What's wrong with you people?

So today, I was looking at an article that my friend shared. It says that there are two doctors, more specifically, a surgeon and an anaesthetist, that volunteered themselves to carry out limb amputations in the light of the recent hudud enforcement in Kelantan. I was really taken aback by this. So, in the first place, did they even take the Hippocratic Oath. Even if they did, did they mean what they say?

After sharing the news on my own profile (along with a thought-provoking or rather just provoking statement) some Muslims commented on it and I found their replies very disappointing. To sum it up, it plainly say: If you know nothing about hudud, shut the hell up. Well, I am human enough to know that to amputate the limbs of others off is totally barbaric and heartless. Their reason for their support of hudud is that it is a form of deterrent to would-be criminals. Does this mean your people are so horrible that normal laws cannot govern their behaviour? I discussed the issue from the viewpoint of a rational human and they insisted I understand Islam before saying anything. In general, I would also say many non-Muslims also find hudud a little too extreme. Rather than forcing it down the throats of non-Muslims and calling us "kafir" and "jahil", why not take a little effort to understand our viewpoints. Don't Muslims call Islam the so-called religion of peace? If yes, then prove it. Take some time to ask around. All I can see is: You are a non-Muslim, what the hell do you know? What's more heartbreaking is, on social media, any Muslim that does not support hudud (just look at the comments in articles related to hudud on Facebook) will be branded "government ass-lickers", murtads and all kinds of insults. What Muslim are you when you call your own brethren such sickening names? My main concern regarding hudud is how it claims to not affect the lives of non-Muslims. I have to arguments I can make regarding this. Assuming hudud to be laws practised in Muslim countries, then let me take Turkey as an example. In the era of the Ottoman Turks, the Jannisary (Jannisari) was a special group of soldiers, supposedly elite soldiers with excellent backgrounds and especially in Islam. I came across a book in my university library while looking for information for my assignment. Lo and behold, I came across an ugly truth. In those days, firstborn males from Christian families are taken forcefully and are also converted to Islam forcefully, and they are then made to serve in the Jannisary. Secondly, in the pursuit of jihad, houses of worship are not to be harmed in any way or another. Then, why is Hagia Sophia converted into a mosque? Why wasn't it left as it is? Does this mean it was taken away by force from the Roman Catholics during the fall of the Roman empire? Why bring this up? The Medina Charter guarantees safe coexistence between Muslims and those who are not of the religion. However, one of the most successful Islamic empires have gone against simple rules written in the charter itself. Those were great Muslim heroes that have gone against the essence of the charter, so what more of Malaysian Muslims then, who do not have a history in Islam as old as the Turkish people? Could they guarantee that the rights of the non-Muslims be FOREVER protected? I doubt so. Let's also not forget that Malaysia is a multiracial country and it was never agreed upon that Islamic laws were to be used to govern the nation. Thus, in my opinion, EVERY citizen has the right to disagree upon hudud should they find it too harsh a law to be used, not just Muslims themselves. Muslims in Malaysia should prove that Islam is a religion of peace, not just claim it by mouth. If the Prophet can practise "musyawarah" then why can't you?

If this goes on throughout the nation, I am going to leave to another country. I can't stand seeing the minorities being suppressed. Perhaps, we should all move. I am far too disappointed with what I am seeing now. Oh, have I mentioned about GST, too? Not yet. End of rant for today.

Wing

Nasty two-week ordeal!

In every semester (well, for me at least), there is this special two-week period that seems to bring hell onto the surface of the earth and that's the time where the phrase "all hell breaks loose" seems to be the most suitable phrase to describe it, quite literally. Assignments, tests and presentations all come in deadly waves, threatening to break you down with every hit. Being a workaholic, somewhat a perfectionist and a paranoid all put into one, you might be able to anticipate my reactions to all these stresses.

Hell broke lose last week, during the first test. Thank goodness it was rather simple. Then things started to look bad. Economics lecturer misprinted the pages, so instead of having 40 multiple-choice questions to answer, it was scaled-down to 20, from 1 mark in the test to 0.5 mark in the total assessment ratio, it was changed to 1 mark in the test to 1 mark in the total assessment ratio. It only means we risk more marks being sent down to the bellies of the earth with every question answered wrongly... Wow. Then came organic chemistry. Our beloved lecturer gave us questions that she did not teach in class. She says this: Everything you have learned in your previous semesters can be used in this exam. I sat there, thinking to myself, what would I do if I flunked this test. Become a janitor? Waiter at a restaurant? Who knows. And last came thermodynamics. I couldn't complete the test in time (thank God I wasn't alone, 80% of the class had the same dilemma). What a way to end this two-week hell. Assignments are still dangling in front of me and no, it doesn't look enticing at all...

What makes this hell week worse? Demons from hell. No, not literally, I'd shit my pants if I saw one, or maybe half, or perhaps just a ghostly finger. Okay, demons from hell means mad people you say in your daily life. This particular incident annoyed me a lot last week and this isn't the first time such incident is happening. Now, here is the scenario: You have a social media account. You know very well that, unless you adjust your settings to be private or restricted to a specified group of audience only, then your social media account is virtually accessible for all to see. With that, I can now further explain what happened. There was this guy that I followed on Facebook and he had a mutual friend. And through that mutual friend, he asked this mutual friend of me and why did I even follow him in the first place. Then, he proceeded to block me. I went berserk. Firstly, who do you think you are? I am following him because I think he'd be a nice person. Turns out, he is just another asshole who thinks he is so popular that people are dying to get to know him. Please, don't be too full of yourself. It's not like you're some celebrity. Even if you are, I'd just show the magic finger in your face for being such a jerk. Secondly, if you are so afraid of people following you, there are functions in Facebook that prevents people to access your Facebook if one does not has proper connections. Also, do yourself a favour and inactivate the "Follow" button. Blame others for one's own stupidity and inability to use social media is just so silly. Well, I guess stupid people have to exist or else it's difficult to have people that are above-average.

This week is coming to an end and I am seeing the end of the tunnel (no, I am not dying) and yes, whatever I can see now looks good. Get the assignments over with and we chill like there's no tomorrow.

Wing

Bucket List

So, I have been asked by a friend of mine to compile a list of things that I want to achieve before saying farewell to this realm for good.

It's true that life here is like the wind. Here a moment, gone the next. This Chinese New Year has been quite a depressing one for me. A devout church member, we call her Aunty Helena, has been a very faithful church goer and servant of the Lord. She was brought back to be with Him too soon. Aunty Susan's husband also passed away even before Chinese New Year was over. There, I sat thinking about life. What life means to me. And the past week, I also thought about life. I asked all kinds of questions pertaining to life. What ifs and hows? And my friend couldn't come at a more appropriate time to get me thinking about a bucket list I want to create.

Let's just say this bucket list is a list of all the things I want to achieve in life, hopefully I will be able to at least achieve half of them. I did not classify them but it reflects my short-term, long-term and also my desires.

1. Learn to play the zither or a koto.
2. Learn how to do the butterfly stroke.
3. Learn how to cook from my mother.
4. Write a chemistry textbook.
5. Write a motivational book (WTF?)
6. Write a work of poetry and it must be a hit.
7. Discover a material, substance or reaction mechanism that will revolutionize the world of science.
8. Win a Nobel prize.
9. Complete a PhD.
10. Bungee jump off a high-cliff.
11. Skydive off a flying plane.
12. Have my own boutique.
13. Have a fashion collection paraded down the runway at any one of the world's leading fashion capitals, preferably New York Fashion week, Tokyo would be good, too.
14. Own a house.
15. Own a Hummer.
16. Bring Mum and Dad for a holiday.
17. Get married.
18. Have children.
19. Be featured (even if it was a short, simple role, say, a waiter or a janitor) in a movie.
20. Travel to Japan.
21. Travel to North Korea.
22. Travel to Bhutan.
23. Travel to Nepal.
24. Travel to Bhutan.
25. Travel to Austria.
26. Travel to Poland.
27. Travel to Switzerland.
28. Travel to Sweden.
29. Travel to Romania.
30. Travel to Spain.
31. Travel to Russia.
32. Travel to the United States.
33. Travel to the North Pole.
34. Travel to the South Pole.
35. Scale Mount Kinabalu.
36. Oh yes, learn how to fix cars from dad.

I guess these are the things I want to achieve in life before I go. For now.

What is yours?

Hugs and kisses.

Yours truly,

Wing

Hello there!

Well, hello there people!

Chinese New Year, like the wind, came and left in just a breeze. Time flew by and now it's almost the middle of March. Time sure does fly when you reach 20 and it never seems to go any slower at all. Strange. Not sure if it is just perception or it really is so...

Anyway, it's the second week back in varsity. Classes were pretty laid-back on the first week but all hell broke loose in the second week. Lecturers dishing out assignments in (metaphorically) uncountable amounts, like how the Chinese people will one day flood the earth, literally. Putting lots of effort into completing the assignments before the first few exams and assessments come about. And one interesting thing that happened this week was that I got put into a group where the members are a little not into the whole "I am a chemistry student and I ought to think like a chemist" thing. One member does not have really good background on chemistry (for real, knowing the geometry of ammonia is basic chemistry but she failed to name it correctly) and the other one does not show much interest in study at all. Coming in to lectures 15 minutes later, it does show lots about her attitude towards studies. On top of that, she submitted 100% copy-and-paste materials for her group assignment during her previous semester. How do I know this? My close friend was her group member. Let's hope I can keep my nerves together and not bazooka anyone down... Yet.

Ah, the smell on campus in the morning is so refreshing. Trees and grass releasing their aroma and the air just smells of nature.

Lastly, I hope all of you guys out there have a great week ahead.

Loves xo

WING

Semester 6

That's right! Semester 6 is just around the corner.

Sunday, that is today, I spent the morning cleaning my hostel room and bringing my stuffs back to my humble abode away from home. Not too long later today, I realised that the semester break is about to come to a close and Chinese New Year is not even close to being over. That certainly isn't a pleasant feeling but as always, good things don't always last forever and sometimes, we have to go through certain hardships in order to be able to savour the goodness of having a restful break. This is definitely true. Imagine someone being born with a silver spoon (or probably 24-karat gold) and has never had a taste of pain, suffering or despair in his or her palate of emotions, certainly he or she will never be able to feel the satisfaction that can be gained if one is finally free of these rather negative emotions. But of course, there are certain individuals who are kind and caring and yet, have never ever felt the more nasty side of the human emotions.

Back to the topic shall we? In two days (good for me, I am skipping the first day of class, WHEE!), these shall be a few things that I will be missing for a couple of months:

i. Sleeping on my favourite, comfortable pillow. I love the cotton pillow that is on my bed at home, plainly because it absorbs heat easily and dissipates heat well, so it doesn't feel as hot as using pillows that are made up of synthetic fibres, which makes me feel really uncomfortable. Couple that up with my skin problems, it will make my skin itch like a cat with a mange infection.

ii. Waking up as late as I want to. Yes, this is something we will ALL miss doing, especially when one has already got into the workforce. And perhaps this may even be the last semester break when I can actually wake up whenever I want to. I don't really sleep like a log, but being able to wake up at anytime of the day certainly is a privilege. To think that I have 8 a.m. classes this coming semester, I believe I will miss lazing in the bed in the morning a lot. Like a lot. *stretches hands out wide*

iii. Comfortable toilet! The toilets in the hostel are actually pretty fine and quite typical for any hostel that you may find. What isn't really fine is that the water gets accumulated gradually when there are many people using the shower cubicles at a go, as such, the drains get rid of wastewater rather slowly, thanks to smarty-pants who throw everything from shavers, empty shampoo bottles and even toothbrush down the drains. Sometimes, the poo-poo gets stuck on these objects that are considered rather odd to be found in a drainage pipe. At the same time, I cannot poo-poo and shower at the same time, poo-poo and shower are to be done in two separate cubicles. Sad! No warm shower in the morning too. Over the years, cold water is pretty much something I am used too already.

iv. Fridge, stove and washing machine! Well, as we all know, these inventions made our lives so much easier my helping us ease the petty stuffs. Needless to say, without these inventions, there are many things we can't do. I can't have frozen food, no cooking, handwashing my clothes. It's back to the medieval times, baby! Thank the Lord, there is a hot water dispenser just a about 25 metres away from my room. Else, I be burning down the whole building when I go into a rampage. Ram-page.

v. Transport. I hate to drive but I will definitely prefer to drive rather than take a bus that's full with people and one that is rarely on time. Meow?

Perhaps, this may look like something that borders on complaining? Hardships do make us stronger and through all these, I guess I learn to appreciate the petty and small things I have in life. Of course, there will be certain aspirations and goals to achieve this coming semester. Objectives keep all of us in the right path and direction, regardless of the route taken (a general statement of Hess' Law, applied to reactions that may take place through several and often, theoretical pathways). What might it be?

i. The prime goal of every semester is to remain first class. Hopefully, this semester goes on smoothly and all will fall into place. Thankfully, every semester has been great, thanks to my loving, helpful and also kind lecturers that are willing to help us out. Just another three more semesters to remain in first class! RAWR!

ii. Of course, the journey of discovery isn't over. I am gradually and also continuously learning new things about myself and also constantly trying to improve myself from the broken and weak person that I am. We are never perfect and that's why perfection seems so good to all of us. Not forgetting studies, too. This coming semester will be a little tough, especially taking on Principles of Economics, Organic Chemistry III and also Chemical Thermodynamics. Economics will be a new thing for me but hopefully, it won't be tough. Just like how I took the bull by the horns when I registered to take up basic level Korean two semesters ago, I will be doing the same for this. Organic Chemistry III will be an advanced course on organic chemistry, ranging from mechanisms, synthesis, organometallic compounds and also some topics of pericyclic reactions. Interesting but as always, organic chemistry is a hell lots of electrons jumping everywhere... And thermodynamics, the word itself sounds like a monster. I like monstrosities, bring on the challenge baby!

iii. This is totally out of my hands but I certainly hope that the selection panel will select me as a candidate for the Amgen Scholarships Programme to Japan. I am dying to go to Japan since the start of high school and my interest for Japan has never waned. My previous almost-going-to-Japan experiences were not so good and hopefully, this time, I will be able to travel to Japan, even if this is just a one-time experience. At the same time, the course coordinator for the industrial training course allows this programme to be counted as an industrial placement, should I be able to get through this. Definitely a kill-two-birds-with-one-stone. Crossing my fingers!

If you are going to start your new semester soon, tell me what you aspire to achieve! Or if you are going back to work, has the holiday done you any good, or has it changed your life in any way, big or small?

Love,
Wing

A little bit of this and a little bit of that?

My examination results for semester 5 were finally accessible to me on the 13th February, at night. And to my surprise (I am not sure whether if it a good surprise, or the polar opposite) that I scored such a grade in my previous semester. I was neither happy nor sad. I already learnt how to accept the life of student in university, in a way that sometimes, even with all the effort you put into your studies, somehow, Lady Luck tends to have some cruel sense of humour and makes you the joke. And hence, I missed scoring straight As in the previous semester. However, that wasn't much of a despair. On the other hand, I am more than thankful that I scored very well for my chemistry courses and indeed I felt that I deserved it. All the hard work throughout the semester, such as going to the library to look for answers when all I could do was ask the lecturers and finishing all my assignments on time, just to name a few. I am a firm believer that hard work always (almost!) produces good yield. Not to brag, but we all want to share our joys and successes sometimes, right? After all, sharing is in some way, caring.

Public oration, of all subjects. Seriously?

Thanks to public oration, I missed out on a perfect grade. The final examination paper was full of ambiguity and very subjective answer. I would have preferred a written exam than an examination with multiple-choice questions.

And Valentine's was a lonely again. When will I find love? Perhaps never? Or soon? I guess I will never find out 'til it happens.

Wing

Friday.

Thank goodness it is Friday but it doesn't make a lot of difference for a student that is on semester break like me.

Something random: People who don't reply others may think they look cool and are better off than others. I don't really think so. It just shows that one is rude, impolite and perhaps his or her parents did not do a proper job at inculcating something called MANNERS.

So, it is actually the big V-Day tomorrow and many singles will be thrown into the oblivion for one day. Looking back at the many rejections I faced before this, it just makes me want to laugh all the more, especially tomorrow. Singles, hang in there! It is only one day in the year!

Chinese New Year is less than a week away and boy, I am quite excited for Chinese New Year. Hope all will be good this year. I am very much afraid of the balik kampung exodus, though.


WING