2011 will come to an end very soon. And how do I sum up 2011? Well, I didn't usually give an F about leaving a year (pardon my vulgarity there. After all, it is just an alphabet). For me years are only a set of number which change once in 365/366 days. However, I think 2011 is a very interesting year for me. Interesting in away that a lot of things happen in my life during the year of 2011. But I'm going to keep that to myself okay.
Hopefully 2012 will bring many good things to me in a number of ways. Hopefully the bad things that happened in 2011 will not occur again and improvements over 2011 will take place in 2012. That's all for 2011. I'm humbly wishing you all a happy new year!
P/s: Please be wise on spending your new year. It is better to do some reflection on what happened in your life a year before. :)
You may remember that I went to the interview with Western Digital regarding the HEIGIP. Well, alhamdulillah. I got it. I don't know how because honestly, I didn't feel confident at all with the interview. Whatever it is, I got it. Praise to Allah.
To be honest, there are a few reasons why I'm not putting too much hope from that interview. Firstly, as I mentioned earlier, my parents wants me to work with the government. Secondly, I'm not a laboratory kind of person. If I do the internship with them, for sure I will be placed at the laboratory because of my major in chemistry. So, I just did my best during the interview but not having too much hope for it. Besides, my CGPA is not very strong as compared to the others.
Although it makes me think that maybe I'm now connecting the dot previously marked for me. Maybe He is trying to show me the way in which I should go. Because I'm a human. I need a lot of guidance. Although I prefer to work as an administrator, maybe that work is not suitable for me. As I always say, we may not get what we want. But He definitely gives us what we need. Maybe this is what I need.
However, this is only for internship. It is not necessary that I will end up working with Western Digital because there are a lot of selection procedure I have to undergo before they decide to hire me as their chemist. So this is just a mere 1st step for me. It is still early to make a conclusion.
I do hope for the best for my life. Pray for my success guys. I hope the path I take will bring prosperity to me in 'dunia wal akhirah'. Amiin...
Here are some picture of the HEIGIP launching at Putrajaya officiated by YBM KPT.
Those who are seconded to Western Digital
Yupp. I was interviewed by NTV7. Unfortunately, I never had a chance to see myself on TV.
Let's kick off with the story about my mom. She took her SPM about 32 years ago. And she got 2nd grade for her SPM. Doesn't sound spectacular now. But back then, it was way above average. On the other hand, my father is only a 3rd grader. Fast forward to the present, my mom is only a clerk and my father is an officer at the federal department. I'm sure when my mom received her SPM result, she must've thought that she is going to have a good position at this time. But she was wrong! I'm not saying that working as a clerk is a bad profession but it could've been better for her. Hey, I'm a son of a clerk and I'm telling you, I'm proud of the way my mom raised me up.
There is a story actually behind the story of my mom. A few years before my grandmother died, I asked her of all her children, who is the smartest in terms of academic achievement? She told me it's my mom. She actually told me that my mom was offered to further her study at a university but due to the hard life that my mom's family is having, my grandmother doesn't tell my mom about it and she kept the offer letter to herself. She said that they cannot afford to pay for the university fee. Pity isn't it? But it happened nevertheless. The highest education for my mother is only SPM. The best part is, my mom doesn't know this story until one day I decided that the deserves to know.
I remember a time when my family were attending a wedding of the daughter of my mom's classmate. She met a lot of her classmates and even her schoolmates. Most of them is just an ordinary person like my mother. But one particular classmates of her has become a lecturer at the Institut Pendidikan Guru in KL. She told me that the person was not a very bright student when she was at school. My mother was always better than that person when it comes to an academic achievement. But now, it's different. The person is having a much better life (in terms of position) than my mom.
What I'm trying to say here is that we often look at life short sightedly. We never really know what's ahead. Thus, we always come to a conclusion earlier than it should be. People always perceived that going to a university will always give you a good result in your life later. But this is not necessarily true. Upon coming back to Malaysia, I've worked temporarily at different organisation for a number of time. And I found that most of my co-workers are university graduate with PTPTN debt to pay for. And they are underemployed. Work as a hard labor arranging boxes. You don't have to have a degree to arrange boxes. Everybody can do it. Yes, you can argue that the time has not come for them yet but does they ever thought that they will arrange boxes one day? I bet they don't. Because they are human. And human judgement are mostly flawed.
Another example is my lecturer. One my lecturer told me the story of his life. He started his university life as a pre-science student. Pre-science is a program for those who are not really eligible to go straight to diploma. In short, their SPM is not good. They have to spend a year for that before they can go to diploma provided that their pre-science result is outstanding. A few years later, he is my lecturer with a master degree. Who would've thought that?
It is very sad for me when many parents focuses on academic achievement of their children. They scold their children for not getting a lot of A's in their exam when what they should do is to motivate them to not give up in life. Keep on pedaling if you don't want to fall from your bicycle. Yes, I agree that academic achievement is important but it's not everything. It is impossible for us to know what lies in front of the corner but it is possible for us to prepare ourselves to face anything that lies ahead.
Let's listen to this song. It has a very deep meaning.
Don't tell me you never lie in your life. Because that's just bullshit. The fact is, we've lied. At least, even though it's unlikely, once. In this globalized world, it is impossible to find someone who had never lied in their life. Even a pious one. Maybe they may not lie as frequent as most of the others. But I believe that they must've lied before.
I've lied too. It's not something I'm proud of. But that's the fact. However, I lied for a reason. I know there is no absolute reason for you to lie. There's no such thing as 'bohong sunat' as mentioned by P. Ramlee. It's not in Islam. But I lied mostly to avoid myself from answering another question which may arise if I told them the truth. Classic example is when someone I barely know ask me my age. I never told them my real age. Instead, I discounted my own age. Haha.. This happen a lot when I'm at UiTM. Even most of my housemate do not know my real age. This is to avoid them from asking me "How come??". It's not that I'm ashamed of my past but more to avoid myself from answering the same question over and over again. For me, it's enough that only someone close to me knows about my past.
The point I'm trying to make is, we all lied. At least once. But I believe that we lied for a reason. Just like me. We may have different reasons but we lied nevertheless. So why does when someone lied to us, we tend to get angry? Even myself. I know it's very annoying to know that you've been lied all this while but didn't we do the same thing too?? So, my suggestion when we know that someone is lying to you, as them why. Then evaluate their reason. Whether it is an acceptable lie or an unacceptable one.
This is the question which keep banging on my head lately. Last semester, one of my lecturer told us how important it is to choose the right profession for us because it is something we have to do for the rest of our life. He told us how he was torn between becoming a dentist or an educator. Of course he chose to become an educator and study chemistry instead. His reasoning is simple. He just didn't want to see rotten teeth for the rest (or at least until he retire) of his life. Haha.. No offense for dentist or dentist to be.
Speaking of which, I'm now having the same question. Does being a chemist suits me?? I know I still have a year and half more before graduating and it is relatively still a long way to go. But I got to have a plan for my life rite? For some reason, I'm thankful that I wasn't given a chance to do medicine anymore. Lately, my grandfather frequently admitted to the hospital. While visiting him there, I can say that being a doctor is not a profession for me. Yes, the monetary reward is very tempting but money can't buy anything rite? Seriously. I'm not saying this because my door of doing medicine has been shut long time ago. But from my observation, it's quite boring. Maybe the situations are different in a private hospital. Maybe it's better in the private but I can't comment on that. However it is, it's still a noble profession.
So, does being a chemist suits me? Honestly, I don't think so. Being a chemist is just the same like being a doctor. I think it's probably worse. Firstly, being a chemist, you have to spend a lot of your time in a laboratory. Which means your only friends are laboratory apparatus and a few lab assistants. Secondly, spending more time in laboratory can be harmful to your health. A lot of chemical (carbon tetrachloride among many) can be carcinogenic and can damage much of our internal organ (liver, kidney and central nervous system) if exposed to our body.
After much though and consideration, I think I'm better off as an administrator. I love to work in an office, wearing nice attire (although I'm not very fashion conscious), getting to know people and I love managing things. I know it has nothing to do with chemistry, but I believe that degree is just a stepping stone for you to get a job. And since my parents wants me to work with the Government of Malaysia, I plan to plan to apply for Administrative and Diplomatic Officer (Pegawai Tadbir dan Diplomatik @PTD) upon finishing my study. I heard that the admission is tough though. There are several stages of selection process we have to go trough before we are accepted. However, it is the most elite scheme in the government sector. Promotion is fast and the job prospect is bright. You can go as far as the Secretary General (KSU) of a ministry or perhaps the Chief Secretary of the Government (KSN)! Hopefully I can make my way to that. Prays for me guys. Ameen...
On the 25th of October, I was interviewed by a representative from Western Digital for participation to High End Industry Graduate Internship Program. For further reading about the program, you can go here (http://icn.uitm.edu.my/programs/heigip-program.html). It came to me (about a week before 25th October) as a bit of a shock partly because I never heard about this program but mostly because why they chose me. I don't really know what is the criteria for choosing the interviewee but only 250 places are offered throughout the whole nation (IPTA) will be chosen to be involved in the pilot program which is scheduled on the coming semester break. It was a short interview (lasting about 15-20 minutes for each candidate). And to be honest, this is not my first interview since I was born to this world. So, I didn't get caught into my nervousness at that day. The interviewer (a woman) didn't even take a glimpse at my certificate file. She only looked at my resume and the first thing she noticed is that I said I can speak a little bit of Czech and German. And of course she asked me how come. I said I learn Germany in UiTM (3rd language subject) and Czech because I spent 2 years studying medicine there. She is shocked. And the interview went on to that matter. A lot of questions were asked but the question that caught my attention was "How do you overcome the feel of disappointment? You are in the way of becoming a doctor which is the most noble profession (by Malaysian standard I believe) but didn't made it through". This time, I'm the one who shocked. Firstly because I've never been asked to answer such question. Secondly because I'm not prepared by any means to answer it. This is what I call as out of the box question. But mostly because I've no idea how I overcome the disappointment. I pray a lot. That's for sure. And I guess I keep telling myself that this is part of His plan. He is the best planner and who am I to go against His will. Whatever it is, it was a very unforgettable experience to be asked that way. Thanks Ms Hafeeza of Western Digital for that question. It makes me think of how I overcome it. Oh.. Before I forgot, my chance?? Nahhh... Haha..
If you're looking for an academic explanation of the above law, sod off. You've come to the wrong blog. What I'm going to write in this post isn't about the brilliance of Germain Hess, a Swiss-born Russian chemist. Instead, I'm going to relate his formula to the real life situation.
As I'm sure whoever followed my blog (ade ke??) has already know that I'm a chemist in the making. InsyaAllah. I'm in the 3rd semester now and I still have 3 more semesters to go. That means that I'm about half way through. On this current semester, one of my lab instructor is 25 years old. A year older than me. And he already has a master degree. Can you imagine that? A 24 years old boy still at half way of his degree course and the other boy who has already become a lecturer and they are only a year apart. Pathetic isn't it? Then, courageous girl of my class asked me what do i feel. I explained Hess's Law to her. She looked a bit confused at first. Then I relate the work of Germain Hess to real life situation. This is how it goes. The enthalpy of some reactions can easily obtain in a lab by a single reaction. However, for some reaction, a few different reactions need to be conducted in a lab in order to determine the enthalpy change. The final value is still the same regardless of the different pathway that the reaction is having. The same goes with life. Some people is lucky to have no obstruction in their way through life. Some people, like me, aren't very lucky not to have a hassle free route. However, our destination is still the same. Only the time of arrival is different. Me for instance, I'm going to finish my degree first. It will take another 1 and a half year. I will be 26 by then. InsyaAllah, with the help of Allah, I intend to continue with my master after that and followed by PhD. If everything goes smoothly, by then, I will be around 30. I will still get there, you see?. But I travel a longer route as compared to most of the people. Can you see the connection between Hess's Law and the real life now?
The late Steve Jobs once said "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." (Referring to his cancer diagnose). I agree with him. But for me, abandoning my medical study is the most precious thing Allah bestowed me with. It makes me feel stronger and having a broader view of everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) that happen in my life. I can't get that even if I'm admitted to Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial or any other university in the world. You can only get that at the university we called life.
