Helluva Engineer

I am currently studying in the ever prestigious Colorado School of Mines!



The school was established in 1874, making it two years older than the state of Colorado!



Located in the quiet and serene city of Golden, with an elevation of more than a mile above sea level.



The school is surrounded by plenty of mountains, perfect for any person who loves the outdoors. And trust me, these Colorado people LOVE the outdoors.

I have been here for almost a year, and I tell you. There is no other school/college/university that I would much rather be in!

We are a school full of engineers and science/math loving people. Nerds and geeks, yes. Which makes it all the more fun. But do not get me wrong. Not every single Mines student looks like this:



We are extremely normal looking people! Like this:



And this:



And occasionally we look like this:



this:



And last but not least, this:



Aah fun :)

For the next few weeks, I will be writing posts about my freshman year; the things I have done, the places I have been to, the people I have met, the things I had to go through etc.

And for now, I leave you with our school fight song, also known as The Mining Engineer.



Do not ask me how to sing it. I have absolutely no idea.

So much for school pride huh? Hehe

Wow

OMG it has been months since I blogged.

This goes out to Justin Tappan, who was facebook stalking me. Thanks for reminding me that I have a blog lolz.

I have been up to many things, one post will not cover it all.

Honestly, I have been abit lazy and busy to update this blog, so if you have been following me on facebook, you will have a rough idea of what I have been up to.

I will do a brief summary some other time.

Lazy me, signing off for now

California!!

Hellooo from LA!

I had a really good trip but its not over yet.

Here is a summary of my trip. From KLIA, we had a four hours flight to Taipei, where we transit there for about an hour, and from there, a 12-13 hours flight AAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL the way to LA!!!

I didn't get much sleep though because there was a whole lot of tv and movies to watch!

We all arrived safe and sound, and all our personal belongings with us. Praise the Lord :)

When we first stepped out of LAX, it was soooo coooool!!! Like someone installed an aircond outdoors!! Hehehe a glimpse of the chilly days ahead. And we all gave out our first tip to the shuttle van guy. Its American culture to tip, sort of like a service tax. Hehe

Its about 10.51pm now, and the night is not over!

The Petronas officer wants to take us out for a drink I think :)

BTW, there were 15 of us Petronas Scholars hehe.

Tomorrow, we split up. Kautsar and I will be going to Denver tomorrow morning.

This is a quickie. Will blog more later! If I don't feel lazy la hehe

A2

The A-levels results have been released today at 7am local time, and 12am UK time.

I woke up early at 7.30am because I could not sleep.

My heart was pounding fast for about half an hour after that.

When I keyed in my username and password on the website, I clicked log in, and freaked out.

I complained to Mun Kit, "OWH SHIT I PRESS LOG IN NOW I DON DARE TO LOOK!!!"

But the site was jammed that time -.-

And I was playing Secrets by One Republic on my Ipod, for dramatic effect.



I know, so dramatic right? Runs in the family :p

After summoning enough courage to just face the facts and look, this is what I saw



Praise the Lord, I did well :D

3As and one of them is an A star for Maths. Sadly, I did not get A for further maths. B for that one.

No, not because I super kiasu. I worked super duper hard on it, plus I owe it to my further maths lecturer who is so super smart and kind and patient with all of us. I wanted to win that A for her. None of us managed to do so, hence the increase in guilt! :(

I feel very grateful to all the lecturers and my friends too. Most importantly, God :)

People keep saying, do your best!

If it were to be based on "my best" only, I would have gotten just one A, and probably a C for Physics.

So yea, I did my best, but God did better, hence the other two As! Huge miracle!

Praise the Lord :)

And the best part is, most of my friends made it too :D

So we USA bound scholars are flying over to LA on 21st August. So fast right?

I can't believe this is happening :)

Missing In Action

Not really, I was just deprived of the internet for the past week. No cafe world :(

But luckily Kautsar is there to help me cook! Hehe

Hello people, I send you greetings from the Penang Island!

And in a few more hours, we will be in Cameron Highlands for the night together with Jeslyn, Badaq and Jon.

Just to update you on where I am now.

I just had the most interesting cheese roti bakar! Yumm hehe

Ok bai :p

Bandar Baru Bangi!

I love MAS.

But not this flight! Although the air-steward was kinda cute hehe :p

I am now in Bangi. Disturbing Kautsar. Mission one accomplished :D

I think her mum is delighted to received the three ikan masin terubok that my mum bought for her. I saw so many other boxes of those fish in the airport just now. Semenanjung people love fish I guess -.-

My visa interview is tomorrow, hopefully we can all make it.

So, three weeks of adventure in KL will begin, TOMORROW!

In a completely different story, we all know about the cliche question of "what are the three things that you would bring to a deserted island?"

Well my lovely brother asked me that question, and my reply was simple.

"I will bring you. To cook and clean up for me."

To which, that witty nut-case replied, "I will most probably find a way out, and leave you there!"

Wonderful. I love you too brother.

-.-

Smackdown

Remember my genius brother that I featured in my previous post?

I did something that I never imagined I would ever do with him.

See, when it comes to my brother, you do not joke about food. Especially HIS food.

For example, when my aunt bought him a box of Ferrero Rochers, he actually hid three pieces from him. Silly boy thought that I could not find them so perfectly and obviously perched on the door of the freezer.

A couple years ago, I went through a phase where I wanted to lose weight, so during Gawai, I promised myself that I would not drink a whole can of soft drinks. Instead, I would take sips here and there from my brother and sister. It got to the point where my brother would literally run and hide the can of coke in his hand from me everytime he sees me.

It goes both ways though. There were multiple times where I would also hide food from him.

So, my brother feels very strongly about his food. Remember I mentioned that he put my stuffed bear into the freezer because I ate his chocolate??



The next day, we went to our aunt's place for a big dinner. After dinner, I always helped myself to the fridge and look for desserts. There in a transparent container, I saw two pieces of Cadbury chocolates covered in golden wrapping.



I took them both out, and out of goodwill, thought that I would consider giving the other piece to my brother.

I broke them up, and popped one into my mouth as I walked back to the kitchen.

It was then when my eyes were opened.

The piece of chocolate that I was munching in my mouth tasted, so heavenly.

It was not like the other Cadbury chocolates.

Not like any of those in the picture below



Or like the other flavours. Not dairy milk, not dream, not fruits and nuts.

It was different.

In the middle of the chocolate was a very rich vanilla tasting white chocolate.

It was heavenly!

I was almost done with that piece when my mother wanted to take the other piece from me. But I pretended that I did not want to give it to her. Spoiled little princess is suppose to get everything :p

And then, out of no where, BOOM!!!!

My brother attacked me from behind, trying to snatch the other piece of chocolate from my hand!!!

What was I to do?

Only one option, fight back!!

A quite simple after-dinner-chat turned into the Jawing Offspring Smackdown!!



We were not jumping on top of each other and hurling each other around.

I was still sitting down, and his arms were around my neck in a choking position!

What a struggle!

Felixon attempted to gross me out by licking my hand that held on to the chocolate so dearly. But his attempts did nothing, so I proceeded to actually biting his arm!

I even kneed him in the face!

Lets not forget that my brother is twice my size and is stronger than me.

He managed to grab hold of my hand and tried to pry my fingers open. I was on the verge of losing!

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I could not let him win like that! It was a matter of pride, and not to mention the VERY LAST PIECE OF THE HEAVEN-LIKE CHOCOLATE!!!!

I acted fast, swiftly passed the chocolate to my other hand that was free and TOUCHDOWN!!! quickly put it in my mouth and started chewing!!!

VICTORY!!!!

CHAMPION!!!!!! Woohoo!!!



Haha

Bet you did not see that one coming! Neither did my mum, aunt and uncle who witnessed the entire thing and just laughed.

Ok, this is the first time my brother and I had a physically struggle over food, or over anything at all! And it was so violent! Haha

Both of us did not want the chocolate that badly, please do not misunderstand me.

My brother just wanted to annoy me by stealing that piece of chocolate from me, and I wanted to annoy him back by not letting him have it.


Excuse my hair, its a little messy. Excuse his hair, its LINDA PORN'S WIG!!!!

Haha one of the many nonsense my family goes through :D

Runs In The Family

Yup. Us Jawing offsprings are quite a "talented" bunch.

A few years ago, during my high school years, I was rather active in writing. I wrote in my blog, I wrote articles for the local newspaper under the Junior Jurnalist Program (I did it for the money!!), and not forgetting those nasty essays that we have to write for our SPM English paper.

I always knew that my brother was smart, and had a bunch of his own talents up his sleeves. For example, he converted his backpack into a stereo-radio thing, he built a cooling fan for the modem, was very involved in robotics at school and many more.

Can you imagine, THIS guy did ALL that??


Whats with the flower in his hair???

Another Albert Einstein? Perhaps. But until he wins his first Nobel prize, he shall be known as the annoying brother who does stupid things to annoy me and everyone else around him.



It is as though he lives to annoy me!

He hid my precious Pooh bear in a plastic bag, INSIDE A FREEZER!!! Why? Because I ate the second last piece of his Toblerone white chocolate

-.-


The traumatised victim of the "khiew moh"

Anyway, back to the main point.

It appears that my brother has a knack for writing too. It is very much proven in his new blog that is completely dedicated to the school at http://keropoktownian.wordpress.com/

Not only that, he blasted the mind of his English teacher with his wit and creativity for writing in his previous exam paper.

I read the essay, and I have to admit, I am very impressed.

Since sharing is caring, I will post his essay here in my blog, unedited and word for word. Happy reading!

What Would You Do If You Had Super Powers?

The cancellation of the hit series Heroes by NBC Network have sparked anger in the many millions of fans all around the world. Heroes, a television series about individuals discovering that they have super powers, had planted many questions in our head. The biggest question is “What would you do if you had super powers?”

When we were small, most if not all of us had dreamt of having superpowers and flying here and there to save people. After many years, our views may have change. So, what would I do if I had superpowers? My answer would not be as direct or pure as to saving people, but it depends greatly on what type of power I have.

Telekinesis would be a handy power. It is the power to move objects or apply force on objects with nothing but our minds. I would not say that I would be out to rescue people if I had this power, or any other power, but I would most likely use it to my advantage. As a lazy person, I would most likely use this power to reach for things, like the remote, when it is too far for my hands to reach. Yes, this might sound lazy, but at least I am not out killing people.

If I had mind powers, powers to control people’s thinking and action and also reading their minds, I would use it most when I am about to buy things. I would “convince” the salesman to sell the item I want at a very low price, less than RM5 to be exact. I could also use these powers to read minds so that I can find out my enemies secrets. But if I were to use this power for good, I would join the police force and use it to interrogate suspects or “convince” them into telling the truth. I guess it would be noble of me to do so, but a policeman’s pay is not good enough for me. So I am going with ripping off salesmen and “convincing” people to give me money.

It would be fascinating to have cellular regenerating powers, or in simple terms, healing powers. I would be a thrill junkie and do crazy things like jumping off buildings or engaging myself in any activity that would kill me, knowing that I would not die. If I want to make my life meaningful, I may, and may only, join the rescue team. Saving people from burning buildings so that more people could live. But this is highly unlikely as I would be too lazy to do so.

Shape shifting would be perfect for me now. I would change my shape and turn it into a slim, muscular and attractive body. Shape shifting would also be good in the art of deception. I can change my face, fingerprints and every biological aspect of my body to form a new identity. This would be handy I ever have the need to rob banks, doing so while staying incognito. It is also great if I need to hide from somebody, like any mad ex-girlfriend I have.

Forget Flash, I want Hiro! In case you were wondering, Flash is a superhero that can move very fast while Hiro Nakamura is a time traveller. The ability to control time would be great especially during exams. During the exam, I would freeze time and take a peek of Ai Ling’s (the smartest girl in my class) answers while the rest of the world is frozen in time. If I was really desperate, I could also take out the reference book and have an open book test. When all my work is done, I would just simply keep the books, un-freeze time and hand my work in. Who knows, maybe I am doing it right now! Besides being a time traveller, Hiro also has teleportation powers. Imagine the steps and energy I would save if I just teleported myself to the toilet instead of walking there. Life would be great if I had those powers, but of course, I would not travel back to the past as changing a single thing in the past could greatly change or affect the future. That is called the “Butterfly Effect”.

Lastly, invisibility, the power to become invisible. If I had those powers, I could be a spy for the government. Gathering information for our country. Forget that, I would most likely use this power to sneak into movies, spy on some people that I know or may not know or even occasional visits to the girls changing room (I probably should not have wrote the last part!)

All in all, the power that is given will determine what I would do or become. To think of it, I do not think that I will be a superhero. Nor would I be a supervillan. I guess I would be classified as a norman, neither hero nor villan, not doing much good but not committing very evil things.

Not bad aye?

His teacher gave him 44 out of 50! But she did advice him to NOT write that he would rob banks. And I am truly hoping that he is kidding about the whole peeping-tom thing.

For your information, that essay is a true and complete reflection of who my brother is. If you guessed lazy and cheapskate, then you are one hundred percent correct!



And I am truly thankful that he does not have any superpowers.

Can you imagine what sort of misery he would put me through by using his powers against me????



Ugh...

Sherene-Tastic!

Studying the whole day is tiring.

I was doing my Chemistry p4, and I felt really bored. So I turned to Facebook to cure the boredom.

Then I saw this :



That is my further maths and chemistry classmate, Shum. One very naughty fellow who gave REAL kangaroo-balls key-chains to his friends as a souvenier from Australia -.-

LOL Shum.

So I commented.

Not long after, ye old Facebook sent me a notification from Shum who be scribblin' somethin on me plank arr...



I was like, WTH!!!!

What the heck was going through his mind when he wrote that on my wall?!?!

Then he sent me a link, which opened to



Urban dictionary!

Haha ok, now I get it.

Ok, so according to Urban Dictionary, this is what my name means :

Owh, I underlined my favourite descriptions. The rest, is up to you to judge ;)





"can be your worst nightmare if you piss her off."

Yea, and you know it!!

Don't Be Cruel

Its over.

Well, Physics p4 is over. I am now halfway through my A2.

Four more papers to go and then I am home free.

How did I do in my Physics just now?

Bad.

I feel so stupid.

Not enough time to answer all questions properly.

But to tell you the truth, even if you gave me more time, I would not have been able to answer the questions.

I came out of the exam hall feeling as though I am the only one on Earth that does not know how to do the paper.

You all say that you find it tough too.

Liars.

We know how smart you all are. I know that deep down, you guys do, to a certain extend, feel confident about how you did.

Well, on the bright side, thats one less thing to worry about.

Random quirkies :

I found a fellow brother, ANTON! Hahaha

Yay for you Shum for using a further math method to answer a question in the math exam just now. Lolz

My fellow Sheep are in Bukit Tinggi now for CouZ camp. I wish I was there with them :(

"The Hurtful Things I Tell Myself". Someone please make it stop :(

Just two weeks left.

I have no idea if I want time to come by faster so that all of this to be over soon, or if I want time to slowly creep by so that I can have more time to study so that I would not screw up again.

Dear CIE, please don't be cruel :(

One Thing

Honestly, I do not feel good about this coming Friday.

At the rate that I am going, and with my AS results that I decided to carry forward, anyone would be squirming if they were me.

It is just amazing that I can still sleep at night despite all this.

If it were to be one subject that caused me to be unable to fly to USA, that subject would be none other that Physics.



Yes, I am very scared.

And no, I am not confident when it comes to Physics

:'(

Insomnia

I hate it when I cannot fall asleep at night. I tend to get even more stressed out when I cannot get myself to fall asleep.

That was what happened to me last night.

I went to bed at 11.30pm, but by 12pm I still could not sleep.

I tossed and turned, listened to my ipod and tried to fall asleep.

I did, eventually. But I was not really sleeping well. I woke up again, and I was still very alert and not sleepy at all.

Then the tossing continued.

It was so damn hot last night.

Then I slept a little, until an sms woke me up at 3am. Could not sleep even though it was already 3.30am. I then proceeded to "scold" the person that woke me up -.-

But I did fall asleep, and woke up at 7am with a heavy head.

Stress. I was even more stressed because I could not fall asleep.

I hate it when that happens.

All the more since my very first A2 paper was at 9am the next morning.

Further Maths!

It was the paper that required a whole lot of quick thinking. And with my lack of sleep last night, I was worried that my condition would affect my performance in the exam.

But praise God, the headache left after breakfast, and then it was game mode ON, further maths nerd style!

During the exam, I was so super blegh!

This is how I was during the exam :

*recheck the questions I just did*

OMG WHAT THE *%#@ WERE YOU THINKING WHY DID YOU WRITE THAT!!!!!! OWH *&%$@%&^%$%$#^%$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *pulls my face*

Owh, false alarm..........

It happened many times! My heart just stop beating when it happens. Then I would say to myself, OMG Sherene you have GOT to stop doing that!!!

-.-

I answered one questions during the last 1 minute. So simple yet I could not get it in the first place. I felt so stupid.

I quickly wrote the solution as fast as I could, and when I was done, the examiner took the paper away, and I was still stunned at what just happened -.-

On the plus side, I do not have to deal with further maths anymore :D

In this post, I shall formerly bid furthers maths adieu.

Goodbye further pure maths.



And the topics:


Goodbye summation of series. You were a fun introduction into further maths.


Goodbye polynomials. You were fun to solve, sometimes...


Goodbye i-forgot-what-you-are-called-asymptotes-thingy. You were really time consuming :(


Goodbye polar coordinates. I really hated your sin and cos questions...


Goodbye mathematical induction. You were one of my favourites :D


Goodbye differentiation. You were one of the easiest!


Goodbye integration. There were so many parts to you it gave me a headache to even begin to start revising you!


Goodbye differential equations. I prefered you over the one in pure maths!


Goodbye complex numbers. You were tricky, but I finally got you!


Goodbye linear space. I never really understood you...


Goodbye matrices. I always thought that you were the same as linear space...


Goodbye vectors. You were so confusing at first, but you slowly grew on me :)

Hence, ends the chapter of further pure maths.

But further maths is not over. I still have further mechanics and further stats next month.

Did those pictures of maths give you a fright? Well frankly, its nothing compared to further mechanics and further stats. They are the most awful of all the awful horrors in A-Levels!

Hahaha so yea. I am glad paper one is over. I am grateful to Petronas for forcing us to sit for that paper, because we engineering students need all that math knowledge during our times in university!

Tomorrow, mechanics!

The battle continues...

Experiment Butt

I remember the times I had in form 5, right before SPM. We were all so very naughty!

We talked, laughed, and just did everything except studied or paid attention to the teacher in class.

I miss those old times.

I was rummaging through my class' blog, looking for one particular post I posted nearly three years ago about an experiment we cheekily conducted on some of our classmates.

See the title of this post? Yup it was an experiment on butts!

For old times sake, I shall re-post the mind-blasting experiment we did and the amazing conclusions and discovery we made on that day :D

Experiment Butt

Aim : To investigate the relationship between butt size and gap of Suria’s chair and big metal box.
Hypothesis : The smaller the butt size, the easier it is to pass through gap. Size of butt is inversely proportional to the ability to pass through gap (Rise and Fall Law)
Variables : 1. Manipulated – Butt of subject X and Y
2. Responding – Ability to pass through gap
3. Fixed – Size of gap
Apparatus : Ruler, Suria’s chair, big metal box
Materials : Subject X and Y
Technique : Force Subjects to pass through the gaps sideways.

Diagram :



Procedure :
1. Suria’s chair is placed in front of the big metal box that is situated at the back of the class room.
2. The length of the gap between the box and Suria’s chair is measured using a 15cm ruler as shown in the diagram.
3. The length of the gap is 15cm and is kept constant throughout the experiment.
4. Subject X, which has a small butt, is force to pass through the gap.
5. The results are recorded.
6. The experiment is repeated with Subject Y who has a bigger butt than Subject X.
7. Results are then recorded. Both results from both sets of experiments are tabulated and inferences are made based on the results.

Precautions :
1. Do not overfeed the Subjects otherwise butt size will increase and will be unsuitable for experiment.
2. Suria’s chair must not be moved at all times no matter what.
3. An audience is necessary because the more people laugh, the more fun it is.
4. Do not take photo of Subject’s butt as it is considered as pornography to be posted on the internet and it is hazardous towards human eyes to look at people’s butt.

Results :
Experiment (subject) Results
X Can pass through
Y Cannot pass through

Discussion :
Subject X is able to pass through the 15cm gap because X has a smaller butt, so Subject has more space to pass through. Subject Y is unable to pass through the gap because Y has a bigger butt, which inhibits the space that is intentionally prepared for Subject to move through. The size of butt therefore influences the ability to pass through small gaps. This inference is based on the Rise and Fall Law, which was discovered by the Butt Prof. of 5A on 26 July 2007. The Law states that the size of butt is inversely proportional to the ability to pass through small gaps. The bigger the butt size, the lower the ability to pass through small gaps; and the smaller the butt size, the higher the ability to pass through small gaps. This thesis is supported by the formula :
2 times 2semicircle,
half radius times pie equals to ??? diameter ???
eventually equals to size of butt
This formula is formulated by Prof. Ah-Ng AnnAnn from AnnAnn Country.

Conclusion :
Size of butt is inversely proportional to the ability to pass through gaps. Hypothesis accepted.

Extra info and notes :
This experiment was conducted on a pure bored basis. The scientists were supposed to be paying attention in class and do their work quietly, but they felt that the understanding of Fictional Physics and Pure Fun and Laughter was more important. Materials were contributed willingly and no subject was harmed during the entire course of the experiment. Subjects were notified and awared that they were being experimented. All Subjects, scientists and bystanders were insanely laughing their heads off during the experiment. This experiment is Copyright Protected by the Panda/Walrus/Puppy of 5A.

Conducted by : Matahari, Panda, Suria, Taekwando Guy, Ah-Ng AnnAnn and Mr. Kho

Hahaha

Ahh, the silly nonsensical things we did in those days. Priceless :)

The Sign

If we ever meet again, I'll have so much more to say.

SIB KL :)

A church that is :

BIBLE BASED
CHRIST CENTRED
SPIRIT POWERED

No compromising the three!


Where the worship team leads worship, and where the pastors preach!

Home to some of the nicest kids on the block!



Ok this is not a promo on SIB KL.



Last weekend I took quite a few pictures in church, and I just felt like uploading them here :)

There is this nice big SIB KL sign on the fifth floor. You will see it the moment you step out of the lift.

I have always wanted to take pictures of and with that sign. And I finally got the chance to do so! *delighted*

So here goes :D


Yee Shien and I

Jon Jon

Andrew and his erm, signature pose

Chris stylo!

The handsome (sorry, God say cannot lie!) young men of SIB KL! With Aaron and Joel by the side

And last but not least,



Almost two years here.

No regrets whatsoever :)