is a frequent visitor to Tanjong Rhu.

Putting that all aside, I love the sounds of the waves as they gush towards the shoreline especially when you are thinking of the sheer size of the world that lies beyond you.

I remember it was just yesterday that I first step foot into UKM to do civil and environmental engineering. Bangi was the last place I thought I would end up, UKM being my final few options in my list of universities application.

Up till today, I still ask myself, “Why did I choose not to go to Canada on my own free will?”. At times I still don’t know if I did make the right choice. But its one I have to live with now.

The first week in local university was hard even for me as compared to those from the chinese background. It was easier for me to fit in with the malay group, given the fact that I speak the language like one. This too meant that I had a difficult time conversing with the mandarin speaking chinese.

This mother of a staircase to my room back in hostel days taught me how to curse in Mandarin and Hokkien.

I started off in local university, getting hooked on DotA and ended up being a semi-pro at the end of it.

It was here that I found God in my life.

Along the way came us.

I picked up photography on my own and what a passion I have for it now.

It is also here in these 4 years that I came to love and hate flights.

Now here I am at the end of what I began 4 years back. Am I satisfied? I never really like structural engineering like I loved automobiles but time soon thought me that my passion lies in the environmental side of engineering like marine engineering. These 4 years have taught me that getting screwed is an art. Its how you get yourself out of trouble that counts the most.

Now I look back and I see.

There’s still a long way to go from here on out.

This picture turned out to be the only nice picture in my trip.

The flight to East Malaysia was decent enough, no frills from Air Asia making up for the lack of legroom in the A320. In total the flight to Miri Airport took just slightly over 2 hours without much turbulence.

Sorry for the poor stitching.

Miri town is a peaceful one. In comparison to KL, congestions here are nothing, maybe perhaps of the non peak hour traveling schedule that I had to adhere to. One thing I noticed that there wasn’t any bus services around. Taxis were buzzing around like usual though.

The Shell Recruitment Day was held across Miri River in the Piasau Camp, or as locals would call it the Shell Camp as many expats stay in the estate like bungalow units. The final stage interview took place in Piasau House No. 100 where the it was the ex-residence of the Managing Director.

Piasau 100 fronting.

The Piasau 100 was turned into a meeting place and for SRD purposes since Shell began having 2 Managing Directors and the both of them can’t share the house no more.

Piasau 100′s living room which is around the size of the entire floor plan for a low cost house.

Here I met Cheah (Mech), Chin Wen (Mech), Naguib (Mech), Seow Kim (Chem) and Zaid (Chem). They were a pleasant bunch even though half of us were undergraduates and the other half were already in their respective industries.

4 central units make the freaking hall icey cold.

All six of us there were pondering on the 4 central units in one living room. Too much money to fling about perhaps Shell?

Minibar outside the living room on the back of the Piasau 100. Further back in the coastal shore.

The whole SRD was a individual assessment interview without any competition what so ever with the other candidates. From the Civil Engineering line, I was limited to not many technical aspects except for Discipline Engineering (Structural Design), Environmental, Well Engineering (Offshore) and perhaps Logistics.

Thank you Kak Dayang for coordinating the SRD Miri

In SRD, all candidates are assessed on 4 criteria’s; Capacity, Achievement, Relationship and Technical [CAR(T)].

Skipping the boring parts, I got a call 2 days after SRD and I was not given an offers as I didn’t pass the SRD on the technical part. All 6 weren’t offered.

In my absence in Miri, one of lecturers decided to give us a river development project that includes a dam, power generation turbine and a resort. The sad part is that most of the works are Civil works when I am the only Civil undergrad in my group of 14 Electrical undergrads.

On a even sadder note, my car was scratched on the left hand side and repairs for my rear right absorber bush and front driver lower arm will cost me in excess of RM 500 when I decide to get it fixed sometime next week.

I apologize for stirring the emotions of those that were caught with me.

This is really gonna hurt my pocket. Punggung another story.

One particular matter I never expected to materialize was this.

I was interviewed by Shell Malaysia! Thank You God!

All I did was to forward my resume to UKM and the next thing I knew they gave me a call. My results are nothing to shout about but still I made it through to the Shortlisted Interview this afternoon in Damansara Heights after a screening interview in UKM a week ago. If I make it through this time round, I will be subjected to an 8-hour Shell Recruitment Day some time soon.

As promised Eng King, this post isn’t a food related.

The Dean green lights us to change the previous unwanted courses to elective status, only if the Head of Department will issue a official statement. The problem here is he just won’t. Talk about being a prick.

0 kg! Record le!

Sometimes I just wish that I had these off my shoulder.

You see, UKM has an undergraduate guidebook for every faculty and we refer to this guideline for courses that we are supposed to take in the following semesters. One thing good about being in the Engineering Faculty is that we undergraduates do not have to go through the hassle of registering courses on our own as they are automatically registered according the each undergraduate’s discipline. All we need to do is to monitor the system and alter the necessary if their is the necessity too.

This are the courses that I’m supposed to sign up for in my final few semesters in UKM.

My major being Environmental Engineering limits me to only 2 electives which I have already chosen Maritime Engineering and Solid Waste Management. Now, the faculty took the initiative to drop us of our KW3213 Principle of Chemical & Biological Processes, a subject that preceeds a latter subject, Bioreactor System for a structural engineering course, KH3243 Road Engineering. Reason being that the course was deemed redundant by the industry and the Germany bound undergraduates had to take Road Engineering to qualify for the Germany twinning program.

Last semester, KH4133 Civil Engineering Management was replaced by a similar compulsory made course by the department, KH4193 Project Management for some odd reason.

This is the outcome.

Suddenly the department makes a 180 degree turn. After several board meetings, they have decided that both Civil Engineering Management and Principles of Chemical & Biological Processes are compulsory courses that must be taken to fulfill graduate requirements.

As a result, both Road Engineering and the Project Management courses have been automatically upgraded to electives for all Environmental Engineering undergraduates. As I am only allowed to take 2 electives, the chances for me to drop both maritime engineering and solid waste engineering is worrisome. These 2 courses are my choice and it differentiates me from the Structural Engineers, thus making me hanging on the neck as I’m neither a Structural nor Environmental Engineer.

Alas, my rebellious nature will continue taking the courses of my choice, Civil Maritime Engineering and Solid Waste Management even if I have to exclude them from my overall grading point system and presenting my neck on a silver platter since I have to take a massive 21 credit hours in my final semester.

21 UNITS.

WTF.

Yea, I’m freaking cheesed off.

Solid Waste Management and Civil Maritime Engineering are electives of my choice for this semester, taking me to a total of 15 credit hours for my final semester, which I can handle despite heavy projects and thesis works up lying ahead. Alas, UKM has knack of screwing its engineer undergraduates and they have a done it again.

Apparently in the previous semester, Civil Project Management (more on feasibility studies) was an optional course that we were conned into taking as a compulsory faculty course. This semester, the Engineering Department required us to take Civil Project Management (more on contract laws) again, stating that it’s our fault for not noticing that the previous one was an optional course meant for 3rd Year Undergrads instead of us 4th Year Undergrads.

This means that I am now taking extra 3 credit hours in my final semester whether I like it or not. 18 CREDIT HOURS IN MY FINAL SEMESTER.

Suicidal at best.

I’m seriously putting thought into auditing one of my courses to avoid affecting my overall grades.

31-10-07 Pengurusan Projek I

05-11-07 Pengurusan Projek

14-11-07 Kejuruteraan Bekalan Air & Sistem Pembentungan

19-11-07 Sistem Bioreaktor