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| Tuesday, 24-Aug-2004 00:00 |
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Fitness level at an all time low....
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Went swiming today... couldn't recall myself doing that many meaningful laps. Felt out of breath really quickly. Might be due to my unpolished swiming techniques... i dunno... Fitness wasn't all that good when i did Taekwondo last saturday either. Felt really out of breath and abit nausea. Typical staying at home after coming back from the UK syndrome. Something must be done!! tried jogging the other day but air in my area isn't the best during the morning rush hour...
Got Japan visa on Monday. So all set for Japan!!  Probably hafta make one shopping trip soon. Worried about food. 1) I heared halal food isn't widely available. 2) Not too keen on Jap food. 3) Food is expensive there!! So might stock up on some canned tuna and brahims life savers!
Need to get some Yen as well tomorrow... I'll be giving a talk at the Leeds Uni's Pre-departure briefing on Thursday as well. should be quite interesting.
Mon has reached Beijing and heard some news from her. Cool. Looking forward to Japan. Hopefully I'll get some pics up as well... Peace out...
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| Sunday, 22-Aug-2004 00:00 |
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Japland here i come!!
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Hopefully going to Japan at the end of the week. Just waiting to pick my passport from the embassy tomorrow. Hopefully there's no problems as all the documents i have are the emails from our hosts, Kanagawa Institute of Technology to the Uni (Leeds). So everything other than that should be ok. Got the schedule already. Apparently I'll get 2 days after doing both the Race and the mini-symposium to go sight seeing!! I'll spend the first night in Tokyo curtesy of the Tokyo Petronas Scholars and the following night at Kanagawa and the 3 days after that will be spent at the twin ring Motegi circuit a bit north of Tokyo. We'll be sharing hostel rooms with students from Kanagawa... that'll be interesting... When we get back from the J-SAE event, the remainder of the stay will just be the mini-symposium thing which i hope I won't have to present anything at... then it's a bit of sight seeing and back in Malaysia on the 7th of Sept. Hopefully Petronas would have offered me a job by the time i get back from Japland.
This past few weeks have been packed by weddings and 'kenduri's... basially all eating sessions!! That and the laying around home contributed to the 3 kilo hike in body weight!! obviously because of my small frame no one will notice the added weight but the scales never lie...
Last week was the college Alumni annual meeting. It was held on a sunday. the day basically started in the morning at 11 for the AGM to elect a new committee followed by us alumnis giving small talks to prospective students on our respective unis. After that was the sports meet between the Alumni and the current students. The day ended with a nice dinner and time to minggle with the teachers and staff. We naturally came fassionally late to avoid being elected for any posts on the committee and i was supprised they didn't have a Leeds Uni booth that i could man. But that was ok cos i got more time to catch up with fellow alumni, most of which have just graduated and awaiting call of duty from thier various sponsors. Sports was rather crap as we only had one basketball court and the juniors had got there first... so we ended playing football on the netball court!! hehehe... the night ended in the dinner which was quite nice but some of my teachers have left my college. Speaking of college, the name has changed 3 times now.It used to be Kolej Matrikulasi Yayasan Saad. then the year after i left they changed it to Kolej Matrikulasi Yayasan Satu as reponsibility changed from Yayasan Saad to United Engineers Malaysia Bhd (UEM). This was because UEM's parent company, Renong group wasn't doing too well. Now after the liquidisasion of the Renong goup, UEM took over the college and the college's name is now Kolej Matrikulasi Yayan UEM. It's gonna be hard to explain this to my future employers if they ask!!
Enuf college stuff... Mon's going to China for next year today. She threw a BBQ party at hers last friday. Was good to see her one last time and also, it was cool to finally meet Jess and the others who were there. Van came up to Leeds once but she had her beanie on all the time so it was the first time i saw her looking 'normal'... Did make me feel a bit old being surrounded by mon's 19 yrold friends but it was all cool and the food was brilliant!! Cheers Mon 
Met up with a few other friends, embarrased myself in bowling and did a bit of taekwondo. that summarises these past few days. Looking forward to Japan now. Just worried that it'll be very expensive!! Worried about food as halal food is not very widely available and sushi isn't exactly my cuppa tea.. Oh well, I'll survive!!
I can finally start packing and preparing for travel after my visa stuff has been settled.
The Uni of Leeds is having a pre-departure briefing for new students departing from M'sia. Myself and a few other guys will hopefully be there to help the students out. We'll see how it goes...
Feeling quite sleepy now. Been a long day and it's only 7 pm.. oh well.. will upload some pics on an external web site soonish.. been telling myself that i should for ages!! so take it easy guys.
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| Wednesday, 4-Aug-2004 00:00 |
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Starting to get bored
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As the title reads... I am starting to get bored now... Called up Petronas' UK sponsorship desk and no one's picking up. I think they're still off for trainng. I just wanna know what my interview results were so that i can plan things like my Japan trip. I've gotta know when i start work before i start booking tickets. Hmm.... i'll try again later...
Hate K.L traffic and the way people drive over here!! I guess I'll hafta put up with it for the time being.
Went to PC fair last weekend to buy a set of new PC speakers. I had a specific model in mind so i thought I could just get in and out of there in a jif... WRONG!! there were so many people there it's just amazing!! parking was kinda hard though i did manage to get a spot at the rooftop of Hentian Putra bus station opposite Putra World Trade Centre. Took me about 15-20 mins stuck in the que getting in to the parking lot! Well, anyway once i was in it wasn't much better. the place was like Mecca!! only in mecca everyone's walking in one direction, over here they were walking in both directions! hardly any space at all!! Well, at the end i finally found the item i was looking for and probably got it for RM10 off the shop prices at most... not worth the trouble i think. If any of you want to get computer stuff.. just go to Low Yat Plaza and save yourself the hassle..
As we all know the Petronas head office is in the Twin Towers. Between those twin towers is Suria KLCC! As it was the 'Mega Sales' carnival this month in August, i decided to see how much KLCC has changed and how good the sales were. I've got to say, some of the sales were very good, esspecially if you convert the prices to pounds but some of them were pretty much dismal. nonetheless there was plenty to see in KLCC so i just wandered around aimlessly... I realised somewhere in the middle of it that I have lost all appetite for shopping!! I have everything that I want now, not that there's very much anyway. So i just wandered just checking how much things cost and comparing them to the summer sales in the UK.... Ah... might as well shouldn't i...
I have yet to start Taekwondo yet. I'll probably start this Saturday. Training is at my younger brother's school just 5 - 10 mins walk away. I will eventually hafta start joining a Black Belt class they hold at the main gym in Bangsar. Dunno if i'll have the will to do that... Malaysia has made me less adventurous and a lil 'domesticated' i guess. That's why I wanna start work soon... a bit of challenge in my life...
Anyways, best be off now. Catch you guys later!! 
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| Monday, 2-Aug-2004 00:00 |
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Back in Malaysia
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Hi guys! Back home in Malaysia finally... Didn't feel like writing for days!! spent the last few days cleaning up my room and just generally chucking all the old things away and making space for all my new stuff. Man, you don't realise that you've accumulated alot of things until you unpack. I'm seriously having trouble unpacking but I don't think I'll be in K.L long cos petronas will surely post me somewhere other than K.L... Speaking of which I'll be going later today to report for duty at petronas headquarters in KLCC. I hope they've got a good job waiting for me!!
The flight home wa ok i guess. I took the connecting flight from manchester and it was kinda good. I was flying BMI to heathrow and that meant that there was virtually no que at the checkin point. Furthermore, the conveyor belt at the check in point wasn't working - the whole area was full with bags, even the weighing machine had something on it. So i probably got away with a really over weight bag!! Cool!! the only that worried me the whole weekend before was the weight of my bag and the probability of having to leave behind more stuff...
All did no go as smoothly though. We arrived at Heathrow at terminal 1. I thought i had to go to terminal 4 so i took one of thier shuttle busses and rushed there. When i got there it was all strange. there were no Malaysia airlines staff... it was all BA every where... hmmm i the checked the tickits again and realised I'd gone to the wrong terminal!! I was supposed to be at Terminal 3!! the bus ride from terminal 1 to 3 is 20 mins but the buses from terminal 4 to terminal 3 take only 10 mins so it wasn't too bad... just waiting for the bus took time...I only had 2 hours to find my way before departure. Boarding was earlier...
Neeways, got there in time for the final call. they started boarding not long after I arrived at the departure gate. Cool... needed to put those heavy carry luggage down!! flight was OK i guess. they had a poor selection of films and i had this impression that this one stuardess didn't like me cos the asked me to stop texting when i sat down. Apparently you're not supposed to use your phone when you're on the plane, even when it's not flying yet!! I can understand why if they flying but while every one else is boarding??!! BMI were col with mobiles as long as the aircraft doors ere open.. oh well...
Now that I'm back, I've still not called up all my old friends yet. quite not in the mood yet really. by the way, my mobile number in K.L is: (+60)(0)192522361 I'm feeling very sleepy right now.. dunno why. can't be still jet lagged!! Still adapting to the heat and humidity here. it was 25 degrees the evening I arrived and that was with no sun arround!! days are 31/32 degrees. and the humidity is the one that takes getting used to the most....
Anyways, i think i'll lay down for a while, have lunch and see what my interview results with Petronas say... cheerio...
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| Tuesday, 6-Jul-2004 00:00 |
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I'm Back!
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It's been almost a week I've not written anything for this spot. It's been quite hectic with all moving and all. Now its all about unpacking and repacking. I had to say good bye to alot of my things recently. My bike being the biggest. Now i think i can get everything back to malaysia via my parents and myself... Speaking of which, my parents are arriving this Friday. Alot of talk but no firm plans yet. There will be a reception before graduation at my department so i think that'll be a good chance for my parents to meet my lecturers esspecially my supervisor and my personal tutor.
Talking about graduation, all you lot who will not be able to be at my graduation ceremony can see my graduation live on-line. You do hafta have broadband connection though. follow this link: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/webcast/ and go to the Graduation link. My ceremony is ceremony 21 and it is at 2pm UK time so it'll be around 9pm Malaysian time for those in M'sia. You can still view the webcast even after it has finished. It'll be cool for those who couldn't stay back for thier respective graduation ceremonys.
A gardener came round our place today. He was trying to sell his services to us. Guess he noticed the unmanaged garden we had in our back yard. Problem is, the house came with all the necessary gardening tools and our garden isn't that big at all. So.. tomorrow's gonna be a gardening day!! We decided we'd rather do it ourselves rather than pay 60 quid to have it done by someone professional.
I had this conversation with a friend a few weeks ago. I'm sure many have experienced the same. It's when you've not seen someone for a long time and have not been in touch, it feels quite weired when you get to see that person again. Time does change people and esspecially at this time in your life you do tend to experiment with things to discover and get to know your ownself better. I am saying this cos it will be quite weired meeting my old friends in M'sia.. esspecially after not seeing them for so long!!
Another thing that bugs me is how the change in circumstances and environment will effect my everyday life and routines when i get back to Malaysia. I am so used to life in the UK now and will be quite shocked at the way certain things are done back home. I'm gonna miss using the Debit card instead of carrying cash among other things.
I will miss all that i will leave behind. I think that uni life is the best time of our lives. Even the friends that i know i will see in K.L when i get back makes me feel bad. I know that circumstances will be different and we might not get along as well outside the UK as compared to here.
Anyways. I'm getting sleepy now. will go to bed now.. hope you enjoy my sleepy typing
c ya later guys!!
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| Wednesday, 30-Jun-2004 00:00 |
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End of an era....
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Movers came yesterday to pick up all my stuff. They were not supposed to come till today... It has now really hit me that my student days are finally over  I'm moving out of my house later today. The internet is getting disconnected in about an hours time. I reallised I have more stuff than i thought. Would've packed better if i have more time. Oh well, might have to ship some more stuff if the stuff goes over my parents' baggage allowance...
Will from this point on be living off my suit case and stayin in other ppl's houses... Beats paying rent though...
Spent the whole day intensively packing and cleaning the house in general. Want my deposit back!!
Anyway, I can't be long. need to get back to packing and cleaning. Don't have the mood to write actually... totally knackered. Maybe tomorrow...
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| Friday, 25-Jun-2004 00:00 |
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More mental enrichment
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Got engrossed with articles in wikipedia again... I love this website!! What started as quriosity with the 1962-1966 Indonesian confrontation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_Confrontation), ended up as a history lesson about gurkhas, The Gurkha regiment, Rajput Indians, overseas chinese, Malaysian & Indonesian Chinese. I've still to read about Mongols, Turkic People and the Celts... I think I'll leave that till tomorrow as It's bed time soon!!
Was supprisingly sunny today It's been wet & rainy all week. Some say the English defeat at Euro 2004 should be attributed to this. More English defeat today as Brit no. 2 Greg Reduski (I'm sure that's not how it's spelt) goes out of Wimbeldon! Not a good week for British sport i guess. Then again... when is it ever??!! (England winning the rugby world cup was a fluke!!)
Neeways... lotsa errands today. Got my £18 quid for my junk i sold to CeX. Posted a thing i sold on Ebay and sorted a finalcial prob with my bank. HSBC is such a cool bank!! I'm keeping my account open over here after i grad. Will deffinately open a HSBC account when i'm back in M'sia... This left me with only about an hour to work on the car. Progress was minimal. It's ok cos they're only going to map the engine 'map' on Thursday so they don't need the accelerator pedal just yet.
Master Mahmood (6th Dan) is coming to see me sometime next week. He is the National Coach for the Student national Taekwondo squad. I'm trying to organise a meeting with him, the new committee of the ITF TKD club and the sprots excecutive of the Union to sort out a regular and official WTF taekwondo training in Leeds. This year I have been coaching the WTF classes but since i'll be gone i'd like to leave it in good hands for future generations...
Went to see Prof Barton - my supervisor about the funded PhD position he has. He's really keen on my doing it as he knows me and how i work. obviously he has to review other applicants as well but i have quite a good chance he said. Gave me some published papers for me to read... journals and papers just make it sound so... errmm academia!! I reckon I'll just apply for the sake of it and decide later on if i do get the position, cos i might not get it at all...
Packing wise, I've packed one box and the boxes really do fit loads in them. Sorted out my mamouth cd collection and put them in cd wallets. Also sorted my notes so that i can pass them on to my juniors. Maybe soem one might actually benefit from my scribbles.. if any! Spent most of my lectures in slumberland... That just made me feel bad actually... oh well, Uni's over for me (for now).
Looking forward to Taekwondo training tomorrow. Not kicked for almost 2 weeks now. My stretch must be very poor and my stamina pathetic.
Right, doing a bit more packing before i go to bed. Might stay off Fotopages for a bit. I wanna reply all the overdue unreplied emails... Feel really guilty now... So have a good weekend guys.
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| Thursday, 24-Jun-2004 00:00 |
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Shipping Mania
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The box for shipping as compared to the rest of my messy room
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England Lost thier match against Portugal tonight.. wasted almost 2 hours watching the match. It was so hyped up over here. England were playing quite shite really - didn't really deserve to win i reckon. Roooneeeyy was injured and was out abt 30 mins into the match and Beckham missed yet another penalty... oh well...
The day started pretty bad for me actually. Broke a glass Mercury catch tank while trying to unbolt the hose to a pump that i normally use to vacuum bag my Carbon fibre pedals while they cure in the oven. Spent a good 1/2 hour making a new catch tank adapter and collecting the spilt mercury off the Thermo Lab floor.. Was quite dangerous really with the risk of mercury poisoning always present...
But things went quite well otherwise. Pedal was curing in the oven and the pedalbox frame is almost finished. I'm under pressure to get it done by Monday but i reckon Tuesday is a more realistic estimate. Every one has either gone to the Glastonbury Music festival, gone to watch the Chillies in Hyde Park (London) or just went home... May be working alone in the Formula SAE compound again...
Boxes arrived today. They were larger than i thought... I'm now a qualified Engineer.. I should really have a better sense of dimension and space... Might hafta send some of the boxes back. Now I'll hafta start packing stuff into the boxes. That will also mean I'll hafta say good bye to my lovely PC.. and my extra comfy chair...  I'll hafta survive on my lil laptop and it's puny speakers for a few weeks. Tempted to buy cheap some arse speakers just for fun.. but i wont cos it's a huge waste! I've done a bit and my room already looks quite tidy... I have a slight problem with my million CDs I have. I could burn them all into DVD and save space but heck.. i'll probably just ship it with my other stuff...
Stress level still quite high... A LOT of things need to be sorted before i leave. Best do something about it rather than just complain here... Guess I'll get on it then. Night2 guys!!
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| Wednesday, 23-Jun-2004 00:00 |
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Result!!
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Result... that's more like it! I'm quite upbeat today cos alot of things progressed today and I get to cross out quite alot of the stuff on my 'to do' list that have been long overdue!
Spent the whole morning printing out my Project for this IVehE (Institute of Vehicle Engineers) Automotive project competition. Easy as it may sound, i found out that I'm not as proficient in using the good old MS Word... had trouble merging several word files into one and retaining the individual formatting. Got there in the end...
I've been away all weekend. Only got back last night. I was quite worried about a lot of things as it is a very critical period for me. The project needed to reach the IVehE by Friday, I need to get my stuff shipped out to M'sia before the 1st of July and I've noot been working on my bit of the race car since last Thursday.. erm... that's a week tomorrow!! I had to set my priorities for today so that i would make full use of the day...
I decided to not do anything on the car today. I did pop down to the SAE 'cage' after binding my project to calm any worry of the car not being operational due to the lack of brakes or accelerator pedal!! I do feel quite important being in charge of such a critical part of the car... hehehe I will need to make an early start tomorrow. Got a list of tasks i want done tomorrow on the car.
The stupid Post office near the Uni has closed down so I hadta go in to town to post my Project. took the opportunity to sell some of the excess PC stuff to Computer Exchange (CeX) in town. Was going to ebay them off but CeX is much more convenient. They're testing my stuff to make sure they work but I was supprised that my junk is worth £18 cash or £24 part exchange. It was 2 56K modems from my ancient dial up days and a Sound Blaster Live! sound card. I'm happy with that actually. Just can't get anyone to buy my 21" Trinitron Monitor so I'll probably hafta bring that back home to M'sia... The stuff i have on sale on ebay will end tomorrow. funny enuf the auction I have for my faulty graphics card has more views than my pair of NIKE ACG boots!!
Almost sorted how to get out of my phone contract. Trying to get a friend to take up my account. I have about 3 months left on my contract.
Owh... met Ricky Lam in Town today. He's one of the WTF instructors i know in Leeds. He's suddenly the Golden Boy of Leeds since he got this part in the latest Batman Film (Yes, can't believe they're making another one after they got so progressively bad each time..  ) I'm trying to get someone to take over the Uni WTF club after I leave. There's alot of politics in Taekwondo that's why I decided to instruct the Uni class myself. I have a vision of a unified WTF TKD in Leeds with everyone able to train together and fight in competitions for.. erm... Leeds rather than thier respective organisations. I think with University as the medium, I might be able to achieve this. [Diplomatic Afif mode..] University sport is very rewarding to instructors and students alike so i might be able to use this to bring the 3 major WTF clubs in Leeds to get together... Will try to sort that out before I leave. Need to get my stuff shipped out and out of my mind first!!
My shipping is sorted. A large trunk and 5 boxes will arrive tomorrow evening. Will start packing tomorrow night. Mon, you owe me a drink for packing your stuff for you!! I hope i don't need as many boxes as i think i do though. It's all starting to get quite expensive.. eating up my spending money when i go to Japan!!
Oh yeah... forgot to tell you uys where i was over the weekend. I was at a BBQ by the Petronas Student Advisor last Sat. Spent the night at a friend near Paddington. Managed to catch up with each other's going ons.. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning was spent at another friend's place in Essex. It was the tiniest town i've ever seen with only a church, a small road and a few houses making up the town. My friend's particular house was like a gazillion years old with tiny doorways you'd swear were made for hobbits...
Thoroughy enjoyed my stay there!! a nice change from the hectic (ish) environment of Leeds City Centre... Also went to Cambridge for erm... shopping..!! well... the Uni was very nice. Full of History and reaking out character. Shame we couldn't get in any of the colleges. The city itself was a nice mix of old an new. Kinda like York but much, much bigger!!
One Issue that was brought up while I was there in Essex was the expansion of Stansted airport.. for those of you who may not know is the home of Ryanair, the UK's cheapest airline. We drove through all these lovely countryside with gorgeous old homes and cottages and thought what a shame if all this gets cleared just so that more people can go on cheap flights to Europe!! 0) I think it's not worth it. Stansted is big enuf as it is!! STOP THE EXPANSION OF STANSTED AIRPORT!!
Might not be able to post pics up just yet. Can't be asked resizing them for the web. Will do soon when i have some free time. Got a few things to talk about but will stop for now and get me a well deserved good night's sleep. Sweet dreams my friends.
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| Friday, 18-Jun-2004 00:00 |
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Results Out!!
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The big day has come.... and i was.. erm... in bed!! he he he... Went to send Mon off at the train station at 7 something in the morning! I Only got to bed at 2 last night! So i went to bed after getting back and when i woke up it was erm.. 11 O'clock!! results were on the web!! So icomposed myself and rubbed my eyes just to make sure that i'll be able to read the screen properly...
As i logged on to the school's website, an immense feeling of relief rushed through my body. Though I didn't get a first, I was relieved that I didn't get a 2-2!! The subject that I thought I almost failed was not so bad after all!! My project wasn't as high as i wanted but was on the high average mark. All in all I'm quite pleased with myself, Juggling all my activities and getting a decent degree out of it in the end. Uni life has been very good for me. That's why I'm considering a PhD position just so i can spend another 3-4 years being a 'Student'!! But I still want to serve with Petronas though... We'll see what'll happen when i get back to Malaysia.
Packing has virtually been static. I did manage to fill my floor with more stuff though. got the last of Mon's stuff last night. I'm not sure she'll fit her stuff in 2 boxes. Guess we'll see for sure when the boxes arrive..
Heading off to London tomorrow. The Petronas student advisor's having a BBQ for the finalists and all Pet scholars... I've managed to gain quite a bit of a reputation after my long article in 'Siswa Petronas' and my job interview with them. I'm gonna see if i can try to get some money off them to go to Japan for the J-SAE event. Kanagawa University has agreed to take care of us while we're there so I'm gonna hafta see if i can get Petronas to contribute towards my air fare. Flights to Japan from M'sia should be cheaper than getting a flight from the UK... Looking forward to that as the are only 2 foriegn Unis invited to the J-SAE event, the other being an American Uni. It's good to be regarded as the best of British!
Not many good photos of me at the bbq on Tues so i won't upload any. Got a pic from the Big screen in Leeds Millenium square for the opening EURO 2004 England match against France though!
Hope this weekend will be a good one for every one! !
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-) erererwre
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