You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December, 2007.
In keeping up with my personal tradition of an annual musical review, here we are once again with an overview of the good, the bad, and the ugly of my perception of the musical world in 2007. Note that although this post is titled “Music of 2007: A Review”, it encompasses MY 2007-which is to say that the stuff I list down is what I heard this year; it may have been released earlier (or later HEHEHEHE=p), but if I heard it this year, then it qualifies for the 2007 evaluation process.
But I believe that you will find that most of the subjects of the review are relatively recent anyway=)
Atif, stop sniggering -____-
We begin with my listing of what I judge to be the Top 5 Albums of 2007. In order, they are:
1- Life In Cartoon Motion, Mika.
Release Date: 5th February 2007, Number of Tracks: 10The album of the year award for me goes to Mika’s Life In Cartoon Motion. The reason as to why I’m giving the gold medal to this Lebanese-British product is simply because for me, the album is virtually flawless-up to now I’d be hard pressed to decide on the worst song of the album, seriously. All of the tracks on this album have a certain level of quality which I find rare amongst artists-especially pop singers come to think of it-nowadays. Blessed with an awesome voice, and a cheerful, almost childish disposition, Mika totally won me over with his debut effort. Great to listen to in the mornings, (Happy Ending is a good choice; so is Grace Kelly), suitable while you’re on a roll and feeling cheery (think songs like Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) or Stuck In The Middle); even when you’re pensive and philosophical (Billy Brown and Any Other World); or just for when you’re feeling downright ridiculous-Love Today-Life In Cartoon Motion has it all.
I eagerly await to purchase Mika’s next effort=)
2-Corinne Bailey Rae, Corinne Bailey Rae.
Release Date: February 2006, Number of Tracks: 11Coming in at a ridiculously close second is Corinne Bailey Rae’s self titled debut album. I was introduced to Mrs Rae by my dad who picked up the album randomly at a Popular Bookstore (YES, randomly bought, and he just happened to pick a GEM @.@…we should play the lottery more seyh XD) and subsequently handed it to me for a listen. Then, I had already heard Corinne’s first single Put Your Records On on the radio but had no idea who sang it, so when the track came on the CD player, light bulbs and signposts bearing “EUREKA!!” started coming on lol.
Those signboards changed their text to read “WOW @.@” after the first few listens. I am not a fan of blues and jazzy music, but the tracks in the album seemed to be arranged in a way that implored me to keep listening and give it all a go-something which I am glad I did. For me, Breathless and I’d Like To are the prize tracks on this album-the former is a slow jazz ballad which plays with my heartstrings every time, while the latter is an upbeat track which has me jigging and singing off-key every time.
And if you purchase the Special Edition album (cover pictured here), you get a whole disc of unreleased new tracks-unreleased my foot, you could PRODUCE an album based on the quality of the “b-sides” here @.@ If you do get this version of the album, check out No Lovechild…a wonderful song=)
Good stuff.
3-The Boy With No Name, Travis.
Release Date: 7th May 2007, Number of Tracks: 13The Scottish alternative band Travis takes bronze with The Boy With No Name. The first three singles of this album-3 Times and You Lose, Closer, and My Eyes probably sum up the abstracts of the musical diversity this album has to offer. If you like gentle strumming, smooth vocals and gorgeous soothing melodies, then this album is for you. The songs on the album are mostly of the slow type-crooners such as Closer, Battleships and Big Chair are the brunt of the album’s auditory approach-but is filled with enough upbeat tunes to perk you up every once in a while. The only reason as to why this album comes in third is because there are some outright duds (read: ridiculously common and unimaginative tracks) in it; a good example would be the rather poor Under The Moonlight.
But aside from that, it makes a pretty good listen.
Oh oh, and do check out the videos for Closer and My Eyes on YouTube-absolutely HILARIOUS!! And there’s a Ben Stiller cameo in Closer lol! Now isn’t that reason enough?=D
4-Minutes To Midnight, Linkin Park.
Release Date: 14th May 2007 Number of Tracks: 12Don’t look at me like that-I’m as surprised as you are @.@ If you were ever near me about the time Minutes To Midnight was released, (and were patient enough to hear my rants about it) then you would have known how much I criticized it: no coherence in the songs, ridiculous lyrics at some points, no Mike Shinoda @.@, a total departure from any sign of the power of the old Linkin Park, some songs come across sounding like the inane rap formation Fort Minor…and the list goes on.
But somehow, Minutes To Midnight is by far (and I really mean FAR-think almost TRIPLE the number of listens possessed by the second most-listened-to album on my iPod @.@) the album I’ve listened to the most this 2007. I do not know why this is the case-there is barely a gem on the album to put it bluntly-but somehow the songs have this certain lasting tinge to it that have me playing (and singing along to) them over and over again @.@
But I’ll give it a fair review; Bleed It Out IS a good song, and so is The Little Things Give You Away and What I’ve Done to some extent. The album is very very listenable, and Linkin Park DOES push their musical barriers a little…but how can you forgive them calling a ridiculously pathetic number like In Between a song?!! @.@ Argh, search me, I don’t know for sure to be honest. My ears just like it >.<
And did I mention that I’ll be seeing them in concert this February in Montreal? LOL.
5-Oh! Gravity, Switchfoot.
Release Date: 26th December 2006, Number of Tracks: 12I can see Adib bin Amir crapping in his pants right about…NOW=p Hahahaha, yes, Switchfoot takes the fifth spot on my list of best albums of the year-partly because they produced a damn coherent work, but also because I liked how they presented the “awareness and materialism” content of their latest album. Intriguing guitar play, strong vocals, and powerful melodies make this a very powerful offering from this American band.
My personal favourites on the album do include the slow number Yesterdays, the hit single that is Awakening, and the hard-rocking Burn Out Bright. Faust, Midas and Myself is also a very interesting concept song, and a tad spooky to be honest @.@
A very safe bet if you just want something good to listen to.
AND that ladies and gentlemen, rounds up my favourite albums of the year gone by. Their quality cannot be fully expressed without the presence of their peers and counterparts, so I’ll mention some albums that caught my eye (and came pretty close to making the Top 5), but eventually lost out.
OTHER NOMINEES (no particular order):
1-Paper Walls, Yellowcard. (came very VERY close, this one. Ultimately, although Dear Bobbie and You And Me And One Spotlight served it well, it was pretty much the same old stuff repackaged five times for half of the album)
2-Daughtry, Chris Daughtry. (solid album, Chris Daughtry is undoubtedly talented; but this work just lacked the certain allure of being an excellent album. Not bad though. Very much worth a listen)
3-Exile On Mainstream, Matchbox Twenty. (another solid piece. Too bad it wasn’t as much of an album as it was an EP, but How Far We’ve Come was a fun song)
4-Don’t You Fake It, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. (screamo with a melody. Worth checking out, even with only my two favourites – Face Down and Cat and Mouse, it still is an absolute contender)
5-It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, Maroon 5. (very good effort. Too bad none of the songs were REALLY lasting and memorable though; overplayed by radio too)
6-Stadium Arcadium, Red Hot Chilli Peppers. (double disc album that one has to scrutinize for the real gems, which isn’t bad)
7-This Delicate Thing We’ve Made, Darren Hayes. (same as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, except that it’s VERY experimental; even though it didn’t give prime results, songs like I Just Want You To Love Me still take your heart away)
8-Transformers OST, Various Artists. (The Goo Goo Dolls, Styles of Beyond and Disturbed are awesome in this one)
SPECIAL MENTION: The Pursuit Begins When This Portrayal of Life Ends, Evans Blue. (Blog readers, here I introduce to you one of Canada’s own homegrown bands, Evans Blue; hailing from Toronto, Ontario, this is an alternative band which hasn’t really made it big nor gone mainstream yet. They do however, have two full albums released, the second one of which is named here. They are pretty solid on it, and have improved DRASTICALLY from their rather bland debut album. I recommend to you guys their single Dear Lucid, Our Time Is Right Now and songs like Q and Pin-up…they’re not bad=) Seriously)
9-Every Man For Himself, Hoobastank. (pretty decent, and does stay in your head for quite a bit)
10-V, Vanessa Hudgens. (*blushes* yes, I tried her out >.< Not bad. And she’s cute *still blushing LOL* @.@)
11-A Beautiful Lie, 30 Seconds To Mars (very nearly beautiful, seriously. Decent effort, solid instrumental work-wonderful drums-and BY GOD Jared Leto CAN sing!! @.@)
12-Oral Fixation Volume 2, Shakira (snappy title @.@ Not bad on a whole, but sorely lacking that element of durability and replayability)
13-The Dutchess, Fergie. (ALMOST A DUD, this one. The ballads saved it from becoming a mindless body romp, and I can’t deny the girl has talent)
Speaking of duds-
WORST ALBUMS OF THE YEAR (in order mind you, first is the worst):
1-All The Lost Souls, James Blunt.
Ridiculously disappointing. After his impressive Back To Bedlam, I was hoping for solid quality or experimentation from this guy in his sophomore effort; he provided a collage of boringly bland tracks, mixed up with a ridiculously repetitive theme of stardom for no bloody reason at all. Refer to my review on it three-four weeks back for acute sampling of the pain one can experience listening to this man shoot himself in the foot.
2-Loose, Nelly Furtado.
If you wanna sex yourself up, prepare to lose some fans. I am one of them-I do not favour abandoning solid folk music and enchanting melodies for tirades about how promiscuous (and drunk) people can get in a bar. Aside from that, you should also sex up with imagination in your songs…not only are they degrading, now the songs are also barely tolerable. Like a smelly bartop dancer this album is, so to speak.
3-N.B, Natasha Bedingfield.
Gone are the enchanting tunes to friendship and life that characterized Unwritten. We are now faced with a host of love songs that fail to incite passion and belief like the previous album did. This album is here only because it was such a letdown compared to the original, but in truth it is definitely at least on par with Vanessa Hudgens’ V. I was just very disappointed with it.
SO that concludes my general opinion on the songs and albums I listened to in 2007. I have deigned to decide on a “best song of the year” simply due to the fact that I listened to SO many this year, and it would need one helluva rubric to effectively twist and select for the best…and even that I could never be totally sure. Just pick up any one of the Top 5 albums I listed above, and chances are that you won’t be disappointed.
I end 2007 with a log of my expectations and anticipations for 2008 musically:
WISHLIST:
1-The Black Mages III , The Black Mages.
By FAR FAR FAR the album I want to listen to the most; for those of you who don’t know, The Black Mages are a group of Japanese musicians who reinterpret and rearrange classic tunes from the Final Fantasy video game series with rock instruments. They have gained my respect for their BRILLIANT knack for instrumental arrangement and their daring method of actually breaking down classical tunes into real guitar chords and drum beats.
Their third album, a double disc album which focuses on reintepreting Final Fantasy tunes AND Japanese mythology, has been postponed twice now -it was initially supposed to hit the market mid 2007 before it was pushed back to late 2007 and finally, March 2008. This is one album I can NOT wait to get my hands on-bet you anything Liberi Fatali will be on it!
I swear I will actually purchase this album when at last the time comes.
2-Stop The Traffik (unconfirmed title), Daniel Bedingfield.
The guy has been in musical exile for four years now, and rumour has it he has enough material for at least two albums. I liked him back in high school…should be interesting to see what he has to offer.
3-Incubus.
High time for them to produce another album.
4-Switchfoot.
They are due for an album too.
5-Hoobastank.
So is Hoobastank lol. Not THAT keen, but it will be interesting to observe these guys.
HAPPY NEW YEAR PEOPLE!!!=D
=D
For virtually the first time in my life, I have been lucky enough to receive Christmas presents!!! Lol, I know that sounds lame to half you Canadians (and possibly some Malaysians too =.=”) but that’s just how it is with me. Therefore in honour of the kind thoughts of those who have given me gifts over Christmas, I present (HAHAHAHAHAHA present!!! Geddit geddit?!? XD) to you a grateful rollcall of my Christmas gifts for this year:
The whole haul-
=D
Three different people/families are the architects here. Now let’s go through them one by one=)
This one’s from my housemate, Marc Andre. As you can see, it’s a set of dining plates, complete with accompanying soup bowls and cups!! There’s actually a bit of a background story to this…to cut a long story short, let’s just say that I didn’t see the purchase of quality plates for myself as something “necessary” here in Canada-I made do with tupperware instead @.@
Thanks Marc! You’re the best!=D
Next up is Leigh Allen’s-one of my Geology coursemates-present:
Ta-daa!! A bottle of highest quality maple syrup and some maple creams, both locally made=D It was my first Christmas gift here in Canada, and I have to say it’s SOOO fitting!! How better to commemorate my first Christmas here in Canada eh? But there’s a small problem…I do not think I’ll have the heart to eat/drink them lol o.O Maybe the maple creams, but not the maple syrup lol! It’s just soooooo…sayang nak makan. Heheh, there you go-I like it so much to the point that a bit of Malay precipated out from my mouth LOL.
And check out the bottle:
It’s in the shape of a maple leaf!!=D For those of you who didn’t know, the maple leaf is the little red daun thingy in the middle of the flag of Canada. And you can even see the veins in the leaf design-isn’t that cool!!=D
So thanks a bunch Leigh!!=)
Finally, the gifts from the Wasilik family:
You’ve already seen them actually *points at previous post*, so I’ll just put up how it looks now. I put it right next to my bed, adjacent to the wardrobe. Now I have something to look at-and be reminded to be thankful for-before I go to bed!=)
Again, a huge thanks to Oscar and his family.
If you examine them map closely towards the south, you will be able to see:
OTTAWA!!!
A city which I am very glad to be in=D
Hello everyone!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!=D
Actually feels very different to actually really extend the greeting to everyone!=D Hope everyone is doing okay, and are also ready for a post with LOTS of pictures!! I just got back from spending a few days at my good kolego (read: Polish for sahabat=D) Oscar’s place near Barrhaven, which is approximately a 25 minute OC Transpo bus ride from the University of Ottawa campus.
Oscar and his family-who are of Polish descent-had very kindly invited me over for a duration of three days and two nights, and they weren’t just any days-I would effectively spend (and celebrate) Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and also Boxing Day with the Wasiliks!=D Then, under the guise of debate training and case prep-Oscar and myself will be representing the University of Ottawa at McGill University’s Montreal Winter Carnival in January-I packed some clothes, my trusty laptop, my trustier toothbrush, and caught the bus to Fallowfield station, also at the Barrhaven region.
Christmas Eve was spent following the Wasiliks (Oscar, his sister Monika, and their grandmother) around for winter shopping. An experience which allowed me to fully comprehend the dilemmas of the much-touted-about Christmas shopping lol! Observing the factoring of prices, the burning desires to obtain and give gifts with that personal touch whilst trying to beat the Sears’ Mall closing hours helped me realize that when I embark on my first Christmas shopping spree for others, (hopefully next year!!!=D) I may be a big klutz lol!
I will never forget my first Christmas Eve dinner with the delightful Wasilik family. Where else can I be lucky enough to have two downright awesome friends, each with their own uniquely powerful rib-rattling sense of humour (you should have seen how Oscar and Monika cracked me up with their jokes…I have the evidence in the form of a six-pack XD), two very warm family custodians-Mrs Wasilik and her mother are truly wonderful people-all the while sampling a delicious Polish-style dinner. I won’t even dare to try and spell some of the dishes I had (I can tell you there was fish though)-for fear of ridiculous embarrassment when Oscar reads this post-but suffice to say they ran a whole list of my favourite food down the wire.
And possibly gave them a sound beating=D
By the way, no pictures yet because I didn’t think it would be a very proper representation of Malaysia if I took out my Olympus FE-230 and started taking layered snaps of the grape juice and plum soup lol.
Christmas Day began with Oscar and myself playing StarCraft: Brood War to the wee hours of the morning. Ho ho ho lol!! o.O The highlight of the day was when Oscar brought me out for a walk-he wanted to show me the old quarry behind his house. Take note that the temperatures then weren’t exactly the happy-happy-joy-joy-super-sunny-so-many-birds-and-cows environments that characterize a certain South East Asian nation: it was a minus two degrees Celcius, and the snow was thirty centimeters thick outside-one can even get frostbite in such conditions after prolonged exposure.
Which made it all the more fun!!=D
We managed to persuade Oscar’s sister Monika to join us (this is one girl I really salute to high heaven on the basis of how good a sister she is) before we left the house. Aside from the temperature, it wasn’t just any ordinary walk, as this picture will demonstrate:
I call your attention to two things in the picture: 1-YES, that IS ice right there, frozen solid on what used to be a clear countryside pathway; 2-Notice those rattan-like thingummajingies towards the bottom of the page? Those aren’t rattan-they’re made out of animal tendons, and are called snowshoes.
And they allow you to walk on snow without having to fall through twenty centimeters of snow (and about a pile of embarrassment)!!!=D
But not easy to use, trust me. They are HUGE, for one; walking on them is almost like strapping massive fans to your feet. Then there’s balance to get used to. And also the lift-shuffle walking style…I think you get the picture o.O It took me a while before I could actually walk with them on, and even then-
BISH!!!!!
But luckily Monika was on hand-
-to help pick me up=)
And to help fasten my shoes properly=)…and yes I was also very excited after having realized that I was on camera.
Saved by Polish hospitality!!!=D
After a while, we eventually arrived at the old abandoned quarry which Oscar was telling me about-the “a while” was mainly due to repeated delays, due to a certain Malaysian’s insistence of taking photos of every dim-witted object he saw. The fact that he also managed to conduct a “scientific” experiment which involved throwing soggy apples at random in the snow-don’t ask lol!-also contributed to our delay. Monika confided in me she was already wondering if we would get there before New Year’s.
We did-here is a picture of the quarry:
In warmer times, it is actually an old abandoned lake which I assume would look pretty picturesque, judging by the number of birch trees in the background. Now however, the lake is frozen solid in most parts. I would have started trying to walk on it had Oscar not warned me that it was ridiculously dangerous to cross a frozen body of water at temperatures close to the freezing point.
The fact that there were fault lines visible in the surface of the ice also threw me off. Hey, I DID learn something from my Geology class!!! XD
We then played with the camera for a bit:
Monika-Irving-birch tree-snow.
Then we gave Monika my camera:
Which she began to use.
And she took pictures of us.
In many poses:
Even when we weren’t serious (Oscar and I opted for some inter-cultural tango):
And also when we were:
By then our gloves were starting to get wet, and I was feeling very cold, so we turned around and began the walk home. It was already about 4.00pm, and it was almost starting to get really dark. We traced our route for the fastest trek home. On the way we spotted a certain fossil in the snow:
It was where Monika had fallen earlier XD
We arrived home in less than half the time it had taken us to get to the quarry-the Malaysian was feeling cold and a lot less experimental , which of course explains everything. The walk was great fun, but I was also glad to be back in the warmth=)
Mrs Wasilik had prepared a huge Christmas dinner-there was this one MASSIVE turkey which must have been an elephant in its past life on the dining table when we came down after having gotten ourselves warmed and cleaned up. There was also a delicious array of stuffing, with berries and other side dishes-more than enough to make one’s mouth water=)
I was also given the opportunity to observe a Polish-Canadian Christmas tradition: pieces of bread were passed around, and the Wasiliks would share them out, taking care to sample each other’s portions. The bread-sharing was accompanied by every individual’s wishes for another, which I thought was very warm, open, and sweet. To my surprise, I was also asked to be part of the event-I was handed a small piece of bread first from Oscar’s grandmother, who wished me well in my studies and hoped that I would not be too homesick=’) Each Wasilik passed me in turn, each with their own very sincere wishes…by the end of it all I was feeling very warm, touched, and contented=)
God bless the Wasilik family=’)
After dinner, it was time for presents!!! This was also to be the first time in which I would be able to witness an actually Christmas Day present-giving and opening. Personally, I think it is a truly wonderful tradition-people buy things for each other, trying to think what would suit them best, whilst trying to make the gift as personal as possible…definitely something which I would consider bringing back home to Malaysia.
And surprise surprise!! The Wasiliks had a Christmas present for me!!=D It was in a well-sized Christmas gift bag, and inside, there was:
-An absolutely delicious box of chocolates -Two sets of beautiful writing paperAnd-
A HUGE map of Canada!!!=D =D =D
I think it’s the perfect gift, don’t you agree? !?It’s a wall ornamentation, a form of general knowledge and education, and also an array of memories all at once!!=D And what better way of remembering the good times I had in a foreign country when I finally go back to Malaysia after my four years here=’)
To the Wasilik family, thank you so so much for having me over for Christmas-it was a warm experience which I will never forget for the rest of my life. You made me feel so accepted and so at home, and words can never express my gratitude at how well received I was in your household=)
I left Barrhaven a little after 4pm on Boxing Day; Oscar had a test to study for, and I feel it was best if I were to leave him alone for the first time in the past 3-4 days lol=) To top it all off, we DID get some debate cases done for the Winter Carnival-and I have this feeling that we may just pull something off in January-something worth remembering=)
The pair of siblings who made my Christmas=)
Now who needs Santa Claus, eh? Lol!=) I would like to end this post with a picture of the note which was attached to my Christmas present from the Wasilik family.
Now that’s one thing that they did wrong.
Because it sure as heck was the other way round=)
Oscar, thank you for gracing me with your family’s presence.
Nothing much-I just think Mrs Tan Winona Ryder is gorgeous.
=)
So my first university semester officially ended with the Chemistry 1311 final exam which I wrote this morning.
It feels good to have made it this far; and I am glad it ended the way it did. At press time, I have an A- from my Physics 1121 course, and I also feel that I did myself justice on all my other exams so thank God. My first university semester…over. It was an interesting experience to say the least, made all the more valuable and appreciated because I’m actually doing it overseas =’) Not one day do I not thank God for this wonderful opportunity.
But I digress; back to the main theme of this post. My first semester was interesting because in many ways, it was not interesting…uh, that make any sense? I quote the description of the character Major Major Major Major (yes LOL!) of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 to give you an idea of what I mean…and don’t worry-no spoilers in this quote here 
See what I mean? But that’s not to say my first semester was a bad experience, hell, it was an eye opener in many ways, but it was the same old rigor of ICPU-compressed into three months. I am no stranger to hard work, if I do say so myself, and constant assessments have become the order of the day so the U of O held no real big surprises for me, academically. Nevertheless, despite the lack of any real culture shock and the fact that I hope I did myself justice in the exams, I provide to you the official review of my first semester at the University of Ottawa from an academic perspective-in the hope that it will help me become a much better student by the time the winter semester rolls around. This review takes the form of a comment sheet of things which I hope to improve upon:
And jap jap jap-random fact: the description of Major Major Major is actually an allusion to William Shakespeare’s Hamlet =) The English great wrote in his masterpiece that “some men are born great, some men achieve greatness, and some men have greatness thrust open them“. Interesting eh?=D And yes I will be taking a literature course next semester woot!!!!
Anyway-
OFFICIAL REVIEW:
1.) Staying on top of things; we all know that staying on top of things at the university level isn’t easy, and I am no exception to this rule. Although I can happily say that not once was the quality of my work compromised due to the lack of time available for the particular assignment/lab report/test, I am throughly interested in how quickly I fell from being “on top of things” to “just barely keeping pace”. I started out very much ahead of my professors, reading ahead of classes (yeah, you can call me a keener =.=”) and studying for assessments ahead of time, bu this momentum somehow disappeared by the time the second month rolled around. Next thing I know I was doing the pre-reading ten minutes before the class started =.= Now this is one thing I would like to see fixed.
2.) Proportionate time allocation; have you ever seen a guy spend a week working on a lab report that in all likelihood was worth only 2.5% of his final mark? If you haven’t (and thus haven’t lived=p) come to Ottawa, Canada @.@ I seem to have had that problem somehow this year; although it is good in the sense that I produce high-quality assignments material, and generally get a good review of the subject matter, it IS a little too much of an allocation for a meager source of my grade. Ergo, I should learn how to balance out my time more effectively…hang on…I mean efficiently. There you go, good start=D
3.) Aim to kill; part of the reasons as to why Issue #2 became a reality was my tendency to do things twice. And when it comes to lab reports, you do NOT want to do them twice. Hell, I once re-did my Geology lab report five times over because I thought it was lacking in some departments @.@ Again, efficiency is the key-shoot at the bloody target’s head: aim to kill.
4.) Don’t be afraid; this one is a tad embarrassing. I actually admit that I hardly asked my lecturers (Physics 1121 and Maths 1330 mostly-ironically, they are my weaker subjects =.=”) about the course material because I allowed myself to be intimidated by them. In my defense they WERE scary people in the sense that they could make you feel ridiculously stupid-but that’s not excuse. I pledge to go and be more inquisitive next time…even if it means getting laughed at in the face by some random smarmy prof.
5.) An adaptation is an adaptation; I didn’t realize the significance of the change in assessment modes at first. I thought that they were generally all the same and ergo could be treated in roughly the same manner. Yeah sure…I believe you-a final worth 31% and another worth 80% are the bloody same thing =.= In extension, I also failed to adapt to my professors in time for me to be able to inflict significant damage on their course material-this trend was all the more pronounced in Physics 1121 in where I just hung on for the ride towards the end of the semester…nasib baik A- @.@ I pledge to adapt faster from now on…and of course Issue #4 and #5 are somewhat related.
6.) Mine minerals and vespene gas; hua hua hua, snappy title. Use the resources available to you. The U of O has some excellent sources of aid for bugling students to get a grip on their academic dementia-it includes the sizeable Morriset Library (I’d like to see how you guys pronounce the name of that building btw ;p),numerous Help Centers and SAS (no, that’s not Sekolah Alam Shah Acis=p) services which I may not need at times, but is good to get track off. And oh yeah, your profs have office hours too Irfan…tsk tsk.
7.) THINK! THINK! THINK!; this became my mantra for much of the exam period (I wrote it down on the top of every final exam I wrote @.@). Apparently I have just realized that I have considerable thinking capacity, and therefore ample ability to probe around for answers to questions in my head. The links just have to be made, and all can go very well. So THINK! THINK! THINK! Think Irfan, God save you, please do think.
8.) Even more divinity; nuff said, I think. You don’t really need temples=)
That’s all for now folks. At this point I would like to thank all the individuals who have helped me get through my first semester at the University of Ottawa with considerable aplomb and self-appreciation. Truly, your support has been monumental in helping me become who I am today-ESPECIALLY when you solat hajat for my Physics exams;)
Teehee.
God, that was SO Kar Yian XD (congratulations on getting married btw!!=D)
I would also like to thank PETRONAS for giving me this opportunity to be here in Canada, my parents for their love and support-also for their garang picture that I have on my laptop which never fails to stop me playing StarCraft and get back to my books!! XD And of course to all my friends, confidantes, peeps and peers (also my numerous amount of wives =p) back home, I miss you guys and love you even more-that will always stay the same no matter what.
I will be even better next year, God-willing.
This just in: my sincere condolences to Melissa Chong for the loss of her beloved friend and companion Mickey who passed away last night. As I have a similar companion myself (albeit a stupid one-must be due to the country of origin @.@) I can understand the scale of what you-and your dad in particular-must be going through. Interestingly, I was trawling through my old e-mails last night, and just happened to read all the weird jokes we used to make about him, bless his soul.
Salam sayang dari saya di Kanada.
I actually debated with myself for about ten minutes as to whether I should put this up.
In the end I decided (and realized): “OH, WHAT THE HELL-YOU GUYS WILL STILL LOVE ME REGARDLESS”.
=p
=p
=p
Having said that, enjoy:
HOW TO MAKE LOVE
Ingredients:
4 Laughing eyes
4 Well-shaped legs
4 Loving arms
2 Firm milk containers
2 Nuts
1 Fur-lined mixing bowl
1 Firm banana
Directions:
1. Look into laughing eyes.
2. Spread well-shaped legs with loving arms.
3. Squeeze and massage milk containers very gently.
4. Gently add firm banana to mixing bowl, working in and out until well creamed. For best results, continue to knead milk containers.
5. As heat rises, plunge banana deep into mixing bowl and cover with nuts, leave to soak (preferably NOT overnight).
6. The cake is done when banana is soft. If banana does not soften, repeat steps 3-5, or change mixing bowls.
Notes:
1. If you are in an unfamiliar kitchen, wash utensils carefully before and after use.
2. Do not lick mixing bowl after use.
3. If cake rises, leave town.
XD
Okay, I am expecting about fifty comments for this post at the very least.
We university students live a life on the battlefield: constantly warring against lecturers, waging skirmishes against armoured assignments, launching bombing runs on enemy quizzes, strafing midterm fire, and assaulting the front lines of lab tests.
And when all that is said and done, the juggernaut-secret weapon of the academic courses-comes out: the final exam. The strongest unit on the pitch, this megaweapon packs enough punch to riddle one’s trenches with bulletholes and slam the fences with projectile fire.
Yes sirree, which is why I have a personal record of my greatest academic battles of all time. And when I say “my greatest”, it doesn’t necessarily mean I won, but what it does mean is that both sides fought the good fight, and that I had to overcome incredible hurdles just to enter the exam hall and make that battle one worth watching.
So for a good viewing, these are the classic battles, with some explanation in parenthesis:
1.) Irving Tan Zhi Mian vs UPSR Science, 2000 (I remember the MCQ’s were tricky, and that the Section B part was crazy, repeatedly asking for manipulated variables in a setup where there seemed to be at least five of them @.@).
2.) Irving Tan Zhi Mian vs PMR Bahasa Melayu, 2003 (WTF WTF WTF. I never understood head or tail of this paper’s comprehension paragraphs, and the tatabahasa component…@.@ Another narrow victory).
3.) Irving Tan Zhi Mian vs Form 1 Kemahiran Hidup, 2001 (I nearly peed in my pants cause I couldn’t answer soooo many of the questions…it beat me. I got a C =.=).
4.) Irving Tan Zhi Mian vs First Ever Additional Mathematics Midterm, 2004 (HAHAHA, RIDICULOUS DEFEAT in this one -I was left staring at the paper for hours, trying to decide if I had somehow walked into the wrong school on my way to class that morning. I still remember my mark…33% heheh @.@).
5.) Irving Tan Zhi Mian vs SPM Additional Mathematics, 2005 (REVENGE IS SWEET. Nuff said XD)
6.) Irving Tan Zhi Mian vs SPM Biology, 2005 (OMG WTH WTH WTH WTH WTH. To this day I do NOT KNOW how I achieved an A2 in this exam-I started by only getting about 30 of the 50 MCQ’s right in Paper 1, then told the Kementerian some crap about lymphs and parasites in the structure questions of Paper 2, before rounding up the fiasco by suggesting that the rambutans in the Paper 3 experiment had to be soaked in 0.2% sucrose to ascertain their solubility, and then proposing that maybe oil was a stable food component @.@)
And now ladies and gentlemen, you can add the University of Ottawa’s very own PHY 1121 exam to the list. Administered by Professor Zbigniew M. Stadnik, it successfully tormented me for three hours straight this morning =.=
I shall begin describing how tricky this exam was by providing three statements:
1.) It was an OPEN BOOK exam. Yes, get your bloody books out everyone -try to see if they help you @.@
2.) 31 Questions, all MCQ. In THREE hours. And we only got 90 minutes to handle 80 Kemahiran Hidup Questions in Form 1 @.@
3.) Sample question: Three solid, homogenous spheres are on identical inclined planes. One of them, A, is a lead ball of mass 5M and radius R, another, B, is a wooden ball of mass M and radius R, while the third one, C, is a wooden ball of mass 3M and radius 2R. If there are no frictional losses, which of the following statements correctly relates the translational speeds at the bottom of the inclined planes?
A-Va=Vb=Vc B-Va>Vb; Va>Vc C-Va<Vc; Vb<Vc D-Va<Vb; Vb<Vc E-Va=Vb; Vb<Vc@.@
Contact me if you want to know the answer. God, I think I have never fought so bloody HARD against an exam before >.< It was a solid three hours of insane thinking and scribbling. I remember frantically shuffling notes, scribbling down answers, biting my lip in despair when my derived equation did not provide for the answer I needed. OMG the pain!!! @.@ I do not recall being SO determined to not let an exam get the best of me; I had a 38% from my coursework going into the exam, the latter of which had a weight of 56%; I’ll be honest, I had prayed SOOOO hard the night before that I would somehow succeed to get a mere C and just pass the course =’(
Again I repeat: 56% of your final mark in 31 questions? Do the math people, and tell me how much each MCQ is worth >.< My strategy for the test was to come in hard and fast, and build up momentum as I went along – because I knew that if my congenital functions started coming in, I stood a fighting chance against the wave of equations that could come my way. I also organized my notes and created a framework of reference, in the hope that it would help build up my momentum of thinking by allowing me quick access to the sample questions and notes that I might need.
It didn’t seem to go so well at first: out of the first ten questions, I couldn’t answer five of them. And of the five I did do, two of them were in fact barely more than educated guesses >.< By the time I reached the end of the paper and began to turn around, I noted that I only had half my OMR sheet filled up @.@
Took the exam for another spin, this time jumping around randomly, solving questions here and there, double-checking the ones I had answered when I felt like it-my strategy had changed from “get all the marks you can” to “solidify the marks you have got” >.<
Once the exam was over, I walked back home and got online. As the Prof had promised, the answer scheme was up: everyone could mark their papers and figure out their final course score. I just wanted to pass with a C-it was all I could desire after failing to adapt to my Physics prof’s teaching style in time=(
I got a 73.3% on the finals -an exam which constitutes 56% of my final mark in the course; I also had another 38% in coursework to be added to this fraction.
Now do the math.
Convert the percentage…
Add them together…
And you get:
79.888…
I actually got an A-…=’)
Yes that emoticon actually happened after I realized what I had managed to do =’D
Truly, this really has been one of my greatest academic battles. Thank you God. Thank You so so so much=’)
I want to open up my heart; say how I feel…
Wild horses, I wanna be like you:
Throwing caution to the wind,
I’ll run free too.
I want to open up my heart; say how I feel…
Wish I could recklessly love, like I’m longing too-
I wanna run with the wild horses,
Run with the wild horses,
I want to open up my heart; say how I feel…
Oh, please let me run with the wild horses…
I think I just might have blown my Calculus exam >.<
Recent Comments