Double Masters? What??? Would it be possible for me to handle?

I clearly remember the day I submitted my MEng research project report to the office. I swore that I would not be going to study anymore and I would not practise as an engineer.

And now, believe it or not, I have been studying another course of engineering since the past two weeks. That means I still have 17 months and two weeks more to go. True, Allah is the best planner.

If before, I took chemical engineering degree program, I am currently reading a totally new course which is drilling engineering at master level. The pressure is overburden since most of oil and gas companies profiting on malay basin look up on us. This is first time that such a course being taught formally in university. Most of the drilling engineers in current practice only have on job training program scheduled by the company. For us, they try to instill the foundation of drilling before transferring us for real practice.

2014 has passed. The new day of 2015 just arrived. Let bygones be bygones. Though there are up and down in 2014, I cherish them all. Everything happens for a reason. I am not going to let those bygones disturbing my future. The memories, I will keep it safe in my mind.

2015, treats me better, okay? I want a first class for my master. I wish to find a good potential husband. I want the opportunity to bring my parents for hajj and my family for umrah. I wish everyone I loved to have good health and fortunes. And I wish an end to the world war, please get the rights on track.

Ya Allah, guide me to love you endlessly.

Soalan UPSR 2014 bocor?

Percaya atau tidak hal ini bukanlah satu fenomena yang baru. Perkara ni bahkan menjadi tidak asing kepada setiap penuntut di Sekolah Berasrama Penuh (SBP) dimana soalan SPM pernah bocor pada tahun 2007, yakni tahun aku masih bergelar pelajar sekolah menengah. Akan tetapi, aku masih kabur tentang definisi bocor yang sedang berlaku ketika ini. Ketika zamanku dahulu, soalan-soalan 'spot' ini akan tersebar melalui telefon bimbit para pelajar. Pelajar dari SBP akan bertukar-tukar soalan 'spot' so, everyone in the each SBP would have a bunch of spotted questions and re-revised those topics. We were able to do that because of the teachers we had in SBP. Most of them were the 'Guru Cemerlang' in different subjects who scheme the exam papers. So, for the sake of excellencing their own schools, of course they would convey or give hints to the students. How accurate the spotted question was, no one would ever question it or even raise it to the invigilators. Why should we? That was our judgement by that time.

But, thinking of it again, yes, integrity problem was issued. But, it was not a fatal incident. It was just coincidence that the hints given by the school teachers were up as questions on that year. And, our networking among SBP colleagues were just fine that we were able to gather and circulate those hints among us. One fact that you have to know is, every year, for each subject, several set of exam papers will be prepared. The questions are revised by several panels so that the difficulty level is averaged.

I think, one advice and lesson learnt to be given to the teachers out there is, never reveal or give hints to primary school students. They would just make things worse like what is happening now. We know that the nature of children is to be clear and straight forward. They won't lie. So, if they once had seen the questions, they might be able to say to the invigilators that they have done this. But, re-thinking of it again, good invigilators would say that that is because of your continuous and repetitious revision. Well, I don't think invigilators would even care. Are they? They are also teachers back in their own teaching schools.

Tetapi, adilkah peperiksaan ini diulang semula oleh semua calon UPSR di seluruh negara? Aku pasti ramai ibu bapa telah memohon cuti tahunan untuk meraikan 'kemerdekaan' anak-anak mereka. Re-scheduling or postponing the exam dates for new papers is just wasteful. Thousands of logistic matter have to be re-arranged. Printing papers, allowance for invigilators, transportation to distribute the new papers and the list goes on. All of these are surely involving money and energy of people who are responsible for the syndicate.

Whatever it is, I hope the children could bear this and perform well till the end. Good luck!

South England

Dalam resah gelisah menyibukkan diri dalam menyiapkan projek tahun akhir aku, sempat lagi aku mengutarakan cadangan untuk keluar melihat pemandangan indah di sekitar selatan tanah inggeris. Ketika itu, aku sebenarnya bercadang untuk ke Amsterdam untuk meninjau kecantikan taman bunga yang sangat popular di dunia, iaitu Keukenhof. Perbualan aku bersama rakan serumahku tiba-tiba berubah kepada angan-angan kami untuk melihat Stonehenge. aku yang selalu menggalas tugas sebagai perancang percutian serta merta 'survey' harga tiket kapal terbang serta penginapan di sekitar Bath dan Cotswold. Alhamdulillah, mungkin itu rezeki kami, perancangan untuk bercuti disebalik kesibukan menulis 'thesis' akhirnya terlaksana.

Perjalanan melalui pengangkutan udara 'easy jet' hanya mengambil masa 1 jam 5 minit dari Newcastle ke Bath. Ku sangka panas sampai ke petang, rupanya hujan di tengahari. Walaupun kami sampai sekitar jam 9 pagi, kami tidak dapat memulakan perjalanan darat serta merta. Satu masalah timbul oleh sebab pihak pengurusan Avis yang mempunyai polisi yang ketat dalam penerimaan bukti pengalaman seseorang penyewa kenderaan. Akhirnya, kami terpaksa menunggu hingga jam 12 tengahari untuk kereta sewa dari syarikat Europcar untuk tiba. Hanya Europcar sahaja yang menerima pemegang lesen UK tetap kenderaan sekurang-kurangnya dengan 2 tahun pengalaman. Sambil menunggu waktu tengahari itu, sempat juga kami bersarapan dengan mahalnya di sebuah kedai kopi di dalam terminal lapangan terbang tersebut.

Destinasi kami yang pertama ialah Bicester Village. Seperti yang anda semua sudah ataupun belum maklum, Bicester Village merupakan sebuah outlet yang menjual barangan berjenama seperti Prada, Ralph Lauren, Fendi, Coach dan sebagainya. Senarai jenama terkenal boleh didapati di sini. Ketika kami sedang berjalan menuju ke pintu masuk utama outlet tersebut, kami disapa oleh seorang lelaki melayu yang segak bergaya. Pada mulanya, kami was-was dengan gelagatnya yang seperti mahu menyerahkan barang terlarang.

Adik, adik. Melayu eh?

A'ah. Kenapa?

Nah. Ni ada voucher diskaun. Guna lah. Saya dah nak balik ni.

Sejurus itu, lelaki itu pon beredar menaiki kereta mewah berjenama Mecedes. Kami agak terpinga-pinga sebentar sebelum sedar akan nilai baucer tersebut. Itu adalah baucer VVIP yang menawarkan potongan 10% di semua kedai. Namun, apakan daya, tahap kewangan seorang pelajar bukanlah tinggi seperti ahli perniagaan yang mengaut keuntungan berjuta ringgit saban tahun. Akhirnya, baucer tersebut hanya digunakan oleh salah seorang antara kami yang membeli barangan kosmetik. Kami yang lain hanya berbelanja di restoran Thai bagi memenuhi selera perut kami. Nafsu berbelanja kami padam serta merta apabila melihat tag harga tas tangan mahupun baju berjenama.

Keesokan harinya pula, kami meneruskan perjalanan ke bandar Bath. Bandar lama ini mengusik kenangan lama aku. Aku pernah bertandang ke bandar Roman ini 4 tahun yang lalu bersama-sama kawan kolej, Noon, Tashi, dan Michelle. Kunjungan kali ke dua bersama dengan rakan serumahku, Kak Sureen, Dyaa, Maryam dan Kak Aimi tambah bermakna dengan pelajaran baru. Kami berkesempatan melawat Roman Bath dan mendengar sejarah tempat tersebut melalui 'walkie talkie' yang tersimpan segala penerangan yang sepatutnya tentang bahagian dalamannya. 

Roman Bath

Selesai bergambar di setiap pelusuk kompleks Roman Bath, kami pon meneruskan perjalanan ke Dorset.Sepanjang perjalanan itu, mata kami tertambat dengan keindahan ladang bunga Rapeseed yang kekuningan di kiri dan kanan jalan. Masa itu lah, semua berangan jadi Kajol dan Shah Rukh Khan dalam filem dilwale dulhania le jayenge. 

Rapeseed field

Perjalanan ke Durdle Door mengambil masa lebih kurang 3 jam dari Bath. Perjalanan yang kadang kala hujan kadang kala cerah itu tidak mematahkan semangat kami untuk bergambar. Sempat juga kami singgah di sebuah istana lama milik keluarga diraja British. Tetapi disebabkan lokasi istana yang jauh dari pintu gerbang utama, kami hanya memberhentikan kereta di tepi sebuah lapangan hijau. Selesai berangan dan bergambar di sebalik batang pokok laman istana tersebut, kami disapa seorang pekebun. 

Hi there. How are you?

Hi!!! (dengan semangat tapi berdebar-debar juga sebab memang tahu kesalahan sendiri - salah parkir kereta). We are good, thank you.

I don't want to interrupt you taking picture here. But, you know, you have to park the car over there and pay for it. 

Oh yeah. We are sorry for that. We are just stopping by for a while and will leave very soon (jawab dengan muka termonye-monye. LOL).

Durdle Door

Cantik Durdle Door ini, bukan? Durdle Door merupakan gerbang batu semulajadi yang terbentuk kerana hakisan ombak. Ia terletak di perairan Jurassic dan menjadi sebahagian daripada Lulworth Estate. Kalau nak bawa haiwan peliharaan berjalan ke, ambil gambar lompat gedik poyo ke, sunbathing ke, berenang ke, bolehlah turun ke pantai mengikut tangga yang disediakan menuruni cerun bukit yang curam itu.  

Durdle Door

Tapi, kalau lutut tu longgar-longgar ataupun stamina tak cukup kuat untuk mendaki balik ke atas bukit menuju kawasan parkir kereta, mundar-mandir sahaja lah macam pak cik jurugambar ini, Memandangkan cuaca pon mendung, dan kami perlu memandu pulang selama 3 jam untuk kembali ke Bath, kami tidak sempat untuk turun ke tepi pantai. Gambar hanya diambil di tepi tebing sekitar kawasan tersebut.

Man O' War beach

Cirencester

Bibury

Bourton on the Water

Broadway Tower

Sepetang di taman bunga

Sudah begitu lama tidak ku kemas kini catatan di alam maya ini, berikutan hal-hal yang tidak dapat ku elakkan. Alhamdulillah, pengajian tahun akhir aku akan berakhir tidak lama lagi. Tidak sabar pula rasanya hendak menikmati kegembiraan selepas penatnya belajar di bumi asing ini. Namun, aku tahu, kegembiraan itu hanya bersifat sementara. Pengakhiran pengajianku di bumi Eropah ini tidak bermakna aku akan berhenti belajar. Tetapi, ia sebenarnya menjadi satu titik permulaan kepada fasa baru hidupku iaitu fasa bekerja. Aku bersyukur ke hadrat Allah swt. kerana memurahkan rezeki aku dengan penyampaian berita gembira melalui penasihat pelajar PETRONAS minggu lalu. Alhamdulillah, aku lulus temuduga kerja yang telah aku tempuhi 2 bulan yang lalu. Pengisian dan tips tentang sesi temuduga itu akan aku titip kan di catatan seterusnya. Aku masih terus dan terus berdoa supaya aku mampu memperoleh ijazah kelas pertama ataupun kedua teratas kelak. Semoga penanda kertas tugasanku lembut hati untuk memberiku markah yang tinggi untuk aku mencapai keputusan yang baik.

Namun, itu bukanlah perkara utama dalam catatan kali ini. Seperti yang tertera di baris utama, aku akan berkongsi tentang pengalamanku di taman bunga. Semua pasti merasa pelik dengan diriku. Orang akan berkata

"Taman bunga sahaja. Itu pun hendak diberitahu"

Taman bunga yang sudah aku lawati baru-baru ini bukanlah sebuah taman bunga yang biasa dijumpai di negaraku, Malaysia. Taman bunga ini menjadi salah satu tarikan dunia kerana ia merupakan taman bunga terbesar yang menanam variasi jenis bunga tulip, hyacinth, daffodils dan beberapa specis bunga yang lain. au tidak berhenti mengucap syukur kerana diberi kesempatan untuk melihat keindahan ciptaan Allah yang Maha Esa. Subhanallah... Pujian itu kerapkali terungkap di bibir dan hati ku tatkala melihat bunga-bunga yang berwarna-warni itu. Jika apa yang aku lihat ini sudah begitu indah di mataku, aku tidak mampu membayangkan betapa indahnya syurga Allah kelak.

Interview oh interview

Interview oh interview. I was so transparent that I admitted so many things. I could not explain well and kept repeating the same example again and again. And my tears even shed in that room and everyone on the floor could hear me. What a situation I had back in the 5th floor of PNB office. That was a brief description of my CCM interview session. Obviously I failed the interview. How could I cried in front of them. That was so nonsense.

But, my main objective of coming to London was not entirely for CCM. I hold a bigger responsibility to become an employee of PETRONAS to be exact. I was a scholarship holder of that GLC that just contributed slightly more than 30% to country's GDP if I am not mistaken. (My economic knowledge sucks). Given that, I have to serve the company for at least 10 years to pay back the grant supplied for my 6 years education in UK. So, I came to London with high hope and fast adrenalin rush.

Basically, if you are PETRONAS scholar, you don't have to worry abouy your transportation and accommodation. Everything is well covered or else you can make a claim. For my batch, we were placed at Cumberland Hotel, Marble Arch. It is located just at the end of the famous Oxford Street. The evening before the tough day commencing, we had dinner with all candidates and interviewers. At that time, you would not feel the seniority atmoaphere because all interviewers would become your friends who share experiences and motivation to the candidates. The session started with a company briefing montage and presentation of the structure of employment specifically. The chit chat session turned out to be coincidently separated into two big tables i.e. Technical and non-technical groups. Being the only female technical candidate did not create the awkward moment as the air was also freshen up by the female interviewer, Dr. Syahidah. The fatherly comments and jokes then came from the male interviewer which I now forgot his name.

Since my session started at 11 am, I did not bother to iron my cloth on that night. I rather slept as soon as I reached my room together with my roommate, Alia.

I woke up for Subuh prayer and could not fall asleep again. So, I got ready for an early breakfast. That morning was not an easy morning for me. I could not eat variety of food served at that big lounge. My new friend, Danial advised me to take at least one banana just to stuff the stomach a little bit more since my session would be dragged into lunch hour.

I went up to my room and Alia just finished her first session. Non technical candidates went through new set of interview scheme so they had two sessions i.e. Individual and group session. In a meanwhile, since the technical candidates were only 6, we still used the old scheme that involved only an individual interview.

Later, when the time for me to go to the interview room arrived, I checked myself into thw mirror and smiled. I was ready for the 'battle'. But, I rather made a silly mistake as I did not know the exact room to settle the documentation part of the interview. I even knocked the room which a real interview was still on going. Lucky, En Hamdan (only now I remember his name) was just fine with it and assisted me to the right room. All occupants of the documentation room laughed at me that I actually intervened an hour lagged interview. I was told that the second candidate was not yet started, so I had to wait a little longer. While they were chatting up, I filled the forms needed. I am sure everyone would understand my situation by then. I was so nervous to see the first candidate, Aamirul coming to the room with a pale face. We were not supposed to be seen together as all questions and what had happened in his session were confidential. Nothing can be acquired and I think that is fair.

As soon as the second candidate, Danial finished his session, it was about lunch hour. Dr. Syahidah and En Hamdan requested for lunch break and had subway sandwiches. If I were in class, my tummy also would need to fill up by that time. But, on that big day, it did not ask for a refill. The interviewers chatted with us to reduce all our anxiety for the day. En Hamdan even had a video call from his MOZEC alumni friend and showed us to them. All interviewers needed to attend a program organised by UKEC for the annual career fair event. So, we cut short the lunch hour and straightly went to the business before the clock ticked to 3 pm.

I knocked the door and greeted. Remember, walk confidently and smile. None would eat nor harm you for that extra sadaqah. I sat. All bright faces shown outside the room were just them by nature. When we met at the room, the professionalism was shown. Dr. Syahidah started the conversation with the briefing of the interview. Basically, you are going to have three parts i.e. Case study presentation, role play and behavioural  Q&A ( I honestly could not digest the real name of the last part as I was busy toning down my anxiety).

I was given a case study about research and development (I will start using RnD to shortform). RnD was quite relevant to me in some ways. First, I was in the middle of doing a research project for my final year MEng research module. Second, I had an internship experience with Petronas Research Sdn Bhd (PRSB) in 2012. The case is presented with the help of a few notes that you originally prepared within half an hour prior to your interview. I had 5 pages of them and all were scribbled as mind maps. That is the best way to generate ideas though because you can present it holistically in term of different aspects. The main thing about this case study part is to think in a bird view, taking into account all factors that contribute to even an element of the case. Starts with who, which, when, how and you can direct your thinking systematically. At the end of the first part, the interviewer will collect all notes, so better prepare them in nice clear handwriting though. Dr Syahidah slightly laughed while commented that women were always like this, few pages long and scribbling here and there.

The second part turns you into a great spontaneous actor or actress. What needed in this part is your spontaneity in delivering solutions. The interviewers hold several cards and one card at a time is given to you containing the problem that you need to solve. When you pass a card, you will be given the next card and so on. In my case, I was a customer service manager. A case was filed by a rich Datuk (acted by En Hamdan) saying that his sports car was at fault because of the lubricant of my company. The second card involved a lawyer which was also acted by the same guy. The lawyer wished to settle everything off the court given that adequate compensation was provided. The third case proceeded as I needed to face the big boss of the company on the overall settlement of the case as forgery issue surfaced then. I am not going to sample out my kind of answers given at that time. Individuality differs from each person, so as the thinking skill. You may handle the case differently as I am.

The third part involves several questions on how you solve real life problems that you may have encountered. It can be on how you tackle an unexpected problem in a short time, how you tackle a subsequent problem, etc. I remembered giving an example on how I managed to sort my summer vacation, how I even tackled the transportation problem across Italy-Switzerland problem and so forth. The interviewers even commented that one of us had opposed our parents resulted on us stumbling against subsequent problems. I just laughed and smiled. Parents' instict is always right. I don't dare to fight against their talks.

So, after I submitted my thesis report to the school office, I finally had the reason to call the STS office. I passed the structured interview. The feeling of knowing it was nice and relieved. At least, I know that I don't have to pay the half million worth sponsorship. Alhamdulillah. And now, I am still waiting for the call from the recruiters. I hope the call will come sooner as I can't wait to build a great future for my family and me.

InshaAllah...

Pray for me, okay?

Bumi Allah itu besar

Besar kan bumi yang Allah cipta ni? Suppose with advanced human made technologies we have nowadays, nearly none of things with an aeroplane size could not be detected. Yet, to a bigger horror, a plane has been reported missing for a week (until now) already without any sign.

There are too many speculations made by the insiders and the outsiders. I hate reading them, to be honest. Some are just plain lies and some are shocking truths. And suddenly, many people around the world act as global citizens, worrying and sharing the gloomy post-effect of this incident. And, I wonder why...

Back to the title of this post on how big is the Earth. Honestly, when none of the radar, either on the ground or satellite, has given an exact location of where the plane could be found, I feel something fishy must be going on. Maybe, it is not up to my standard as a normal citizen to have a knowledge of 'highly classified' matter. There are too many speculations spread around media social networks like facebook (within my concern), and youtube. I am sure there are a lot more (sites) that have reported about this incident. I just could not make sense out of them.

No debris found. No interception of signal. No sight. Nothing. Clueless. An aeroplane has limited fuel capacity, so as a human body which has limited tolerance if it is not fed with nutrients or water to support life. Nothing is endless except The Almighty which is never being born and never died. He exists! But, nothing is impossible with His power. If He commands them to be still alive, then the possibilities of all 239 passengers and 12 cabin crews on board to be alive could have been wished.

Conspiracies, theories etc, none of them I could plainly believe. They remain as big question marks, uncertained.

PRAY FOR MH370

4 hal sebelum tidur

EMPAT HAL SEBELUM TIDUR Rasulullah berpesan kepada siti Aisyah ra.

“ Ya, Aisyah! Jangan engkau tidur sebelum melakukan empat perkara yaitu : 

1. Sebelum khatam al-Quran 
2. Sebelum menjadikan para nabi bersyafaat untukmu di hari kiamat 
3. Sebelum para muslimin meridhai engkau 
4. Sebelum engkau melaksanakan haji dan umrah 

“ Bertanya siti Aisyah : “Ya Rasulullah ! bagaimana aku dapat melaksanakan empat perkara seketika? “ Rasulallah tersenyum dan bersabda : 

1. “Jika engkau akan tidur , membacalah surat al –Ikhlas tiga kali Seakan-akan engkau telah meng-khatamkan Al-Quran ” Bismillaahirrahmaa nirrahiim, ‘Qul huallaahu ahad’ Allaah hussamad’ lam yalid walam yuulad’ walam yakul lahuu kufuwan ahad’ ( 3x ) “ 
2. "Membacalah shalawat untukku dan untuk para nabi sebelum aku" maka kami semua akan memberimu syafaat di hari kiamat “ “ Bismillaahirrahmaa nirrrahiim, Allaahumma shallii ‘alaa saiyyidina Muhammad wa’alaa aalii saiyyidina Muhammad ( 3x ) “ 
3. “Beristighfarlah” untuk para mukminin maka mereka akan meridhai engkau “ Astaghfirullaah hal 'adziim al lazhii laa ilaaha illaa huwal hayyul qayyuum wa atuubu ilaih ( 3x ) 
4. Dan perbanyaklah “bertasbih, bertahmid , bertahlil dan bertakbir” maka seakan-akan engkau telah melaksanakan ibadah haji dan umrah “ Bismillaahirrahmaa nirrahiim, Subhanallaah Walhamdulillaah Walaa ilaaha illallaah hu wallah hu akbar ( 3x )