when you least expect it 29.12.09

I haven't used them yet, the MPH vouchers. RM150 given by the ever-so-kind Monash University. Given to me last September, now I only have 3 months left to  use it up. I never thought I would be able to use it, since I don't know what kind of books I wanna buy. No need to suggest me any academic books - this is only precious enough for a book you really want to read! Something you would treasure even after you read it.

Lucky enough to get that amount of voucher? Alhamdulillah really. And I never thought I'd get anything free like that in my life. First it started with an email inviting me to participate in a telephone survey. If I would do it, I'd get $50 Amazon Gift Card free as a token of appreciation. It sounded too good to be true, I checked the website offering that first. Then it looks safe, I thought how nice - I won't have anything to lose. And they called me one day, after I gave them my number and suitable time/day. First it sounded weird when I picked up and an Australian was speaking on the other side calling from Hong Kong, and it turned out to be a bad timing as I was out eating at Jusco. She agreed to call me another time. I did my first telephone interview, where she asked me about my experience from wanting to go to an Australian university but could not because I didn't pass my sponsor's requirement (THANK YOU MARA) to how my life is at my local campus. The interview was recorded too, man I wondered if they even understood me if they listen to it again. Then it was thank-yous and she said, I will be receiving my Gift Card soon. Cool! I did get it in my inbox, much to my surprise, so it was not a scam or anything. And then came an email in my Monash mailbox weeks later (to shorten the longer story) that suddenly said, please pick up your MPH voucher at the room-number-something-something and ask name-something-something for it. Then I realized that the Amazon thing came from that as well. How did I get chosen (along with other few names)? Apparently they chose from the people who took the Monash survey or so, I think anyway, not sure what survey?

So it's USD50 and RM150 = over RM300.

So, if you're still in Monash, please do your surveys. Haha, not the point really. Whatever stuff you do from now on, as long as it's not wrong, do it with your heart. (So did I do my surveys with my heart? Ish... not the point here, hehe). Little things you do can get you back something big. Allah may suddenly give you something extra you never thought you will have. It is when you least expect it.

language, work and studies 4.12.09

The blog here is getting rusty again. I just thought to myself the other day, there is nothing much that I can write about. Sometimes I thought, rather than babbling about something useless, it's better if I don't write at all, yet, until I can come up with something better, a new idea or something, to write about.

This is a bilingual blog. Sometimes it's in English, sometimes it is in Malay, sometimes a mix. A true lover of Bahasa Melayu definitely won't like such a mix, also called rojak. Maybe sometimes rojak seems to make no sense, oh other than literally the rojak food itself which isn't something I am that big a fan of although I still eat it sometimes. The definite reasons for writing in English and why I like English sometimes - I can't put a finger on them, or explain it much. I just like English sometimes. Other times English is too complicated - by the way I think English is a complicated language, I never said it's easy, definitely... Bahasa Melayu memang lagi senang. Bahasa Melayu adalah straight to the point, takde kona-kona, letak imbuhan jadi makna lain, perkataan asas mudah nak ingat, walaupun perkataan dalam Bahasa Melayu kadang-kadang panjang sangat nak sebut (antara sebab amik English kadang-kadang). Contohnya... brooch dan kerongsang. Ada je orang yang sebut kerongsang, tapi bandingkan perkataan 3 suku kata ni dengan brooch yang kira 1 suku kata memanglah senang lagi sebut brooch. Untuk English pulak tak semestinya format penggunaan kata-katanya sama je untuk tiap jenis ayat... ah, nak terangkan pun aku tak reti.

But what was that? A language lesson? I am not qualified. All I'm saying is, I still love my first language, I also still like English. But to me they have their own flaws. Certain people also ruined it  for me, such as by Malay-ing an English word that should not have been, since its pronunciation sucks when transformed. e.g. plagiat. The word sounds weird no matter how you look at it or whatever reasons you created it. Just borrow the English word, what's bad about it?

These days I have started working for my internship. It's an office environment, a small place with no more than 5 people here including me, the permanent employees and the CEO. I have been assigned the project involving commercialization of a bio-pesticide product, now in the middle of handling report completion (compiling data and information from other parties). An intern assigned with a project? It's great that I've had help from the CEO so far. Of course, I'm doing it under her, you can't expect me to handle it all on my own since I'm new. Yeah well, I prefer dealing with lab apparatus actually. Sitting in the office like this is probably not bad, but not much into it for me. Does Ifyani miss the pipettes and chemical reagents of the Monash lab? I guess so.

And Monash just sent me the results yesterday. Alhamdulillah thank God primarily, in short I managed to pass all. Cellular Metabolism was really the deadliest subject anyone could ever encounter, maybe, but I managed to get through it. For anyone who did better than a Pass, well, you people did very well! I envy you all. Heheh. Keep up the good job anyways, everyone! And people, if you didn't manage to do as good as you might have hoped, it's not the end. It has a meaning, seriously. You just have to keep trying! I will, definitely this time, for my final year, try to do better. It's a very important year for me. I won't be a student anymore after that, at least not for a while anymore until I could again continue my studies - which may be more difficult than I thought since I don't really have the money for postgraduate levels just yet. But I'll try my best anyway. I will definitely miss the moment of being a student when I get out, so I should treasure it as much as I could while it's here.

No one can bring us down!