Jill Bolte Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions -- motion, speech, self-awareness –- shut down one by one. An astonishing story.
Do watch through if u got time. If it takes forever to load, try the link below.
ok.. here's something i would really really like to share with u guys about. I think some might already known about it, but i guess, it's such a great experience for me tat i would share it over here at all...
As u all might have known, tennis is one great part of my life... been playing it since i was young( i guess standard 3 is considered young, but still cannot play well...n my lil bro started during his kinderganten...), for me, no tennis, means no life. so i really get involve in the tennis group in the university where i had studied my language course last time, although techinically i'm not studying over there... ok.. long story short, i get to know federer n nadal were coming to korea for a exhibition match, which was sponsored by Hyundai Card, and the match was named as "Hyundai Card Super Match 3".. quite lame the name i guess.., for some of u might be thinking who's tat 2 guy jason is talking about.. Roger Federer, from Swiss, is the current king of tennis, #1 in the world.. n Rafael Nadal, i donno why koreans like to call him the prince of tennis, but he sure deserve the name as he is current #2 player in the world.. n he is 20, same age as me!!
Ok.. they came at 20th of November, which was right after the Master's series in Shanghai, China.. they reached in seoul on morning. They had a press conference near my place, but i got class, n i wasn't interested in tat too.. the real thing was the nike fan signing event held in a shopping mall located quite far from my place. But i always go there, so no problem finding the place... but very very unfortunately, i got CLASS on tat particular time, which is 2-5 o clock, n the event will be held from 5 onwards.... after some thinking, and some support from friends (thanks cucu for ur support!!) i decided to skip tat particular important class, just to go to meet them in person n to get their sign.... call me crazy, but i really went.. i went around 2, reaching there by 3.. at tat time, there were some ppl waiting already, but not a queue in sight. around 3.45, a group of 5 ppl, standing fin front of the shop,. then the drama started tat time. all ppl went in forward to the shop, but still, no player was there yet. as the commotion started, curious by passer also get excited, start to push towards tat shop ( for ur info, tat event was held in a nike shop in COEX shopping mall).. so , from tat time onward, there was a queue.. tat time was 3.50 i guess, n i was like 6th in front.. hehehe.. so started to wait. they say the event will start at 5, but 5 had passed, n neither federer or rafa were in sight.. then heard from the security guard tat the event will start around 5.30.. so, waited another 30 mins more..
then, commotion starts once again, when both players reached.. damn.. i couldn't get any picture tat time, n i was equipt with my frens dslr camera, which was a canon D80.. very good camera, but i dont really know how to use it.so we get to get into the shop, 5 by 5, so there wont be any rushing or pushing.. i was very excited n nervous, n my picture taking skill lacks too.. so the picture wasn't tat nice.. especially the rafa picture close-up, it went blur, thanks to my shaking hands... arggg.. but at least, i got to get their sign.. rafa's sign on my nike cap, n federer's on my nike shirt tat he wore last season.. n i got their signed card too.. u all can see it over the picture down there..
it was an experince of a life time!! get to meet the players up close, n roger was so cool!... hehe.. too bad cannot take picture with them.. argg.. hahahaha.. anyways, i waited til the event ended...so tat was it, me being so happy, getting their signature, n their pictures... it was worth the skip, but still i get to replace the class on last thursday though.. hahahaha...so it's like all perfect!
Ok.. the match was held the very next day, at the chamsil olympic stadium, an indoor carpet court convert from a gymnasium.. my seat wasn't tat great, but still can see it very clearly.. it cost me 56000 won, which is equivilent to RM240++ the match was great, minus the damn carpet, which doesn't make the squeking sound when their shoes rubs against the floor... but overall, it's nice, i even got it on video tape.. hehehe..
anyways, i wont be elaborating on the match, coz , it's so great, words cannot discribe it..n i guess it's long enuff tat no one will be reading it untill this part of the ending..
Hmm.. since i always post negative things around here, i think it's about time to post something nice in my life around here in KOrea...
First of all, the bestest (got such word?) day of my life was last weekend, as i go for the semi final n final of The Hansol Korea Tennis Open located in Olympic Park on the east side of Seoul. It's one of the biggest tennis event in Korea, n it's a WTA (Women's Tennis Association) Tour brought possible by Hansol, a very big company in Korea tat does everything in almost every field, n of course, Sony Ericsson, the main sponsor of WTA Tours for this year. It was almost exciting as anything, although it's not a really grand tennis event, this was my first time attending this kind of tournament. N i don't event need to pay the tickets since my tennis friends in my pass-university had the invitational tickets.
One hour n a half is needed to travel to the destination, n over there at the stadium, there were few of the sponsors booth, including wilson, adidas, yonex, fila, dunlop and so on. It's really fun over there, n there's even on small court over there where u can measure ur serve speed. hehe. i got a 115 KM with a couple of tries, i guess it's not tat accurate after-all. N the tournament were great, saw both semi final on saturday, n the final on sunday. i was quite disappointed to see the stadium wasn't really full of ppl, n the top seeded Martina Hingis,(current #8 ranked in the world) lost on early stages. Anyways, i enjoyed the game very much, n get to meet both finalist in a very close distance. hehe.. n for bonus, i got both finalist's autograph on the magazine/introduction booklet i bought. N i even got the Eleni Danilidou's(Greece) autograph, who's the champion of this open, on a tennis ball. hehe.. i think i was in luck for the first time where i went to this kind of event for the first time. I bought a fila hat with the Hansol open logo on it, n i got a free adidas socks thanks to my friend who played the adidas challenge n got a prize of a pair of socks.
SEcond, i got myself another racket.. hehehe. a brand new Babolat pure drive, which cost me quite some money, but i guess it's worth it.. going to try it tomorrow...hehehe.. excited , very excited.
Third, i had already booked my air ticket back to malaysia. I know i know, y book now since only october? haha.. i also donno, i just follow all my friends, who organized n did all this, n this time i will be back by JAL , not MAS.. so i need to stop by at Japan to transit. hehe. now i can say that i have been to Japan( although 3 hours...) hehe... y don't take MAS? the ticket is so damn expensive. i think the ticket is the same price as what jean can get to get back, since mine need to be valid for 3 months. yes, i will be back for three months, until 27th of FEB, from 17th of DEC. hehe..
Forth, today is monday, n for the next few days (tuesday, thursday, friday), there will be public holidays.. n here's the funny part, when there's a sandwich day between holidays, (a.k.a wednesday), tat day will be consider "unofficial" holiday in my college... so, i wont be having classes during tat day also, except an evening physics class.. sigh.. anyways, need to use this time to have fun, n study for the coming exam which will be on by the coming week...
so, there u have it.. my some good news over here.. hope u all don't mind the long description on this blog.. hehehehe..
Hmmm.... Just finish my exams... mid sem to be exact... now nothing to do.. so start wondering stupid stuff... which really bugs me for a loooong time....
Do u think that life is full of wrong choices? I kinda feel that way.. donno it's my mind or what... to me, it always about "How it should be now" or "might have been" these kind of situation.. for instance, " i shouldn't have did tat" or " it should have turn out the other way"...
It seems tat all the choices i made were the wrong move... It's like ppl r made to make mistakes and wrong choices, at least i felt tat way... I would start thinking, "it would be better if i had...." ... those kind of "what if" questions always come across my mind.. do u ever give a thought about that?
Mayb it's me, myself, or my mind is playing me...everytime i see someone being happy, reaching their goals, being happy together with friends n family or those wonderful times, i would like start thinking, what's so exciting n happy about my life? Ppl might had said tat to go aboard to study is a chance of a life time n everyone wants tat... but here i am, envying those who r in hometown, having achieving wat they want, yet still be able to lead a happy life with family n friends... wat was i thinking actually? i have no idea myself...
When it turns out to make life changing decisions, i really suck at that... since the day i left muar, i felt everything i made was mistakes and wrong choices... even untill now, i couldn't let go of the thougth tat i had choose the wrong engineering major for my studies....
Don't u ever get envy, or felt like "i should be there" when u saw other ppl acheiving better then wat u have now?
Here's a little survey... mayb u all can take a little time.. give a thought abt it.. my answer of course is the first one, my life should be far better then now... mayb i just dont know wat is happiness means... just like 生在福中不知福。。
From the song Never had a dream come true from S club 7:
Everybody's got something they had to leave behind One regret from yesterday that just seems to grow with time There's no use looking back or wondering How it could be now or might have been Oh this I know but still I can't find ways to let you go
KEBELAKANGAN ini, Korean Wave (Gelombang Korea) seolah-olah melanda seluruh dunia terutamanya rantau Asia.
Di Malaysia, Vietnam, Jepun mahupun China, golongan remaja atau tua seolah-olah hanyut dalam gelombang tersebut sejak drama bersiri Winter Sonata menjadi popular.
Namun sejauh mana Malaysia menggunakan gelombang Korea ini untuk memantapkan Dasar Pandang Ke Timur (DPT) yang diumumkan oleh bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad pada 8 Februari 1982 semasa Persidangan Tahunan Kali Ke-5 Malaysia-Japan Economic Association (Majeca) dan Japan-Malaysia Economic Association (Jameca), di Kuala Lumpur.
Dasar ini memberi penekanan kepada sikap bekerja, disiplin, rasa tanggungjawab, nilai pekerjaan, kesetiaan dan nilai pengurusan yang dianggap akan membolehkan Malaysia menjadi negara industri maju di Asia selepas Jepun dan Korea Selatan.
DPT telah dilancarkan ke Korea pada 9 Ogos 1983 oleh Dr. Mahathir ketika Majlis Makan Malam bersama bekas Presiden Korea Selatan, Chun Doo Hwan di Seoul yang antara lain masih menekankan elemen yang sama.
Mengikut data Unit Dasar Pandang ke Timur, Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam pada tahun 2005, seramai 85 pelajar telah dihantar melalui Program Pendidikan Teknikal (PPT) manakala di bawah Program Pendidikan Akademik (PPA), seramai hampir 15 pelajar dihantar setiap tahun sehingga tahun 1997 ketika krisis ekonomi melanda Asia.
Selepas tahun 1997, program tersebut seolah-olah dihentikan walaupun pelajarnya dikatakan diserap di bawah program PPT.
Ini berbeza dengan program DPT ke Jepun di mana penghantaran pelajar diteruskan di bawah program ini malahan bilangannya meningkat sehingga 183 orang pada tahun 2005.
Program PPT sebenarnya memerlukan `penambahbaikan' atau dalam erti kata lain perubahan drastik.
Mengikut program tersebut, pelajar yang terpilih perlu mengikuti kursus intensif bahasa Korea di Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) selama tiga bulan sebelum menyambung kursus tersebut di Seoul National University (SNU) selama 18 bulan.
Selepas menamatkan kursus sijil bahasa, walaupun ada beberapa institusi yang diiktiraf oleh kerajaan, pelajar-pelajar ini akan dihantar hanya ke sebuah kolej teknikal iaitu Dongyang Technical College, Seoul untuk mengikuti kursus diploma selama dua tahun atas alasan pihak pentadbiran kolej ini memahami `keperluan pelajar Malaysia'.
Di sini, pelajar akan bersama pelajar Korea yang membuat persediaan untuk menjadi juruteknik atau pekerjaan bersifat teknikal di negara mereka.
Justeru modul yang diajar di kolej teknikal ini adalah lebih bersifat praktikal supaya pelajar Korea Selatan dapat mengadaptasi apa yang dipelajari sewaktu bekerja kemudian.
Bagi pelajar Malaysia pula, mereka berada dalam dilema iaitu bagaimana untuk menggunakan apa yang dipelajari di kolej teknikal ini selama dua tahun ketika menyambung kursus ijazah sarjana muda di universiti Korea Selatan kerana mereka akan terus melompat ke tahun ketiga sewaktu mengikuti kursus tersebut.
Persaingan di universiti menjadi sengit terutama penguasaan ke atas elemen teori dan teknik apatah lagi kebanyakan yang dipelajari di kursus sijil bahasa dan diploma sukar digunakan sewaktu berada di universiti.
Perbezaan sistem pendidikan antara Malaysia dan Korea Selatan bukanlah penghalang kepada penghantaran pelajar ke universiti Korea tetapi lebih daripada itu, sejauh mana pelajar Malaysia diberi pendedahan secukupnya sebelum pelepasan mereka ke Korea Selatan.
Sementara itu, seiring dengan kehadiran gelombang Korea hari ini, kerajaan Malaysia mesti mempelbagaikan penghantaran pelajar ke Korea.
Sebagai strategi jangka panjang, apakah penubuhan Ambang Asuhan Korea (AAK) relevan?
Adakah Samsung yang dilihat mengemudi pasaran industri dan teknologi bukan sahaja di Malaysia malahan hampir di seluruh dunia belum bersedia untuk melabur membangunkan program yang berteraskan Korea di Malaysia jika AAK direalisasikan.
Penumpuan berlebihan ke atas kedua-dua buah negara ini boleh mendatangkan risiko jangka panjang.
Gelombang Korea perlu dilihat melangkaui elemen jaringan media popular semata-mata.
Dengan dasar kerajaan Korea dan usaha beberapa institusi untuk mendekati negara-negara ASEAN, Malaysia perlu mengorak langkah lebih pantas, melipatgandakan usaha bergerak seiringan dengan gelombang ini untuk membawa manfaat secara dua hala.
Buat permulaan, PPA perlu diasingkan semula dari PPT. Pengajian di fakulti sains kemasyarakatan universiti di Korea dianggap bernilai dan ada pelajar yang boleh digalakkan untuk mengambil kursus ini sebagaimana yang dilakukan ke atas program DPT ke Jepun.
Ini termasuklah bidang sains politik, sosiologi, ekonomi mahupun kerja sosial serta Pengajian Asia Timur sendiri.
Be curious, be prepared for the worst and have a good breakfast before heading to the hospital, as you will be very busy. The four PSD scholars (from left) – Lim Renly (pharmacy), Low Chin Yeong (pharmacy), Nurul Hidayah Mizan (pharmacy) and K. Anjanna (medicine) – had all gone through similar stints as part of their A-level course
PSD scholars find hospital stint fulfilling
By ROYCE CHEAH
SHAH ALAM: Be curious, be prepared for the worst and have a good breakfast before heading to the hospital, as you will be very busy.
That is the advice from four Public Service Department (PSD) scholars to some 1,800 SPM top scorers who have applied for PSD medical scholarships and have been shortlisted to undergo a three-day stint at government hospitals.
The four PSD scholars – K. Anjanna (medicine), Nurul Hidayah Mizan (pharmacy), Lim Renly (pharmacy) and Low Chin Yeong (pharmacy) – had all gone through similar stints as part of their A-level course.
However, the stint this time around is mandatory for those who have been short-listed, and it begins tomorrow.
It intends to expose students to the rigors and realities of being a doctor.
PSD medical scholar Anjanna, 19, said the stint proved very useful to her as she got to see how doctors worked.
“They are very busy. They may also not have time to take you around everywhere and explain everything to you, so you must take the initiative and ask questions and explore the hospital yourself.”
Anjanna said she found the cancer ward of the hospital the most depressing, as many of the patients were her age.
“We always think that cancer is an old person's disease but that is not true. But after seeing all that, I'm more committed to becoming a doctor as I want to be that person who wakes up at 2am to save someone's life,” she said.
Low, 19, said one had to be prepared for gory situations especially in the emergency room.
“It is very normal to see broken legs, arms, and bodies split open after road accidents,” she said, adding that she could cope with it.
None of these incidents seemed to faze the scholars and they said it was “really cool” to follow doctors on their rounds.
Nurul Hidayah also said that making a good impression in terms of dressing was a must.
“Do not be late,” she said, adding that nurses were also a good source of information.
To all my friends who took STPM, good luck for tomorrow. If I'm not mistaken , the result for STPM will be coming out at tomorrow. Althought, I'm here far apart, my support will always be beside u all. GOOD LUCK, n ALL THE BEST. I know u all can do it. I have faith in u all. Let me know anything ... ok? Waithing for ur good news. Bye.
This is my very first journal that i ever type. It's all about the tsunami and the earthquake that had befallen on the lands of South East Asia and countries around the Indian Ocean. That day, Boxing Day, just one day after Christmas, the 9.0-magnitude earthquake happened around the coastal area of the tip of the Sumatra Island. That was the most powerful earthquake to hit earth since 40 years, and the fifth largest since 1900. That quake had totally destroyed the cities near by, especially Acheh. That's not the end. The strong earthquake stirred up the whole ocean creating massive tsunami or what they call as coastal waves or tidal waves as known to public. Near by countries, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Somalia, Tanzania ,Kenya and even Malaysia were among those countries which were hit by the destructive tsunami. That was the only saddest news i ever had since i came to Korea. At the first day, the death toll that was estimated was just around 22,000. But second day after the incident, it rose to 50,000. But When i see the new online, the death toll had surpassed 120,000. That's a number that anybody wouldn't have thought of. Even now, the Indonesian government themselves said that the death toll in Indonesia itself had surpassed 100,000. By now, the Indonesian government would have given up to keep-count the precised number of the people died. I really couldn't imagine so many people died just in this few days. Luckily huge relief operations had taken place at this moment of time. Help from the U.S., Japan, Australia, New Zealand and other nations had just been receive by those who had faced the worst disaster in the year 2004. Aid trucks loaded with food, medicines and body bags rolled into tsunami-hit areas across Asia and aircraft dropped supplies to cut-off villages as the relief action swings into action. Organizations such as UNICEF and others are holding up charity to aid those who in need. Even tycoons and people around the world are helping out by giving donations to charity organization in aid of the earthquake and tsunami victims. Even thought all the help had been given, the next serious problem that the victims will be facing are water-born diseases that would spread because of shortage of water and contaminated water. Imagine dead bodies floating around, and there's a shortage of water, food, and even electricity supplies. What would be the worst thing to happen? This is only one small journal that reflects from what i think about the disaster that had leave so many people asking the question,: "Why did You do this, God?" Loves ones taken away, and there's nothing to live for anymore. Try to put yourself into their shoe and think about it. I just pray that victims who faced this tragedy and had lost their love ones not to give up hope as help is coming in all directions. Stay strong and live on......
