Episode Three: Have A Potluck Day!

“Hello Azam, tolong akak angkat nasi lemak. Akak kat kereta akak ni, thanks tau”. A call from Kak Emy broke the silent of my cellphone. She requested my help to carry nasi lemak.

Nasi lemak? 

So, I went to her at the car park. I saw her carrying several large food containers. 

“Ni nak buat apa makanan banyak-banyak ni kak?” 

“Laa, kan kita ada potluck hari ni, azam tak tau ke?”

Immediately, my eyes widely opened. I couldn’t believe my ears, but my heart thumped with ecstacy, saying “today is my lucky day”. My stomach joined the club by rumbling rhythmically.

So I helped Kak Emy carry the foods to our office. Several minutes later, other female master and PhD students arrived and they brought along their cooking too. There were about 10 dishes prepared.  Nasi Lemak, rendang ayam, spaghetti, chocolate cake, meat pie, and more.

  By 9.00 am, the ladies have started to serve the foods, and by 10.30am, guests have started to come. We invited several lecturers, and staffs to join the potluck. 

Well, the foods were totally awesome, the people enjoyed it, and my stomach was about to burst open at any moment. One of the lecturer said that it is very good to have a feast like this, forget about work for a while, enjoy the meal, have some chat and good laugh.

I thought the feast would end by noon. But I was wrong. After the Fardhu Jumaat Prayer, people were coming again, to have some more. Yes, me too! The feast was finally over by 4.30pm. At 5.00 pm, before I went home, I asked Kak Emy, “kak, ada lagi potluck selepas ni?” She answered, “ada, Azam kena masak for the next one”. Gulp!!!

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Episode Two: IGS Research Skills Seminar

“IGS Research Skills seminar provides opportunities for research students to develop essential skills that will be of value in completing their research in a timely manner. The seminars are conducted systematically by offering relevant modules. These modules are COMPULSORY for all new registered research students. Certificate of attendance will be given to those who complete all modules. Only students with this certificate will be allowed to proceed to Defence of Proposal”

-Institute of Graduate Studies-

Keyword: COMPULSORY. The word is scary loud enough to call the corresponding students to appear in the seminar. Well, of course if we fail to attend the seminar, we won’t get to the next stage of our research progress. But, hey, we got some good friends around, right? They can sign the attendance for us, correct? The problem is settled then. 

Well, it’s a bad habit actually. Don’t do it, at least not regularly. Just attend the seminar and you might learn something new, get to know new people, and see new places. I met Babak Rashtian a.k.a Mankind, and I don't have any idea who he was. Also, UiTM Puncak Alam is quite new to me. I’ve been there once before. This would be my second time to reach the campus and my friends help me to get there. 

The seminar was a four-days event, morning until evening. The seminar targeted research students, mostly PhD pursuer. The seminar constitutes of 8 modules. If we miss a module, we need to repeat the module later. Generally, the modules revolve around on the basic technique to tackle our research.  All the speeches were delivered by dedicated UiTM’s lecturers. I'm proud to see that most of the speakers came from my faculty (Electrical Engineering). The participants came from various faculty. We are separated into two categories; the "Science and Technology", and the "Social Science".

 

Bored and sleepy. This is my seventh year in the university. Every semester is full of seminars, talks and modules. My brain is already fucked up with all these. Why can't we have a single day seminar, with speaker from the Raja Lawak ASTRO? Seminar should be more fun these days. I bet most of the participants agreed with me. So, my friend and I reached to a concrete CONCLUSION; we need to escape these brain squashing pandemic. Well, we signed all the attendance slots, illegaly.

Quit chit chat chattering. I’ve uploaded several pictures to give a clear idea of our brilliant CONCLUSION…

I've told you before, my life is getting cooler and cooler each day. Anyone cooler than me around here?

 

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Episode One: A Cool Life

I can still remember my primary school days crystal clear. Do you remember those days? Off the bed (not too) early in the morning, wear the school uniform, carry the muscle-building school bag, and off to school. It is actually a pain in the ass daily routine. Just think, it is very cruel to have little kids to carry something at least half of their own weight. The trend continues on when we reach high school. Well, there are lockers provided, therefore less loads were rested on our shoulders, right?

But, that’s school life. I am now a Master student. This is my third week running a life as a Master student. Life is not bad at all! Life is just getting cooler and cooler each day. I am now enjoying numerous privileges provided by the university to me. 

First, the parking space. While other students struggled to find an available parking space, I don’t have to. Post-graduate students like me have our rides parked by the staff’s parking area. A unique security ID is installed into our Student Card to allow us to rise the security pole. This parking area is restricted and most students are prohibited to park their vehicles there. Why? Students have bad parking skill. Once, I helped a girl to get her car out of the parking space. That was totally ridiculous. Hey, don’t get me wrong! I am well experienced with this troublesome parking crisis. My car was rammed three times in this campus. It cost me several hundred Ringgit to repair her damages. I’m now very thankful to enjoy the staff’s parking space.

Second, conducive work space. Research students can request to utilize the laboratory or research center as their work station. These facilities are equipped with numerous of high-tech, high-end, and state-of-the-art equipment. Therefore, these facilities are strictly limited to authorized personnel. I choose to have my work station at the Applied Electricity Laboratory. I am now granted 24-7 access to this facility. The lab is still under renovation. Upon completion, it will be installed with heavy equipment and machinery such as electric motors and generators. But, the most importantly, this laboratory is also a sanctuary with huge collection of research theses, handy enough to assist my research. 

Basically, each office constitutes of several individual work cubicles, several printers and scanners. There is also a seminar chamber, used to discuss and present our current research progress. 

Third, the good people. Yes, currently there are lots of nice people around me. Some of them are students like me, while the rest are the university personnel. I enjoy my day with them. We support each other, sharing ideas and stories (gossiping is normal). In fact, in my office, I’m the youngest, and I’m the only one who holds the “single, unmarried” status. Therefore, everyone enjoyed to have me around.

Well, those were just some of the benefits I enjoyed currently. I believe, by Allah’s Will, more benefits will be granted, as long as I still believe Him as my God.


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