Review 2011 - My Lecturers' Quotes

Whatever lecturers teach can never be absorbed 100% by my mind in lecture hall, but I do remember well what they said especially their funny or good quotes. Below are some of the quotes by my lecturers :

"The problem here is they want the cheapest but asking for the best. Some local company claims that their pipe (RM 0.80 per metre) can drain the water four times faster than the imported one (RM5 per metre)."
Prof. NAZ
Well, this is the case in the construction field.

‎"Normally students only realised that they had made mistakes one minute after they left the examination hall."
Prof. NAZ
This happened to me again and again ... T.T

"Rasuah tu memang ada. Cuma you nak ke tak nak."
Dr. NAB
The reality and fact in the industry.

''To score A in final, you must first have good Attitude. Both A's are related to each other.''
Dr. FD
Super agree !! In engineering term, they are directly proportional. ;-p

"My brain is tiny, and here we have hundred brains. Therefore I can learn from you, we are learning from each other." Dr. JJ

Humble words from a smart lecturer. While Mourinho my top idol teaches me to be an ego and arrogance (a little bit) styled charismatic boss, Dr. JJ teaches me to be a humble man in life.

"Construction is all about time, achievement and money. Punctuality is important. When the work starts at eight, all must already working at eight." Prof. A

I regard punctuality is an important part of the professionalism that every professional or successful person share. I do not respect people who always not being punctual and are creative in giving various excuses. We have no right to waste others' time and our precious time shouldn't be wasted.

"Engineers find ways to solve problems." Dr. LTL

Yea, when I face problems and recall back what this lecturer told me, I will feel motivated to deal with the task even though it is hard and surprisingly sometimes ideas are sparked.

"Exam or test is never the right way or the only way to measure a student." Dr. JJ

I expressed my view by an immediate reply which I shouted loud, 'Yes !!'

"The boss hires people who can think not robot. If you are a robot, the boss will ask you, can you see the door there?" Prof. NAZ

Engineers who act like robot, follow instructions blindly without thinking are difficult to survive.

Another couple of good quotes or advices from Prof. NAZ (he is my idol lecturer) shared with me during a chat :
"Learn to believe in others."
"I don't worry what they might do to me, I have my own money and business running. In life, you are safe when you always have other alternatives to back up you."

That's true !!

Their words are really awesome ~ !

My final part of Review 2011 will be published on the last day of this year. Hope you won't miss it ^^

Review 2011 - Stupid Quotes Of The Year

Review 2011 - Stupid Quotes Of The Year
by Foong Han Yang (original one ...!)

My commitment to Facebook is undoubted. Status are written almost everyday.
Today, I would like to share with you some stupid quotes I made this year. Enjoy :-p

1. '有双下巴的男生才帅 !'

2. ‎'The Plastic Analysis topic will be removed from the Structure Analysis syllabus effectively from next academic session. USM will be the first University to do so which will soon be followed by other universities in Malaysia. You know, nowadays USM is talking and stressing on SUSTAINABILITY. Say NO to PLASTIC ! '

3. 'Recently eating has become my solution to stress. May be pressure consumes too much energy, making me hungry all the time.'My friend, Siao Phin responded by saying, ’finally some one experienced same thing with me ’
4.
'60 marks in secondary school exam = it's poor and hard to accept T.T

60 marks in University finals = yea~~ I'm smart man ^^ God bless me !

90 marks in secondary school exam = proud and rarely achievable ;-)
90 marks in University finals = is the sun rising from the west today? @@'

5. [Transformers Jokes]

Who is Transformer's sister? (Transistor)

Who are Transformer's mum and dad? (Transparent)

What is Transformer's gender? (Transexual)

Which Transformer wears tights? (Transvestite)

How does Transformer do for Gardening? (Transplant)

What does Transformer's do as their Favorite Pastime? (Transporting)

What does Transformer do when they are in the Bank? (Transaction)

and...

I said, 'Transformer's IPTA?' (usm TRANSkerian)

6. Interviewer : 'How do you cope with stress at work?'
Foong : 'No worry, I have good tensile and compressive strength.'
The answer from a typical engineering student.

7. 'Important decisions are never easy to be made. ; Pretty girls are never easy to be tackled?'

8. My friend asked, " Is this the largest roundabout in Ipoh? " I answered, " No. If you're driving along the largest roundabout in Ipoh, you won't realise that you
are actually driving along it. "

9. 'This one (Shield Diagram )sure won't come out one. Got diagrams some more. It will waste a lot of time. No need study..', I convinced my friend, Ti Amo Kent. Thing ended up sour as I was wrong and the Shield diagram did appear in the lab test, EAA 204. My record in predicting test questions is as good as Pele's football result prediction T.T

Stay tuned for more quotes as we edge closer to the New Year yea !

My 2011 In Review

My Reward - Reaping 2011 In Review (Read 5 Free 2)

I have selected 5 BIG events to share with you all in my review of year 2011.

1. Elected as the President of IEM – USM Student Section

I would describe this as the proudest moment in my USM life thus far. This is the Christmas gift that the God had delivered to me on 28 Sept 2011. To me it was a surprise at first since IEM was not the core in my activity blueprint. However I quickly learn that it is a great opportunity handed to me to sharpen my skills and gain more experience. Since then, IEM (SS) USM becomes my greatest love and one of my top priorities in the campus.

Being the president, I explore and experiment on different approaches that aims to strengthen the organisation, build a culture that focuses on professionalism, recruit and develop talents to run the organisation. I regard these elements are significant in positioning IEM (SS) USM as ‘The BEST Student Organisation In Engineering Campus USM’ which is the challenge that the current committee takes and strive to achieve. Besides arranging industrial visits and talks, the team is also working on the E-magazine, Junior Interns and etc, among the new implementation by IEM (SS) USM.

Furthermore, my previous tenure as the Director of PPKA Family Day 2011 and some mistakes that I had made provide me the chance to do better and the lessons learnt allow me to plan wiser and act smarter. I always remember what my predecessor, Keng Swee told me – the importance of SYSTEM and HUMAN CAPITAL in ensuring an organisation to function well.

I have high confidence to lead the team and have faith in my members. I believe together we will fly high and meantime IEM (SS) USM will play its role in facilitating and linking the students closer to the industrial world.

Yea~~ !!

2. Selected as the Ahli Dewan Perundingan Pelajar (DPP USM)

Still remember the time dated back to a year ago when the Student Parliament of USM was formed and the first session of DPP was held. I was so disappointed for not able to join the DPP session that time and it is the experience and exposure that I am not supposed to miss. Thanks God, a year later my turn has finally come and it does not come easily. Here is the story …

Eleven Ahli Dewan will be representing Engineeing Campus – 7 MPP’s and 4 YDP’s. all the clubs and organisations in the campus are categorised into four groups which are Persatuan, Pusat Pengajian, Desasiswa and Sekretariat. IEM (SS) USM is categorised under Persatuan and only one YDP from each category will be selected as Ahli Dewan. Since I am the incumbent Head of Welfare Secretariat (Ketua Sekretariat Kebajikan MPP) in my campus, DPP is definitely a great platform for me to fight for students’ welfare should I be selected. Therefore I volunteer myself without a second of hesitation. For the Persatuan category, I competed with another two candidates and one of them is my senior whom I respect a lot. After a short speech given, the three of us were requested to wait outside the meeting room while the rest of the attendee voted inside it. It was a tough PK and I didn’t see myself having strong advantage over the other two candidates. Finally after we took our seat, I was congratulated for being elected. That night, I realised how sweet a win – win would be as win – lose could hurt. How I wish my senior and I can both qualify as the Ahli Dewan, I think he is definitely more competent and suitable than some of the Ahli Dewan selected that day.

On 19 Sept the big day, I stepped into the Dewan Persidangan and it was like a dream came true to me. It leaves me with no regret already in term of activity or co-curricular achievement in mu university life. Also during the DPP session, I proposed the fourth ‘usul’ of the day – ‘Transparensi Pemarkahan Kerja Kursus’. After stating the justification of the proposed usul, I then stated three tuntutan usul. It ended up with the following declaration by the Speaker Dewan, ‘Dengan ini usul keempat, Transparensi Pemarkahan Kerja Kursus bersma ketiga – tiga tuntutan usulnya DITERIMA Dewan !’ Recently I am being informed that the usul I proposed had been brought to the attention of the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Academics USM. Discussion will be held and hopefully the outcome will be favourable to all sides especially the students.

We Want Transparency !!

3. Dean list

My academics achievement is quite a remarkable story to tell at least up to this point. It is not how high my CGPA is and honestly my CGPA is just nothing compared to most of my fellow coursemates, mine is merely 3.30. Rather, the attractive part of the story is how I stand up from the heaviest defeat, rebuild and recover, work hard and determined to achieve the target (hit above 3.50) instead of opting for an easier way – give up and be a quitter. Sacrifices had been made, tough challenges had been taken for I just refuse to be a loser. I might look soft physically but the spirits of a warrior to never say die is in the blood that circulates in my body.

Let’s wind back to December of 2009.. the night my pointer (Year 1 Sem 1) came out. Usually in secondary school and Matric, I prayed hard to score full A’s but things weren’t the same that time. I prayed for PASS for all subjects and I knew I did badly for my first Final, a consequence of too much sleep, excessive playing time and minimal study. Padan muka really. The result finally came out and I was not wrong, my CGPA was 2.77. What a sheer disaster and horrible stumble. During that lowest ebb, the thought of changing course did strike my mind and I had given it a serious thought. Some people including my dad suggested that the culprit was that I had spent too much time in activities. I refused to take that excuse. My bad attitude and laziness should be blamed not the activities.

Then I decided not to surrender but to fight ! I choose to stay not to quit half way. I reviewed everything again, analysed the failure causing factors and implemented some positive changes. One of the heaviest price I need to pay for in order to bounce back is to reduce the gaming time significantly. If you can’t imagine how hard it is, try imagine a smoker giving up cigarettes. It took lots of discipline and determination.

As a result, the CGPA of subsequent semesters had shown gradual increase. Finally my efforts paid off in the previous semester Final (Year 2 Sem 2) as I qualified for dean list (GPA > 3.50). The best is, I have a lot more friends who are like me, getting dean list for the first time. It’s always great to achieve great things together and share the joy.

14 December 2011 I received the Dean List certificate from the dean, Prof. Hamidi, I feel superbly proud of myself and happy for the little success I earn. Looking on my first dean list cert', it is clearly written there my name, FOONG HAN YANG but I attribute this little success of mine to my friends (especially Ti Amo Kent & Cheah Yen Xiang) who have helped me a lot in my studies as well my determination and efforts. Below was the post I wrote to my friends and juniors, hopefully my story here can inspire and motivate them:

“ Tahniah kepada semua penerima Sijil Dekan. Syabas !
Kpd rakan2 yg belum menerima anugerah ini, jgn berputus asa dan berikan lah usaha lebih gigih ! Saya bermula dari CGPA 2.77 (sem pertama), terima surat amaran dari pihak penaja lagi.. dan hari ini, setelah empat kali percubaan, barulah saya dapat sijil ini.All the best, hopefully our name will be in Dean List next time ya ^^
'Everything is possible the moment you believe in it and take action.' FOONG H. Y. “

The seemingly impossible had been made possible with the right strategy and action. I sincerely wish the story I share with you all here could leave a positive impact on you and as for myself I’ll take the lesson from this story as I fight along and stride towards my dream.

4. Civil Cameron + Ipoh Trip

This was the most awesome trip of the year ! Having lots of fun, joy and excitement with coursemates in Cameron Highland + Ipoh 3D2N trip. I begin to love the atmosphere, lifestyle and scenery in Cameron Highland. Strawberry, fresh vegetables, fruits, roses, fresh air… you name it! I have made a promise to myself to buy a villa there, a potential residence after I retired and it’s really a nice place to enjoy my time there with my wife and family. Apart from that, what I’m going to tell you next might be a bit unbelievable. Though I have been raised near Ipoh, I never drank the famous Old Town White Coffee before, not until that trip. Thanks to my friends for bringing noises and life to my otherwise quiet and boring house where I often ‘home-alone’ there during the semester break.

5. YNS 2011

A fantastic four day programme held in UM this year, assembling some of the most energetic and awesome youths of the country. Meeting new exciting people, gaining inputs and being exposed to some ideas. It was really a great experience, as great as EYLN 2010 I attended a year before. The only regret of my time there was my failure to fight for the chance to have a direct conversation with Prime Minister, Y.A.B. Dato Sri’ Najib Razak. The good side of this was that it stimulated me to enhance or strengthen some of the parts that I must improve on. Anyway, I’m sure I will have the similar opportunity again and who knows the situation may reverse one day whereby I am being sought after instead of I seeking for. I know, that day will come…

Would like to share with you all, the two quotes that I loved the most from speakers, Roshan Thiran and Dr. Goh :

‘Even the introverts (yea~~ I’m one of them) can lead and they can do well. Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong achieved great success in Genting, but when was the last time Uncle Lim gave a talk? ’

‘Leadership is practiced, not learnt from books.’

Normally supermarket and shops are having Christmas promotion – Buy 3 Free 1, 20 % Off …… etc .. Huh ! On this Christmas Day, I have no gift for you but would you love a 5 + 2 offer? You just can’t get it from anywhere else today XD

Above, I have shared 5 major events I went through in this year.

Below, I would like share a few compliments or words of motivation given to me that will surely give me some boost in the coming year as I progress :

‘If I'm still alive, I'll attend your talk and ask you how is the life as a professional engineer.’

Dr. Lau T. L. / my USM lecturer

‘Hope you will be a great entrepreneur one day.’

Mdm Lee B. S. / my SM Menglembu teacher

‘I know you will definitely be somebody one day.’

A friend of mine

'我的USM老大'(http://astrohock.blogspot.com/2011/05/usm.html)

Lim L. H. / my friend, coursemate

Last but not least, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year yea ^^

FOONG HAN YANG

21@2011

最好的安排

今日乃是每百年一遇的 111111。

在那么特别的今天，我要和大家分享一个我认为非常有意思的短片。

‘当我们身处在逆境时，所面临的遭遇或许这是上天替我们做的最好安排。’

与其悲观的折磨自己，何不以乐观的角度来看待？

I believe in blessing in disguise ^^

My Sharings After The PEMANJU Camp

First and foremost, I would like to congratulate the organising committee for this successful inaugural PEMANJU camp. I think a camp should be rate not based on how many days it is held but rather how much inputs its participants can grab from it. With that, I had given a ‘6’ out of 5 in the evaluation form. When you can stay in a good room with TV, play exciting games plus the energetic and friendly facilitators, what else could you ask for? Haha !

Ok, back to the main business. I would like to share with you all what I have learnt from the experience and observation throughout this short yet memorable camp.

1. Leadership Part 1 – Motivating & Creating Teamwork Spirit

When people ask me, “what is leadership?” It is a really subjective thing and I believe everyone has his or her very own definition for it. Well, the latest element I have added into my definition for ‘Leadership’ is the ability to motivate the team members and creating a strong teamwork spirits that bond the members together in achieving a common goal. As a leader, I reckon this as an important acumen every top leader should possess. Thus, I volunteer myself as the team leader of Sailormoon Group. I took it as a challenge and learning experience to experiment how can I build a motivated team. I am not sure whether had I done a good job to inspire my team, at least I have tried my best and will keep learning and improving. Leading the ‘Sailormoons’ is a great opportunity for me to prepare myself for leading new teams or organisations in my campus when the new semester starts.

As a reminder to myself as well as my humble piece of advice for my friends who will be team leader in whatever organisation you involved, whenever you find that your team members are not working hard enough, procrastinating or fail to deliver what you expect, just before you are frustrated, please ask yourself the following questions :

“ Have I done well enough to motivate my members?” and

“Have I taken initiatives to create a strong team spirit?”

Do not simply blame or complain your members. As a leader, it is our responsibility.

2. Leadership Part 2 – Solo King vs Delegation

When I looked back, there are a few serious mistakes I have made as a team leader. There were a few occasions of which I contributed 70% of the overall task as leader. That time I thought I was too capable, like a Superman because I could did a lot and did it well. I could single handedly finished the whole paperworks, did the plannings and so on. May be I was a perfectionist and did not give enough trust to my members, I always felt that they just could not perform the task well and failed to meet my expectation. The lousy phrase that often played in mind was, “Aiya, they were hopeless. They just fail to meet what I expect from that. Fine, I do it my own!”

Hooo….. how silly I was. That was the most critical mistake I ever made as a leader.

When a leader becomes a Solo King despite having many members under him, it is a failure to the leader himself. An excellent leader knows how to delegate jobs to his members, discuss with them when problems arise, and have faith in them. Also delegation is not just about dividing the task equally among the members. More importantly, how you put a person in a position that can allow him to perform to the maximum level. In addition, a leader should not hesitate to brainstorm or communicate more with his assistants because two brains are always better than one.

3. Goal Setting

The greatest surprise to me during the camp was the “智益游戏” session. The game was challenging and the lesson behind the game is a good teacher to me. The game taught us to set a goal for our task and as we crave for more and more, never being carried away or distracted from our plan and goal. Sometimes things could be simple but we have complicated it with our knowledge. I think it was one of the best games I have ever played because the lessons it offer are important to our lives. I will always remember that. Thanks to the committee for introducing this game.

About the game itself, my heart really beating fast whether or not to take risk. Play it safe and you will lose but at the same time, a droplet of spilt water from the cup means K.O. The risk at that moment is more risky than what I experience in stock market.

Bravo !!

4. The Two Sides of the Table

This was the first time I play the Parliament Simulation game. What an experience and fun! At my side of the table was the ruling party, opposite us was the opposition party and the third side sit the individual parliament members. From TV and Youtube, I saw how dumb the BN guys in answering the questions and how heroic the Pakatan guys in questioning the ministers. However, yesterday sitting as ‘Pagor’ (I was Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassan, Deputy PM), I experienced the difficulty and the pressure to defend the act we propose. In reality, nothing proposed is an absolute perfect. Hopefully both the ruling party and opposition party in our real Malaysia Parliament could debate professionally and discuss rationally to come out with the best solution or policy that could benefit all the Rakyat and the country. To pave way for the World Class Parliament, they must avoid behaving like in Pasar or Circus Parliament which is fueled by words like Bodoh, Monyet, Big Foot………

Critic and complain are easy, but SOLUTION to those problems is the most important !

With that, I end my sharing here. If you have any comments or feedback regarding my sharing, do feel free to leave it here yea.

Finally, a big THANK YOU from me to the organising units, all committee members and my new met friends in the camp. I believe PEMANJU 2012 would be even better !

青年迈进， 大马前进 ！

FOONG HAN YANG （冯瀚阳）

How I See Examination And The Lesson Behind It - Happiness

University life is not as easy as most people suggest. Apart from assignments, quiz, tutorial and tests, the Final Examination is the culprit to bring tension and stress to the students. As a Civil Engineering student, I deal a lot with various kind of stresses, tension (or even compression.. Lol.) in structure theory and analysis but stresses and pressure and real life are not as easy as simply putting supports. It really challenge a student's EQ and composure. Now talking about the Final Exam, let me share with you how different am I as compared to the one a year ago in seeing the examination and the way I treat it.

When I was first year, the only mission I had when I was in the hall is to make sure I can answer one or two questions + some 'anak soalan' for the other three questions (normally we need to answer five out of six questions) so that I can pass and no need to retake the subject. Everytime after the staff had collected my answer script, I would be busy calculating and estimating the marks I would get. I just need a pass or grade C to say goodbye to those subjects. Probably because I was seeking for a mere grade C as compared to some of my friends who were constantly aiming for A and Dean List, honestly I did not have much pressure and anxiety. Life was easier and happier.

Then here comes the second year of my USM journey. Before the first sem started, I had received a warning letter from JPA, my main income source for CGPA below 3.0 and it put me in an alarming state. During the MOV 10' in May, I made my mind very clear that since I had chosen Civil Engineering and scrapped the idea of transferring course, I must do well for it, score well for it no matter how hard it takes. Thus, during my second year, I have taken a few important measures to make sure my Academics Revival Plan going smooth. I notice that I am never the Foong Han Yang as I was, whose daily routine was : wake up-->go class/ponteng--> Play FIFA---> Nap ---> Play Football Manager ---> Sleep early. Now, I do the assignments by my own and I say NO to procrastination. I attend every class and PC Games are never my daily activity again (although Facebook is). Up to this point, I would like to say Congratulation to myself for these positive changes. My efforts were eventually paid off as my GPA and CGPA recorded an increase of around 5% and 4% respectively. I am close to the 3.5 level and I have seen the hope of scoring Dean List if I work harder. For the first time, I knew it was no longer an impossible mission. While men have left their footprints on the moon, me too can get above 3.5 and I that as a challenge for myself.

The date 18 April had finally arrived and the three week exam period kick started. Even though TITAS is relatively small Wigan to me but the subsequent papers are as tough as the likes of MU, Chelsea and Barca. supposed they are no big deal but my quest to score at least A- for these subjects had made me experiencing the pressure my friends had suffered. It intensifies everytime I begin to answer the question. The worst was during the Hydraulics paper which I took more than an hour to calm myself down and overcome the panic. I always feel proud of myself for I never buckle under pressure in life but I still have a lot to learn to beat this exam-panic syndrome. Hopefully, the increasing trend of both my GPA and CGPA continues.

I have derived some lesson from these two cases. In life there are people like my previous self - not craving for anything, as long as survival is guaranteed, life is happy. Another type of people is like my current self - have higher ambition or desire, always looking to achieve higher than the average. Happiness comes in different way and have different values to different individuals. Anyway, I am still proud with being the latter. During the process, I may need to sacrifice some happiness and give up something I really reluctant to but I do believe I will be rewarded with greater happiness and achievements which I think that's what life is all about. I. M. FOONG HAN YANG is never contented of just being normal and average. I will do something great to the society, nation and if possible, the world. Life is only once, I want a colourful and meaningful one. How about you ?

I. M. FOONG HAN YANG

'The higher you aim, the higher you achieve.'

愚鹄心声

友曰：人各有志，道不同，不相为谋，

何必强求必与己同。

麻雀无法了解鸿鹄的大志，

换过来，

鸿鹄又怎能体谅麻雀的小小需要呢?

吾曰：鹄雀虽有别于志 但亦得 互让互敬 以求 共存谋生。

鹄再威 若无雀 恐亡也。
雀再小 亦勿让 鸿鹄独撑天被 而 己当安乐公。
此鹄有己之高 绝不求 雀达之。
此鹄仅求雀 略 更上一层楼， 不求齐飞 却只望 共筑固巢 以 共享其利。
无奈 此 卑望 终难成。

鸿鹄再大 若无雀助 欲飞前一里 犹如 跨越万重山，非不能 却 无比艰难。
此鹄仅能望雀醒，期待更好的明日。

- 愚鹄 -