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I am back - 20:26 BST September 22, 2007

Within a blink of an eye, I am back here. OK, that might have been a bit of an exaggeration. But nevertheless I am here to make an update after weeks of absence.

My holidays this time round has been good, going home is never a bad thing. However, it was apparent that some of my friends back there were busy, with work and such. Some of my friends were still studying in university, hence they were away from home. Therefore there was not as much as friends that I would like to meet, but nonetheless I met quite a number of them. Given the short amount of time my stay was, I was quite happy with that.

When I landed in Kuala Lumpur, I was so tired. I settled down at 3am and went to sleep. After twenty hours of flight, I had a really good night's sleep, waking up at 2pm the next day without having my sleep interrupted. Jet lag played a role in frustrating my sleep for the first few nights. Maybe it was the hot weather that did it.

The day after that, I met one of my friends, Derek. It has been two years since I last seen him, and also at the time of meeting him then, it has been a decade since we known each other. We went to Lowyat Plaza to have a look at some gadgets, as well as catching up with each other's lives.

On the 25th of August, I went back to my hometown, meeting a couple of my friends, Kok Wai and Kennard. I have to say, Kennard seriously surprised me that day when we went to the cinema. The film was a Malay film which was a rip off of Initial D and Tokyo Drift. Oh my days, the film depicted a Proton Saga beating a Nissan Silvia. I laughed all my way through the film for its humorous values.

One of the best days(food wise) was probably Independence Day, which I celebrated with two of my friends, Asaithambi and Wei Wong. We had this plan going on before I came back home, which is to tour around the island and sample the best delicacies available. As much as this plan sounded awesome, it backfired, because our stomachs could not bear with so much food in a short amount of time. Still, we did have the best food in town.

The day on my flight back here, my friend Kok Wai thought that he could not bid farewell to me because he was at work. My flight was at night but that was besides the point. However, during the evening, I, my mother, my sister and my cousin were eating at a cafe nearby my house. My cousin spotted Kok Wai with his girlfriend. Kok Wai obviously then saw me, telling me that "This is inevitable, we are meant to meet". Amazing how fate brings friends together, especially it has been fifteen years. All right, I know it is Penang we are talking about here and how small it is(therefore higher chance of running into someone), but at such timing? Come on...

I got back here a few days ago, and my life has been pretty hectic to keep it short. I will be having only a week left for my holidays before I begin my fourth year.
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Coming back home - 23:45 BST August 19, 2007

I am flying back home on this coming Tuesday (21st of August). Two more days to go and I will be back for holidays. I will only be back for three weeks, so I will have to spend some quality time when I get there, otherwise I might regret it. This is due to the fact that this summer holidays is effectively the last chance of me having to have a break of a long length. Unless I take on another undegraduate degree, I will never be able to enjoy holidays spanning over the summer period.

Anyway, it has been over a month since graduation day. Nothing much to report I am afraid, hence the lack of updates. It is typical as summer holidays here are pretty much like this at times. I did go and find my friends and so forth, but that is about it really. I have been doing some programming which is not even relevant to what I am to pursue anyway but I suppose it is good practice.

Speaking of what I am to pursue, I am applying for Masters. Why Masters you ask, the simplest answer I can give is that it is what I have set out to do from the very beginning. I originally did a four-year course in King's College London, but then I decided to reduce it to only three years after consultation with various academics. So, I am doing a 3 + 1 years in total, with the fourth year being done in Imperial College London.

Most of my friends will be going to India along with my brother on the end of this month, which is also the 50th independence day back home. That means I will not be seeing them until next year the earliest.

Anyway that is all for now. Hope to see some of you back home, you know who you are!
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Graduated! - 10:28 BST July 18, 2007

Finally, the day of my graduation arrived, two days ago. It was a very long day, so I will begin from the start, which was from 6.30 in the morning.

I woke up, and got myself prepared as we took an early train down to London. This is so that when we got there, we will have ample of time. Arriving the hall, I saw a couple of my friends there. They got there early as well apparently.

Anyway, we put our robes on, and we went for a family photo. The queue was horrendous. Even my friend Richard could not get into the queue in the morning as it was too late, the ceremony was due in fifteen minutes then. Thankfully I managed to beat the queue for the photo and got them taken in time.

So, 11am was the start of the ceremony. We got into the halls and got ourselves seated. Then, we had the speech from the higher powers of the university, such as the principal himself. The moment came as we went on the stage to shake hands with the principal.

After the ceremony, we went outside to take some photos. Some of my friends had to queue for the family photos, and my word, the queue was longer than ever. I heard that they had to wait for an hour long. Good job I settled that earlier in the morning!


The moment we have all been waiting for...

Anyhow, that was it, and so now I say goodbye to King's College London. It has been a tremendous experience, both academically and socially. I have had great education from this institution, but more importantly, made great friends on my way to the degree.
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Hitting the roads - 22:25 BST July 14, 2007

Today was the first time I ever drove a car in two and a half years. It was also my first driving experience here ever since I obtained my licence two years and a half ago. Anyway, it was not the best of all experiences I have ever had. I shall begin from the afternoon drive...

I drove all the way to my father's workplace, which is within some rural area. Hence, public transport is not the solution to get to there. Actually, driving there was not a problem. In fact, it was a rather straightforward journey actually. I had to negotiate through different roads, ranging from the dual carriageway to the countryside roads.

The problem I have is that I have near zero, or shall I say zero knowledge of the areas that I have been through today as it was my first time. To add insult to injury, my lack of driving experience(Prior to getting my licence, I only had my hands behind the wheels for less than ten hours not including driving lessons) makes it even more of a nightmare to navigate through some areas.

When I headed back home, I was misled to a wrong area. But that was besides the point. Point was that I had to drive into an area totally unknown to me. To make things worse, I was forced into making U-turns after realising that we got to the wrong end of the area. Thankfully, my reversing skills were not so bad as I thought it would have been, and that really saved me a lot of trouble.

In the end, we managed to get back home. Later that night, we went out shopping, so I had to drive again. Incidentally, I ran into my maths teacher in the shopping mall, what a coincidence. It was a much better drive this time round, as I was much more familiar with the surroundings. I guess I had to learn the hard way. It is better to drive than to actually not drive at all.

I am pretty tired now. But I have to deal with something(pretty urgent actually) before I can get my beauty sleep. Sigh...
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The wait is over... - 23:21 BST July 07, 2007

So, nothing much has been happening lately, all I had to report then was that I was playing sports over the weeks, that is about it really, until this week that is. I was not able to sleep well because of results during this week, but it is all over now.

After three years of hard work, it finally paid off as I checked my results out through MyKCL, which is an online system for us students to check out our details such as contact details and so forth, and of course, the results are checked through there as well.

One of the most peculiar features with the system is that it takes a really long time to access the results. How ironic then, because I was dying to know mine. Tension builds up as I waited and waited, and finally, when the moment came, it was what I wanted to read:

Award Type BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
Award Name Computer Science
Classification First Class Honours
Date of Award 01/08/2007

At last! It means a lot to me to obtain this. What made it extra special would be what happened during my first term. I messed up big time to the point I thought I was not going to make it. But the redemption came during second term, and I was vindicated with a strong showing that got me the First Class Honours.

I am also glad I got a good mark for my dissertation, because it meant that there is someone out there who actually appreciates my work after all these years of frustration. I guess experience taught me how to refine my work, and it showed. My prayers were answered, which I am very much grateful to as well.

I was really happy, and celebrated with a couple of my friends, who also got their First Class Honours. There were a few who did not make it though, as they obtained Upper Second Class Honours, which is still pretty good. There were disappointments of course, but the morale amongst us was pretty high.

Now I just have to wait for graduation, and hopefully more updates to come then.
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