Final exam

Is in approximately a months' time and I doubt I'm even half way through revising the entire 11 subjects. Digital electronics: super confusing + time-consuming, Analogue: er.. don't even ask, Comms 2: just printed and compiled my notes few days ago?, Fields/Devices/Power: hasn't started, Control: really need a book to understand the super concise notes..

Oh gosh, I don't think I would want to go on elaborating and ranting on the rest of the papers. This is getting really stressful.. Helppp~! =(

I'm fine...

Just so you know, I'm perfectly fine and alright. Still alive. I've not given up on blogging yet. Hehe.

Currently, am still waiting for the internet connection to be done. It's taking ages. At least, the BT line (UK's phone line company) is now set-up. They're really slow and inefficient when it comes to just activating a telephone line! (worse than Telekom indeed)

Anyhow, work (as a 2nd year EEE student) is piling up and it's already getting more difficult. I seriously don't know how I'm going to survive the lectures given by Papavasilliou or overcome the fear of failing Analogue Electronics! Hopefully, things will get better as time goes by.

On another note, I've just attended the graduation of Cheng Chun, Charlotte, Chris Tock (list goes on) today. It's good to see everyone graduating with good honors and striving towards attaining their goals in life. I'll certainly miss the times and fun we had. Given the chance, I'm sure we'll meet again somewhere, someday. As for now, I wish you guys good luck in everything you do! Drop by and keep us informed of how things are (if you're not busy like Charlotte) hehe.

1 Down, 8 to Go

Finally, no more management exam in 4 years! wheeeee! I no longer need to mug all the contributions made by F.W.Taylor, J.M.Burns, Charles Handy, Pettinger, Mayo and the list just goes on and on. Honestly, I'm really sick of the word organization, legitimacy and authority. Been seeing and reading too much of it.

Management paper was not as bad as I thought it would be (questions were not that tough) because I could recall the things I've memorized BUT I just felt I did not put in enough examples, did not answer the question at several points and crapped a lot of unnecessary stuffs just to make the essays seem lengthy. Honestly, if they were going to mark me based on my points, it should be fine but if they're expecting concrete arguments, I think I'll do rather badly :( But I'm not complaining this time and the point I'm trying to make here is: I'm not exactly satisfied with the paper but I'm glad that it's all over.

As for now, have to start preparing for the remaining papers. My exam timetable is as follows:

• 21/5: Digital Electronics
• 22/5: Fields and Devices
• 25/5: Communications
• 30/5: Maths 1
• 31/5: Maths 2
• 1/6: Engineering Materials
• 4/6: Analogue Electronics
• 6/6: Analysis of Circuits

After that, it'll be all over! Can't wait to travel =) And then, go home!! Been missing a lot of things: family, friends, food, everything!

Wish me luck for my exams! Really need it badly.

Emotionally Down

I'm really immensely stressed and depressed now. There are a few things which leads to it:

1. the deterioration of my studies (main reason);
2. the feeling of guilt I have towards my dear friend who has just left to Birmingham;
3. wee bit of peer pressure;
4. lack of sleep;
5. surviving on only 1 meal a day;
6. some other reasons I would not want to mention because it may lead to unnecessary emotional posts

I'm no longer the boisterous, gleeful, confident, positive and joyous person people use to know. I am extremely pessimistic, gloomy, sensitive and incompetent at present. My goal in university and life seemed to be very vague in mind.

But, why? Why would all of these things happen simultaneously; at the time when I really needed extra confidence and motivation to do my work? The expectation of me to do well is just SO great! (from both my parents and sponsor) Seriously. I know the phrase "Just Do Your Best" sounds convincing. People keep telling me that "You'll do great, don't worry!"

I mean, it's really very sweet of them to have the confidence in me; but how would anyone know how well I will do? Honestly, no one knows how terrible my state is at present. I know myself best. And, I'm definitely sure that I'm NOT fine.

I really need to calm down. Was supposed to at least finish studying Digital Electronics by now, but I'm still staring stagnantly at the same page for hours. I seriously don't know what I shall do. I'm sad and lost.

Scary

About one in ten of the essays turned in last term have been plagiarised: large sections have been copied from the internet (we found the originials).

We realize that some of you may not realize that this is actually CHEATING and against the rules of Imperial College (plagiarisim is something that can result in your being thrown out). You may have missed the lecture/study group where I explicitly explained that you must be moving back and forth between sources, must never copy more than half a sentence, must paraphrase or use quotation marks, etc.

For those of you who have made an honest mistake, we are offering you a one-time opportunity to come forward and say that you accidentally plagiarised some sections of your essay, and to rewrite it.

YOU HAVE PLAGIARISED IF:
1. You picked up whole paragraphs OR WHOLE SENTENCES from other sources without putting them in quotes. Changing the occasional word DOES NOT make any difference: it is still plagiarism.
2. Plagiarism is also taking all of your information from a single unreferenced source EVEN IF YOU COMPLETELY REWROTE THE MATERIAL.

If you believe that you may have plagiarised (perhaps because you didn't know any better) you must contact me by Monday 15 January at 5pm. You will be given until Friday 19 January at 5pm to rewrite the essay.

If you take up this offer:
a) You will still get 0 for the assignment once you have rewritten it (though you will get feedback on your writing).
b) You will NOT get any further penalty.
c) Nothing on your permanent record.
d) We will consider that you made an honest mistake and were willing to take responsibility for it and will not think less of you.

If you are caught cheating and have not come forward by the deadline (we have found at least 15 papers so far) then:
a) You will get 0 for this assignment.
b) You will also get a major penalty for your NEXT assignment.
c) Your plagiarism (and dishonesty) will be noted on your permanent record.

Note that this offer will not be made for future assignments: it is only because it is your first written assignment for the department that we are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Any plagiarism in future will be considered DELIBERATELY DISHONEST because, thanks to this e-mail, you all now know what plagiarism is.

(e-mail received from my lecturer this evening)



This is seriously terrifying. Why do they have to make it sound like it's a crime and get everyone's adrenalin going? I know it's Imperial but why can't they express it in a more pleasant and acceptable manner? Plagiarism is a serious thing over here, but don't you think it's wee bit hyperbolic in this case? Awww...

I really hate e-mails like this and now, I'm really worried :(

Busy Week

Sorry for not being able to blog for the past week. I was seriously tied up with tests, projects etc.. (using it as an excuse to get away lol).

Not that my week was mundane, really! It was rather exhilarating, indeed. Ah, if I were to blog about every event which happened last week, it'll be too lengthy. I shall provide a summary:

27 Nov: Kavitha had her birthday celebration. Food was great. Met loads of cool new people!
28 Nov: Christmas Test. Screwed.
29 Nov: My sister, Caroline's birthday! Too bad I can't celebrate with her back home :(
30 Nov: Cheryl and Anita's birthday. We had a gathering at Starbucks; Cheryl and Anita had their own plans, so we planned to meet up and hang around! lol. That night, went for my first musical theatre: Les Miserables.
1 Dec: LSE's Malam Bakti. Gosh! No one should miss it. Really had a good laugh that night.

And now, as for this week, my personal tutor-Prof Peter Cheung, was kind enough to bring us(his tutees) for a dinner at an Italian Restaurant in South Kensington. (can't recall the name of the shop)

Prof Peter Cheung (the one sitting next to me) and his tutees

Oh! Not to forget, my hall's Christmas Party! It will be on this Saturday and I seriously got no idea of what to get for my hallmate. By the way, it's a guy not a girl unfortunately. Lucky draw! Any suggestions people? Something different, preferably.

What?! A Bomb in Imperial??

I seriously hate to be in this position. Yes, I did not sleep the whole night AGAIN. argh! I slept TOO much on Saturday night and couldn't sleep at all on Sunday. This is terrible.

Anyway, I got up at 7am(obviously! I didn't sleep). Did the usual stuff that I had to do, and blogged. Then, I received a call from Megan: lectures might be cancelled! For one second, I almost shrieked with joy. That was before I found out what happened. Apparently, Imperial received an unusual heavy package from elsewhere. And, there were no sign of identification of sender. They suspected it was a bomb and everything went haywire. I wasn't at college that time, so I missed the "best part", according to some of them. Guess what I was doing? I was busy packing breakfast since I knew lectures will be delayed, not cancelled. My intuition tells me that Imperial will NEVER cancel their lectures :(

I packed bread only. I know it's something simple and nothing to shout about but still, it's unusual for ME to pack breakfast! haha.

What a relieve

Looking on the bright side; I'm happy and relieved for once and for all: I've completed my 1200 word technical report and presentation! Thanks Joanne for helping me out towards the last bit of my report. You're really sweet!! :) And on the dark side, I've screwed my presentation and received really sarcastic feedbacks from a PG(postgraduate). But this time, I'm not going to grumble about anything. I admit that I deserved to be chided for not putting enough effort to prepare for the presentation. Perhaps, since I knew it was a non-accessed presentation, I took it too lightly. My fault. I perfectly acknowledge that.

Apart from that, nothing special for the week. Oh, wait! I've changed my lab partner. Deng Wei (a Malaysian as well) is now officially my new lab partner :) He's probably one of the most admirable person around due to his politeness. He cares for the feelings of every single person and tries not to hurt them. Really nice guy, unlike me. I can be really mean and obnoxious at times. I know.

Anyway, I've decided not to blog so much this time. Words just can't seem to flow because I've just completed my report and I'm too tired to think of what to write.

Deng Wei and I


Cheryl commented that this picture is quite nice, so I decided to upload it :)


The rest of my friends

Imperial is insane! help!!

Guess what?! It's already 4.40 am (UK time) and I'm not asleep yet. Before you people jump to conclusions of your own such as "Wah, study until so late. Crazy!" , allow me to clarify this: I've jammed (played o2jam) for 4 hours, and NOT study! lol. How pleasant life is, for once and for all :) I completely forgotten about all the things that I have to do. (which is something really distressing)

Now that I think of what I did, I feel rather flustered. I'm perfectly aware that my course is rather demanding, yet I'm still being ignorant about it.

Below are the list of things that I have to do: (before I can fly back to Malaysia peacefully)
week 8 - Slide Show presentation, 1200 words technical report deadline;
week 9 - Christmas Test, Driving Test
week 10 - (not sure what they're gonna do in this week either)
week 11 - Driving Test, Design Project deadline

The bolded ones are the ones which will be counted towards our degree. :(
Thankfully, the Christmas Test is not accessed. But still, I wouldn't want to completely screw it and make my personal tutor think that I've not been doing anything at all :S He has high hopes for me; perhaps it's due to the fact that I did quite well for my "Maths Diagnostic Test" in the 2nd week of this term.

And oh! For your info, 'Driving Test' is a programming test : We will be given a question paper WITHOUT pseudocodes; only words in English, and we're supposed to write out the codes in a program called Delphi. And, trust me. It's not that easy!

Arghhhh! I seriously don't know. I'm just worried of all these "petty" little things, as some would say. As far as I'm concerned for NOW, I'm really looking forward to returning back home to see my dear family, friends and all the people I miss.

Oopss. I think I shall stop here. It's already 4.53 am and I have a lion dance practise in the morning (10 am). Adios people! And, do wish me luck for the final 4 weeks :)

Reports, Projects, Presentations and Lab sessions

Are the things I dislike most in my course. I thought, initially, that I could depend on them to help me to gain some 'easy' marks. I'm so wrong! They're indeed more difficult to score, I think. It's rather demanding. Not to forget, they're ANNOYING because they have deadlines!! awww, the deadline of my presentation and 1200 words report is next week! And, I've not started anything yet. Sigh. There goes my free 'Saturday and Sunday'. I shall not complain and start working on it. Ranting about it in my blog wouldn't make a difference.

Lectures are alright though. Some were great, some boring (as usual), some interesting and funny! (but we don't learn much out of that lecture, unfortunately). I thought this clip is rather 'cute' and interesting in a way. Jeremy Pitt trying to juggle!!



It was taken by some student during Software Engineering (Jeremy Pitt's) class. This is what happens when we're in a busy course; i.e. lectures from 9am to 6pm on certain days. Ah! That's Imperial isn't it?