I Can’t Even Do a Pushup Anymore

I’m seriously rethinking my no-exercise-until-I-get-a-heart-attack-or-diabetes policy.

Anyway this is too much recent posting for about, oh, a year.

See you on the other side. (That’s Lord Nod for you).

A Bit on the Malaysian ADTP Program

On request. Hmm. Perhaps I should only do stuff on request from now on… Though some people might take that as an invitation to make me write dissertations on everything not under the sun (there’s more of that actually). So um, no thanks.

Anyhow, this is going to be about the American Degree Transfer Program, um, program that you can find in oodles of private Malaysian universities. The good (or more technically, famous) ones anyway. Don’t quote me on this of course; I don’t even pretend to pretend to be an expert. But hopefully this might illuminate and stuff.

1) You can get into ADTP (or ADP) right after SPM (or O-levels, or whatever floats your non-Malaysian boat) as far as I know. Which is good, no need to waste time and whatnot, right?

2) The T in ADTP means Transfer, and yes, most if not all ADTP people transfer off to (guess!) America to finish off their degree. Note, they get a Degree, no diplomas and all that, after the 4 years. I think some Aussie and UK institutions accept transfers too (wondrous indeed).

3) Oh, and in the first year of the degree you’re called a freshman, in the second a sophomore, then a junior in the third, and in the final year you’re a senior. These year-levels are more accurately calculated from the credit hours you take a year, as far as I know you advance a level every 33 credits you take. It takes 124 credit hours to graduate. One subject might have different credit hours (almost all are 3 hours per subject but tougher or easier subjects have more/less credit hours). If you feel like the Road Runner you can attempt suicide by taking 7 subjects a semester (that’s 21+ credit hours) and finishing in a breezy 3 years. Or less. But you might die of stress on the way, so it’s not recommended. Unless you like this kind of stuff.

4) Most transfer students transfer 33/66 credits from their Malaysian institutions, so they gallivant off in their 2nd or 3rd degree year. It’s cheaper to do your credits in Malaysia, and the subject matter for the first 2 years is mostly the same in both places. Going Malaysian might even be easier, but it depends on your lecturers really. One issue is that the American university might not always accept all your Malaysian credits, or will only accept a maximum level.

Say you do 70 credit hours. The American Uni will accept up to 66 credit hours. But even that is not guaranteed: if the subjects you took aren’t acceptable the AU (American Uni lah hah) might take less, maybe about 60, maybe less than that… So make sure you know the AU that you want to transfer very, very early so that before you take a subject in your MU (Malaysian Uni, duh). You can check with your transfer adviser, see if that subject will be transferred to your AU of choice. And you can apply to more than one AU, of course, as an international transfer student

5) Make sure you know all application deadlines! Not all AU-s accept transfer students every semester, usually there’s only one or two intakes a year. So make sure you know when to apply, or you might be stuck in Malaysia another year before jetting off. And then there’s the visa process but I think it’s pretty straightforward so I won’t talk about it.

6) So, why go to America anyway? Hmm. I won’t make any anarchic comments here since this is on request… So this narrows down the list. Tsk. Um, ah… It broadens horizons. It’s full of gweilou (heh heh). The people here are pretty friendly (the ones who actually talk to you anyway), you can get an American bank account. Oh, that brings me to the joys of American bank account-ancy, which warrants another number.

7) With an American bank account you can get online stuff from anywhere, full stop. It makes PayPal far easier to use. You can get online stuff from anywhere. You can get online stuff from anywhere. (I’m way too pleased over this.)

That’s all I have to say. It’s pretty good here really. I haven’t met any gun toting maniacs, no KKK, no crazy racist dudes (apart from the Malaysians… kidding!). Maybe it’s the snow – maybe they’re hibernating. Or maybe, just maybe, America could be a wonderful place to study in and whatnot. Check it out in any case. A bit of knowledge won’t hurt. Much.

Who are your Heroes?

Remember the nobodies of history.

The people of democratic Greece.

The voters in the Roman republic.

The dead of Dachau, and the living.

The soldiers. The farmers.

The women who ensure the survival of mankind.

The nameless. The forgotten. The unknown – the men and women who carried kings to their thrones.

These are the people who changed history.

These are the people who shape the future.

They are heroes.

On the Sky

 

Don’t know why pasted this in the drafts and didn’t post it up. This is some stupid thing I wrote which feels somewhat pretentious… Well it may look pretentious and it may sound pretentious, but I assure you, these are real (pretentious) feelings. Get the drift? And I have this feeling the text is being ugly, but that’s okay, I don’t care.

So yeah, bla bla.

2. Describe an individual, locale, or image that has made a significant and lasting impression on you and explain how it has affected you.

The source of my inspiration is impossible to truly describe. It changes in hue from dawn to dusk, growing brilliant and dim through the sun’s inexorable passing. Its clouds are shifting every second, never the same at any moment in time. For as long as I can remember I have always looked to the sky – it inspires me with the freedom it represents, and it reminds me that every littlest thing in the world is a thing of beauty, no matter how ordinary it may seem.

 

As strange as it may sound, even though we all live under the same sky, I have never seen a sky that matches the beauty of that of my home, Malaysia. Perhaps it is because I have never lived anywhere else, but nothing captures my mind as much as a clear evening sky, accentuated by a few puffy clouds and gracefully shifting from purest blue to a soft mauve along a single line of sight. Of all the countries I have ever visited I have never seen anything like it; it is part of what I believe makes my nation unique in my heart.

 

Unlike a person or a place, the sky is always there, and will always be there. Its constancy comforts and reflects how I would like to be as a person: solid and reliable, never boring and always changing, hopefully for the better. I have realized that in life the possibilities are endless; thinking out of the box and keeping an open mind are principles that have helped me greatly in my years as a student. The sun shining through a cloudy sky, casting narrow strands of light down onto earth tells me that even in troubled times hope always shines through.

 

Most, if not all people tend not to notice things that have always been there. Few ever stop to consider how running water and even sewage dramatically improves the quality of life. Likewise, it may not seem like it but the sky is more important that many people realize. It is illuminated by the sun, much like the moon. The sky is like the blank spaces on a piece of paper. One only notices the words upon a paper, but without the paper there is nothing.

The sky has inspired me in many ways, some of them perhaps unknown even to me. Wherever I go it lies over the world like a cozy blanket, providing a peace many do not know they have. Little else soothes and inspires me like the sky, and I sincerely hope and believe it will continue to do so for the rest of my life.