End of an era

MAS & AIRASIA

Finally, the squabbling duo has managed to sit down in a civilised manner and get things trashed out properly ... resulting in an agreement deemed as 'historic'. MAS has finally faced the facts, and taken drastic measures to avoid self-destructing in a few more months. Even working out a deal that can be said as cooperative with AIRASIA. Which included the step of cutting down it's routes to 19 to only serve as domestic connections for its international hubs. Meaning that AIRASIA got the other 96 ...
What does this mean? The prices will start going up again. MAS will definately cut off its 'Supersaver' programme as it was part of its response to AIRASIA's challenge - now moot. And AIRASIA has no more reason to give extra-low prices - after all, there's no more MAS to compete against. A trade-off; either this, or MAS will start falling apart in a few more months. Ah well . . .

COURSE

Officially, I've finished all my lectures for my course. Except for a few more 'Special Topics' in my 3rd year, I've essentially covered all that is to be covered in Biomedical Science. Wow ...

My poor Campus Library

I was walking into my faculty this morning with a friend when she exclaimed "Aiyo, got blackout ah?". I turned to see what she was looking at ... and sure enough, the library was blacked out with no lights on. As I approached its front door, I noticed that all the librarians were congregated outside ... strange. And that's when I noticed that the walls and the ceiling of it's foyer was black - BLACK with the soot that comes from a FIRE! That's also when the acrid smell of burnt wood, electronics and carpetry slammed into my senses. As I walked past, there was a few of the technical staff handling a fire pipe.
Later in the day, I decided to busybody abit and look at what had happened ... apparently, the entire computer lab on the ground floor was burnt down, with even the ceiling being ruined. Even so, the top floor with all of it's thousands of books and the lower ground with it's entire treasury of past journals was left relatively unharmed ... "Wheeuh!". If not, habislah! And everything was blackened with soot from the fire's smoke. I overheard some of the Bomba people taslking with the librarians about some 'fuse' ... perhaps a shortcircuit caused all this?

Now? Adoi ... can't lend or borrow books ... no more place to hang out in after class or during breaks ... no more free newspaper and journals to read.

A Musical Drama to treasure (2nd yr)

I'm just back from the annual musical drama of my Uni's KTSN college-hostel.

After my excellent experience with the musical drama last year, I simply had to go for this year's one. I went there via the help of a few seniors from my CF, after asking around. When we arrived, we strolled abit before entering with the payment of RM 4. We waited awhile, for the VIP's to arrive ... who are usually not on time!
The drama was entitled: "Snow White and Red Rose". I thought the story would cover something similar to 'Snow White & the 7 Drawfs' - but I was proven splendidly wrong. It started off with a multimedia slideshow ... a 'general intro' to my former hostel that was charming - as if a tour guide was showing us around! Then followed the introduction of the cast, all with their quirks. The story revolved around 2 sisters and their road from hatred to mutual love.

It started off with 'Red Rose' being the fashionable and beautiful lady showing off with her friends. True to it being a musical drama, she belted out a song (that was self-composed) that emphasised her 'marketability'. Next followed a sad number by 'Snow White' who bemoaned her status as the uglier, despised and enslaved younger sister; who had dreams but couldn't reach out for them. The scene shifted to the first day of school ... and Red Rose was busy bullying and torturing her little sis as they prepared to go to school. Their parents were just as bad as Red Rose in their treatment of Snow White. Later on, aunty Marian came to give them a 'magical egg' given by her boyfriend, telling them that it'll bring good luck.

Next was the scene at school. As usual, all the stuff we used to see at school popped up ... all the gangs, gossipings and etc. Poor Snow had to watch as Rose got all the guys swooning over her. It was followed by a dance and song session from ... 'Summer Nights' of 'Grease' fame! Crazy; seeing all the girls and guys acting along to the tune! Well done. Then it was a duo dance by Rose and her casanova, Jack. Snow's friends tried to consol her. Later that night, both of them 'met' (you know what I mean la) behind the shelf on which the golden egg was placed. It just so happened that Snow had come down ... and found both of them! In the ensuing struggle, the egg smashed, and it's magical power swallowed both the sisters.

The two sisters woke up ... to find out to their horror that they've switched bodies (as in 'Freaky Friday')! The next few minutes was simply hilarious as they quarreled, cired and quarreled again. They even changed their voices and actions to follow the switch! Poor Rose-in-Snow had one hell of a time as she suffered at the hands of her parents and sister ... she ran off in tears after her dear Jack threw her away, sticking to Snow-in-Rose. That scene was acted out as they sang 'Can't take my eyes off you". Just enthralling.

A short scene came in that told the story of the egg and their aunty's boyfriend ... who is actually plotting the downfall of their family! He intentionally did it to split the family apart and get all the benefits.
He came into the next part, suggesting that Rose-turned-into-Snow needed to take extreme measures to 'solve' the problem. Right after was a hypnotic dance done to express the tormented emotions and vengeful wishes of Rose - it was a modern dance that was well choreographed and synchronised, for our University standard! Then Rose tried to strangle Snow to death - but their aunt stopped the nightmare in time. After some soul-searching, she sent them off with their faithful servant, Sebastian, to find the greatest 'Tok Guru' to reverse the spell. They went searching high and low ... and good ol' Sebastian got to belt out 2 songs that spoke of his hopelessness and desire to help them. And the cute thing was this: for the next scenes, there was a statue always behind ... a HUMAN statue. He changed his 'poses' every now any then, eliciting huge laughs from the audience, especially as he maintained his emotionless expression the entire time! In fact, he stole the attention of the audience from the acting at times!

Just as they were down to the last 2 hours before the spell would be permanent, the Tok Guru arrived ... as a HUGE CHICKEN-WIZARD ! ! ARGH - just so utterly humourous - it was a full-body costume! His cackles and crowing was so real that I looked carefully at his mouth to check if it was really he who was doing it, or if it was the recording of a real chicken! And indeed - it was him! The 'Chicken Dance' had everyone giggling in their seats. They begged him to help ... produce another magic egg, perhaps? Problem? He was a COCK - NOT a HEN!! The whole house collapsed in laughter! The two sisters finally accepted each other and their own unique characters as the clock ticked down to 12am ... only to have their aunt's furious furious boyfriend jump in to kill them - his plan had failed, so he wanted to take revenge! In the battle, the two sisters fell into each others arms and 'zapped' back into their respective bodies. And their aunt's now-ex-boyfriend? Changed into a chicken by the Tok Guru! And the end!

A short 1 hour act ... but an absolute success (that's why I could type out the above in such detail lo). The sound system was done by a professional company to ensure quality sound, and lighting was done by another company. This was a true musical - most of it was dancing, singing and a combination of both. And it was done with a high degree of effort and discipline put in - it showed! The dancing was similar in type and quality to those we see on TV and on the theater. And the sing song was more professional than anything my friends in their final years have seen during their own era's in UKM. What that was the winning point was that they made the nuances and lil' bits matter ... things like the cackling cock, the dance movements, the sister's actions and so on - it was the sum total of it all that so entertained. The ironic thing: About half of them are my Biomedical Science 1st year juniors - I NEVER knew that they were THAT good! Simply the best. We from the previous drama had to concede that this one far outclassed whatever we had attempted to put together last year. No jealousy, just admiration and respect to those who deserve it.
I don't regret going for it ... though I've a quiz at 9am today! It'll be in my memory for times to come ...
Till next time; ta!

My bro's SPM results

I waited the whole day anxiously for my bro's SPM result ... and finally at 2.55pm, he SMSed :

9A1'S
1A2 - Biology

WOW ... !!!! Praise and thank God for His grace in granting my bro such a result! Better than mine, which was a mere 8A's and 2B 's.
So far, he's thinking of going on to F6, as he prefers to stay home for another 2 years.

recuperating after a long day

Whew ... it sure was a long day. The whole thing started to fall apart at the seams almost immediately. We arrived at the hotel LATE, to find everything unprepared. What that followed was a mess up of epic proportions ... to keep things short, it was a jittery affair - never knowing when the next slip-up would occur. In the end though, it was a blazing success and a beautiful night - mistakes notwithstanding. I hope I'll have a similar night, if not better, for my own final year farewell dinner!

and the BIG DAY!

Ah ... what a week it has been. An experience in organising a major event indeed ... and apparently, my post suits me pretty well - as the technical exco. Involves the smallest chances of messing up - or more? Depends on how it turns out in the end.
Who ever knew that organising an annual dinner for our Biomedical Department would incur so much drainage of time, money and energy on us all? Or to rephrase it, I didn't know. I had a general idea that the technical side would involve the least work ... and true enough - others like the Protocol, Programme, Multimedia and Decorations, Gifts and Souvenirs and Public Relations have a tonne of work on their hands. Saw them running here and there. Us? Just take the stuff over, use it and bring them all back safely ... right? WRONG!



With my trusty counterpart, we'll be handling the music (whether for ambience or during specific events and presentations), sound systems (inclusive of volume control, microphone positioning and wiring), lighting (dimming, spotlighting, effects), and the LCD display. Which is quite a MASSIVE undertaking for TWO persons! A last minute dash for technical helpers turned out ... NO ONE ! G-U-L-P ! ! If anything goes wrong, it'll be glaringly obvious and hard to rectify on time. I'm still hoping that we'll find someone else to join us.



Thank God that we managed to completely clear out the classes and laboratory sessions for tomorrow - it was supposed to be a 8am - 5pm study day! It'll help tremendously ... more time to prepare, less rushing and a more relaxed setup. I'll be going over around 2/3pm as Crown Princess is giving us use of the Grand Ballroom and their 2 free rooms around that time. The programme itself actually begins at 8pm, so the in between is for rehearsals and etc. Perhaps even a dash of shopping at KLCC?



Alright ... time to sleep - have a long long day tomorrow! Shirts to iron, lists to finalise, mp3 files to copy and edit, calls to make and take ... you know; the whole routine. Till next time!

Readying for the 'Night of Memories'

And the day after tomorrow ... or technically, tomorrow.
My course is organising it's annual dinner that's to be held on the 10th of March 2006 - referring to this Friday. It's at the Crown Princess Hotel in KL - yes, that 5-star one along Jln Tun Razak, and is from 8 - 11.45pm. Abit of a major event - the Dean of the faculty is coming, and so is more than two thirds of all our lecturers. It's an official dinner with all the trappings ... lucky draws, scrumptious dishes (well, that remains to be seen), presentations by all the 3 years, King & Queen of D Nite and speeches (all 5 of them!).

The cute thing ... I'm helping out in the technical. Was called up to help, and saw why not? Only thing was that I didn't know that it'll be so massive - I thought it'll only be the hassle of bringing to and back the LCD, microphones, wires and extension cords. Boy, was I way off ... we'll also have to keep a constant eye on them, handle the lighting (inclusive of spotlights), sound system and ambience, and everything else technical and electronic. And all these in the Grand Ballroom of a 5-star hotel. W-O-W.

Am getting a lil' jittery - earnestly hoping that nothing'll go wrong. Or even if something does happen, am hoping it's minor. Don't want this to be a memorable night for all the wrong reasons - e.g. 'the Dean falls off the stage due to misplaced wiring?'
Alright, back to choosing the music for the dinner . . . romantic, sentimental, or what?

Mice and dice

Today was one wacky day. For our Pharmacology practical today, we had to test the effects of analgesic drugs on mice - including morphine and aspirin. To test pain killers, you've to induce pain ... and for our group, it involved putting the mice onto metal plates heated to 50°C. Injecting the mice wasn't too much of a problem - putting them onto the plates and KEEPING them there was a NIGHTMARE!

Dah la panas; it's also surrounded by hot water. Result? A freaked out lil' rodent trying desperately to get out by any means, including jumping or swimming. So ... there were quite a few screams and sounds of things falling as both rodents and humans went helter skelter. Even though there was a plastic container to cover it while on the hot plate, yet, a few had the strength to knock it off!

Worse, while transferring some from the cage to the hot plate, some had the audacity to bite or scratch. And some of them literally go on a spin ... spinning along their tails. For many times my lecturers had told us why we can't let the mice do that - it's tail would come off. I'd never really believed it till today - it came right off in my hand! The bone was still there, but the skin and muscle layer had ripped off. I didn't go jumping around in screams of terror, but yea - I don't want it to happen again!

By the time the whole thing was over, there was a mess of mice dung, mice urine, cage stuffing and tissue paper everywhere - as if we had a battle with the mice. I really MUST take my hat off to those who did their research via this methods in yesteryears - really should have been a test of patience and peserverance. It's MICE!

Ponderings

It's already the 7th of March 2006 ... nearly 1 year since I started this blog in mid-March 2005. And it's the beginning of my 3rd last week of lectures. Which is also the 3rd last week of lectures for my entire course of study. As I was chatting with a few coursemates, it's a shock to all of us as to how fast our studies were rushing to their end. True, we still had special subjects and theses to do in our final year; but no more spoon feeding for the rest of our educational pathway after the end of this month. And after that ... ? It only seemed to be awhile ago when we entered UKM, and now we're preping to leave?

No wonder they say that life is short - there's only another 1.2 years left before I graduate. And I still remember myself taking those first tentative steps into the University grounds. Our 'increasing age' has tell-tale signs - during our first year, we had many classes with other courses, 2nd year only one or two out of an entire week, and for the final year we'll only sit together as a class once a week - the rest of the time is for us to take care of our final year project and group discussions. Some miss those early times when we could sit and chat with friends from other courses during lectures or between. And next year we're going to have GRAND-buddy's! Just awhile back, we were sending off our own grandbuddy's! But, that's life . . .

Time and tide waits for no man, so choose wisely how each second will be used. For once it's gone, it can never be reclaimed or recovered. Savor each phase in life; it's never better than or worse than - just different. Take it all as both a gift and a stewardship from the Giver of Life - for one day, we'll have to answer to God about how we used it. No one knows where his/her finish line is, so live as if the next step might be it. So, when it's our turn to be called Home, we've few regrets.