I was cleaning up my room today and found this graduation poem i wrote for my CPU graduation ceremony in 2002 in a clear plastic document holder. The timing of the discovery could not have been better as i just received the graduation confirmation slip ydy afternoon from monash..Reading the poem brought  back a lot of memories and still do miss those times... amazing times with friends ^^ I haven't really got inspired to write a graduation poem for this upcoming monash graduation, hope i get around it soon. anyways til then, i hope all who read this poem will enjoy it..^^

Graduation Poem (CPU Taylors 2002)

The ending has drawn near

Time flies by so fast

It’s already been a year

As you’re sitting down there

Take a moment and ponder

Can you remember?

All the incidents

From January to December

 

The people you’ve met

From different places

The friendships you made

The trials you’ve been through

How you’d stayed up late

To finish your ISU

How you’d rush to the library

To get your work done

How you’d rush

To finish your presentations

 

The days past by ever so fast

All that’s left to be heard

Are echoes of the past

Not a word

No laughter

Not a whisper

Empty classrooms

Silent corridors

A void of loneliness

Stark contrast to what was

 

Somehow everything’s changed

Somehow the pieces don’t fit

Nothing’s the same

You feel incomplete

 

Its fate’s intricate plan

How everyone will

Go their separate ways

With still pictures in hand

To fill the empty days

Don’t be filled with grief

For as long as we relive

These memories in our mind

And with a little bit of faith

We’ll meet again

At some point in time

 

Perhaps when we’re old and gray

We’ll look back to this day

As an ending to a beginning

For,

Try as you may to define

There isn’t a perfect goodbye

It’s prove you can never leave

Sweet memories too far behind

 

Before you walk past

Those gates one last time

Before everything

Becomes a mere memory

Of what used to be

And if these words

Are the last you hear from me

I take this opportunity

To wish you the of luck

In your future endeavors

May the memories you acquired

Last forever…

 

© Wdw 10/12/02

hi hi! back from malacca and the postgrad fair. Malacca was a blast but pity we couldn't get into jonker street...apparently one of the shops along the road heading to jonker street was set on fire or something. >< But it did not dampen the mood and in a way it enhanced it instead  ^ ^ Thanx hui chuan + family for their generous hospitality for food and lodging! not to mention transportation.. The food was great!! Hui Chuan's mum cooks a great fried fish sambal!

I took a few pics during the course of this travel - wanted to take more of the festive feeling at jonker street but i suppose there will be another time for this. Most of the pics i took were on the beach pass klebang kecil during sunset. The colour of the sunset differs in the pics due to either me messing with the shutter speed/photo modes or the colour of the sky itself..when it was taken.

I've decided to move my pics to a separate blog at http://www.captured-on-glass.blogspot.com/ as i have an easier time uploading pics there than in this blog.. hehe i played with a free collage-making website called Tabblo..so have a look see and see what you think of the pics and also the Tabblo website. The tools on Tabblo look quite good to me..and most of all its easy to use.^^

Anyhow took a bus back to KL on Sunday (16th July) after eating Chicken rice ball to try to make it to the postgrad fair in KLCC. We actually reach KL in about 1hr 3/4 minutes. When the bus started slowing down and fumes started clouding the bus windows.. i knew... i was back in KL!! lol anyways got off the bus just before Pudu and took a 10 min walk to Masjid Jamek LRT station, boarded the train and off to KLCC. Walked around the fair while waiting for GP, CP and their friend ^^ Ate a quick lunch at the KLCC food court and then off to the fair again. At least my shortened trip to malacca was not in vain as i managed to obtain a few interesting bits of information concerning the choices i have laid in front of me.

We then took the LRT back to KL Sentral --> KTM to Subang and finally a bus back to our respective homes! A tiring weekend indeed but an extremely joyful one!
  

Wednesday 12th July 2006:

Woke up and rather groggily, I made my way to the computer and turned it on. Vaguely remembered that i read an SMS from Kah Yeong (KY) stating the final results are already posted up on the monash website. *Whirr...Whirr* The CPU fan wakes up from its slumber... Log into XP and then the Monash website.. The moment of truth approaches..Screen refreshes...Results displayed...Phew! I manage to GRADUATE!!
____________________________________________________________________

    It took a few hours for me to finally digest the fact that not only have i graduated but i have also become OFFICIALLY UNEMPLOYED (adding to every country's unwanted statistic...) It feels like the word UNEMPLOYED is literally stamped on my forehead..so this is how it feels like..typing away my resume as I'm typing this blog entry...looking at the list of the things i've done and experienced throughout my long affair with academic institutions from primary school to university (a good 15 years?!! crazy number), it has certainly  be a long road.. but i'll probably remember the things the system does not teach in classrooms;  those are the lessons that will forever be engraved in my mind. A school/college/uni is only a building, its the teachers/lecturers/people and friends you meet and make that make the most lasting impression in your life...

  Anyways i hope the Postgrad fair in KLCC Convention centre from 15-16 July (this sat n sun) will enlightened me. Fellow monashians and other graduates do check it out. The website is worth checking for more info: Postgradasia. I think its good for me to evaluate the options i have laid in front of me. Will be going to melaka on Saturday be back around Sunday afternoon and off to KLCC.

A summary of the week after finals.

23rd - Friday - Complete and hand up Mitra's report and had lunch with my twin ^^

24th - Sat - BeSwitched! Carnival in church 4-8pm ^^ me and jon were kept bz the entire programme making smoothies and blended drinks in our Blender Blunder stall. ^^ The most bought drink was ice blended mocha lol with mango and peach smoothie following behind. The blunder part of the stall concept was that u get to pay cheaper for spinning wheels that randomized ur flavour, texture and toppings. Some did good 'blunders' if there was ever such a thing while others had drinkable drinks..'nuff said..lol The whole event was so tiring and couldn't really move after the event but it was fuN! Now must hunt for my own  blender that can blend ice... hehe

Here's me n jon with the blender: hehe our WorldCup, eh?

25th - Sun- After church - voon, me, grace, mk & lina went down to KLCC to take pics in the KLCC park as throwback to the first pic we took there with the whole CPU group. So sorta walking down memory lane, remembering the past while making new memories of the present ^^ We had dinner in the restaurant opposite my place and apparently grace got food poisoning from it.. not sure abt that tho'..hehe

The faces of the CPU gang that came
 
Group Pic!

27th-29th- Tues-Thurs- Trip to Genting with Monash gang! not all were present as some are still in the land down under or did not want to come..><  sniffles.. anyways we had a blast at Genting. The gusts of wind and cool air make it a great departure from the absolutely thermometer-bursting-days back in KL. I enjoyed the walks and the cool fresh air. Not to mention the amount of instant stuff we had from noodles to milo to even corned beef!! (cue in thanks to Kah yeong for that hehe lol ^^) Made the instant noodles actually good keke. Oh, and we had a torrid time searching for places to watch football; 11pm Ghana vs Brazil and 3am France vs Spain .all the places either require some form of membership card or an expensive drink purchase.. imagine rm13 for a glass of coke? just to watch the world cup..no way man.. These business people in genting surely do know how to take $$ from you without entering their casinos ..keke anyways we finally managed to find a place with a huge screen for public viewing that was showing the match. I thought that i could escape the 'rude' KL-lites (infamously reported in newspaper polls) but unfortunately they either followed us there or in general malaysians are rude. Why would anyone in the right mind smoke in an enclosed air-conditioned place; First World Hotel? For me it speaks of two things, one either you can't read the no smoking signs in the same manner you can't read the health warning on the cigarettes (farsical as that might sound but yea they do carry a health warning label - why do that? i mean its better to get rid of the temptation than stick a warning tryin to deter but actually attracting people lol - well the real reason we can't stop selling cigarettes is that tabacco is an important component of our industry..tsk tsk..) The second thing is that these people are just darn rude -hello Genting fresh air not Genting cigarette polluted air..how could anyone enjoyed the match? c'mon. we left the match around the 75++ minute as we just cldn't stand the cigarettes.

i managed to find the mamak in genting that is situated in a car park!! lol i was introduce to this place the last time i went with a bunch of ex-highschool mates ^^ So we had mamak during the night and had a looong game of UNO  - imagine nearly 1 hr++ for a game! After mamak and b4 UNO we went for a lil walk and took some pics, one of which was:

Need any Superheroes?!

Well a mamak in genting with KL prices is heaven sent! lol rm1 for a roti canai there is better than rm10 roti canai in the vicinity of the hotel! keke

on the 3rd day when we going back to KL, we had to use the lift to get onto the bus station level. Lo and behold it must have been just our luck or KL-lites just love genting (can't blame them tho' KL is SOOOO HOT!! and not happening hot if thats what ur thinking so no sacarstic remarks from me aht this), this KL-lite was extremely rude..Well what do you do when ur in the elevator and see people coming in, press the OPEN button right? Wrong, this man just kept pressing the close button, well i dunno much about spatial processing and brain reversal mechanisms (a medical condition does exist) but this guy was just WAAAY off. i mean if there was a blind person in there he could read braille and press the open button..tsk tsk.. When one of us told him off well the best thing he could mutter was the infamous four letter word. Again it shows me two things. One, that is as far as your vocabulary goes - c'mon for Pete's sake learn to articulate your anger don't just spit this word out. Two - You know the meaning of the word and you just want to show the type of person you are. That's pretty much it. Technically, we could have taken him on as we had 8 ppl..but i think we all decide to reserve our strength for better things.

Anyways after an uneventful bus and train ride we were back to sunny KL - being greeted with the humidity of KL is not good as if it was a reminder that now you're back its gonna get hotter and it did these past few days! ><

30th - Went out to catch Superman Returns with Yee Yeeng as her birthday was on thursday (29th) but i couldn't make it in time for the thursday show. Hmm the show? Well what can say? More of tribute than an actual movie - probably to appeal to the younger/current gen.+ people who don't really know much about Superman. Special effects aside - hey even crappy movies have them - if you have the $$$ your special effects will be great, so lets leave it at that. The producers tried to inject some human elements into Superman and his co-stars by giving them a range of emotions to express. The actual movie is good but just feels lacking of that special something that makes Spidey movies great. The movie is 30 minutes too long as it clocks in a heavy 2hrs and 30 mins. Brandon Routh's acting was great but it feels like he was emulating the great Christopher Reeves (C.R.) by pronouncing and accentuating the lines exactly the same manner while his C.R. matching looks were exploited to the maximum with great lighting, cinematography and camera work. However a better villian than Lex Luthor needs to be found although Kevin Spacey did play his role well and made us believe that he is truly evil. There's even a scene where he captured Lois Lane that is hilarious - evil geniuses really know how to crack jokes. Kate Bosworth - well she certainly was not worth her acting fees as her potrayal of Lois Lane was well messy. Will leave it at that without revealing too much of the plot. The few bright moments that lit the show was Lois Lane's son.. he literally steals the scene everytime he appears and speaks.

1st July - Design EFCM LIFEgame Camp brochure - The camp starts on the 27th til the December 2006. Anyways was bz the whole morning til evening with the design of the booklet. Half-way designing in the afternoon, i got a pleasant surprise from my twin, Lynn, when she called after we text each other a few times and she found i haven't eaten my lunch (i was home alone btw). So she said she'll swing by and picked up for lunch..^^ Semangat..never expected that..Thanx twin! ^^ hehe Anyways we ended up at the 24hrs McD's in SS15 - good meeting point judging from the various professionals meeting their clients there. Great lunch is never great unless a great conversation is in place, and that was not found lacking. After a hearty meal and a laughter-filled conversation, i was back at home designing til night.

So then comes the highly anticipated Eng-Portugal match...Well there was not much to say once rooney was unfairly sent-off and once England played the match to get to penalties, something in my gut told me where this was heading; into the all familiar territory - England  have never won penalty shoot outs in major competition dating back to 1996.  'nuff said, even when 2 portuguese  players missed their spot kicks ,  Eng. just would not  win. Didn't catch the France-Brazil match due to church on the following morning, but was surprised when i checked the resutls..well in this point of the competition anything can happen and it does not need the best 11 players to win, all it needs are a moment and its gone.

2nd July - Morning church - was suddenly told i was on LCD - arrived just on time but had to key in songs into the SongViewer programme-so worship was delayed by 15 mins > < My bad.. anyways for lunch we went to KFC in Pyramid to celebrate Mike's bday.. the atmosphere was great ^^ evening - played futsal and had a great time. We all had dinner together at a chinese restaurant situated near the ESSO station in Sunway. The food was great and the portions were generous at times.

Well that's it for now- haha one long entry...if you have read this far- give a pat on the back to yourself keke as for the coming days well we shall wait to see if i can stir or muster the energy to write like today hehe

Oh yea, im unofficially unemployed (well haven't attend the ceremony etc. yet lol) So anyone knows of any graphic design jobs or jobs related to science. Give me a buzz or drop a comment here or @ oiraolostaelen@yahoo.com hehe