STEPPING OUT OF THE RAIN AND INTO THE CORPORATE WORLD

Apparently, here it is not called "internship", but instead has a much more fancier name. Now when people give me the "who-the-heck-are-you?" look, i don't tell them i'm an intern; i tell them i am "under industrial training". Hah!

Today was mighty interesting though. Except for the part where I had to wake up at 6am and head out the house in a rush to beat the traffic. I ended up skipping breakfast and have mum call dad up (numerous times) in the car to ask if i had everything i needed. She also conveniently reported that i had left my pen on her bed. It turned out that i had not remembered to pack a pen anyway, so how could i have left that one on her bed.

Anyway, despite the stupid rain, I reached IBM at 8:15am only to realize I had no card to enter the office. But it didn't matter much because En. Hasan showed up soon enough, and 5 minutes later we picked up Mrs. Veronica Ong and were on our way to MSC for my first meeting ever.

We arrived at MSC 10 minutes late due to the downpour, but naturally we weren't the last to show up. I had been briefed by En. Hasan about the meeting. As i was only present to observe the meeting, i wasn't terribly worried. However i was afraid that i would nod off and start to snore gently. After all, when was the last time i had participated in anything scheduled at 9.30 in the morning?? Upon entering the meeting room, being the observant person that i am, the first thing i saw were the plates of meehoon goreng; neatly arranged along with bottled water, cups and saucers and pieces of cakes. I asked Mrs. Ong if all meetings were like this - to which she replied with a laugh (evil, to my ears :( ) and a final shake of her head.

Not surprisingly I had to pinch myself to keep awake. But i did get some note-taking done. Back in Damansara during lunch, En. Hasan discussed the meeting with me. It was interesting that i was given the chance to relay my perspective on the meeting. Nicer still, i was able to experience first hand the do's and don'ts of chairing a meeting. Books might have described it similarly, but nothing beats sitting smack in the middle of one.

The weather seemed to be saying stay-in-bed-with-all-the-covers-on. But despite that, it was a great day.

LONDON PICTURES

been back for almost a week now. i've been sleeping at 6am and having midnight snacks with my sis and mum at 2am for the past few days. and i'm still thinking in dollars.

anyway, naturally i have loads to tell but not enough energy to tell it. jet lag you see. but i've uploaded photos from london (yay!) so go see those first.

i have a meeting tomorrow in which i hope to become an intern at IBM. wish me luck yah :D ! also, i've finally started my OCR job which is basically doing stuff on my lappy and sending stuff back to my employer through email. how cool is that. heh :)

oh and before i forget, check out my sister's new website. really cute ;). also read her entry on her encounter with The Cockroach :p

well i better get some sleep. it's 4:30am and breakfast is not til another 4 hours.

Nottingham: Of Pretty Sceneries and Domestic Animals
Madame Tussauds: The Land of Famous Wax
Hamley: The Land of Toys, Toys, Toys!
London Streets: Part I
London Streets: Part II

LONDON BABY!

i'm in london and my sister just received her master's :)

anyway, i finally get to see all the places on the monopoly board again :p

catcha later! toodles!!

FAMILIAR ROADS

hey-ho

...another 7 hours til i leave for home!! whee!!! i can't believe that another year has passed and here i am waiting to go home to see my family again :D

the room is now empty except for a couple of stuff lying around waiting to be packed after i'm all set to head out. i know this might sound crazy (and totally unnecessary) but i feel a teensy bit sad leaving pittsburgh. it is, in some ways, home to me. i've grown fond of the place and it's just so nice to be around familiar faces everyday as i walk to school. like Vera who's always sitting in her chair at the lobby in fairfax, and the little Tibetan old lady who sits at the stair to her shop with her prayer beads, and John who owns kiva at the end of south craig. it's true that routine can be a bore. but it also makes you comfortable. i guess it's true that people don't like change, even if it's nothing really drastic or even new.

so, i guess my next entry will be from malaysia :).
hope everyone has a fun summer!

LIRIT TEN' MELLONAMIN

thanks to all who responded to my last essay. I had no idea it would stir quite an issue. i find many disagree (no surprise there) but i also found a couple of people who kind of allowed the idea to be worth considered. again, thanks for the emails, messages and comments. :)

classes are almost done. and this weekend has been the most hectic yet. funnily enough i did find some time to read about elven and tolkien's many many invented languages. it has always been something i've wondered and awed about - the creation of new languages.

well i decided to experiment and wrote a short poem in elven. it's not exactly poetic since my vocabulary still sucks (not to mention there's bound to be plenty of grammatical errors). i'm not quite sure as to which language it is exactly but it's definitely not Sindarin, which was the language widely used in the movie. so it may not sound as pretty as it did when arwen or aragorn was speaking it. then again aragorn can make anything sound pretty :p. i'm guessing it's an inaccurate version of Sindarin or maybe just common elvish. by the way, it's written in Tengwar, not tamil. if you don't know what i mean, you will when you see the writing ;)

"Lirit ten' Mellonamin"

harthanen le sui ha!

SUMMER SEMESTER

one word to describe summer classes: intense.

And boy are they fast!

Anyhoo, i've finally taken time off to write. I've written a short story which was a result of one of my many sleepless nights. Lately i've been getting only 2-3 hours worth of sleep. And somehow i still manage to stay awake in class. The fact that i dont miss my 1030 class is a miracle itself.

Yesterday i participated in an experiment which paid $25. nyahahaha. i could do this for a living. All i had to do was sit down for 45 minutes and answer some decision making under uncertainty questions. They usually have experiments like this and post them all over the school. The other day as I was staring at the noticeboard somewhere on campus, I technically had made $110. Even if you don't take part in the experiment, fantasizing that you did and pretending you earned all that money is fun enough, believe me.

Point of digression. People who know me know that it seems at times i distance myself from crowds. I've been wondering about that. not such a big thing, but it has raised some questions. Here i wrote a short essay on friends and friendship; which in this case borrows a lot from my personal experience. The essay may seem hostile, but i've decided that i'd take nozick's approach on things: through skepticism. I figured the results of my final conclusion could be interesting if i start off by questioning my topic through pure ignorance and dubiety. Having said that, try not to judge me on the basis of this sole essay.

"Part I: Friend…. Or Entity of Validation"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGAH

hey! i'm still aliiiiiiiiiive!!!

p/s: happy birthday ngah!!!

FOOLISH ARDOR

I can't recall the last time I wrote a poem in it's proper form; with neatly arranged stanzas and rhyming verses. So I decided to try my hand at it today. Excuse the non-imaginative title, but anything else would've been less accurate ;)

"Foolish Ardor" by yours truly

PAINTS AND PALLETTES

it's been 3 years since i've dabbled with paints, so don't expect much...

THE LAUNDRY AND THE MATRIX

It has been 3 days since my finals ended, but i've only just regained consciousness today. Yes, I slept all day everyday. But I also managed to do a large scale laundry session which took me 4 trips up and down from the basement to my room on the 7th floor and also costed me $9.00 in expenses for washing and drying. Apart from that, while my 3rd batch of clean clothes were neatly folded for me when i went down to retrieve them from the dryer, half my final batch of clean clothes were stolen. I figure the 3 pieces of shirts and t-shirt they left for me were too hideous to take. No matter how much people claim that humanity is at risk of extinction, this proves that there's still a little left in all of us. For leaving those 3 articles in my laundry basket, I thank you.

Enough laundry talk. I've finally watched The Matrix (yes the first one) and all I can say is, "WOOHOOO!!!". Honestly it's mind blowing. And the plot, awesome and original. Especially after having watched so many movies which are most likely to be set in two of the highly profiled genres which are sci-fi (read Star Wars) and fantasy (read LOTR). Not that i don't love them either, but The Matrix is refreshing. With stories like The Matrix and also authors such as Neil Stephenson, this may very well be an opening to a new set of genre which may soon be shelved independently (I believe it is currently catgorized under sci-fi) alongside science fiction and fantasy on the fiction rack.

Well this summer I have a project going on which I hope to begin soon. I've gotten all the material i need and all that's left to do is get down to it and start cracking. But first of all I need to kill the habit of watching TV which has been gripping me these past few days. I realize that TV kills your imagination.

I have a couple more "handarts" to post. A tad old since they were done weeks before finals. But i've been busy.

HANDART

boredom is the mother of all creations.


when my program refused to compile two nights ago, i opted for a much more fun way to waste time: hand art (at least thats what i like to call it :p).

all you need is a pen. and any part of any limb will work fine. then of course motivation. for me it was frustration from doing my programming lab. if you don't know what inspires you, try picking up a thick book on philosophy (preferably something along the lines of metaphysics where every single detail is scrutinized...zzzz..). then let your mind run loose and DRAW DRAW DRAW!!!

you're welcome.

HI, I'M A KLUTZ! AND YOU ARE?

Last friday, as I was walking through Newell-Simon to head back home, I met Sam at the stairs - he ascending and I descending the steps.

We exchanged "hi!"'s and "how're you doing?"'s at the stairs whilst moving to our respective directions. As I was about to reply "Fine thanks", I missed a step and tripped over my own foot. My super-sonic reflexes made me grab the railing, and that was all that kept me from hurtling down topsy-turvy to the landing below. I heard a slight gasp coming from my only witness.

The pain shot through me like a piston and for a while there, I was sure I had broken a bone or at least pulled the ligaments. Such was the agony. Even so, all I could really think was Great job Myn... now he'll think you're an ass.

Being the nice guy that he is, Sam kept asking if I was fine and held out his hand to aid this poor damsel whose ego had deflated and transmogrified into the minutest thing ever to exist on earth. With whatever dignity I had left I declined and told him that I would be fine, thank you now let me be off on my way and lock myself in my room for eternity.

As I limped my way down, I could feel his eyes burning on my back, just watching me hobble away and waiting to see if I would suddenly faint. I did not look back but I'm pretty sure I had amused my friend with that little stunt of mine.

I will now spend the rest of my entire academic life avoiding him.

SIMPLE JOYS

As soon as my last class for the day ended, a feeling of euphoria overtook me and i felt free again after a hectic week of group meetings, presentations and exams. And with this freedom, i decided to celebrate with some pent up poetry and a cup of coffee in my hand.

Enjoy :)

"daydream" by moi

I.S. MILIEUX

To Dave, Don, Jay and Winnie; thanks for being wonderful groupmates :')

I shall miss those monday afternoons we spent "gravely" discussing eXtreeeeeeme programming and emulating our greatest influence in "meelooh" - as jay would call it. Yeah...those were the days. sigh~

Well i've definitely learnt a lot from this experience; one of them being that politicians make the most moronic expressions one would care to see.

67-250

its 4.21am and i'm wide awake...
jay has just completed the site for our group project and since the presentation is tomorrow there's a last minute frenzy of mass emailing and IM-ing. and this is just a preview of what's to come next year. hmmm...

today was an ok day with the highlights being my final group meeting. seriously. yeah i know that sounds sad, but the rest of the day pretty much sucked and the guys always crack me up anyway. especially today when don started reading quotes from the "we love the iraqi information minister" site. something different from the normal lashing on our typical target - and i don't mean bush - whom i will not reveal here (so nyaaaaaaahaaaaaahaaaaa :p!).

so tomorrow will end my 67-250 group project, which will only mean i can look forward to presenting 88-223 on a research topic which is just as fun as doing laundry.

i might have said too much.

IT'S NOT A TURD

totemo kawaii desu ne!

SPRING

"...strolling along I see people giving back to the community and i ask myself, what have i done to contribute to the wealth of diversity which encompasses this thing we call unanimity? And so I stop and listen..."




Today was interesting. Walking back from Oakland I heard the wonderful squeals of an electric guitar and hence followed my ear to where the heavenly sounds came. Apparently there was a show being set up and a fairly large stage had been constructed between the streets that led to the Cathedral Of Learning in UPitt. Even as the band prepared their equipment and fooled around with their instruments, I found it highly entertaining. A band playing live is far more exciting than listening to prerecorded songs ripped from the net. With the stage set up in the middle of the road like that and flowers blooming everywhere, the atmosphere seemed so light and carefree that even though I had a programming class (yes on a Saturday :p) and a meeting later that afternoon, it didn't bother me that much.

Later in the day a couple of friends and I decided to check out this Community Artistic Expression that was going on around Oakland. It was suggested to us by the Kiva guy and so we thought we'd go ahead and see what the fuss was all about. The first thing that caught my eye was the lights. There was a laser show and upon entering, I was struck by this rythmatic poetry that seemed to be almost rap-like minus the percussions and supporting music. A guy stood on a small stage illuminated in red light reciting this wonderful poem which seemed to flow flawlessly with a certain beat that was awfully catchy. I've never heard poetry recited that way before.

As a band took over the stage it got too cold to stay and watch so we moved over to Kiva where the poetry reading was being resumed. It was fun listening to people spew poetry on all kinds of topics, none of which were related to sappy love and the likes. An elderly guy with a cane also presented a couple of haikus and though he was drawling so bad that it got a teeny boring, I caught the message of anti-war seamlessly interleaved in his brief but beautiful verses.

All in all, the whole experience was refreshing :)

Pictures of my daytime endeavors: The Spring Effect: Of Blooming Flowers and Bands
Pictures of my nighttime endeavors: Flux9: Community Artistic Expression

ALL IN A DAYS WORK...

Friday and I had errands to run. I headed out early to survey for places to cater food for the upcoming Eastern Games. And what initially was a burden on my back, turned to be an eventful day. I have been known to be just about the laziest person; always opting to stay in my room doing nothing when people ask me out just for the mere reason that I want to avoid walking. Even if it is just walking down to the busstop. But lately, with the weather being pleasant and all, I have been choosing to walk, sometimes even for the simple reason of snapping pictures. And so, though the trip to Oakland was quite a way, I decided to go on foot and not take the bus (besides I was unsure of what bus to take anyway :p).

I realized that with Spring being in the air, Pittsburgh is more alive and a lot happens around you. Nothing out of the ordinary happened really, but it was fun just watching people passing by and doing things that ordinary people do everyday. It was interesting meeting some of them. I approached a couple of strangers to have their pictures taken (to which it surprised me they agreed anyway) and it was somehow rewarding that after I had snapped their picture they would smile and say "You have a nice day!" like i did them a favor or something.

Anyway, while surveying for food, I arrived at Salims to get a qoutation from the store. As always Kak Na was at the counter and we chatted for a good hour, with the occasional customers coming over to us to let us taste some of their Mediterranean dishes. I was glad I came with an empty stomach. Even so when Salim himself came and offered some free food to me :)

Mental note: Talk to Usamah about electing me to be the official Food Surveyor for coming activities.

Pictures of Places and People around UPitt and Oakland

LET'S GO PENS!!!

Yes, i'm talking about the Pittsburgh Penguins! This, being the first ice hockey game i've ever been to, was totally worth watching. We played against the red Carolina Hurricanes and they proved to be quite a tough opponent. But it was mighty interesting and we finally won 3-2!! It somewhat reminded me of a badminton match i've watched in my early days with Sidek playing against Indonesia.

Even though Tarnstrom (32) shot the first goal, the Hurricanes soon caught up and by the second third of the game they were leading by one. At this point I was already pretty restless (I hate suspense) and was slouching on my seat sulking and stuffing my face with fries. Then as the crowd grew louder and people around me started picking up the trademark chant "Let's Go Pens!!!", the game quickened in pace and the Penguins started playing really well (sound like Sidek in Piala Thomas?). But by the last set of the game, spectators were quite sure we'd lose and so everyone was busy perfecting "the wave" which went on for a good 10 minutes. It was fun to watch people standing with arms above their heads saying "Woooo!". Especially old ladies wearing oversized Penguin jerseys. Anyway, somewhere between the 6th round of "the wave", the Penguins started getting aggressive and miraculously in the last 3 minutes, we scored. People stopped fooling around and we began chanting some more. Finally near the end of the match we managed to stuff the puck into the opponents goal once again. Even as a first-timer who knew nothing about ice hockey, I screamed with the rest and stood up cheering. It was great.

I'll definitely be going to more games in the near future. To heck with rules. I'll be there to cheer myself hoarse. And if my team loses, I'd at least get a free t-shirt :p

Pittsburgh Penguins in action

APRIL FOOL

"...when fools come out to play, little does he realize how nature dwarfs him into mere insignificance..."




It was hard not to notice how glorious the sky was today. It seemed to complement every object that came to sight; turning normal admin buildings into architectural magnificence and simple landscapes into absolute pittoresque scenery. Amusing since the same things look dull and lifeless during winter. SubhanAllah.

Anyway, first things first, today is the notorious April Fool's day. And who better to make a fool of me than yours truly. After a week's break, it suddenly occurred to me I had not prepared for a presentation for one of my classes. Of course this is nothing new. I thrive on that feeling of adrenaline rushing through my body, and last minute panic is my source of motivation. After a hellish day stacked with back-to-back meetings which officially ended at midnight, I stayed up all night preparing my presentation (which had not yet been researched nor given a topic until after an hour of actually sitting at the desk to write it up). It was beyond me how I would ever articulate my topic the next day. But somehow, after hours of repeating the text I prepared until the wee hours of morning, I managed an altogether coherent presentation to be delivered in class.

Somewhere between walking to campus and starting my first class for the day, it came to me that I had not been given a reminder from my cell of this presentation. Normally I would record important dates such as this so that I would at least have time to prepare such tasks (that's just talk. "Prepare" is absent from my vocabulary). So I checked my trusty organizer, and there on the screen... it read "70643 Presentation 29th April".

It escapes me why one would abuse oneself to such degree.

A fool and her camera: Of Buildings and Nature