Rector's Cup Debate

I joined UTP's Rector's Cup debate (Malay Language) last weekend. The final was held yesterday. Well, my team lost. My team finished as runner up, but I'm amazed at how much I have changed.

For a start, I don't even care we lost, but I'm more proud we manage to stand for ourselves. We enjoy the debate, have a few good & quality debates, etc. Compared to when I'm in SEMASHUR, winning is the only thing I'm debating for. And I expect top notch speechs from my teammates. But now, flanked by ZS (my junior whom I grilled in SEMASHUR for making far too many mistakes in his speech) and BP (a Sarawakian, not even a Malay) and helped by PV (an Indian as our reserve), logically you can't expect anything from this team.

However, we rose beyond ourselves and I was astounded by all of them. ZS has improved a lot, BP are among the best 3rd debater I have ever seen, and PV is what you can typically expect from an Indian in Malay debate, (150% of commitment plus talent unrivalled by Malays themselves.)

Where should I start my analysis?

Well, first of all, I like to give the organizer a big C. They done okay but in a few things they intefere too much in things they shouldn't. They are UTP's debaters yes, but they are unproven at best at inter-varsity level. But what they are trying to do during the event is, cloning more of them.

They treat all of us like a nervous first time debater, hello... And as they are also the preliminary round judges, expect defeat IF you do something AGAINST their preferences. And EXPECT defeat also if you are too good, with this reason (insider's secret)

"Walaupun Team C lebih baik&bergaya, tapi Team A baru lagi dalam debat.. Team C susah nak di bentuk sebab dah ada style sendiri"

That's the most stupid reason I've ever heard!

That's the informal quote. Now let me quote an official statement from a judge after we finished debating a motion titled "Kreativiti Penjana Kemajuan Negara"

One of the judge said "Kamu kena cari satu keyword yang boleh buat team kamu menang. Satu keyword yang kamu boleh consistently attack and in this debate, keyword itu adalah penjana"

Hello again... We are all ex-debater too okay, we know the drills. But we want to debate "kreativiti". so what? For us, it is far easier to attack. We don't care if you are not apt enough to oppose the main points for the title, but we know what we are doing.

Lucky, the final adjudicators are lecturers. The students organizer are partial and bias. And I should mention again,they like to interfere, down to our own team tactics!

However, we lost in the final, I don't mind because we face a worthy opponent. We give our best, they give their best and they win fair and square.

But I wish I could debate with these debater-cum-organizer and let the lecturers be the adjudicators, let see which is the better team. Huh, I even believed they can be easily outmanouvered by Team A (the Rector's cup winner). The organizer has gone a little bit overboard this time and they think they are too good to make any mistakes, poor them.

Faint hearts never win fair ladies

I read this article in today's The Star. Interesting to say the least, and let me share it with you. It have some truth in it. I have once been at the same crossroad in my life and fortunately, I took the right junction, and it does change my life (happily ever after) ; )

There’s a quote: Faint hearts never win fair ladies.

Knights in shiny armour win their damsels because they are willing to fight dragons which is a stand-in for their fears. They have to conquer their own uncertainties before they win their reward.

No one likes being rejected but rejection won’t kill us. I don’t know if you’ve noticed the young men and women peddling wares on the sidewalks near mamak stalls and kopitiams. These young people walk up to strangers to ask them to buy whatever it is that they are selling. Often they are rejected, but it doesn’t get them down. They move on.

Lovers are not unlike salesmen peddling wares. You’ve to open your mouth to ask. Sometimes you’re rejected, and when that happens, you move on to the next prospect and there you open your mouth again to ask, “Are you interested?”

Your choice is?

Relieved and The Dumb Luck

Or should I say "the smart luck" instead of dumb?

I made about USD50 by not going home this holiday. Err, what do I say? Not going home?

Ladies and gentlemen, apologize me for not informing you earlier.

I missed the bus to Kuantan. I don't know why, but God know the best. God knew that I'm not that eager to go home, and he made memissed that bus. Actually, I have already feel something "good" about not going home earlier that day, and now I knew why ;)

However I don't get the money to myself. Actually, I part with more of my money for a "better" cause.

Back to real time, I have just got back my Signal&System Test 1. Well, I was relieved! My mark was not good but not that bad as expected too. Act, I get an average mark! Fuh... I know I have to work harder, but this give my confidence a little boost. it's mean I'm not that bad, and I can do it. Whatever others said or think.

Stick to what you believe in, stick to your passion and you will succeed.

I believe in this.

Thanks for everybody... ;)

Going Back Home

At last I realized that my blog today is not what it is 12 months ago. And the readers, although some of them still being a readers, some of them are a newbie to my life.

Whatever it is, I really appreciate your concern. Honestly... ;)

However, I like to stress, no matter how pathetic and helpless I may sound, I'm never such person. I'm iron-willed, determined and smart enough to navigate through the hustle bustle of life. And as life must be, it has a fair share of ups and downs. And maybe currently I'm at the lower end of the cycle. God willing I will be up in no time.

What you are reading here are just a frank, uncensored insight of my train of thought. In real life I'm not who I'm here. I'm more reserved, rational and calculative. I don't easily freak out, especially to strangers.

However, I must admit, I love the attention. So, never made an assumption of who I am based on this drama about my life you read. You might be wrong. ;)

After days of delaying my return to Kuantan, I will be home by tomorrow morning. By bus depart at 9.00 pm tonight from Ipoh. Once, I was eager for holidays but this time I can safely say for now, I don't need it. I do have slight depression but my stress level are healthy.

The 1st thing I want to do when I'm in Kuantan, I want to resolve the issue with my Streamyx, meet E, and after that rest, rest & more rest. (under the new Smaller Step plan, rest also mean a little bit of reading)

I have a few words to say here, if these people are reading:

E (it stand for Emirin) : Ko free x Rabu (tghhari-petang)? Boleh ambik aku kt rumah x? Keta of cos mak aku pakai, adik aku pegi sekolah. There's a lot to talk about.

S@C (it stand for Syazwan@Curix): Rest, rest & more rest. Ok? Aku dah siapkan apa2 yang patut. Not available anymore.

>br>

Actually, for the 1st time, I will bring back notes. I don't know, my life seems more relaxed now, no hurried feeling whatsoever, and with this feeling I might be able to learn someting. I'm thinking to bring back Microprocessor notes (test due after the break) and Signal & System textbook (an unfathomable subject) and maybe do some works to finish the HSE project.

Oh yes. I have some more to talk about, but maybe in the future post.

Pen Off.

It's 3:05 and I Can't Sleep

A lot is going on my mind. I can't sleep.

A Nice Day, But I'm Not Happy

A short note as an update.

Thanks to Bd. For his tweaking and inititative, I can post this entry from the comfort of my room. If you didn't know yet, all my previous post are posted from a cyber cafe. This sem, I dont rely on UTP's network for Internet. Pathetic and so hopeless.

I have just sat for Analogue Electronic 1 test just now. Marvellous. I can answer all the questions. Well, undeniably the questions are quite easy, but it still do wonders for my confidence.

Hmm, yeah, but my heart just didn't feel that happy compared to when I answer my DE quiz a few weeks ago successfully. Honestly speaking, now is a trying time for Mya and me. Time keep us busy, and somehow I just feel we are not at our best. Well, maybe we forgot something, I don't know. It shouldn't be like this.. :)

More updates later. It's 2:12 a.m now. Reporting to bed.. Cya..