47. Big Bad Wolf & 2014 Resolution

Went to MIECC this afternoon. 

A lot of people. More than I expected.

At one time, I was eyeballing at the books and at other time I was eyeballing the 'people'. LOL.

After hours of searching, finally I found some Agatha Christie books and some Maths books.

I think all these books can last for a year.
Total spent: RM 159
Level of satisfaction: Heaven.
Luckily BBW only will be held once or twice a year...
At this rate of buying, I think I gonna broke soon.

And I bought a shirt...

Nice hor =P

Year 2014 almost going to end. Looking back at my resolution....I think the results quite same like previous year and previous previous year.

My 2014 resolution 

1. Have a regular exercise and meditation
 Okay la, I got exercise once a month and meditate twice a year. 

2. Eat more fruits and sleep early.
Wow. Next! 

3. Enjoy my life and be more adventurous
WOW, WOW. Where's that came from? 

4. To finish my 2014 Reading List 

• The Princeton Companion

• The Numerical Analysis

• Calculus Textbook

• NY Times: Practical Guide

• GOD Created the Integers

• Darwin: The Indelible Stamp

• Encyclopedia of Statistical Science (16 Volumes)

• Encyclopedia of Mathematics

• Lebesgue Measure

• Linear Algebra

• Matrix Algebra

Out of 11 books, at least I managed to read TWO books. I think that's quite an achievement. Good. The rest bring forward to next year. 

46. UTAR Convocation August 2014

I had my Convocation on last Friday. My family, dad, mom, my sis and me started to to travel on Thursday night and stay overnight at my grandma's house. Then the next morning, we started to prepare everything. I was needed to reach there before 7 am.

This is how the Convocation Hall looks like in the early morning. Looks like a temple, right? Haha 

 A lot of beautiful flowers!

 Me and Kee Seng! We are super happy..LOL.

 Selfie with Yap Jia and Kee Seng before entering the hall.

Another selfie!

 I'm quite nervous that time. I was thinking,"Must be extremely embarrassing if I slip and fall"

Luckily. 

I didn't.

 Out of 10 graduates, only 5 people attended the Convo.

 My mom and my sis. My mom bought the blue one for me. 

THANKS MOM!

Jun, Yi Wen and James. 

I'm quite shocked and extremely happy when I saw them. They willing to travel far from KL to Kampar to attend my Convo. I didn't tell them everything because I afraid Jun will do do. But they able to 'guess' my Convo is last Friday morning. I heard from Jun, Yi Wen even order D. Conan for me through online. I think I want to hug them already. 

THANKS! 

Jun, Yi Wen and James.

TERIMA KASIH BANYAK- BANYAK!

 Five of us.

Yap Jia, Joyce, Kee Seng, me and Aaron.

Five of us from UTAR Actuarial Science Degree but different batch.  

 Kee Seng and me.

We went through the whole Master course since the beginning of Year 1.

Thanks to his guidance, I graduated Master with flying colours.

 Aaron, Yap Jia and me.

Now three of us working in UTAR as a Foundation Lecturer teaching Mathematics.

 Me and the "temple". LOL.

 Albert Einstein

Confucius

FINALLY I GRADUATED FROM MASTER!

THANKS MAMI AND PAPA. THANKS FOR SUPPORTING ME AT THE BACK.

THANKS GABRIEL AND KEE SENG. 

THANKS FOR BEING WITH ME SINCE THE BEGINNING TO THE END.

THANKS SOOK FUN FOR GUIDING ME AND PRINTING NOTES BY USING "SEG!" RESOURCES. LOL.

THANKS DR YONG C.K FOR BEING MY SUPERVISOR AND TEACHING ME FIVE SUBJECTS SINCE DEGREE. I THINK I OWE SIR A LOT.

ALSO THANKS TO 

DR CHIN S.T  

DR TAN C.P

 DR LEONG L.S

 DR WONG W.K,

 DR LIEW H.H. 

DR. CHUA. K.C

DR. GOH Y. L   

Now is the beginning for PhD in Mathematics, Statistics and Robotics Engineering.

45. Art of Mathematics (Conics)

I saw this in Pinterest and this is so beautiful. Must try drawing this myself one day.

Reference:

[1] http://www.xn--cyclopdia-l3a.eu/

43. Math Lecturer

Two most important criteria to become a math lecturer:

i) Thick skinned ( as thick as possible) and

If students complaint or criticise you in front of you, you either learn to ignore it or accept it. If you feel you want to **** them, no please don't because it is definitely illegal. Choose the first option. It is much better for you to learn to ignore them.  It will be best if you learn to accept it and then say "Thank you, I will improve my teaching next time".

ii) Patience needed (as much as possible).

Even students don't like you, hate you, make a lot of noise, think you are an idiot, think you are invisible, think you are not qualify to teach, think you are too young to teach them, think why UTAR hire you, think you are lack of experience and bla bla bla...the most important thing is don't ever ever lose your patience and your confidence. Don't channel your anger toward them because? They are just a student, the most important thing is they are just a kid, a children. Be patient in teaching them.

40. Designing Logo for Independence Day

 My sister sent me this in Facebook last month and she suggested me to enter. The First Price is RM7,000. Too hard to resist for not trying right? So I took my time to think how my logo should look like. I searched in the website and trying to do some research how a logo in the past 56 years looks like...

I think logo for year 2012 is the most stupid controversial logo, meanwhile logo for year 2013 is the most hilarious logo ever...

I think it resembles someone...LOL.

 Initial draft:

 

When I draft it at first, I think it was quite ok. Then I drew it by using computer three weeks ago, it appeared to be very difficult to draw the shape out and the results turned out to be uglier than I expected because of the white border. I asked my friend whether logo having outline, he said no. Cham. Then I downloaded a software and using existing shapes that given by the software to redesign.

TADAA...

Final Version: 

The reason why it is so pretty and neat because I'm using the software called "EximiousSoft Logo Designer". Really a good software. After I drew it on the software, I transferred it to M. Word to write the explanations. After I done, I went to post office to post it two weeks ago.

Websites:

1. http://www.moe.gov.my/v/pemberitahuan-view?page=1&id=4170
2. http://dinmerican.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/1malaysia-2012-merdeka-day-logo-scrapped/
3. http://www.eximioussoft.com/logo-designer.htm

39. The Completion of Study

Finally I going to graduate!
Although I didn't get 3.67 and above ...
but I'm extremely happy because I earn it all by myself.
Finally I can breathe.

Probably this is the end.
Not sure whether can take PhD or not since PhD probably need 3.67 and above.
Now I can rest and find job and take some professional papers.

I would like to thank to both of my parents especially my mom. Thanks for her continuous support! I also would like to thank Dr. Yong. My Project II must be very terrible since he gives me a B+. Haha.  Thanks to all my course mates. Last but not least, I must say THANK YOU to the person who invented Google, Wikipedia and Copy+Paste! LOL.

38. Master of Mathematical Science Dinner

Went to Shabu-Shabu at Puchong with my course mates yesterday.
And I didn't take any photo because the food mah-mah dei only.
Not recommended. Lol.
Then we went to Setiawalk for second round to yumcha.
We discussed a lot of things about our past (what happened during our Master class), the present (what we are doing now) and the future (what/how will our career path gonna be)
Most of them probably will continue their PhD...others will heading to risk management field (like Gabriel and me), and some will going to statistics related field.
For next week, our result will be released and we are going to graduate.
Then we will have our convo few months later.
The journey for Master took longer but also seems shorter than I thought.
At the end, I quite ng sey tak a bit. Haha.

- No matter what happens, one day we gonna meet again like how fate bring us together in the first place-

37. Termite

Our house infected with termites quite badly... ceiling, stairs and some wood furniture. Don't know where the hell they came from. My parents sprayed some chemicals to kill those fucking termites few months ago. And here I thought I'm safe. Just now when I took out my comic book to read, only to realized some bugs crawling on and in it. Then I looked and checked my comic book carefully and....I saw a hole in it! WHAT A HORROR! DAMN!

No doubt, is termite. I prayed there is no giant nest behind my comic books. I took out all my comic books carefully to check. Wah lah...my beloved One Piece, Yugioh, Sarkas Karakuri and MAR Heaven all got a hole in it. Luckily out of hundreds comic books that I have, only a few have a hole. And luckily my Doraemon and Detective Conan remain untouched. But still tomorrow I need to check one by one.

THIS MEANS WAR! WHAT A GROUP OF BASTARDS! I GONNA KILL EACH OF YOU FOR REVENGE!

36. Infographic: Oil Palm

"There are primarily five types of visualization categories – time-series data, statistical distributions, maps, hierarchies, and networking."

-Infographic, Wikipedia

My first attempt to use infographic to represent time series data taken from Department of Statistics Malaysia. It looks too simple and uninteresting, but at least it is a good start.

Observing directly from the chart, it obviously shows an increasing trend  for the past thirty eight years from 1974 to 2012. Nothing much can say except it shows an increasing in total planted area of oil palm which influenced by government policy to export more palm oil to other countries in order to boost the economy. Palm oil is used in processed food and also as a butter substitute. Besides that, palm oil is used as bio diesel and napalm too.

Source:

1. http://www.statistics.gov.my/portal/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1251&Itemid=109&lang=en

Tool:

1. infogr.am

35. Dental Check-up

I went to see dentist this morning. I was supposed to see dentist last year December but since I was so busy last year...I keep delay it until today. I almost waited for an hour but the dental checkup took less than five minutes. Well, the dentist said my teeth are okay and probably next year need to scale a little bit.

Luckily I remember to take some photos of the timetables for klinik gigi and klinik perubatan, so I can refer it to go at what time next year. I went at 8.15 am and the front seat almost full. I was the 9th person for my category.

One happy task done.

34. How I feel...

When I started my research:

WTH, how am I going to do this thing?? SOMEONE, TELL ME WHERE SHOULD I START!

During my research:

WTF! WHY IT IS SO DIFFICULT. WHO INVENTED THIS THING??? URGH.
SOS!

When my research almost completed:

Huh, just like that? 

33. 58 most innovative product packaging designs. #13 is my favorite!

58 most innovative product packaging designs!

#13 is my favorite!
I like how they packaging the condoms! Hahaha

#57 LOL

32. Long Outing

Yesterday,  I went out with CL. We planned to go to Big Bad Wolf. I think this is my third time.
First I waited him at KL Central around 11 am and, then from there we took KTM to Serdang.
I think we talked a lot about different kind of companies, banks, industries and our future during the journey.

When we arrived there we saw lot of people busy looking for the book that they want.
We moved from one table to another table looking ONLY for mathematics and statistics reference books.
I managed to find a few mathematics books but for statistics book...zero.

I couldn't believe that they sell it so cheap. Lucky me.

• Analysis II
• From RM 8, they sell it even cheaper RM5. Amazon: $62
• Contributions to Mathematical Psychology, Psychometrics, and Methodology
• From RM 8, they sell it at RM 5. Amazon :$ 255
• An Introduction to Numerical Methods and Analysis
• From RM 12, they sell it at RM 10. Amazon: $28
• Differential Equations
• From RM 15, they sell it at RM 12. Amazon :$125

Total spent: RM 32!! 

I spent less than last time, which is a good thing right? =P

I think these four books will keep me busy for the next two years.

When we were busy searching, I put my books on the table. Then there is this Indian or probably African guy asked me whether that stack belong to me. I said,"Yes". He told me it is kinda hard to find these kind of books here and asked my permission to see one of the books. I said,"Sure". Then he looked interested on my stack. And... I almost give him this expression

That time CL was looking at me and he almost laughed. Haha. Then we stopped shopping for book around 3pm and we went to KLCC for movie and lunch.

We watched Robocop. Not bad la that movie and kinda exciting when the Robocop calculate the angle and use analysis to shoot the target. I was like,"Wow". But to be honest, do they need to make it so realistic and so horrifying when they disassemble the whole suit and only left the head and lungs. They even show the brain part to you. I almost puked at that scene. Yuck.

Then we shopped for clothes and leave around 10 pm. We spent almost 11 hours. I'm tired but satisfied.

31. Holiday Mood, Go Away

Today is Sunday.
14 days after CNY.

So what did I do before CNY?
I used two weeks to paint the living room and another one week to paint the front of my house.
Ngam-ngam just a day before CNY, my mother and I cleaned the whole living room, kitchen and toilet.
By the time we had finished, we are too exhausted to go anywhere...
My mom didn't go back to her hometown at Kampar ...
And I didn't visit any of my friend  to bai nin...
And one more, I didn't even bother to clean my room or mop the floor.
(Usually I will clean the whole room once a year.)

So what did I do during CNY?
Nothing.
My family and I celebrated it by staying at home for the last two weeks.
I didn't do anything productive or touch any of my 'homework'.

Last Sunday, I met Jun, her boyfriend, her sister and Adam.
We had our lunch at Pavilion then we went to Starbucks at Lowyat for drink ...
and they played card games at some restaurant. Kinda funny.
This year I didn't meet CL, PX, CS, HS, and Z for CNY.
Wonder how are they doing...

Now CNY has over, yet I'm still here...lazy-ing around.
I think I need some motivation to start my gear...kau ming arhhh

30. It's something

I attended my interview assessment on Monday this week.
And it's not a good experience. 
I don't want to talk about it.

I consulted my supervisor yesterday afternoon.
He looked at me and I looked at him.
The end.

For the last 17 days, I slept at 1 am. Likeee nowww.
Urghhh, so much for the New Year Resolution.

p/s: I gonna spend my next 2 days to paint the house for CNY. Haihz.

29. Siuyeh attitudes

Today my sister will receive her training for PLKN at Negeri Sembilan. Or maybe tomorrow, coz she just departed this morning. My mom says how lucky my brother and me because none of us went. I still remember why my dad sumbat me inside MRSM coz he wanted to prevent me from being chosen as PLKN trainee. Last time all the people dislikes the idea how gov train their citizens because like a copycat copy Singapore. Now, everyone loves the idea including my dad, he says he is regret not to send me in. =.="

When I went to MRSM, I feel a bit like a siu yeh. I don't like to do three things.

NUMBER ONE: I DON'T LIKE TO SHOWER WITH COLD WATER.
Fckng cold, man. Imagine that you need to shower as early as 6 am in the cold morning.
Every day I need to convince myself using a mantra,"You can do it, you can do it. That stupid cold shower will end after 15 minutes" twice  a day for almost one year and half.
I got no problem in the afternoon because the weather is hot as hell but not morning or at night.

NUMBER TWO: FOOD. THE FOOD SUX. 
When I went there for the first few days, the food is quite ok. Quite edible. After that the food quality started to deteriorate. I langsung tak sentuh those food that I hate (fish) or those food with an ugly presentation. Nampak pun tak berselera, how to eat? We have meals five times a day but usually I only eat for lunch and dinner. One day I tried to eat the roti canai as breakfast, 10 minutes later at class...I went to toilet to puke. Hou choi I ran fast.

NUMBER THREE: I DON'T LIKE TO WASH CLOTHES.
Because I feel it is kinda mafan. The school solve the problem for us by providing us dobi. But you need to pay every month whatever you send you clothes for dobi or not...and your clothes will not be clean. AT ALL. Urgh. Sometimes your baju will hilang and appear at other people baldi. How stupid! They will mix our clothes to wash together and they will forget to put back. I stopped after one month because my clothes constantly went MIA and I started to wash the clothes myself for the next one year and half.

Hope my sister will be doing ok, coz  I think she is just like another siu jeh. Haha.

28. Mathematics and Its Obstacle

I came across these two interesting articles about Mathematics in Science Daily.

No Math Gene: Learning Mathematics Takes Practice

Dec. 16, 2013 — New research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology shows that if you want to be good at math, you have to practice all different kinds of mathematics.

What makes someone good at math? A love of numbers, perhaps, but a willingness to practice, too. And even if you are good at one specific type of math, you can't trust your innate abilities enough to skip practicing other types if you want to be good....

Role of Literacy Skills in Adolescents' Mathematics Word Problem Performance

Dec. 19, 2013 — Right after the PISA-results were published the whole Finland turned upside down. The performance of Finnish adolescents in mathematics had dropped from the very high end to 12th place. It started a discussion on bringing back the importance of motivation and "fun" in learning mathematics. 

...The main point is that learning mathematics does not have to be "fun." Instead, learning has to be considered as meaningful and purposeful by the learner, so that the need to know more would be accelerated. ...

The first article shows that no matter how good you are with numbers, you still need to practice to understand and by doing more mathematics. I think that what I did during primary school. I still remember how difficult for me to understand the concept of fractions when I was in standard five. I had no other choice but to learn it by practice, practice and practice. At the same time, I also tried my best to relate it to real life objects and applications. Good with numbers or calculations more related to arithmetic skills. For mathematics, there is more than that. Here I wish to quote part of the Wikipedia about what mathematicians think generally about mathematics:

...mathematicians seek out patterns and use them to formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proof. When mathematical structures are good models of real phenomena, then mathematical reasoning can provide insight or predictions about nature. Through the use of abstraction and logic, mathematics developed from counting, calculation, measurement, and the systematic study of the shapes and motions of physical objects...

The second article shows that learning mathematics does not have to be entertaining. I admit that learning mathematics is not easy for me because I couldn't 'see' it except geometry because I can see shapes, angles and lines.Besides, I think geometry is meaningful and useful. Similarly for statistics, I never think learning probability and statistics are enjoyable because certain areas are so difficult, abstract and it is no longer fun even for the experts. You might need to crack your head or bang the wall a little to get the answer but at the end you will feel "everything-is-totally-worth-it".

From the article, we know Finland trying their best to improve their student's performance in learning mathematics for future. For Malaysia...our ranking nowhere to be found. In 2009, we were there in the list but for 2013  I don't even know where are we. What a disappointment. Let's hope the Ministry of Education will do something about it for the sake of the future generations.

References:

1. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) (2013, December 16). No math gene: Learning mathematics takes practice.ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 1, 2014, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2013/12/131216102844.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fcomputers_math%2Fmathematics+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Computers+%26+Math+News+--+Mathematics%29
2. Suomen Akatemia (Academy of Finland) (2013, December 19). Role of literacy skills in adolescents' mathematics word problem performance. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 1, 2014, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2013/12/131219082752.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fcomputers_math%2Fmathematics+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Computers+%26+Math+News+--+Mathematics%29
3. Mathematics. (2013, December 14). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 05:08, January 1, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mathematics&oldid=585987631
4. Programme for International Student Assessment. (2013, December 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 05:40, January 1, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment&oldid=586868971

27. Notebook

My notebooks

I always keep a notebook with me because I'm a forgetful person. A notebook would come into handy when I need to:

• jot down some memorable notes from the book that I read
• write/derive some secret formula to conquer the world 
• use it as my monthly planner, my monthly expenses record and my vocabulary record.
• draw something when I feel bored like...now.

The left one is the one that I used when I was in secondary school, the middle is the one that I used during University Degree and Master. The right one is the one that I will use this year. It fits ngam ngam inside my pencil box and bag. Black and nice. 

26. 2014 Resolution

TO ALL THE BLOGGERS AND READERS OF MY BLOG...

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!

Today everyone is celebrating Happy New Year  but I think no one will be happy. The main reason is because of the inflation that will be happen in the country soon. Let's forget that. Urgh.

This year my resolution would be:

1. Have a regular exercise and meditation

Taken from previous year resolution. I will choose Wednesday, Friday and Saturday to have a regular jogging routine. Time? From 7.00 to 7.30 am. For meditation, I will choose to have it on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Time? Anytime but the duration needs to be more or less 30 minutes a day. 

2. Eat more fruits and sleep early

Taken from previous year resolution again. I think I need to eat more fruits, especially orange because I think I lack of vitamin C. And for 'sleeping a bit earlier' part, I think it is unavoidable because I need to wake up early to jog in the morning and then go to work. So, 11.30 pm is my limit.

3. Enjoy my life and be more adventurous

Hmm....I think I need to specify a bit clearly this year. Be more adventurous, here I mean travelling. I plan to travel to visit negeri-negeri in Malaysia or go hiking. I think I know who will I drag along this year. Enjoy my life?. I will take a lot of happy photos how I enjoy my life to post it here...lol.

4. To finish my 2014 Reading List 

• The Princeton Companion
• The Numerical Analysis
• Calculus Textbook
• NY Times: Practical Guide
• GOD Created the Integers
• Darwin: The Indelible Stamp
• Encyclopedia of Statistical Science (16 Volumes)
• Encyclopedia of Mathematics
• Lebesgue Measure
• Linear Algebra
• Matrix Algebra

Read, understand, make notes and do practice/exercise. (choose any book and finish it in one or maximum two months)

That's all I can think of. I think I will monitor my progress six months later and will add in some more.

Here the first happy picture of me for 2014 =)