9 down ... 1 left to go!

Sorry that my blog's been inactive over the past 2 weeks or so ... for OBVIOUS REASONS (refer to my previous post)
*Sighs with palpable relief*
Finally, I'm coming towards the end of my papers. Finished my Applied Genetics paper at 5.30pm earlier today. Looking forward to a city excrusion in KL with my bro tomorrow. Was walking back home with shivering hands after my two papers on Wednesday ... felt like a rubberband that was overstretched - all limp and lifeless! These finals are just so draining ... especially since I didn't study much beforehand! So, my own fault la. But yea, managed to survive through all of it ... God's grace all over again.
One last paper NEXT Thursday (4.5.2006), Basic Toxicology - the subject that makes you see everything as if they'll give you cancer or something! Then it's back to Kuching the following day, 5.5. And that's before my industrial training starts on the 8.5

2nd year, 2 sem exam timetable

Below is my official final exam timetable for my 2nd semester of my 2nd year.

Monday 17/4 - 8.30am Applied Biostatistics
Wednesday 19/4 - 8.30am Basic, Clinical Pharmacology
Thursday 20/4 - 8.30am Medical Entomology (study of insects) (Theory)
Friday 21/4 - 8.30am Medical Entomology (Practical paper)
Saturday 22/4 - 12.30pm Community Service

Tuesday 25/4 - 8.30am Systemic Pathology (Theory)
Wednesday 26/4 - 8.30am Systemic Pathology (Practical)
- 3.30pm Pathophysiology
Thursday 27/4 - 3.30pm Applied Genetics

Thursday 4/5 - 12.30pm Basic Toxicology

So... 5 papers on my 1st week, 4 on my 2nd and 1 paper on my 3rd week. If only they could redistribute it abit ... but, ah, never mind. Am in hot water that's self-boiled because wasn't disciplined during the last few weeks ... can only ask God for His undeserved grace. Meanwhile, time to burn the midnight oil and stuff myself to the brim with information ... Just a time to focus and keep my eyes fixed on Him no matter how troubled the straits.
I humbly ask for your prayers ... Thank you.

And after the 4th of May, I'll know my thesis supervisor and title. Which officially makes me a final year student ... aiyaya, so old already. Time has flown by so fast.

Further expansion of KL's public transport

Well, seems that things are beginning to change ... first was Rapid KL's on going expansion plans, which include the setting up of feeder systems, shuttle buses between interchanges and etc.

RAPID KL'S HOMEPAGE

Now? The monorail system is set to undergo MASSIVE expansion. You think the current one is huge? Wait till you see this.

The Star, 15/4
KLIG proposes four new lines for monorail system



KL Infrastructure Group Bhd, the company which operates the monorail here, has submitted a proposal to construct four new lines in the Klang Valley with a total length of 71km.

KLIG chairman Datuk Ahmad Sa’adi said the project was estimated to cost RM4.5bil and would take six years to complete.

“We presented this proposal to the Government two months ago,” he said yesterday.

Ahmad said the four new lines were the 21km Petaling Jaya line, 18km Subang Jaya line, 19km Sungai Buloh line and 13km Cheras line. The four lines will have 47 stations.

Well, let's see how it goes then ... my guess being that the gov will definately cut it down to size. Probably cancel one of the lines and shorten the rest. If not modify the whole thing. And not 6 years, but 10 - 12 years will be needed ... Usual Malaysian problem.

Why is today a 'Good' Friday?

Why 'Good' Friday?
What made this Friday worth being called a 'good' one? It's just another ordinary Friday so far, thank you. Nothing particularly special - no free BMW's or mansions suddenly being gifted to me, and no Nobel prize or honorary doctorates being showered on me either. Don't even think far - it's not even raining or sunny, just ra-nny; the skies are just plain clouded over with thin cumulus and stratus clouds. Of course, my exams are in 3 days, but neither does that grant this Friday a special importance.

It's because of one Man.
I think many would know that today is a 'Good' Friday because someOne by the name of Jesus Christ died on a Friday some nearly-2000 years ago just outside of Jerusalem. Born of a virgin, He came as a teacher, counselor, preacher, healer, prophet ... and even claimed to be the Son of God, God Himself. He gathered a group of 12 disciples to go with Him, learning, hearing and seeing how He lived His life and the reality of it. Not some religious isolationists, but your normal fisherman, taxman and others.
He came proclaiming that the kingdom of God was near. He healed many, all who came to Him. He confronted the religious authorities on their hypocrisy, self-deceit, obssession with legalism, lies and so on. He gave hints of something else, of a new beginning - the Sermon on the Mount of Matthew overthrew the conventions of old - not just 'don't kill someone' but 'don't hate others'. Not just' don't commit adultery' but 'don't lust'. Pointing beyond the surface to the heart to the people. Pointing to a personal God instead of a set of rules and regulations. Who cares and seeks the lost. He even displayed the authority to forgive sin - isn't that only God's authority? He even raised people from the dead - once, even someone who'd been in the grave for 3 days! He reached out to all who came, be they the 'righteous' or the 'normal's or the 'dirt' of society. And He offered salvation to all who would believe in Him.
At one point, thousands wanted to crown Him King - surely He was the fulfillment of all the prophecies in the Old Testament! Yet, He rejected their overtures to make him an earthly king. For He did not come to set up a visible kingdom of this world; he came to set up an invisible government in the hearts and minds of men.

But all was changed on that one particular Friday. His groundbreaking work had earned Him many enemies ... and they had have enough of Him. One of His beloved 12 turned and betrayed Him to His enemies. In the early hours of Friday morning, they came with armed force and found Him in a garden with the other 11 disciples. And He was betrayed with a kiss - a symbol of respect and greeting twisted into an instrument of betrayal. Not that He was defenceless - at a word, his enemies fell before Him on their knees. Though one of the 11 went swinging with his sword, Jesus held him back, saying that He had no need of his help if He really needed it - tens of thousands of angels would come to His aid if He commanded so. Yet, He refused. For He wanted to finish what that He had come to accomplish. And the 11, shocked and terrified, deserted Him.

The next hours were a nightmare - He was illegally brought to trial, falsely accused with no defence allowed, sentenced to a death His enemies desired. And during that, one of His 11 disciples who had so confidently stated his readyness to die for Him ... denied that he even knew Jesus 3 times. He was beatened, mocked, humiliated, insults hurled endlessly at Him. His enemies had their dream opportunity to deal with Him - they wouldn't waste it. Later on, He was brought before Pilate by the religious authorities and their whipped up mob, who was a Roman governor with no moral backbone - who tried to pass Him to the local king, King Agrippa, who only laughed at this ... 'king' - one with no kingdom, no troops and no government. After getting Him back, Pilate tried to appease the Jews ... he let Jesus be tortured by His men, who did their job well ... beating Him, mocking Him with a purple robe and make-believe staff and scrouging Him with a whip that had bones and metal scraps. Even after seeing Him in such a pitiful state, the religious authorities refused to be satisfied ... they wanted Him dead. Regardless.
Justice and fairness was denied Him ... Pilate gave in and let Him be crucified rather than risk an incident that might have made him lost his job. He had to drag His own cross through the city streets, where helpless women could only weep for Him. And He was crucified on top of a hill utterly naked, contrary to most paintings which are modest. Nails were driven through His hands and His feet into a wooden cross, and He was lifted up for all to see ... to die a slow, painful death in full public view. The few of His followers who remained there could only watch Him hang on that cross. Even then, His enemies didn't stop their ridicule and heckling of Him. They wanted to savour their victory. Yet, atop that cruel cross, He forgave His enemies and accepted a criminal who believed in Him. At one point, He gave a forlorn cry, "Father, Fatrher, why have You forsaken Me?". As the darkened skies watched, He said one last sentence, "It is finished" and breathed His last that Friday afternoon. I can only wonder what went through the minds of those who buried Him inside that hillside tomb that evening.

Are we Christians mad? Masochists? Calling such a day a 'Good' day? Is the unfair trial, cruel torture and unspeakable execution of a man something to call good? The Son of God who had brought so much hope and promised so much ... was now gone. Evil had triumphed. The future was ... no more. And we call it 'Good' Friday?!! Why? Why not 'Terrible' Friday?
... ... ...
Because that was not the end. There is another day that's always paired with Good Friday. Easter Sunday. What happened on that Sunday which warranted us to label that Friday as 'Good' Friday? That's the subject of another post.

Do you like to play squash?

No; contrary to the title, i am not going to try and match Azlan Iskandar or Nicole David in the squash court. Instead, I was talking about what that happened in the course of a day.

Imagine getting up on a bus ... and suddenly realising that you can't move. And you feel a strange rubbery squishing sensation on your left arm. To realise that the bus doors are slamming shut on you. Even though you're the 2nd person in the long line of people waiting behind you. And the bus is all but empty! You struggle abit and manage to move up, only to find that now the doors are closed nice and tight around your bag. One thought: "What is going on??!!"

And the bus conductor rushs to the front, his face twisted with compassion and uttering a string of apologies. While shouting for the driver to open the FRONT door and close the BACK door. A mess up of the buttons I see. Finally, the doors open and you can walk unto the bus without having yourself stuck mid-step.

Which goes to show how utterly bored to death I am right now ... ;-)
4 more days before my exams start and 23 days before it's all over ...

Simply fatigued

Sorry for not posting regularly now-a-days. Am simply fatigued ... Finally coming to the last of the days of official classes - tomorrow is one FINAL tutorial on Toxicology by Prof Salmaan. Then 10 days of studying ... and then EXAMS! The cute thing: 9 of my papers are from the 17th to the 27th of April. Then all of a sudden, the toxicology paper pops up on the 4th of May! So, when I could be back in Kuching by the 28th of MArch, I have to stay on till the 5th of May now. Ugh ... !!