The beginning and (nearly) the end
It’s already the beginning of the new semester. The university is being bombarded with all these undergraduates, i.e. there are huge crowd of people and long queues. Really long queues. I think I’m feeling a bit fed up with the long queues to wait for the bus. And the (occasional) traffic jam and rain are just making things worse. Arrgghhh! Okay, calm down. Anyway, I also have to get used to classes again. Luckily, my load is rather light this semester. And I quite enjoy my Mandarin class; it’s lucky that I did some revision beforehand. *grins*
On another note, I can’t believe it’s nearly the end of Ramadan already; we only have one week to go. How fast the time flies… The Malay community here in Bath are already planning our jamuan Hari Raya. I can’t wait to eat all the lovely food… *grins* Of course, it’s nice to meet up with the other Malay people too. Talking about meeting up, I quite miss going to lunch with the other postgrads from my department. I even miss the food in our cafeteria! That sure says something… More like I’m tired of cooking food myself. *sheepish grin*
Of technology
It’s time for some articles, related to technology:
10 Fast Fixes for Nagging PC Problems - not a bad article really. Some of them are just common sense, but hey, people need reminding once in a while I guess.
Your Printer May Be Hazardous To Your Health - ergh, really? Everything seems to be hazardous to one’s health these days…
Danger: Screensavers Come with Strings Attached - yessh, nothing is safe anymore too…
The Attack of the Big Phish - a rather old article, but still relevant. And want to know what phishing is? You can read the article for more info, but it’s basically all those scam e-mails that try to get as much personal information from a user as possible.
How to Spot a Phishing Scam - the second part of the above article.
- Wooo…. Yeah, right.
Trip to Sheffield
Well, last week I went to Sheffield (somewhere in the middle of England), not for pleasure as per usual, but for work. I went there to attend the RSS (Royal Statistical Society) Graduate Training Programme i.e. to attend a course. Which meant I had to attend lectures, 6 hours per day, for 4 days and a half. Joy. But the course itself was not so bad; quite interesting really. One of the lecturers was rather entertaining, and kept trying to convert the frequentist to Bayesian (inside joke for statisticians). *grins*
As you can see, it didn’t really give me a lot of time to explore. And after a whole day of lectures, I wasn’t really that keen to explore either. Well, we did have time to have a few walks, but that’s usually in the evening. I only went once, because we had to walk to and fro from the university residence to the lecture hall every day anyway, and each trip took nearly half an hour. That’s quite enough walking for me! *grins* In fact, I spent most evenings just relaxing, while reading some books (fiction books, of course! *grins*). On an unrelated note, the food here is not that bad either. *grins again*
However, we did have an afternoon off, which a few of us spent exploring the city center. Hmmm… As far as cities go, Sheffield is quite similar to other cities in England (as expected). However, it originated from mining activities; quite similar to a lot of cities in Malaysia I guess. And there are quite a lot of Muslims living here too; a mosque was just built last year.
Anyway, some photos are available in my photo album. Do have a look!
- View at sunset… Nice!
Merdeka!
Happy 50th year of independence, Malaysia! It’s the Golden Jubilee, people!
Let me ask you again, what is independence? So according to the Wikipedia,
"Independence is self-government of a nation, country, or state by its residents and population, generally exercising sovereignty.
Independence can be the initial status of an emerging nation (often filling a political void), but is often an emancipation from some dominating power. It can be argued that independence is a negative definition: the state of not being controlled by another power through colonialism, expansionism or imperialism. Independence may be obtained by decolonization, or by separation or dismemberment."
Okay, I think that does explain how Malaysia got its independence quite well, don’t you think so?
- Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!
Something funny
Er, this makes more sense (and hence funnier) if you have any basic knowledge of Statistics. *grins*
Life | Comments (2)
This is the life
I haven’t been writing much in my blog lately, have I? I’ve neglected it shamefully. *shakes head* It’s just that nothing (interesting) has been happening much; it’s life as usual. I’ve been pretty busy with research; although I’m enjoying my new house (or rather, the cable TV) very much. I just love watching the food channel, and now I can watch CSI and Mythbusters every day! *grins*
Actually, I’m taking some time off now. What am I doing for it then, you might ask. Well, I thought of going on a trip somewhere, but I didn’t actually manage to go. So I’m just spending the time here at home. Doing what? Well, after one year and a half at Bath, I’ve finally managed to go to the Bath Central Library and became a member there! Yes, this means I spend a lot of my time reading books. Novels, to be precise. Lots of them. So good… The Bath Central Library doesn’t really have up-to-date books, but they’re okay.
And I’m also taking this time to revise my command of the Chinese language. Yup, I’d gone to classes at the university to learn Mandarin before, and will continue to do so next semester. So I need to revise, right? You might say, what the hell am I doing studying on my time off, but I have to say, I just enjoy it. It’s fun! And dead useful for reading comics online. *grins* Anyway, there’s a really good website for learning Mandarin called ChinesePod; I really recommend it. And a quite good website for Chinese characters is Zongwen.com.
Apart from watching TV and reading novels and revising my Mandarin lessons, I also clean up the house and even mowed the back lawn… Am I active or what? *grins*
Anyway, got to go back to reading Clive Cussler’s "Trojan Odyssey", while listening to/watching videoclips on TV. Ah, this is the life. Ciao!
- I wish. Still, this is still nice…
Of work
A few articles related to work:
How to Position Yourself To Snag The Job Your Boss Has - if you think you’re (more) suitable for the position your (current) boss has, then go on and read this article. *winks*
How to Deal With an Office Jerk - nice! Just what you need to cope with the (oppressive) office environment. *grins*
Five Myths of Managing Up - if you hope to "climb the career ladder by impressing your boss" a.k.a. sucking up to your boss, then you might want to read these updated rules first.
Group Interviews: How to Impress Everyone - group interviews? Good side: you’re not alone. Bad side: you have to compete with other people. Hmmm…
- Yeah…
The very eventful weekend
You know, my life has been pretty routine lately, and I was feeling rather bored. But (luckily?) I just had a rather… eventful weekend.
Firstly, I moved to a new house on Saturday noon time. Yeah, it was full of packing (started packing on Friday actually), loading, moving, unloading, unpacking and all those fun activities. Yeah. Joy. But I’m quite happy with my new house. Big bedroom (big bed!), and a TV, what more could one ask for? *grins* Well, I could ask for it to be closer to the city center, but it’s still okay I guess. *grins again* And what’s the big deal with a TV anyway, you might ask. Well, although I managed to survive for a year and a half without a TV, having one is still nice…
And after unpacking my stuff and all, I still managed to attend a friend’s BBQ in the late afternoon. *grins* You know, just for a change of scenery and socializing and all that. I have to say, only in the UK can one experience BBQ-ing in the rain. Yeah, although it was drizzling, people were still sitting around chatting, drinking and eating. And there I was, in my raincoat, trying to act nonchalant too… *grins*
Anyway, although the bed is mighty fine, I still had trouble sleeping last night. I deduced that it was because of the (flat) pillows, and promptly went to buy a few today. *grins* Hopefully tonight will yield a better sleep…
- Busy life…
Of life & health
More articles; some are on life:
Secrets You Better Tell Your Partner - it involves "secrets many of us tend to keep hidden, but really shouldn’t". Yeah, you should spill out your guts sometimes, I suppose.
Why Do I Get Jealous? - "If you’ve got strong feelings of jealousy, it’s probably a sign that you don’t have enough trust in your partner that he or she is being faithful to you." Hmmm…
11 Things Women Don’t Know About Men - this article is from a guy’s perspective; it’s quite funny. *grins*
Some are on health:
Identifying Restless Legs Syndrome - do you experience "a very uncomfortable and distressing feeling in their legs in the evening when (you) tried to rest?" Then maybe you have restless legs syndrome (RLS).
3 Diet Myths Busted - Are bananas fattening? Can certain food help you lose belly fat? The more you sweat during exercise, the more weight you lose? No, no and… no?? Really?!
Science Quiets Myth of ‘Chatterbox’ Females - well, this is more news than article. But more importantly, some research finds that "men and women speak roughly the same number of words each day…" And that there is no scientific proof that women love talking much more than men. Take that, guys!!
- I repeat: heh, heh, heh.
