Selamat Hari Kebangsaan

It's INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! Selamat Hari Kebangsaan to my M'sian friends. Found this on YouTube.


Part of Tunku Abdul Rahman's speech on Independence Day.



Declaration of Independence with shouts of MERDEKA and the National Anthem.

Notice that the anthem, NEGARAKU was played at a much slower pace than what it is today. In 1993, the tempo of the anthem was changed into 'fast-march', from 96 beats per minute to 126 beats per minute [information sourced from http://www.national-anthems.org/anthems/naw_id/NAW-105]

The link above also shows the history of how the anthem came about. In brief, it was an adaptation of Perak's (one of the states in M'sia) state anthem titled TERANG BULAN. The following is Perak's State Anthem.



This is the orchestra version (without vocals)



Both anthems have the same melody but Negaraku is played at a faster pace and with different lyrics. Perak is where I come from and I still remember the school days when we sang both songs one after another. Makes the learning of both anthems easier since both have the same melody.

On another note, it's Week 4 of school, mid-terms coming up soon and my FYP CA1 is approaching as well. Time to get into action.

Of Injuries and Accidents

It's been a while since I've worked on school assignments and now that I have 1 to do, I feel the rust in my machinery. I've taken more than an hour trying to solve just ONE question and still there's no progress; hence the decision to do something else to temporarily keep my mind off work.

Was having a chat with Lay Hoon earlier about injuries (if you're reading this, GET WELL SOON!!!) and it prompted me to think back about my past accidents/mishaps.

I present to you, the TOP 5 MISHAPS IN JV'S LIFE!

5 : Victory 'tumble'

Most people will fall from their bicycles during a race or if he is learning how to cycle. For me, it was different. I completed the race (in my neighbourhood) safely but then I decided to celebrate by pumping my hands into the air (blame the Tour de France cyclists for this). What happened afterwards was hard to describe but let's just say it was a wild ride (for me and my bike.. separately)

NOTE: I had dinner right afterwards and I was desperately trying to hide the wound from my mom under the table. Of course, she found out and I had a scolding for pulling the stunt.

4 : Butter fingers

I was thirsty, needed a drink. Picked up a jar containing orange juice, dropped it and the glass smashed onto my feet. Minor wound but the orange juice + blood on the floor effect looked freaky. Got a nice scolding for not holding the jar properly.

3 : [not so] Thick skin

The scouts were cleaning up the den and I was assigned to clear the storage room. Climbed onto a table to put a folded tent into a shelf. Jumped down from the table without looking where I would land. Luck was on my side. There was a rake there with the sharp ends pointing upwards, resulting in 3 puncture wounds on the base of my right foot. To add on to that, it was a rusty rake. Had to limp to a clinic to get anti-tetanus jab.

2 : Leech Bait

It was the trap-making session during a training camp in Papan, Perak. While I was slicing a bamboo piece into half (using a parang of course), the bamboo in turn made a cut on my left hand. It hit a blood vessel and a red fountain emerged. I acted fast and pressed on the wound with my scarf. Not knowing what to do next, I just called to a friend nearby, leaving the frantic screaming to him. [Yes, if I recall correctly, he was more shocked than I was]

I was brought to a clinic and had 3 stitches to cover up the wound. That cost me RM1.00 (government clinic lar). I can still recall the constant itch caused by the stitches.

NOTE: We were making traps to kill leeches. Tjen Jhung, my Patrol Second, made good use of my blood as bait for our trap. Well done.

1 : "Superman"

We regularly see the man of steel stopping vehicles moving at high velocities with his bare hands. Somewhat impressive. I had the same idea, but the execution was poor.

This is a 5 year old kid on his way to kindergarten. His bus stopped just outside the kindergarten and he goes down from the bus. It is typical of young kids to cross the road IN FRONT of the bus as it's safer. It wasn't to be for the young boy. As he was crossing, the bus moved and just rammed into him, pushing him onto the road and consequently running over him. He would just escape a serious injury (or even death) as the wheels of the bus zoomed pass his sides. The bus did not even know what happened and made a turn at the junction until the kindergarten teacher rushed out and shouted at the driver to come back. The boy was sent to the hospital. He lives until now.

NOTE: The boy continued to follow the same school bus to school for the next 10 years, until Form 4 when he would ride a motorcycle to school instead.

Encore : See-Saw...... SEW

Sat on a see-saw, jumped off while it was still in motion, the board made good contact with my lips, and the doctor had to put 8 stitches to sew the wound. What a freak accident.

There you go, tragic part of my life. Until next time.

HR2002 - Human Capital in Organisations

Was reading Gabriel's blog on one of his module : Human Resource Management. It seems like the HR module has the same concept for both NUS and NTU. Compulsory for engineers, 3 credits but feels like a 10 credit module.

But I have to say that my class instructor is doing a great job in keeping the workload down. For the first few weeks, instead of getting us to do the readings before class, we were actually instructed to come to class with the readings so that it could be discussed together.

During the previous session, we were treated to not one, but two interesting videos on HR, mainly on big topics like Organization Culture and Structure. These videos made the learning fun and different from the same old powerpoint slides that I'm used to getting during my other classes. In fact, it is something I look forward to, although the class is at 9 in the morning.

On a separate matter, IT Fair is on; time to buy things that I don't really need. [guys need retail therapy sometimes]

Game On

This is just a lousy attempt to post something on the blog.

Starting my final year in NUS and raring to go all out to achieve my best ever results in University. It's GAME ON!!!!