The 'Sweet' Birthday

My birthday falls on August 18, which I celebrated a few days ago. It was the sweetest birthday experience I ever had, literally. My birthday cake was a custard made by my friends, which I'm really grateful and touched by their thoughtfulness, as they have took the time and effort to do it despite the midst of a busy week.

The first mouthful of the custard however, was enough to make my body shiver as my tastebuds were suddenly jolted with a dose of insane sweetness that I can't describe with words. One thing for sure, eating this will surely give any living mortal a diabetes overnight. Smiling sadistically at my expression, they next threathened to pour the gooey custard on me should I failed to finish it. Oh well, so much for their 'thoughtfulness'...

Of course, I didn't get to finish it. They commenced on another 'dirty' prank first before finishing the custard on me. I didn't surrender to this fate without a struggle though. In the end, everyone is no less 'yuckier' than me. As with any food fight, the cleaning up was not easy with patches of sticky custard sticking on the walls and other surfaces, plus the sweet smell gives me a feeling of being inside a gingerbread house.

Despite being the victim, I really had a blast! Thanks to all those who are involved. I really appreciate it. I had never expect such a grandiose celebration (making that custard surely had took the whole afternoon) when assignments and tests are nearing their peak. I too, had been caught up with my workload and only expecting the usual verbal well-wishing or by worst, being dragged outside and thrown an egg. Indeed, I was proven very wrong! And to my beloved cheme gang, thank you for the lovely birthday card and mug. It is a wonderful surprise. This is indeed a memorable birthday.

This aside, as I keep mentioning, life for me is mostly occupied with academic matters. I have 2 lab reports weekly, a very tight Monday schedule (full lectures from morning till afternoon, with only one hour break for lunch), weekly assignments, and not to mention the occasional pop quizzes. I had made the right decision to be less involved in events this semester. The only clubs that I'm affiliated currently with are IchemE@UTP (a student body mainly catering to those taking chemical engineering in UTP) and UTP Chinese Orchestra. UTPCO had just went through a successful IntroNight and recruited many promising new members. IchemE@UTP too is taking off nicely, with many events planned in phases and soon to be launched. Things are progressing smoothly for both of the clubs.

Another busy week will unfold itself tomorrow so that is all the updates from me now. All the best! For my Muslim friends, wishing you all Selamat Ramadhan in this fasting month.

The sugar rushed update

Instead of the typical 'back again to UTP again' title, I owe this post title to 3 Big Apple donuts that I had just consumed not long ago, way past my bedtime at 1.00am. Thanks to this kind friend for the tasty treat, plus the unexpected sugar boost that will keep me awake for a few minutes more. If it wasn't for him, I would have not updated my blog tonight. XD

I'm back from DFP. Due to the hectic week upon arriving back here, I had no time at all to update anything until now. The Tapestry of Colours performance was a blast and I felt we have done well to achieve such a mileage. There are some minor complications here and there, which is to be expected, and I think everyone did great to overcome them together as a team. Thanks to the audience, and some of them consisting of UTPians themselves, who came all the way to KL to see us. Of course, I must thank my family members the most, who had given me plenty of moral support throughout the month of training until the day of performance itself. The list of people that I want to thank goes on and on, so unless I want to turn this into an appreciation post, I had better moved on. To all those who are directly or indirectly involved in making Tapestry of Colours a success, you know who you are. Sincerely, thank you.

The Tapestry of Colours itself is an amazing experience. Nevertheless, I had also 2 other objectives in mind: meet up with my family members, and buy myself a reward while I'm in KL. I'm grateful to be able to fulfill them both. I had dinner with my family and at least meet up with my little sister, who is underage to watch the performance. During a PC fair in KLCC that was coincidentally held during the days of our performance (thus giving me a chance to shop during one of the breaks), I bought a speaker which specifications is exactly nice for a bedroom (in this case, my hostel's room), and I'm very satisfied with it so far.

After being in cloud nine, it's time to crash-land painfully back to reality. One can expect things not to be rosy in UTP for someone who had just missed one week of lessons. Assignments and tutorials come hitting me in the face while at the same time I had to catch up on last week's syallbus. Not to mention, the 3rd week is commencing itself too with labs sessions on full run, so I had to keep track on both weeks' workload.

Unfortunately, it was during these busiest moment of my life that a ridiculously demanding commitment pops up and expect me to commit myself fully without giving me a choice whatsoever. There is a fine line between the priorities of club commitments versus academic commitments, and this line had been grossly invaded. They could have consider things from our side and compromise for us, while still achieving their own desired results, but I'm dissapointed they have not taken this approach. Hence, I have decided to firmly turn down this responsibility despite knowing well the repercussions I will have to face. I simply cannot let history repeats itself like last sem. It was not an easy decision for me, but I had to choose the lesser of two evils. To those who can still handle this 'responsibility' without losing touch with their academic commitments, I really admired them. I could not fathom how. Was it their sheer passion for the club or the club's field of interest? Or was it simply that they are faster learners who have no qualms about losing lesssons and are able to rebound back into tip-top condition in no time? Whatever it is, I am not them, I won't compare myself to them. If I can't handle this, I just had to back out for this once.

I sense a ticking time bomb, and I can only hope that this bomb won't go off. Will update whenever possible. Good night.

The start of something new

It is WAYYYY past my bedtime, and I have an early morning to wake up to. But no matter what, I simply MUST update this blog before dust starts to settle again. Not to mention, I will have a one week 'blackout' period from UTP, and most likely will be away from any sources of internet connection for the whole week.

While a typical UTP student will attend their usual classes tomorrow, UTPCO performers will be embarking on their journey to Kuala Lumpur, and to the famed Dewan Filharmonik Petronas. We will have a few days of rehearsals, followed by 3 days of the most-awaited moment: our performance. All the months of sweat and blood, time and energy (and a considerable amount of money spent), will be translated into these 3 days.

Besides the excitement of going to DFP, UTP have its own excitement to look forward to following the MMK (Minggu Mesra Kampus), which is an event where a galore of clubs and societies, stationed within their respective booths in Pocket D, will seek out juniors and new members to enrol in their clubs. It is indeed a rare sight to see so many clubs and society gathered at one place. The atmosphere will be lively, with competitive booths outdoing each other with all sorts of fancy decorations, games and prizes, as well as attractive benefits to persuade new members to join their clubs. Unfortunately, for this sem I'm going to miss the MMK due to DFP, which is a shame because it is something I'm looking forward to). On the other hand, an oppurtunity to DFP comes only once in a blue moon, so I'm more than grateful to be a part of it.

With these two 'big things' on my schedule (and slightly overlapping), I feel that I have already reached the climax of my semester, despite only 2 weeks into the new semester. After this, things should return to normal for me, because I will be laying low and cutting down on events and clubs commitments but instead will focus on my academics. Nevertheless, things are easier said than done. I will be expecting the unexpected to happen.

That should wrap up most part on the beginning of my 2nd year 2nd sem. Most classes are still skipping lightly on the surface, while timetable is still in turmoil with a few kinks to iron out.

On a side note: I had made a new ATM card, I had watched Inception, I had went for an Ipoh outing with my friends. So basically, all my things-to-do list before going to DFP have been successfully fulfilled. Let's hope things will continue to be as smooth, or smoother than this as the semester goes on.