{schedule}

In my 1st term, I didn't do much work... I slept a lot because I felt tired, and though I knew they were important I didn't see the urgency of completing my tutorial sheets... And I guess I paid the price during my progress tests recently. Got an average a class lower than I would expect, though I won't say what it was.

Now my daily timetable goes something like:
0730: Wake up
0830: On the bus to College
0900-1700: Lectures, tutorials, labs
1730: BH (means dinner)
1830: Hopefully on the bus back to College, to the library
2300: Go back and sleep

Well it's not that rigid, I still do stuff in the evenings sometimes. And my weekends I kind of free up.

So yeah

{imperial}

Thought I'd blog here again! This time I'd like to talk about how my course has been this first term, which is due to wrap up in a week's time.

I do 9 subjects in the 1st term of the 1st year of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College. 1 of them is just for this term only, while some others will be there for years to come.. There's about 25 hours of contact time (lectures, tutorials, labs) per week and we're expected to do about 25 hours of work outside of this as well. That's gonna be mainly problem sheets. Wednesday afternoons are off, as with anywhere else in the UK, and Thursday/Friday afternoon are too if you have no labs on the day. Otherwise, it's 9-5 every day more or less.

In the order which I like to use:

1) Mathematics
3 lectures, 2 tutorials per week
Lotsa problem sheets

2) Materials (My favourite so far!)
1 lecture per week, 1 tutorial per fortnight
About as many problem sheets as tutorials

3) Thermodynamics (Another joint favourite)
1 lecture, 1 tutorial per week (tutorial shared with Fluid Mechanics)
A few problem sheets

4) Fluid Mechanics
1 lecture, 1 tutorial per week (tutorial shared with Thermodynamics)
About as many problem sheets as tutorials

5) Mechanics
1 lecture per week, 1 tutorial per fortnight
About half a dozen problem sheets

6) Stress Analysis
1 lecture per week, 1 tutorial per fortnight
A few problem sheets!

7) Design & Manufacture
The most unique subject - thrown at us right from the start with the cantilever project - has in it stuff ranging from brainstorming and decision-making to sketching and metal-cutting so far
2 lectures, 1 (extended) tutorial per week
Labs! Workshop to be more appropriate - Manufacturing Technology wearing boiler suits
Projects/assignments to take home here and there

8) Experimental Reporting Skills (ERS)
2 (I think) lectures the whole term
Labs (in lab coats)! 2 of them; report to be written for each
1 tutorial per report

9) Mechatronics
1 lecture per week, 1 tutorial per fortnight
2 labs this term

There won't be anymore ERS for this year, but we're starting Computing in the Spring term!

Progress tests are all the 1st week of the new term, starting 11th January; I'll be using the Christmas break to get up to speed on everything. Wish me the best!

{brunei yakin}

Hello everyone! Thought I'd give this blog an update and write a new post given all that I've got to talk about. Let's see: Hari Raya Aidilfitri is the day after tomorrow (Monday) and I'm flying off to the U and K on Friday the 25th! I haven't been packing much although I have been occasionally throwing stuff into my suitcase. I hope to finish tidying up my room tomorrow after which I can actually focus on packing. 8pm flight in 6 days!

I'm not one to too my horn but in case you didn't catch the news, I've been awarded the "Sultan's Scholar" Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah (YSHHB) personally by His Majesty. Alhamdulillah.. It's been over a year since I was first called to Yayasan's office opposite the Sultan Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Mosque for the initial screening. The two of us went there, my mother and I, driven by an STL driver whose name if I correctly remember was Khairul. The place gave me the creeps - I've never been comfortable in large, cold, stone offices/homes although I've began to warm to them recently.

There were 3 interviewers - Hj Mat Zahri, Assistant Managing Director of YSHHB; along with 2 others: ladies from the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Health respectively. It was a semi-formal interview.. I guess they just wanted to gauge our potential for the scholarship before we sat for our A Levels. I remember walking away feeling kind of dazed - long periods in offices do that to you, as I learned during my attachment with BSP earlier this year - especially when you're being interviewed by people you've just met!

Come March, some time after our results were released, I was invited again for another interview - this time for real. I remember I was on holiday in Kuala Lumpur then, along with my brother Shu'aib and two of my mates, Nabih and Hadi (shouts out!). I just saw Hadi some minutes ago. Another girl and myself who weren't able to attend our interviews on the initial scheduled day were moved a day later. This time there were 5 interviewers, plus the always-present scribe Junaidi (who I'm sure I'll get to know very well in months to come) - the Managing Director himself Dato Hj Ali Hashim, Assistant Director of Scholarships Cikgu Hj Azis, plus 3 more: I believe there was a lady from UBD, a man from the Ministry of Religious Affairs and another lady who would be from the Ministry of Health.

The gruelling (and grilling) process took the most part of the hour. Though I felt I sailed through the interview, it would not have been if not for the experience from the initial screening interview I attended and my whole day doing the BSP Assessment Centre, which, by the way, can really differentiate the doers from the people who say they do. The questions this time round put a lot of focus on 'self' - how I view things, how I would do things given the chance, how I would lead in a position of responsibility. Heavy scrutiny. I was probed as well into the possible reasons why I had failed to gain admission into Oxford (which was my 1st choice above Imperial College). For that, I admit that I have long been a 'jack of all trades, master of none' which didn't help.

I heard occasionally afterwards from the guys at Pendidikan Yayasan though they were careful never to tell much despite the repeated (informal) enquiries. About half a year after that 2nd interview at Kumbang Pasang, and only days before the awarding ceremony itself was it all confirmed - I, along with 4 others, all but one whom I knew, were going to be Sultan's Scholars! My prayers for the past year had been answered.

On the big day itself, just before the ceremony began, the Minister of Religious Affairs, and the Minister of Industry and Primary Resources both came, at separate instances, to where my parents and I were standing in wait for His Majesty. They extended their congratulations in their own different ways, one in his calm and almost father-like tone, while the other in an upbeat manner, telling me to go and be like my dad. But, above all, I will not forget what His Majesty told me, and told us Scholars, repeatedly. Short and simple.. yet so full of meaning, inspiring us forward.

Some photos were taken from Borneo Bulletin's online page.

{for now}

There's good news and bad news - the bad news is that I have just received a rejection letter from a certain university.

The good news is:
1) I have offers from two other universities
2) I am waiting for a reply from another good (great!) university
3) I am on a 10-day holiday to the UK and Singapore and I'm enjoying it!!

{paint check!}

That's me in front, and Royden behind. My father outside. I think we lost this one game hehe.

{be mine}

Alhamdulillah, I just sat for my last 'A' level paper today. I'm done now. Now I can:
1) Read all the books I've been meaning to read
2) Watch all the movies I've been meaning to watch/re-watch
3) Tidy up my room
4) Drink all the (fresh) coffee I like

Yeah!!

{as i go}

President-elect of the United States of America.. Mr. Barack Hussein Obama. Why are we taking notice? I think due to the fact that.. the office of the President of the United States is, in effect, the office of the most powerful person on earth.

{snake eyes watching you}

Last week, my father and I were at a 7-11 store. While I was standing in line to pay, my father was still going up and down the rows of shelves apparently looking for something. He started looking carefully at the items near the counter.. I asked him what it was he was looking for. When he told me, I burst out laughing:

You don't get chewing gum in Singapore!! :D

{i keep thinking about you}

Wherever I go and whatever I do

{i just miss you}

That's all

{slide}

I just heard on the radio that Stephen Hawking intends to retire as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a professorship held before by Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage and Paul Dirac (though not together at once).

I'm flying off insyaAllah tomorrow morning to Singapore for an interview scheduled for Monday afternoon.

{futures}

In life we face challenges. Some people feel tested once in a blue moon, while others undergo trials everyday. But as they say, "What doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger".

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

- Eleanor Roosevelt, US diplomat & reformer (1884-1962)

{eid mubarak}

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI
MAAF ZAHIR & BATIN

SEMOGA AMALAN KITANI SEMUA DI BULAN RAMADHAN YANG TELAH LALU DITERIMA OLEH ALLAH SUBHANAHU WA TA'ALA JUA
AMIN

=)

{sweetness}

I try to wash my car every week. Most times I succeed, but it has occured once that I didn't do it for almost a month. When I clean my car, I insist on doing both its inside and out. I almost always do it alone, and I've never brought it somewhere else and paid to have it cleaned. Not that I love my money so much, but we always clean our own cars.

First, I take out a cloth which I keep in the boot and use it to wipe all interior surfaces: dashboard, sides, etc. After that, I take out the foot mats and 'rampak' them (give me the word!). I hoover the seats and the car floor, all the time with loud music coming from the car stereo. After that, I put the mats back in.

I then switch the stereo off, close all the doors and raise the wipers. Sorry conservationists, a lot of us still use the garden hose when washing the car and when gardening, myself included. I give the car a bit of a shower, whilst removing any loose dirt and grime with my hands. Then comes the sponge and shampoo. Then I rinse the shampoo off, and wipe the car dry with what do you call it? That absorbent material that you use to wipe the car dry. Haha

If I 'chill-chill' then I'll have it done in an hour. If I work hard at it, hmm.. The whole thing might probably take between half an hour to 45 minutes. I know, slow. I then put the wipers back down and move the car back into the garage. And oh, I do the wheels as well and sometimes after the car has dried I do the tyres too. You know, shine them up.

{if you don't, you don't}

Today I went to the Post Office in KB to mail some Raya cards. One I mailed to Oman, and 3 here in KB. So what I did when Nabih and I reached there was we went inside to the counter. The lady there asked where the cards were to, and weighed them. She charged them accordingly.

The one to Oman cost me $2.70 in stamps, while the ones to inside Brunei 30 cents each. I received a card last week from Bandar which had a 20 cents stamp on it; maybe my cards were heavy to explain the extra 10 cents.

We met Mr. Roland Couzens (my brother's Chemistry tutor who I am familiar with myself) while I was licking my stamps (good or bad??). After that I put the envelopes into their proper boxes outside the Post Office.

Let's see which card arrives first...

{lucky denver mint}

I thought I'd share my morning. So, this morning my father asked me to sort out car insurance and road tax for two of his cars. So, off we went in the Previa to the IBB bank in Seria at 9am to sort out the insurance. Ahmad and I were there for probably half an hour before we were done. On the way back home, we bought (expensive) tomatoes at Supa Save.

Back home, I got into the Land Cruiser while Ahmad sped off with the Previa. He obviously got the the Land Transport Department in KB first. I parked in the wrong place, near where you sort out your licences, while I should've parked near the other office, where you renew your road tax. So I had to walk back to the car and move it.

We went in ... and took the wrong number. Both the Previa and the Land Cruiser are about 12 years old or so now and so you need to have them inspected before you get to renew their road taxes. So after needlessly waiting for about a quarter of an hour, we took the number for inspections and were served almost immediately. I met Rodman Tan, our O-level Biology tutor there. He happened to know how things work ... he came after us but left before! So much for a novice like me.

Hj. Tinggal, the man who examined me for my driving licence, quickly inspected both our cars and gave them the good-to-go. So we went back in and waited for I don't know how many minutes before I got to finish everything. On the way back I picked up Shu'aib from his school (my school too) and there was 3 hours of my morning gone. Maybe 2 and a half had we read instructions more carefully.

Oh and I have no pics but I wish I had.

{lear}

Travis Barker...plane...crash???

{LHC}

From BBC:

Hadron Collider halted for months

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David Shukman heads deep underground to take a look at the LHC's tunnel

The Large Hadron Collider near Geneva will be out of action for at least two months, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) says.

Part of the giant physics experiment was turned off for the weekend while engineers probed a magnet failure.

But a Cern spokesman said damage to the £3.6bn ($6.6bn) particle accelerator was worse than anticipated.

The LHC is built to smash protons together at huge speeds, recreating conditions moments after the Big Bang.

Scientists hope it will shed light on fundamental questions in physics.

Section damaged

On Friday, a failure, known as a quench, caused around 100 of the LHC's super-cooled magnets to heat up by as much as 100C.

The fire brigade were called out after a tonne of liquid helium leaked into the tunnel at Cern, near Geneva.

Cern spokesman James Gillies said on Saturday that the sector that was damaged would have to be warmed up well above absolute zero so that repairs could be made.

While he said there was never any danger to the public, Mr Gillies admitted that the breakdown would be costly.

He said: "A full investigation is still under way but the most likely cause seems to be a faulty electrical connection between two of the magnets which probably melted, leading to a mechanical failure.

"We're investigating and we can't really say more than that now.

"But we do know that we will have to warm the machine up, make the repair, cool it down, and that's what brings you to two months of downtime for the LHC."

Setback

The first beams were fired successfully around the accelerator's 27km (16.7 miles) underground ring over a week ago.

The crucial next step is to collide those beams head on. However, the fault appears to have ruled out any chance of these experiments taking place for the next two months at least.

The quench occurred during final testing of the last of the LHC's electrical circuits to be commissioned.

At 1127 (0927 GMT) on Friday, the LHC's online logbook recorded a quench in sector 3-4 of the accelerator, which lies between the Alice and CMS detectors.

The entry stated that helium had been lost to the tunnel and that vacuum conditions had also been lost.

The superconducting magnets in the LHC must be supercooled to 1.9 kelvin above absolute zero, to allow them to steer particle beams around the circuit.

As a result of the quench, the temperature of about 100 of the magnets in the machine's final sector rose by around 100C.

The setback came just a day after the LHC's beam was restored after engineers replaced a faulty transformer that had hindered progress for much of the past week.

{i'm coming home}

I've learnt that to have peace of mind, don't bother pleasing everyone and that's saying don't assume all the people you come across will agree with you. There will be, until the end of the world, people who will come at your throat for what you stand for and believe in, but that's life.

{fire at will}

I forgot what I wanted to say but I'm using Google Chrome these days.