Passport renewal in London

I reached London central about 1030 in the morning, took a tube to Hyde Park Corner station, which is the nearest station to Malaysian Embassy London.

While I was approaching Malaysian embassy's building, I could literally feel like walking on a street in Malaysia; the sun is soaring high above the blue sky and I started to sweat. Double think for an instant, to make sure that I am still in England. As a hint of Ikan Billis from the canteen inside the building would again assure that I am in the right place.

Without wasting any time, I rushed into the reception to get my queue number, I was 1st greeted by a Malaysian Chinese lady behind a classy oak high table in a very fluent Manglish; the entire situation is like a déjà vu, very very familiar to me.

Scanning all the people around the waiting hall really brought me all the way back to any waiting halls in Malaysia. I felt happy for a second (to see so many Malaysian in one sight), but realised that there were all in front of me, waiting. -.-!!

People were smiling at each other much more often than usual, probably because it’s a rare occasions where we could see so many Malaysian in a foreign country or maybe the Nasi Lemak outside the waiting hall is triggering our sense of humour.

Not very long after I found myself a comfortable seat in the waiting hall; Aunty next to me started to chat with me, and also introduce her son to me as well. We started to chat all our way through, for about 2 hours, until Portugal vs North Korea started to appear in a very small screen in front of the waiting hall, I was called in. It’s my turn to submit my passport.

Surprisingly, I could get my new passport in 2 hours time after I’ve submitted my application. This quick application saved me a lot of time, and effort. Thumbs up for Malaysian Embassy London.

Hair Salon Experience

Its 23:25 now; I am listening to Eeffie's song list; she fell asleep half an hour ago;I drank half a bottle of white;I think the mood is just right for me to drop some words in my blog.

I need a hair cut today, as I am going for my passport application this coming Monday in London, I would like to look neat in my passport picture.

I was roaming around Chichester Street today, trying to find an average hair salon.

Chichester is a posh town; to be honest I can't find any barbers around, only hair salon.

Walked into a random salon, asked for the price, it's a price that I could never imagine, but I decided to give it a try. After checking their availability, they decided to slip me in.

I was ushered into a studio, and there is a lady took my jacket away from me. From this moment, I felt pampered and also nervous, as I don’t know what to expect next.

Then, a young blonde hair dresser came in, her name is called Kelly, she shook my hand, introduces herself to me, and chatted with me for awhile. She is very good at what she was doing, confident and professional. I was then offered a hair wash, and also a short head massage by another girl; that is when I started to feel comfortable with this kind of services. I closed my eyes, and almost slept through the entire process.

I went back to my seat after my hair wash, I was offered food and drink before Kelly starts cutting my hair. (I didn't eat whatever they offered, as I am still a bit nervous. -.-!!)

Kelly started flying her scissors around my head and I am trying hard to read the magazine in front of me to pretend I am cool. The whole experience is bit awkward to me, probably I am just not used to it, she tried very hard to chat with me to make me feel more comfortable as I am sure that she would have notice I am a first timer.

But she is pleasant and chatty, which I think it's quite a comfortable experience to be able to sit down and wait until my hair cut is done.

Walking out from the hair salon, I felt much more confident and comfortable.

This is my first hair salon experience in England.

Satisfied.

Here you go, xD.

End of my exam period 2010

Today is the last day of my spring semester; there are mix feelings inside me. There are ups & downs, I would say up is because I don't need to remember any past paper anymore; down is because I am approaching the end of my student life. This would be a pleasurable moment to me, spending time on my own, doing stuff I really enjoy myself guilt free (travelling, badminton & dim sum).

I am also writing my dissertation at the moment, which will have to submit by the end of August 2010, so during this period, I will spend quite a number of time reading articles and to be as 'literate' as possible. Besides writing my dissertation, this period will be a transition period for me, from eighteen years of experience in student's life to a newbie worker's life. Like a cocoon period of a caterpillar to a Moth.

Compare to people at my age, I had a very late start, I am 25 years now, and I am just about to be an MSc fresh graduate. Perhaps, people around me, they would have earned a fortune or maybe a PHD title by now.

Without thinking too much, I will firstly concentrate on my dissertation in this coming two months and start job hunting as soon as possible.

Paper 1

:(

Facebook Life

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in Facebooking. This post will focus on how Facebook enhanced my real life. As a Facebook user for more than 2 years, perhaps this tool has become one of the necessities of my life. I would say, most of the internet users' life.

The features in Facebook that will be addressed in this post are:

• Photo album
  
• Status
  
• Walls

1. Photo Album
   In real life, there is quite a lot of moment that we wish to treasure for the rest of our life; All these images are now stored in Facebook photo album and could be shared among our friends. Looking back all my photo albums, I found happy moments, sad and beautiful moment which are all chronologically arranged. Facebook has become a diary of me. The best part in this photo album is that we are connected with the people inside the picture within a few mouse clicks away. Although some of them are strangers especially those people we met in one-off occasions, and after that occasion we might not be able to meet again for the rest of our life. But hey, isn't this amazing? Sometimes it's the stranger that will cheer us up at that particular instant of time. Agree?
   
   
2. Status
   This is where I stay connected with people I know, close to every millisecond. I would sometimes keep on pressing the refresh buttons in my browser to force people's status into my news feed. By reading the status of one person, I could probably guess how he/she is doing at the moment. What is inside their mind, and how is their life at the current state. Sometimes, I think writing our own status could help me to be more relieved with what's inside my mind; people will do silly stuff once in a while and may want to shout to be heard, but wait! Who doesn't??
   
   
3. Walls
   I love walls; it's one of the best features that I utterly enjoyed in FB. There is this open & direct relationship with the people whom I write on. The best thing about walls is that they are readable by all my friends, unless I am being cursed. When I write something on people's wall, it's like how I say something to them in real life; how I occupied a small space of a big wall of him/her to write on. This is how I make my own impressions on people's perspective. By reading people's wall, I could generally get a feeling of this person in real life. Overall, these walls will eventually make me to approach more people and over time, I will understand how people stay connected with others and to maintain their relationship.

As a conclusion, Facebook has not only become the diary of my life, but also as an easy way to keep in touch with friends and probably family (Evil Smile*). Love it or hate it. Facebook will probably be this one book that I will have to carry for the rest of my life.

Church life-Nottingham

After one year, drifted away from god, I am now got back to my church's life in Nottingham.

Praise the lord. Amen.

Revision Period

It's my last revision period for exams in my University as a student. To be able to success in my civil engineering life in the future depends greatly on this revision period. I am prepared, for this final exam. Come on!

I called my mom today; she is in a tour bus in Taiwan.

She is enjoying her life travelling as much as I do; perhaps I inherited this behaviour from her. Hope she had fun in Taiwan.

Ok, it's time for me to get back to my revision period.

Happy mother's day!

Love Jason.

By the way, while I was going to be busy with my revision, I sketched some drawings.

Sleeping

Shopping

One small step at a time

With the demand growth of budget travelling in England, Travelling seems to be cheaper nowadays.

One year ago, I travel to see different places and also to experience different culture. I take travelling very seriously; I see it as a lecture outside the University. Travelling has become part of the course in my student life here.

But now, I see travelling different, I travel because I want to have a break in my life. It's different, I may not see as much as I would compare to what I did last time.

I am glad that I went through this process, as I always believe that there is no short cut in life.

The gap between Malay and Chinese-Created by the British

Background

During British colonial rule, Malays were given certain privileges over their non-Malay counterparts. When Malaysia declared independence in 1957, its constitution contained a provision called Article 153 which provides special rights for the Malay. When Malaya merged with Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah, the constitution retained the article 153 which was first drafted 1957. (Ooi, 2005)

Due to a dispute over the special rights of Malays, Singapore was separated from the federation in 1965. During that period, Most of the Chinese were literally flushed out from Malaysia to Singapore indirectly.

Malays were given special rights by the British at the beginning of Malaysia independence. Why?

Before the independence of Malaysia 1957, British learned a lesson in Hong Kong, they fear communist (Chinese) will invade Malaysia or any other region in the SE Asia. Therefore they granted the Malays special rights, they make sure that the Malays have the most power in Malaysia before British will grant Malaysia independence. Apart from that, during the independence of Singapore in 1965, the British did not turn over internal security to the local government as the British felt that the local authority in Singapore is not doing enough to counter the treats of the communist insurgency (Wikipedia, 2010).

It can thus be suggested that the gap between Malay and Chinese in Malaysia nowadays is simply just a side effect due to the fear of threats from the communist in the early 1950s which implemented by the British

By JW

Bibliography

Ooi, J. (2005, November 11). Malaysian New Economic Policy. Retrieved May 2010, 3, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_New_Economic_Policy#cite_note-1

Wikipedia. (2010, May 4). 1950's in Singapore. Retrieved may 4, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merdeka

Summary of my Easter Break

1. To do my revision,
2. To write a 3000 dissertation proposal,
3. To travel around South England,
4. To love.

:)

Wonderland

I woke up through the sunlight streaming through my window. I opened my eyes and look for my alarm clock. It was 9 o clock in the morning, a very sunny Sunday. While I was thinking why I would I set the alarms on Sunday morning, I remembered that she got a train to catch at 10 o clock in the morning.

I could still feel her body temperature around my arms. My room is filled with her lovely scents. The moment I knew she is on her journey back to Chichester. My tears started to roll down, unconsciously. From meeting her on Friday until the moment she left. It's like Alice falling down the rabbit hole until she crawls out of it.

I knew this is not a dream at all.

Interview Practical

Went to an Interview practical organised by the Engineering Graduate Centre.

The entire session lasted for about 3 hours.

Feedbacks from the course conductor about my interview.

• handshake & touch arm
• smile
• personable
• honest
• lucid speech
• eye contact
• confident
• puts himself forward
• too much 'yeah yeah yeah'
• good use of experience
• don't touch elbow

From role playing, to recorded interview, I truly enjoyed this 3-hour session.

(Of course, generous lunch is served at the end of the session)

Utterly lost

A wonderful snowing sunny morning, went to the train station with fie for the train to Chichester.

She is going back to Chichester, to start her working life with Amey, while i will continue my student cum part time working life.

For the 1st time ever, the journey in a bus back home lengthens incredibly. Every minute is like an hour. Difficult, distorted and awkward.

There is a void in me, but I am just too proud to admit.

I miss you. :)

Boleh kasih chance ka?

Friday night, during this night of the week, Nottingham becomes a very different place, the old market square turns into a giant toilet bowl, where people would simply vomit everywhere along the road.

Driving around the city, we can see doors with a platoon of dressed up 'dolls' , which will be the big sign for a night club. 2 of my friends and I would not like to miss out this opportunity of the week, we want to join in the 'culture' of Nottingham.

Hitting the finest club in Nottingham, Coco Tang, All of us were dressed up.

While we are looking for a car park around the city, as the whole city was packed with cars. Blue flashes appear inside our car, as soon as it happens, we notice that we were stopped by English policemen.

When they first approach us,

Policeman: 'Excuse me sir, the reason we stop your car is because........'

(My friend's Driving Insurance is not valid, as only by then we know that his driving insurance was faked by a Chinese Culprit)

Then after about 20 minutes, my friend was given a traffic ticket, This could be a very serious traffic offence in UK which might have cause my friend to lose his car, driving license and also his permit to stay in England.

For that period of time, we appreciate how people deal with all this in Malaysia

IC, and cash 'accidentally' slip underneath,

while saying 'Boleh kasih chance ka?'

Graduation trip 2009

We rented a car, travel from Nottingham to Edinburgh

Driver

Passengers

Manchester

My cool mom in Winderemere, Lakeland

Kirkpass

Seaview in Sunderland

York,

It was a very memorable trip, I enjoyed it.

Just for a rough guide, the entire trip cost about £150 per person. 2 Days 1 night. A great trip for summer.

Meeting Andy Chan

For some reason, I had dinner with the Civil engineering Course Director from Malaysia,

I am looking forward this meeting session with him, to let him know about my opinion as a transfer student from Malaysia. So that he could understand the difficulties that we had been through and make it easier for others in the future.

My course director is from Hong Kong, and teaches in Nottingham, Malaysia Campus for at least 3 years. Although he is our course director, but the time when we were eating in a Chinese Restaurant, he looks more like our friend than our course director. We talked about girls, life in Malaysia, Politics and also Malay. Seriously, he is the first Hong Kong people I've heard to speak in Malay, in his very own Hong Kong accent. Which was humorous, but impressive.

It was a pleasant night out with him, I am very impressed by how much he liked Malaysia, and also his effort to bring our education level to a next plateau. Meeting him is a lifetime experience.

Caren, London

I took a train ride to London Victoria station, To meet up with Caren. A very good friend of mine from Sabah. When I 1st saw her from far, she was wearing a dark overcoat, a scarf and a leather brown high boots, all this could not change her image of wearing our secondary school's uniform from my memories. We greeted each other with a warm hug. The entire moment is like a dream.

We sat down in one of a Starbucks in Victoria Station, wooden chair and table, halogen lights, crowds around us. Under a typical ambient in Starbucks, we shared a very comfortable conversations in our own language.

After our lunch we started our journey, exploring London in minus 2 degrees. A different London, from how I used to know it.

We started off from Portobello market in west London. a market similar to Petaling street in Kuala Lumpur. Portobello market is well know for it's 2nd hand clothes and antiques, and for the setting of one of the scenes in Notting Hill. A very famous street markets in the world. We glide through each stalls, while catching up with each other.

We went to a pub called the nag's head in Covent Garden. We had mulled wine, a traditional wine, combined with spices and served warm. To keep us warm the entire journey. After that, we went to Millennium Bridge, a steel suspension bridge crossing the River Thames, From St Paul's Cathedral to the Tate gallery. We did drop by in the Tate Modern Gallery, hopefully to take our interest in art to another plateau. Unfortunately, both of us are not talented in this field. We left Tate Gallery in less than 20 minutes.

Without wasting any time, we decided to have our dinner in Jamie's Italian restaurant in Canary Wharf. From here, we continue our conversation, catching up with each other, in a modern & pleasant environment. Even the people around us, they dress extremely well, in order to keep up with the standard of living in Canary Wharf. There is one thing I would like to recommend in this restaurant, which is the Olives on Ice. It's the freshest Olives I have ever tasted. The light green apricot's size olive, lying on ice, taste surprisingly well with the house wine.

Right after our meal, we took the tube. Since we were taking different lines, we have to separate inside a tube's cabin in Westminster's station. She left, with her same Caren's smile, 10 years ago, her signature cheerful smile. Right on the spot, I was wondering when will be our next meeting be, and how we will be by then?

Take Off!

This is the moment, my last examination. These exams will definitely determine what will my life be for the next 10- 20 years. After these examinations, it's like a baby bird, taking its' 1st flight. To test my wings, embarking to the journey of life by anticipating every events that come. For better or worse, I will have to take this journey,

Fearless.

Free and Easy in Paris

A 3-day relax itinerary which best to travel with family.

I have planned this trip beforehand, and I always try not to over plan, as over planned a trip may cause unnecessary restrictions.

Day 1

Reach Gare du Nord (the central station of Paris) by 12 o clock. We will be travelling around Paris with Metro, as Paris is a wonderful place to explore by foot and the unlimited day pass is very expensive so I've decided to buy a book of T+ tickets (€11.60). Remember to ask for a tube map from the counter, as the map will be useful.

Once settled in the hotel (a 3 star hotel rate is about €30 per person per night), we set off to Eifel Tower about 4.00pm, to catch the sunset and the night view of Paris. The queue lasted for about an hour, and to reach to the top of Eiffel Tower would cost an adult €13.00 euro. It was winter; so on the top of the Eiffel tower would easily reach minus 2 degrees. Therefore Extra clothing is highly recommended during December. When travelling back to the hotel, we tried to avoid peak hour, as this would increase the chances of being nabbed.

A fine dining in France would cost about €25 per person; it would be more expensive if you eat around landmarks.

Day 2

We woke up at about 10am, had a quick brunch in McD around Pigalle (dodgy area) metro station. One Big Mac Meal in Paris is about €7.60; I would say McD is the safest option for budget travellers. From Pigalle, we took metro to Charles de Gaulle Etoile, which is the nearest metro station to the Arc de triumphe. From there, we spent the whole day shopping around Champs Elysees (Paris’s High Street). It’s like KL’s Bintang Walk, Singapore’s Orchard Road and London’s Oxford Street. Make sure to go for a loo whenever you see a McD, as a toilet elsewhere would cost you €1.00 - €1.50.

Day 3

It snowed, we took pictures, and had brunch in McD, and then we went to the Lourve by Metro (Nearest Metro station: Palais Royal Musée du Louvre). We spend half a day there, and another half a day In La-fayatte which is like KL’s KLCC and London’s Harrods. We did buy some chocolate there; I think probably that is the only affordable item for me in that building, as a chocolate may cost €94 per 100 grams here.

Day 4

We took the earliest train from Paris to London St Pancras.

I personally feel that this is a simple and relaxing trip for families which cost roughly around €300-€400 pp.

Internet Trading

I started internet trading just a few weeks ago; I started this trading with a bad experience. Internet trading is full of scams and fake stuff. Be a wise internet traders. Good luck.

And I learned a few lesson from all these trading.

• I learned that i need to know how to spot a fake item before I buy it, as sometimes the seller would not know whether their item is Fake. However, most of them would know, but they would just pretend that they don’t.
• Check the seller, even the seller has a good rating. The item may be bad.
• Do not buy impulsively. When I got my 1^st payment, I was overwhelmed and bought a few stuff at once. 2 out of 3 transactions turn out to be a massive disaster. Even I dealt with good ratings seller.
• Some seller would create a few accounts to bid on their stuff, to make it higher. If somehow their own alternative account won the bid, they will proceed with a method called 2^nd chance bidder, which is the 2^nd highest bidder (the real bidder) would win the bid. And the real bidder would have to fork out more money instead. (Be careful with 2^nd Chance Offer)

I poured some of my hard earned money down the drain for this lesson, Hopefully this post would help someone without any experience with the internet trading.Especially E-bay.