Goodbye Home Sweet Home- (The final holiday post)

The 10th post!! A perfect wholesome number that rounds up everything from the start of the holiday until the end.

Packing is hard work. To start, I had to raid all the clothes in my closet after I had pain-stakingly arranged them neatly in my closet when I first arrived home during the holiday. But now I had to take out all my clothes again and squeeze everything into a bulging luggage.

Then, after packing everything, I had to be a temporary SWAT officer and turn on my X-ray vision to scan the whole house for any little tiny stuff I had left out. It's surprising how I almost left out some important things like my bank book and Matrix card.

It was a relief afer everything was done. That night, we (my whole family) went out for a farewell dinner. I took in the atmosphere around me, every sight, every sound, and savoured every bite of my food, wanting to frame this special moment with my family and stored it forever in my memory. It will be a long time when I have the chance to meet them again.

Anyway, I'm going back to UTP 2moro. Well..actually it is today (I should be asleep right now but I can catch my ZZZs later in the car 2moro. XD

Just wanna say a few words before leaving.

Let's see.. where should I start? Ok, how about what the heck have I been doing the whole holiday?!

Now's a good time to refer back to my holiday-to-do list that I had whole-heartedly created during the start of this seemingly endless holiday. But everything eventually draws to an end. So let's sum everything up and see what I had really accomplished.

1) Improving my driving skills
50% done, but not dealing with the BIG and MEAN highways yet.

2) Learn to cook
0%.. The only cooking I know is fried food where you dunk everything in the oil, which is not healthy. Oh well, better stick to eating than cooking.

3) Read books and magazines
100%!! With all the time in the world, needless to say I had to chance to read all my favourites books and novels.

4) Blogging
100% Do I need to comment?

5) Tech-savvy?
30% Ya, a few clicks here and there to familiarise myself with movie makers and window publisher. But I know there's still a lot more to learn.

6) Sports
50% Hmm..the daily routine of housework is all the exercise I get for a typical day. Other than tat, I had only exercised intensely during the weekends with my family. But I had managed to try two new sports: bowling and ice-skating, with all the great experiences.

7) Languages
10% Watching Cantonese movies or animes is not a great way to learn. I realised I'm more interested in watching the drama and reading the subtitles rather than to pay attention and digest what come out of their mouth. Not that I totally learnt nothing. I did learnt a few terms in highly emotional scenes like 'shut up!'. Anyway, the lack of practise soon make me forgot the new words I had learnt. The best way to learn a language? Ask ur friends for help! Practise with them!

8) 2nd semester preparation
0% At last, what I wanted to do most, I end up not doing it. Probably because I dun really feel like doing it. The books were in front of me the whole time but I'm just too lazy to lift a finger to open them. Ok, I admitted I did open the books but I never got further than the intoductionary page. When the barrage of alien words swirled around my head in confusion, I shut the book and said:'There's always 2moro' so I keep ending up doing something else. I can still say the same thing now, there's still Saturday, and Sunday, etc..

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Looks like I didn't do everything I had planned for myself. So what? I still had a terrific holiday and I'm enjoying every moment of it. The most important thing is that I'm happy and get to spend my time with my family and friends.

Sigh`` I never expect this but here comes the tide of homesickness...

I'm gonna miss my warm and cosy room that had once been an abandoned, dusty room on the 3rd floor.

I'm gonna miss waking up late every day at any time I want, and the only thing I need to worry is whether I will have breakfast or brunch.

I'm gonna miss staying up late, sleep at any time I want, and curled warmly in my blanket and reading a good book.

I'm gonna miss the kitchen, especially the fridge, and my parents' home-cooked meal. I still think they're the best chefs in the city. lol

I'm gonna miss my super supper: Toasted breads with a nice spread of peanut butter, coated with honey and cream, with a slice of cheese in between.

I'm gonna miss my living room, with the TV and remote control.

I'm gonna miss my home, my family, especially my baby little sister who said: 'I love you' all the time.

I'm gonna miss Subang, Sunway Pyramid and my friends there.

In short, I'm gonna miss my life here..

But at the same,

I can't wait to start a new life in UTP

I can't wait to see all my friends again!

I can't wait to see the new batch of juniors.

I can't wait to see my new room.

I can't wait to play DOTA unlimited!!

I can't wait to go badmintoning/squashing at sport complex.

I can't wait to meet my new lecturers and tutors. (Do I? Maybe I will wait a little longer)

That's all, goodbye Home Sweet Home!
Wishing myself and other UTPians a safe trip to UTP. See u all there!

The Village Verdict - Why I want to stay in V1 (Sceintifically investigated and approved by thinkers)

Refer to the diagram below.

Please click the diagram for a full size view.

As you can see, the diagram above shows the layout of UTP campus. The red circle shows where I had been staying the previous semester. The two green circles show where I SHOULD be staying the next semester, which is next week.

Take note that the map is not drawn according to scale. So while the sport complex looks nearer to old v5 compared to v1 in the map, in real life it is actually further.

For a complete 3D or satellite view of UTP campus, please visit Eric’s or Chriss’ blog.

Problem Statement:
Should I move to V1, V2 or stay in OldV5?

Hypothesis:
I will probably move to V1.

Variables:

Fixed: (A cute innocent looking guy who is going to UTP)-Hello, it’s me!! Duh~
Manipulated: Conditions of villages and surroundings
Responding: My decision to move or stay

Method:
Thinking tools-PMI and OPV (refer to thinking skill subject for further info)

Apparatus:
UTP map, a laptop, internet, and blogosphere

Procedure:
PMI -> OPV

Results:

The First tool: PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting)

Living in V1 is better than Living in OLDV5

PLUS	MINUS	INTERESTING
Nearer to academic building blocks (lecture halls, tutorial rooms) +9	Room condition-small, dark, and stuffy compared to old v5 -9	What if we can choose a good room? +5
Nearer to sport complex and block B +5	Rooms arranged too crowded together, narrow corridor -8	I wonder if a lot of websites on internet cable connection are blocked. -5
Near to computer labs (internet and printing guaranteed) +9	Room might be too hot (even at night) -lead to discomfort, sleep deprivation -9
DOTA (LAN connection) +5	Further to IRC (Information Resource Centre) -8
Nearer to USM, Kopetro +5	Troublesome to move all my stuff from oldv5 to v1. -4
Nearer to V5 +2
Majority will live there +8
+43	-38	0

Total: 43-38+0 = 5

The Second Tool: OPV (Other People’s View)

Group	Opinions
Myself	Accessibility to facilities is more important than room condition.
Minority (who wants to live in old V5)	Comfort is more important and we are nearer to IRC. Besides, after getting our bikes fixed, we can go anywhere we want!
Majority (who will be moving to v1/v2)	The famous “Come la, move to v1!” phrase I heard all the time.

Discussion:

From the PMI, the total score shows a positive value which means that the benefits of staying in V1 outweigh the disadvantages.

In the PLUS column, most of the benefits point towards good accessibility.

It is important that we can go back and forth easily from my hostel to the lecture halls.

The last semester was somewhat frustrating with always the one hour gap in between before the next class start. I prefer my lectures to be on and continuous without time off so I can completely rest at the end. For example, a packed morning schedule but I will have a totally free afternoon, or vice versa.

Luckily, looking at my second semester timetable now, it looks like most of gap-hour class occur only Monday and Tuesday. Nevertheless, I neither like the idea of me rushing back to oldv5 then back to lecture halls again nor do I want to stay at the academic block the whole day just to wait for all my lectures to be over.

Plus, since the internet and DOTA play the central role in my life, it is essential that I lived somewhere near the computer lab so I can access the web anytime. Besides, with my damaged printer, I have to 100% depends of the printers in CALL Lab.

Anyway, I’m sure there will be many group tasks and activities next semester. But imagine your group members or partner happens to be at v1 while you are in oldv5. How inconvenient is that? It will take a hell lot of trouble just to go there just to do some discussion. In the end, you’ll either be left out or worst, the job left solely for you to handle, especially in the case of two people. Therefore, it is safer to live in V1 knowing that the majority is staying there.

Other than these, the rest of the benefits are not that significant, but they still add up to keep my life in constant vitality.

Moving on to MINUS, it can be seen that I complained most about the room conditions and its surroundings. Nevertheless, I believed that I can get used to it. After all, many seniors and my few international friends had stayed in V1 and they are just as happy and contended as anyone. So why can’t I do the same?

Anyway, all I had been doing was comparing these two villages’ rooms. If the path of destiny had been different and we had stayed in v1 instead of old v5 during the first semester, we might already get used to v1 without any complaints. Frankly, a little comfort being compromised is necessary for the greater good.

Unfortunately, IRC would be further if we live in v1.

IRC is the most important structure of all to students in UTP and the second most magnificent architecture design after the Chancellor Hall. This state-of-the-art library has everything inside, from books to all kinds of multimedia utilities and best place for strong WIFI signal.

Anyway, back to what we are saying, v1 will be further from IRC but you probably only need to spend an extra minute or two walking so the difference is small.

The INTERESTING column mostly shows my possible choices and alternatives. If I arrived early, I might be able to pick a few suitable rooms (for me and my friends) that are shady and kept well away from the glaring sunlight. There must be rooms in V1 that is not hot and stuffy the whole time.

Living in v1 also means that every room has its cable connection. Of course using the cable connection to internet means you are monitored and they probably blocked almost every entertainment websites, even the innocent and harmless MSN Windows Live Messenger!

But again the CALL lab is just around the corner and there are probably WIFI waves propagating around the room that is still sufficient for us to go online.

P.S- I mostly mention v1. But v2 is no big different than v1 as they are in the same area. But since v1 is nearer to the academic blocks, I’ll probably move there.

Conclusion:

I’m definitely going for v1 if I had the chance. I had initially promised to stay in old v5 with a few good friends but I had changed my mind in the end after thinking about it for a long time (using the official thinking skill techniques). To my friends, I’m really sorry that I changed my mind at the very last minute.

Last but not least, I’m wanna say: Come la stay in V1, you all are gonna love it! After all, the most important thing is that we stay together right?