Welcome to Universiti Teknologi Malaysia or better known as UTM among locals and internationally! The fourth research university (is going to be the fourth) in Malaysia. UTM is set on a full gear to receive the visit from Research University (RU) panel of auditors anytime soon. This follows our recent submission of the RU status application to the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) to realize our aspirations to acquire the esteemed recognition in 2008.
I know it’s a way bit too late to present you some updates of UTM. For the academic year of 2008/2009, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) had welcomed 3527 newly enrolled undergraduates to pursue their education here. Among the three thousand plus undergraduates, a total of 453 arrived from China, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Yemen, Somalia, Turkey and other countries. (Source: Sin Chew)
From another source released by my university, the university has a total of 17,946 undergraduates and 3,803 postgraduates respectively. The university has a school of 1,904 academic staffs working hand in hand to share their knowledge and expertise with the students.
UTM is not a substitute to the more prestigious Malaya University (UM) as most perceived. Let me enlightened you, out of 100 graduates who made it to the industry/market, 73 of them are sought after (Source: Facts and Figures). Now, if you don’t believe you can ask my seniors!
Every time when I am exceptionally happy, the first thing I would do is texting those close to me telling them how happy I am. Telling the world how happy and grateful I am not only make me happy but happier.
My sponsor, a Danish mortar company, has delivered my research material to the laboratory this morning. This is certainly good news as I have been waiting for close to four months for this day to come. Another sponsor of mine, a Malaysian pavement company, will be making the delivery sometime early next month. The next thing is extensive experimental works are now in front of me.
Thanks for those who have kept me in prayer unceasingly, especially my dearest mum and my sisters, Jon, Anna, Tin, and Jon’s mum.
Aiyo. Sakit mia gigi saya. Had been experiencing this toothache since Saturday but I just kept it to myself. Now that I can’t bear with the slight excruciating pain, I decided to make a visit to the dentist this Wednesday. Tak boleh tahan lah. Lucky for me to have Jonathan’s mum bringing me to visit the dentist who is her brother-in-law. Can save a bit of money you know if we have relatives.
My weekend was very well spent, that’s why my Monday is so beautiful, lovely I would say. The first thing I did after waking up was say a short prayer and get my mind to focus. The next thing I did was commenting on Suituapui’s blog. I am the early bird who catches worms at his blog.
You may want to know how I spent my weekend. Since I am a bachelor, meaning no strings attached, I have the luxury of time for myself and my friends. Initially I planned to watch Dark Knight with two friends but it turned out that I had to sit in one of the class for our Sunday School. I cancelled the movie because I need to get myself prepared for the class. Gone was my movie.
I thought I could use my Saturday to do some preparation but my plan just did not work. Anna’s mum gave me a rang, “Daniel, uncle asks if you want to go Pontian to eat durian.” Gosh, DURIANs! Without a second thought and not wanting to be a wet blanket again, I agreed.
Off we went to Pontian, a small town located about 20-30km from Skudai. It was a farm, being a city boy this is the first time I saw durian trees, pulasan trees, mango trees and langsat trees. We even stopped by the Largest Pineapple Entrance which made its way to the Malaysia Book of Records.
It was a day well spent, we had Pontian’s best tomato mee, karipap, and cendol on top of the durian fest. My, oh my, that explains the bulgy tummy I am having now. In addition to that, I was given a taste of Pizza Hut’s Starzbites Sausage Pizza which is a sausage stuffed crust pizza with a sumptuous split personality. Again, that adds to the increasing size of my belly. This time, WeiJiun who is working in Singapore gave me a treat.
There you go, that’s my weekend! Rest, food, Cathecism class, Sunday Mass, and sometimes unexpected programmes.
It’s very unusual for me to write a post on the bits and bites of my life. Ranting I am not. Today I went for lunch with UncleSeng and two friends at the famous Arked Cengal in UTM. I wanted so much to “lecture” the two ladies, you know!
After finishing our meal, we ordered some drinks to quench our thirst on a hot afternoon. We were so excited talking about Chinese surnames and Red Cliff that I even related that Liu Bei (刘备) is my ancestors. As we were about to rise and leave the table, two ladies made their way to our table.
UncleSeng saw the two ladies with face as dark as Justice Bao and that he overheard one lady talking to her friend, “What la these people, already finish eating but sit there for so long. These people don’t know they were wasting our time waiting for the seats.”
Too bad UncleSeng only told me after we were at the carpark. If not I would have said to the lady, “Excuse me ladies. How do we know that you were waiting for the seats as you never expressed your intention. Don’t you know what is courtesy? I don’t mind if you come and prompt us with a polite tone saying that you are waiting for the seats. Don’t you result to back-stabbing us. That’s very rude. You have mouth to talk bad about someone, why don’t you use your mouth to make a request. Palia! What use is your mouth?”
On another note, my favourite Indian food stall of Arked Cengal has been experiencing shortage of forks lately. When we asked the aunty, she told us that some undergraduates took those forks away and never returned them back. What? Of all people but those who call themselves educated elites are stealing forks?
This society is getting sick, undergraduates are getting sick as well. Pathetic.
I am thinking of focusing in the education line now that I am seeing most youngsters nowadays falling into “the low self-esteem, low mentality and low awareness” group. Perhaps this is my call, perhaps it wasn’t about priesthood. I don’t know. Let God decide.
Up to this point, you have actually read 782 words, all cheers go to the WordPress new “word count” feature. I must say a big thank-you to you for following words and words of paragraphs, although pointless it may seem.
Before you exit from my blog, feel free to reward yourself with some music. This is Lovely Day by Bill Withers.
Clad in a gray long sleeves and a black pants, with two books in my hand, I walked steadily while at the same time trying to calm down using the “take-a-deep-breath” technique. Just before I entered the class I could see my juniors waving hospitably at me at the corridor just outside the room.
Guess what happened when I was in the class? Did I smile or did I let out a word first? Okay, I smiled at them. Those familiar faces smiled back, while some expressed shockness when they saw me coming in. What came next was I did a little bit of introduction about myself and why I was in their class so as to clear those puzzled minds.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
~Reinhold Niebuhr
You young people have in a special way the task of witnessing today to the faith; the commitment to bring the Gospel of Christ into the third Christian Millennium, to build a new civilization
~Pope John Paul II
Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation ... even so does inaction sap the vigour of the mind.
~Leonardo da Vinci
Dan was born on the 10th of September 1984 to a Malaysian family. A Kuching lad who has spent seven years of his life in Skudai. He is doing his Masters degree at a young age of 23 ;)
Leave him a message here. Interact with him at Facebook (join me!). You can even visit his coolest friends on earth here. ;)
You may also visit my blog using your mobile phone.
I chirp (tweet)
Google is launching its new browser, Google Chrome! »2008/09/02