Last post in Miri

I should be having lots of posts since it's already the holidays, but there was barely anytime to be sitting in front of my laptop to surf the net other than my emails.

It's my last week in Miri and this will be my last entry here.

The whole week was a blast! Packing, planning and farewells...

Monday and Tuesday were about packing. I didn't expect to have 2 luggage bags, 4 boxes (mostly books and one Sonic Gear speaker), a bicycle and a guitar (with a badminton racquet, a pingpong bat and a camera tripod). In between the packing, I had dinner with the 'Geo' girls - Ming Yi, Li Ming and Shae Nee - on Monday after their exams. Had a good chat with the girls in Canada Hill.

...taken at Canada Hill...

(after four takes)

Tuesday was supposedly a meeting but it ended up with lunch, window shopping, Starbuck'ing, sunset'ing.

...my Signature Hot Chocolate...

...wannabe Charlie's Angels...

(Li Ming, Ming Yi, Karen)

I had to send my things down to the transport company on Wednesday morning. Thank you so much to Catherine and Adrienne for helping me out that morning. Had a long meeting with Student Wall in the afternoon and had a short walk around campus to take pictures. Dinner was at Miri Cafe but my dish wasn't that great :(

...I was in time to use this building...

Thursday was so random. Went for a swim at 9.30am! Sun was so hot... After the swim was a long walk in the city. It was a walk to the chicken rice shop in town but we ended up in Taman Bunga, lunch at a shop that sells good lunch and snow flakes. We continued the walk to WZT Cafe but the coffee wasn't as nice as we thought. Too bad the chicken rice shop was closed so we headed to Imperial and bought some DVDs and headed back home to freshen up before meeting up the girls for kite flying in Tanjung. Cut myself pretty bad while trying to save the kite but had we all had fun!

...Catherine and the smiley face kite...

...half way flying the kite still can syok sendiri...

...Amy, Ray, Jason, Yuki, Ruby, Catherine and I...

...taken at Bintang Megamall carpark...

Now, it's Friday and it's time to cut off the Internet at home. Two more days and I'll be off from Miri!

All that is left here with me is my laptop and a backpack filled with a week's clothes.

Will be back three weeks from now for updates~!

Happy Holiday everyone!

Exams are over!

Yes. Indeed I'm flying in the air now with all my exams -DONE!

But not as happy to leave so soon.

Lots of things to do: lepaking with friends, packing all the treasures collected for the past 2 years, planning for my long holiday, saying the 'goodbyes' to everyone I've met here in Curtin.

One more week before leaving a place I called 'home'.

But for now, exams are over! It's time to celebrate!!!

Miri [Paranomic - Part 2]

...picture taken from the Photoshop Workshop...

- Curtin University Campus -

*click picture to enlarge*

The Study Week

I bet all Curtin'ians spent their whole one week studying for their finals which is starting...tomorrow!

My first paper will be on Tuesday and one on Thursday and another on Friday this week. Which means, another 5 days to the day I finish my degree! :)

The study week...this time, I'm glad to actually have 3 papers coz the past 3 semesters killed me a lot where I had to wait for a week to two for just 1 paper! At least I spent my study week this semester wisely with three units to revise on...and to add a little more 'study stress' before finishing my study life.

The study week started off with two days of public holidays - for Gawai. Monday was a blast coz we were at Rumah Ampik for Gawai and drank lots of tuaks and beers and liquor. Tuesday was another day of rest for most working people but it was the day of revision for Curtin'ians. Started my revision on Wednesday and continued on Thursday. Friday was a chill out session again (...not sure what I can do to revise more, so I watched drama series the whole day...). Saturday morning was a great one - tiring for sure - but fun, volunteering to help the cleanups at Mercy Malaysia office in Piasau. There were bags and bags of clothes, shoes, toys, bags. It was a sweaty morning but later, we had a good meal at MarryBrown before going back home for an afternoon nap which later extended to the evening. Sunday was another day in church and lunch with Uncle David after the service. Had a short meet up with the house owner and the new tenants who will be renting Lot 3946 next month...and now, it's back to study!

Exam starts tomorrow!

All the best to everyone in Curtin!

Miri [Paranomic - Part 1]

...taken at Bintang Megamall carpark...

*click picture to enlarge*

Gawai 2009

This will probably be my last year celebrating Gawai with my foster family in Rumah Ampik. We had another Gawai visiting this year with Gerain and 7 other guys. It was an early morning visiting and it ended at about 1pm with a few of us tipsy and a few of us drunk.

...taken before more tuaks and beers...

Met Tuai Rumah and his wife and other relatives in the longhouse. It was sad to know that Uncle Simon met with an accident last year and was in a long coma until recently and his wife passed away just a month ago. He barely remember us but he was there, sitting and chatting with us.

...looooook! tuaks and food!...

We were brought to perform a ceremony and OMG~! they gave us tobacco leaf to eat!!! It was horrible! and there goes our drinking session. We were served with three different types of beer, lots of tuak and pure Label 5. 

...a part of the ceremony...

...all of us had to turn this chicken around for 7 times...

Lucky us that we managed to leave half way through the visit because one by one started to get drunk... *thanks to that guy who basically got all of us drunk during our first visit*

...the chicken that we all turned it 7 times...

It was a great visit and it was great indeed to be back home in Rumah Ampik.

Hope to have another visit sometime in the future.

John Curtin Leadership Academy...the Friday

The last day in John Curtin Leadership Academy.

...just a short brief...

A FRIDAY MORNING WITH JCLA

Date: 29th May 2009

Time: 10am-1pm

Venue: LT Foyer, Curtin University

It was supposedly a 'Telematch with the Blind' but it went a little bigger than expected. We grouped everyone (all 22 JCLAs) together from different group; Project Care, Golden Ambassador, Vision, Friends of Society and I have a Dream. It was a whole morning of telematch~ 5 hampers were given out for all the telematches.

...the team...

JCLA POSTER PRESENTATION

Date: 29th May 2009

Time: 2pm-5pm

Venue: REC Hall, Curtin University

It was the last poster presentation for our batch. This time is was organized in Curtin with some corporate companies. We were given 30 minutes presentation for all groups. One thing's for sure, the food is nice~ :) Worst part of all...we had to move all the poster boards from REC Hall to AL Building, and deng! those stuffs were heavy!

...the advance batch with the facilitators; Haslina, Serina and Terence...

-as for now, it's time to wait for the announcement of our graduation-

It's been great working with everyone in JCLA! 

All the best to everyone in the final exams and all the future undertakings~

Of Fun Fair and Kite Flying

It's my last 4 weekends here in Miri...

(am counting down, but am feeling sad as the days passed)

Another fun weekend.

Saturday was a blast... started with:

1. trying to find a mechanic store that can help to fix Catherine's car ASAP. had to sit in the 'oven-heated' car from Senadin to Krokop and back to Senadin.

2. photographing for Curtin Sports Nite 2009

3. fun fair

can't post up photos for Curtin Sports Nite. coz the photographs are copyrighted to Student Wall. it was a great event. so many awards were given out and there were so many pictures taken. the best part...a full glass of pure Bicardi (I thought it was mix with 7up, but after taking a big gulp, my eyes were wide open!).

Catherine and I left Imperial for dinner at Pelita before heading home, but we side tracked to the UK Fun Fair which was happening at Boulevard parking area. We paid RM2 each to enter and took a walk around. We decided to come back next time (when the haze is not interfering our sight)...but maybe we'll think twice coz 1 token is RM2! It's expensive!

Sunday was another blast...

Woke up and went for MGC service at 10am and lunch. Amy brought her friends to look-see our house (considering to rent)...yea~ Catherine and I will be moving out from Lot 3946 in a month. *sob sob* Catherine and I then met up with Kai Yie at Pelita to have a short view of the Miri Orchestra team practice. We then took the kite from Kai Yie and went to fix the with tapes and strings and off to Tanjung for kite flying!!! Got my kite up~~~ :) Catherine then bought a smiley face kite from the uncle for RM10. This time, we first want to fix the big kite and make sure it flies and will fly all three at Curtin!

Was trying our luck to enter the Marina Bay Boat Bar and surprisingly the guard let us in without asking questions. Drove into the harbor and it was an awe~. Found the Boat Bar but it was empty... Had dinner at Banana Leaf Restaurant (RM4.50 for 'all-you-can-eat' rice+curry+4 choices of vege+papardem).

Another 3 weekend...and hopefully it will all be a blast~!

The last moments in the Classroom

Final week of classes...

Yea~

I decided to attend all my classes this week. It started on Tueday (2.30-5.30pm) to Wednesday (8.30-10.00am & 2.30-5.30pm) and my last class was on Thursday (11.00-11.30am).

I was supposed to be jumping for joy after submitting all my assignments, but............ I had to request for extension for my MCI 212 Final essay, thanks to JCLA! My lecturer gave me 5 days, so, submission of my last assignment is on Wednesday! Yippie~

Tuesday afternoon was another bomb on me. My Marketing Research lecturer told my group that we will be presenting in the 'Best Research Paper' presentation on Friday at 1.30pm! ...and there are lots of things to amend in the slides for that presentation. 

It was another load of burden added.

There were little sleep (12am-4am) everyday until Friday.

Friday was the last straw.

8am-1pm: JCLA Awareness Campaign

1.30pm-2.00pm: Market Research Presentation

2.00pm-5.00pm: JCLA Poster Presentation

5.00-7.00pm: Evaluation session of JCLA group

That's the whole reason I had to ask for extension for my assignment...........

Anyway, classes are all over and JCLA is over too!

*more updates on the 'A Friday with JCLA and JCLA poster presentation coming up...when I'm free lah~*

What a great weekend~

It started with a dinner...

Saw Kai Yie performing at the Miri Festival. Made plans with Kai Yie for Saturday night with Project Care - Catherine, Johan, Suhas and Gerain. We met up at 'Ala-mak' for a while and after seeing the menu, we decided to go to Banana Leaf Cafe near Tanjung. Met with Angelie (sorry, if I get your name wrong) ...and had a very delicious, fulfilling banana leaf meal~! Been looking for a place to have banana leaf food for such a long time!!!

...Catherine, Angelie, Kai Yie, Gerain, Suhas and me...

(photographed by Johan)

...look at the food~~~...

...Gerain after his enjoyable dinner...

It was indeed a great meal! It was out of a sudden that we decided to go for a movie. Was standing outside the cinema for 10 minutes to decided which movie to watch - Angels and Demons or Night at the Museum 2 - and later, everyone agreed to go for Night at the Museum 2!

We had an hour or so to wait for the movie at 11pm. Headed down to Starbucks and had Hazelnut Hot Chocolate while playing a game Angelie introduced. Got to see Angelie, Catherine and Johan singing in Starbucks...hehehehe.... (videos with Gerain)

...the girls at Starbucks...

...the boys 'see no evil, talk no evil and hear no evil'...

Then it was off for the movie~! Met a lot of Curtin'ians in the cinema too...

It was a great night...a fully chill out night...

The next day, Catherine and I decided to go for a bus ride in town. We were an hour late - supposed to leave house at 7am, but instead we left at about 8am. Had breakfast at 2020 and headed to the bus terminal...the funny thing was...the bus we were supposed to board was waiting there and we missed the bus after taking a short walk around the terminal! Had to wait for another hour for the next bus. Managed to board the bus at 10am for an hour ride around Tanjung, Airport and Siang Siang Garden and back to the terminal.

Went home and had a long afternoon nap until 4pm before going for Madagascar 2~ *laughs* 

Spent the whole Saturday and Sunday chilling off...and guess what...I have an assignment due this Friday and a presentation this Thursday!!!

It's ok...it's a great weekend!!!

A Friday with JCLA!

There will be 'A Friday with JCLA' organized by the John Curtin Leadership Academy participants on:

This campaign - a joint event by all 22 participants aims to create awareness among Curtin'ians on the community service projects and research for non-governmental organizations such as Sarawak Society for the Blind, Sarawak Children's Cancer Society, Peryatim and the self-initiated groups such as Project Care, Fortissimo and MWWT.

Here are the program details for the event:

The JCLA Telematch is a combination of 5 games, where four of which will be done 'BLINDFOLDED'! (Walking with a cane, Dressing Up, Pour the Tea and Football).

Great prizes awaits!

Hope to see you there!!!

Movies and Festival

Riding through the last few weeks here in Miri is not exactly nice...yet...coz there's just too much work but so little time to finish them.

In between juggling for completion of assignments and JCLA projects, I managed to sneak away for a couple of hours for some 'out-of-work' activities.

Angels and Demons is now in the big screen. 

Had been waiting for a very long time for this film -2nd Dan Brown film - well, I haven't read any of his books (Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons...coz planning to get both the books in KL once I'm there for work.

The sound and visual system in the cinema was disappointing lah~ Visually was so dark and audio'lly (if there is such word) is not clear. Cannot really differentiate between them talking in English or otherwise. Storyline was.............erm.............erm..............okla. Not good review from Catherine coz she read the book already. It was not as intriguing as the first sequel and not as suspense too. 

...Miri City Fan...

Miri Festival (not sure what it was called)

It was held on the 20th May at Miri City Fan. Catherine and I went for a little look-see and found ourselves right in front of the stage where, I think, only reporters and photographers are allowed in there. We waltz right in with the SLR and sat there for the performances.

...performances by the ethnic group...

...Digi's Yellow Man dancing 'I will follow you'...

...crowds...

There were four performances and then it was another wait for the VIP (abbreviation for 'very-idiotic-people) to come. So Cath and I decided to leave and...for once, we actually saw this monument lit up at night!

Miri City is 4 years old now...and hopefully, by the time the city turns 5 next year, Bintang Megamall will be completed, Curtin University will be expended, more tall buildings, etc.

Shot but not Dead!

Week 11 is one hell of a week!

why?

2 reports due on Wednesday and one presentation on Thursday. the presentation was one crazy assignment as we were only given the guidelines like...say...WEDNESDAY morning! -.-" 

lucky me that I had my other two reports sorted out on Tuesday and happily handed the reports on Wednesday, with no sweats~ then it was off to 'pia' for the presentation.

1. found out on Tuesday night that the data input in SPSS was partially MISSING since last week. all analysis are no longer valid!

2. did the report and presentation slides at the same time within less than 24 hours

3. on the day of the presentation, half an hour before presentation, the graphs and tables in the slides were MISSING!

..............lost of words~

Was the first group to present in class and had good feedbacks, only some minor changes to work on and off we submit the proposal on Monday! I'm now off to sleep for an hour or two to restart my sleepy brain and then 'pia' to compile the whole report hopefully by tonight!

Then it was 'THE TIME' (ppl normally say 'THE DAY!') where verdict will be decided. Was not so worried until seeing the look on Haslina's face O.O! BAD NEWS! ...yes, it was a bad news, and I mean, really bad news! our sponsor pulled out from giving us the RM30,000 fund for the community project. They were good feedbacks from the sponsors on Project Care but the money just flew away~

so it's time to execute the 'PROJECT CARE CONTINGENCY PLAN'!

an emergency meeting was called for tonight to plan to plans to get another RM8,000 to complete the project. anyone who wishes to contribute to this community service project, please contact me! We need funds to help give free electricity to the people of Long Makabar!

overall...

I was shot 4 times this week and yet I'm still alive! :)

It's time to heal the wounds (sleepiness and tiredness and stress'ness and headache'ness)

oh oh.!

went to City Fan yesterday for the Miri May Festival event. will have the updates up soon...when I'm free!

Curtin Karate Challenge 2009

Curtin Karate Club organized the Curtin Karate Challenge 2009 - 16th May 2009. I was the only non-Karate-ka (no belt) in the event, participating in Hiza Kumite and Mawashigeri, against 3 other competitors of brown, red and purple belt.

...and guess what...

I won both categories!

Champion for Hiza Kumite and Mawashigeri for Female 14 years & above! 

Brought home two gold medals and certificates. 

*didn't expect to win at all, but paid RM20 for this competition and I brought home victory, more importantly, it was an unforgettable experience. Thanks Cath, for persuading me to join this challenge!*

Chilling through my last one month in Miri

2 weeks to go for submissions of all assignments!

to date: 3 reports, 2 presentations, 1 essay to go...

I've never actually enjoyed my assignments, presentations, essay writing sessions all throughout my studies coz every time when the season of 'Assignmenting' comes by, I'll be working stressfully, eating a lot, not getting enough sleep just to complete all the tasks for the semester. Then I realize that I have another 2 weeks to have this 'Assignmenting' experience before completing my Degree this June. It will be another year or so for me to continue my studies, so it's better late than never to enjoy and chill through my studies.

Some of my friends were wondering, "Karen, you look so free ah...no more assignments ha?" I walked around campus with my backpack (books, Mac, mp3, money for coffee...). I do sat myself in the cafeteria when it comes to doing my last minute work but still, I went around campus looking as if I don't have anymore assignments... *only when sometimes really stress until dunno wad to do then I'll have the 'DO NOT DISTURB ME' face lah~*

Well, yeah~ gotta chill and enjoy the Uni Life before officially retire from being a student. It scares me, though, that I will have to start all over again - work, new place, new home, new people, new environment - but I'll sure miss being a student here in Curtin. Lots of memories...

As for now, I want to spend my last one month here with lots of fun and laughter, assignments, presentations, projects, outdoor activities, good-for-nothing laziness, etc... -the list is just too long-

*sitting on the beach, watching the sun sets*

It's just beautiful~~~