Not yet...

Dear earthlings,

Just a quickie...I'm freaking OUT since the department incharge of approving my scholarship tak nampak gaya pon nak meeting anytime soon..oh my...oh my....menggelupur sekarang please..sungguh menguji kesabaran daku di bulan puasa nih...

Ya Allah, please ease this journey for us...Amin..

Yours Truly,

Adventure Addict

Iftar Day 1: Daging masak merah

Dear earthlings,

It is now the 2nd day of the holy month Ramadhan and I  hope it is still not too late to wish all of you to have a blessed Ramadhan...anyhoos, this Ramadhan, me and hubs decided to limit our spending at the Ramadhan Bazaar...with all the glorious food sold over there, it's easy to forget the true spirit of Ramadhan..

So I made a resolution to cook on most days, to omit the whole Ramadhan Bazaar is of course ridiculous...

The first night before fasting, I cooked Daging masak merah..it was my first time cooking this dish..

Since the food was already prepared, we were so excited to wake up for sahur on the first day of fasting...but guess what? because I slept uber late (nearly 130am...all because I wanted to cook the Daging masak merah dish), both of us did not wake up..It was so heartbreaking when we heard the alarm go off at 6am...

So what was meant for sahur, was carried forward for iftar..Alhamdulillah...not too shabby I must say for a first attempt...and as usual, hubs said, sama level macam gi makan kat kedai (I'm taking it as pegi makan kat kedai yang sedap lah..hikhik)..

Untuk menjadikan daging tu kaler merah, maka, wajiblah direndamkan dengan pewarna merah yer..kalau rendam dengan kaler kuning kang jadi daging masak kuning pulak kan...

Among the things yang dimasukkan ke dalam dish ni adelah:

Serai (obvious kot boleh nampak lam gambar)
Daun limau purut
Kacang buncis
Bawang merah
Bawang putih
Air rebusan daging
Cauliflower
Sos tiram
Sos tomato
Sos cili
Kicap cap kipas udang
Kicap cair
Garam and gula

Yours Truly,
Adventure Addict 

Not a walk in the park

Dear earthlings,

I've encountered some minor setbacks in my journey to set foot in the UK...So let me tell you this story...

I am a person who does not like to make last minute preparations for something HUGE..and jetting off for my PhD studies abroad is considered something HUGE in my vocabulary...therefore, I made sure that I prepared everything early on so as to not have any delay..I'm supposed to register on 2nd September by the way...

I filled in all the necessary forms, the list is endless mind you..but I forced myself to complete it...I went to BTN early...I secured the offer letter from the university that I plan to study early..but I have to tell you, the most challenging part for me was to get the signature of the person that I shall just label as X on my forms..but Alhamdulillah, I managed to get X's signature therefore I could proceed to submit to an office I'd just call Y..I submitted to Y on 23.05.2013...I know this for sure because I purposely asked the person who took all my forms to initial the date he received (I am very careful, just in case anything happens)..He promised me that all my forms will be sent to another office, Z on Friday...

The week after, I received an email from office Y informing that my application will be discussed in a meeting on 18.06.2013...So, I was very glad assuming that everything went smoothly...

Last week (04.07.2013), my colleague told me that he went to office Y to submit his application and the person he talked to mentioned that office Y actually still has my application forms with them...Imagine my surprise and anger at this news..I mean, for God's sake..I submitted in May, and they still have it with them in July??? This is a valid cause for me to worry..So I dragged my feet up to office Y to ask them what's going on and they said that they overlooked my case..they thought that I'm doing a split program (1/2 in UK and 1/2 in Malaysia) which obviously I'm not...so they have to put it through a meeting to get the green light from people in office Y...so much hassle...I'm going in freaking August and office Z have yet to approve my application (along with the funding of course)...which of course means I have yet to do my VISA application..

I'm not going to say anymore..I'm writing this down so that I will remember how difficult it was to secure this scholarship and how difficult it was for me to go to the UK so that when I get there, I'll remember to work hard and not waste this once in a lifetime opportunity...

Yours Truly,
Adventure Addict

Putrajaya Passport Office - Remember this the next time you want to renew your passport..

Dear earthlings,

Among the long list of tasks that we have to do before we can actually jet off to the UK is to renew our passports..There's no choice there..If we don't renew, then we can't proceed with the VISA application..trying to get a day off for hubs is very difficult that is why we chose to renew our passports on a weekend...and since there is actually a place in Precint 15 that is actually open on weekends for passport renewal purposes, therefore, we thought that we were very lucky..I mean, we didn't have to travel too far..

The passport office in Presint 15 Putrajaya opens from 8am till 1 pm on weekends..but be careful, if the Friday is a public holiday, then there's a high chance that the passport office won't be open during that particular weekend..we did experience this by the way...

Anyhoos, we wanted to be there early, to beat the crowd..so we arrived at the passport office at about 7.45am and guess what? Other people beat us to it..there was already a loooooong queue lining up to get the number...So much for beating the crowd eh?Hubs was so disappointed he even suggested to come the next day to which I disagreed...he relented in the end so we just waited in the queue..

Finally, we got our number...76 and 77...can you imagine? We came at 745am and we got that kind of number...the other thing you need to beware of is that they don't give out too many numbers..If I was not mistaken, they only gave out until number 104...I wonder who was the 105th person...I'm just glad it wasn't me...There were also people coming in at about 10am and 11 am asking whether they could have a number to renew their passports but, no more numbers were given out that day...Some even came all the way from Ampang..I pity them..

There's not much to do but wait..Our numbers were called approximately at 11-ish...then our number was called again to make payment at the payment counter (RM300 for 5 years renewal)...and after that we waited for about an hour to collect our passport...

If some of you are wondering whether you could renew your passport even though the expiry date of your passport is still ages to go, the answer is you can. However, if you choose to renew for 5 years, what they will do is, they will add 5 year + 6 months from the date that you applied... They will not add an additional 5 years to your current expiry date...even the girl at counter questioned me whether I really wanted to renew my passport to which I adamantly said yes..

Thank goodness we finally received our spanking new passport...It's such a huge relief that we got that out of the way...

Yours truly,
Adventure Addict

Percayalah bahawa rezeki itu dari Allah..

Dear earthlings,

In this world, there's not that many people who wish to see us succeed, or truly wish to see us happy... For example, during the meeting this afternoon, one of my colleagues asked me where I was going for my PhD..so I told her my university, and guess what she said? 

"Oh, boleh pulak ye time you pegi situ...bukan ke itu university tu not up to the standard...dulu mase I mintak, cakap university tu macam tu macam ni..." and she continued her blabber to someone who actually cares...Please have some respect for people's feelings..Don't be so crass about it..People work damn hard to achieve their dreams..so please do not nonchalantly brush it off as if it meant nothing to them.. 

For me, I believe that everything that I have today I owe it to my Creator for without Him willing it, I know, I have nothing...I am nothing...So, the simple logic is that, If you believe that Allah has planned certain things for you and allocated certain shares of life for you, then you will learn to be grateful and thankful but if you for one second believe that you could change things or people, then you will never be satisfied with what you have...

Allah dah allocate rezeki masing-masing..siapa kita ni nak persoalkan apa yang Allah dah takdirkan? Adekah you are trying to imply that Allah is unjust? sila mengucap dua kalimah syahadah balik yer..

Yours Truly,

Adventure Addict

a story of a PUSPAKOM inspection runner

Dear earthlings,

I did not have a good day today..and beware, this is an entry where I rant and whine so feel free to leave if you don't feel like catching the negative vibe..

I'm actually in the middle of selling of my car deal right now..and I had to do this on my own since the very beginning..it's tiring I tell you..

Alhamdulillah, the loan for the buyer was approved...believe it or not, I was the one who had to chase down the banker to ask regarding the status of the loan, I mean, is that not his job, to inform the client that their loan has been approved?

Now, the hard part...the PUSPAKOM inspection...since I've heard bad reviews from individuals who went to PUSPAKOM on their own, I decided that I should get the service of a runner who could do it all for me..How very unlucky for me, it so happens that this was the first time the runner was doing something like this (PUSPAKOM inspection for Higher Purchase)...

The runner was the one asking me a bunch of questions I had no answer to..like, come on...If I knew all that, why would I waste my money paying you the job I could do on my own? He asked what forms he should take for me, what are the next steps that he should do...For God's sake, you are the runner...I was ready to snap..seriously...

This afternoon, a banker called me up asking whether I signed a letter saying that the runner is going to pick up the car's original grant, I had to say yes, right? turns out that not only the runner just scribbled whatever signature he could think of and of course it wasn't even close to mine that's why the banker called up and asked me..the banker also questioned the registration number because apparently, on the letter, the registration number was not the same as my car...oh my...I was really really mad at that time, I felt I wanted to scream my lungs out...anyway, I sorted out the issue with the banker telling her that I would issue a new letter with the correct signature and the correct registration number and emailed it to her then and there..

I asked the runner to ask the banker directly since he was already at the bank, might as well be useful...he later called me up that he finally understood what his jobscope was...well, not holding my breath for his next actions...God help me...

Yours Truly,

Adventure Addict

successful PhD, from those who made it...

Dear earthlings,

I'm practicing something for my future PhD use..what is it that I'm practicing you may ask..the will to write as soon as I have something to write about...For your information, I am actually very scared of starting my PhD journey...I've heard (and read) so many experiences from those who's traveled down this road..Honest to God, I'm scared..I'm scared I won't have the resilience and patience..I'm scared that I won't have ideas for something novel..I'm scared of a lot of things...I'm just plunging in to this journey...I start in September...

In order to allay my fears, I started asking around about the whole PhD journey from all those Drs who successfully came out on the other side completing their PhD on time...I wanted to know, what it took for me to achieve the same feat...I'll list down some of the most important things they highlighted to me...

1. Always go to school..This may seem trivial and obvious but remember, PhD is a journey you take on your own..Nobody is going to boss you around and nag you to go to school..There'll be no classes, it's just you and your research..therefore, you must have a strong will and make sure that you clock in at least 40 hours a week...just like when you were working..only difference is, this time around, you are completely focusing on your research..They said that they'll come in at 8 and go back at 5...If they ever felt that they wanted to leave early on Friday, they made sure that they completed their to-do list earlier on..or if not, they would actually come in on the weekends to finish off whatever unfinished business...

2. Focus and focus and focus...oh...and struggle...and work extremely hard during the first year..this was said because many made the mistakes of leisurely cruising along the first year just by reading and doing the Lit Review...One of them actually advised me to start the experiment as early on as possible...Whenever I bumped into a wall, or some kindda hiccup in the experiment, then I could delve further into the LR and find articles closely related to the experiment I'm working on...then things will make more sense.. and we won't be like finding needle in a haystack..The LR will be more specific...

3. Write...write and write...Some people make the mistake of keeping the writing session till they complete the experiment, however, this is highly unadvisable said one of the successful Dr..It is better if we could do a write up about our experiment, comment on the results as soon as we are happy with the completed experiment...If we put off writing until at the very end, there's a high chance we'll end up with a lot of graphs, and numbers that don't make sense to us at that time...

4. Plan your work..this is what they said to me...Each week, Monday morning, just take some time to list down all you need to complete during the week..Make sure that the tasks are not insurmountable but not too easily achieved as well..there should be a balance so that at the end of the day, you are making full use of your time...make sure it is visible..write on small post-it..stick it to your laptop..so it's there..right in front of you...there's a huge difference between a TO-DO list in your mind and in front of your eyes..we are visual creatures...

5. Make friends with your research group members..this is super important..yes, PhD is an individual thing but it's not wrong to have some kind of support system who understands what you are going through, who are familiar with the deadlines and research..talk to them..sometime, maybe even during coffee breaks, during casual talks, we can get ideas because we are sitting among people who are doing nearly the same thing..

6. Set up a small group of people and then meet maybe weekly to present your findings on the journals and papers you've read..this way, all members can benefit in the sense that they don't actually have to scour through the whole article, they can get the gist of it from the group discussion...

7. Meet the supervisor regularly, so that he/she knows your progress and if you are digressing, they will be there to help nudge you back on the right path...

8. If you really want to take a break, then the best time to do it is when you go off for conferences to present your paper...After 2 days conferences, you can take a couple of days off to re-energize your batteries knowing that you have actually done something that can contribute to your PhD before having fun...It is tempting to go off on a trip to Europe especially when UK is very nearby and the flight tix are cheap, but do abstain yourselves especially during the earlier years of your PhD...Once you've achieved a huge milestone in your PhD progress, then you can reward yourself with that trip you've been dreaming of..

9. Doa and prayers...So very important beyond words. We may try as we might...but if we forget to ask help from the source of everything, if we forget that it is from Him that all our ideas come from, then maybe He will test our patience and our will just to see whether we return back to Him...Nothing happens if the Creator does not will it, therefore, pray.

I'm sure there's a lot more tips from those who made it but these are just a few that I managed to grab from the people I asked..Hope this helps those embarking on this huge PhD journey..This post is actually more of a self-reminder for me so that I don't forget myself when i'm there...

Yours Truly,
Adventure Addict

no matter how much you think you need it...

Dear earthlings,

So, I know I promised to myself to write every day, but I guess one can only plan, right? I miss writing, so here I am..Last night, we had a small doa selamat, solat hajat and bacaan yassin for my sister who is going to further her degree..

The ustaz that mum invited (who slso happens to be my brother's ustaz at school) gave a little tazkirah to all of us...My mum asked him, how to obtain "ketenangan"...inner and outer peace...he pointed out that in order to achieve peace, we don't need to have money we can sleep on, we don't need titles because even those who had them have confessed to never actually feel that bliss called "ketenangan"...he also mentioned that we can never truly achieve absolute peace, if we feel that we can change things that happens to us...this is quite true..and I do believe this with all my heart...As long as we are not content with what we have, or what Allah has given us, we will never ever be at peace...

As His khalifah on earth, we have to believe that every good and bad things happen to us for a reason even though at first we could not quite comprehend it, but believe that Allah will never ever ever be cruel to His servants...I believe that with all my heart...

No matter how badly we may want something, if Allah has not written it for us, it will never happen...

Yours Truly,
Adventure Addict

a call from far far away

Dear earthlings,

So yesterday from morning till 5PM, a group of butterflies invaded my tummy..wanna know why? well, my supervisor from LJMU was going to call me up for a phone interview...oh my..oh my...

I tried to search online for possible questions...some mentioned questions like why do you want to pursue a PhD? why did you choose this university? what do you think makes a good PhD student and stuffs like that.. 

One of my colleague was also interviewed by her potential supervisor from the UK but her questions were more towards publications and journal writing...

At exactly 10.00 AM GMT, the phone in my office wrung..the interview was actually not too bad..he asked me what subject I was teaching, what syllabus did it cover and co-coincidentally, he was also teaching the exact same subject back in LJMU..

He then moved on and mentioned that I had a short stint in the UK at University of Manchester and asked me whether I was familiar with the Brits educational system to which I responded yes...

Then he asked about my Masters dissertation which was Extremum Seeking Controller and asked me to elaborate on what is the difference between ESC and normal controllers..thank goodness I already prepared myself since morning so I just explained as best as I could..

I also took that opportunity to ask him whether there's a control group there and I learned that the control group was established 30 years ago..he also explained what are the topics and research area that the group is working on..

After a few more chit-chatting and I took the opportunity to ask how long it will take for LJMU to come up with the offer letter and the answer I got was most probably between 1-2 weeks...Alhamdulillah...Hopefully after obtaining the offer letter, I can proceed with submitting it to my dean to approve and then straight to KPT..

Yours Truly,

Adventure Addict

Biro Tatanegara at Kem Bina Negara Tanjung Rhu, Sepang

Dear earthlings,

In order for me to submit my application to further my PhD overseas, I need to attend the Biro Tatanegara (BTN) course. It is a 5-Days-4-nights course which aims to instill love for our country...So from 25th to 29th May 2013, I was a being a very good BTN participant :)

Admittedly, I was not exactly looking forward to attend the course, since I have attended a similar course back in 2007. This time around, instead of Ulu Sepri, BTN was held at Tanjung Rhu Sepang, and alhamdulillah, the location and accommodation is way better than Ulu Sepri. At first I thought of going alone, driving on my own even though I was not too sure where exactly the camp is located but in the end, I ask my sisters to accompany me and they could drive back my car. 

It's a good thing I did not go on my own, because I would have surely screamed inside the car when I could not locate the camp. Suffice to say that the map provided did not help much, I mean, the huge landmarks such as the KLIA mosque wasn't even on the map, like how did that happen? Google Map doesn't have the location Kem Bina Negara Tanjung Rhu Sepang, instead the only Kem Bina Negara available was Kem Bina Negara Kuarters KLIA. My sisters and I thought that they were the same. teyyyyt!! how wrong we were..but alhamdulillah, with some instincts we managed to reach Kem Bina Negara Tanjung Rhu Sepang at approximately 345pm..

Basically, the first two days, we just had to attend talks by several speakers and I find that the talks are very enlightening...for someone who does not work closely with the federal constitutions or the government administration, the talks managed to instill the sense of love and belonging to our country..Each session began  with singing the Perajurit Tanah Air song and Satu Malaysia song..

The next two days were spent in groups discussing certain topics related to Malaysian history as well as the Federal Constitution...everyone had to participate..you have to voice out your opinion..whether you like it or not..and we had to focus since we will be tested on the last day. My group consisted of people from different backgrounds, we had a lawyer, we had a staff from bursary department and we also had a dentist so it was interesting to listen to their opinions..

On the last night, we had to perform a song, thank goodness our group got away with a fairly simple song which is the Tanggal 31 song...it's not just singing though, we had to make a short play, and we practiced really hard and in my (maybe biased) opinion, our group performed the best but, we didn't win any place at all..shesssshh...a tad disappointed there..

Anyhoos, we thought that after our performance, it's wrap since we had exams the next morning, but they weren't letting us off that easily. We had to play some games and it ended well after midnight.. Only at 1am we managed to actually land safely on our beds...

We really did not have time to study for the test but the good news is it was an open notes test..yippee yeay yeay..

BTN taught me a lot.. maybe when I attended in 2007, I wasn't mature yet..but this time around, it did leave an impression..of course there are side effects such as learning to manage my time as optimum as possible because the schedule was pretty tight..

air conditioned hall for the talks...

at the musolla during the maghrib and isya prayers..oh and subuh as well

memorable meeting point where we did our aerobics, chicken dance, marching  and played "basuh baju" game

Oh, did I tell you that the reception is terrible.. It's so hard to communicate with the outside world..maybe that is precisely the reason they chose to build the camp here...hehehe..All in all, I'm thankful for this experience despite feeling pretty reluctant at first..

Best Regards,

Adventure Addict