Stressed.

These are quite stressful times for me. The semester has reached that point where all the assignment deadlines, tests and quizzes, presentations, and events all somehow managed to schedule themselves within close proximity of each other. No matter how hard I try, or how well I plan, there has been almost no avoiding this throughout my whole time at MIU.

Curiously enough, I'm not really complaining. Having all this work that needs to be done all at the same time actually stimulates my mind. The gears are swiftly and smoothly turning, and all this stress I feel is nothing but the grease I need to keep them that way. My brain is a hive of activity.

Being the person I am, I have a need for my brain to be stimulated. This is why I get myself involved in so many things and, if no external stimuli are available, I often start thinking about random things and then overanalyzing them. Some people aren't the type to be able to simply sit still for lengthy periods of time - the same is true of my brain.

Besides the intellectual stimulation, work-based stress also brings with it something else that I quite enjoy, namely that sense of accomplishment I get whenever I complete something. As I'm currently in my final semester before going off for internship, work just gets harder and harder and, fortunately, this causes the sense of accomplishment from getting it all done to become greater and greater.

Even so, I still feel as if the amount of work I've put in over the three years or so that I've been here hardly measures up to what is being done by my peers at other universities. I've never had any sleepness nights caused by having to complete an assignment or finish studying for a test or exam. I've never had any late-night meetings to work out an event or an issue. I've never found myself so busy that I've literally had no time to do anything else besides my work. I've never felt so stressed to the point where it feels like I could have a nervous breakdown at any moment.

Perhaps it's good that I've never gone through all that - maybe I'm better at managing my time than I think. On the other hand, I can't help but feel that I'm probably going to be a bit overwhelmed when I (hopefully) begin my internship in February. Having previously never worked a day in my life, working for the first time in the corporate world would be akin to learning to swim by diving off a ship in the middle of the ocean. I wouldn't even be surprised if that proves to not be an exaggeration.

Whatever it is, I really should be thankful with my lot. No one should ever be asking for more work than they need. I'll just let things be, and accept whatever comes my way.

Memory.

The other day we were learning about memory in Introduction to Psychology class - short-term memory, long-term memory, that sort of thing. The lecturer decided to ask us if anyone had any happy memories they'd like to share. She also thought it might be a good idea to call out my name and ask if I had any memories to talk about.

At that moment in time, no particularly happy moment came to mind. Emotionally speaking, I wasn't exactly in a happy mood at the time, so I just smiled and said: "I do [have memories], Miss, but they're mostly not very happy." Fortunately, she didn't probe any further and proceeded to ask someone else, who went on to share her happy memories of watching horror movies at a neighbor's house. Eyup.

Even if I had been in a more positive emotional state, I wouldn't have been open to the idea of talking about something that had happened to me in the past anyway, especially given the setting that I was in. I'm not a fan of talking when I know people aren't all that interested in what I have to say. The raconteur part of my personality only truly shows itself when I'm having a personal, one-on-one conversation with someone, not when I'm in a room full of disinterested people who barely even know how to spell my name correctly.

Later, I decided to go through the memories in my head, all the while wondering why I hadn't been able to summon even one significantly happy moment from my past. It's not that nothing happy has ever happened to me before (relatively speaking, my life hasn't really been that awful, thankfully), I suppose it's just that I'm not all that sentimental when it comes to the good times.

I find that I retain bad memories better than good ones. Is it because I experience negative emotions more intensely than positive ones? Is it because, despite my best efforts, I'm actually naturally pessimistic and am thus unable to enjoy my high points because I know things can and will go south at any moment? Or is it because I set the standards for being happy too high for me to reach on a regular basis?

One thing's for sure, though: I learn more from when things go wrong than when they go right. I suppose I tend to forget good memories because whatever lessons I may have learned from them weren't as significant as the ones I learned from less happy times.

Having said that, it's not that I retain all the bad times either. Just like so many good memories, I've let go of plenty of bad ones too. In fact, most of the memories in my head right now don't really evoke any sort of emotion; they're just pretty neutral. I guess this could be related to the fact that I'm not an emotional kind of person - I don't have much emotion in my head, and that translates to my thoughts and actions.

The past will be the past, but those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. Memories exist to guide us through the present into the future, but they shouldn't be a major part of your life, and especially not when you're only still at my age. I've still got some way to go; I don't need to be looking back at the starting line all the time.

Arbitrary Borders.

I recently received a Facebook friend request from someone whose name I couldn't pronounce. As this person shared over a dozen mutual friends with me, I figured it was probably one of the international students who went to my university. Seeing a couple of Africans in the profile picture served to add further support to my hypothesis.

However, upon closer inspection of the picture and the account Timeline, I realized that the account actually belonged to one of the Nepali security guards who worked at MIU. I also found that the guy was apparently born in 1994 - the same year as I was.

Now, that just got me thinking - here's a guy who, at 21 years of age, is working as a security guard in a foreign country. There is no way that a 21-year-old in this day and age would ever be in this situation if he or she didn't have to be.

Here in Malaysia, blue-collar work (security guards, construction workers, factory workers, cleaners, etc.) is commonly done by foreigners from places like Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal and so on. It says something about the education level in this country that Malaysian citizens, quite simply, do not want to do that sort of work anymore. It's completely logical, of course, as so many of us have formal qualifications that enable us to seek out higher-paying employment.

This then leaves a labor vacuum in the blue-collar sector, which companies solve by hiring foreigners, and why not - foreign laborers typically demand less pay than their local counterparts. This, in turn, leads to a large influx of foreign workers into the country. Not too long ago, if you were to go the KL city center during Raya, it would have been almost completely empty - these days, the sidewalks are filled with immigrant workers enjoying their day off.

As a result of these people doing all the so-called 'dirty work', Malaysians tend to look down on them. Sometimes it is justified, as some do seem to possess a distinct lack of personal hygiene, an inability to cross a road properly, and a fashion sense that is, to put it politely, unconventional. However, in doing so, we inadvertently put aside the fact that these foreign laborers are, in fact, people, just as we are.

As bad as some things in Malaysia may seem, the people in many other countries just aren't as fortunate as we are. You don't just decide to leave your family behind to go work in a foreign country as a construction worker, after all. These workers are people too, and they do these jobs so they can provide for their loved ones back home. 

Imagine moving to a far-off land to work. The pay there, despite not really being that much, is still better than what you'd get closer to home. You work long hours in your physically and mentally demanding job, with barely a day off from work to catch your breath. You have to send some of the cash back for your loved ones, so you live in a shophouse with 20 other guys and eat cheap food to save money. For the same reason, you wear the cheapest clothes you can find, use the cheapest public transport around, and spend a minimal amount of money on your personal hygiene. To top it all off, the local people, whose unwillingness to do your unfashionable yet necessary job is the reason you're doing it in the first place, look at you with disgust, accuse you of entering the country illegally, and want you to go back from whence you came.

Personally, I have immense respect for foreign workers. I am thankful that God has placed in me in such privilege since the day I was born, as I cannot imagine ever leading a life similar to what these people go through. Upon hearing the news about the recent Nepal earthquake, my heart immediately went out to the Nepali security guards at my university. To have been so far away from your loved ones in a time of such catastrophe must have been absolutely terrifying for them.

Just because someone comes from a lower class of society, it doesn't mean they should be treated with any less respect. Just because you were fortunate enough to be have the privileges you were given, it doesn't mean you're any better than people who weren't.

The true value of a man is in how he treats other people - especially people who are not his own people, or people who can do nothing for him. Arbitrary borders should not prevent you from treating a fellow human being with the respect he deserves.

Decisions.

I turned 21 recently. It was on a Saturday, and I spent the entire morning and half the afternoon at a seminar at a neighboring university in Nilai. The other half of the afternoon was spent replying to birthday messages and napping, while I spent the night watching football alone at a mamak shop.

It seems to be a sort of custom with some people in that turning 21 is a grand occasion and is deserving of huge celebrations. 21 is the age where you finally attain your freedom and can finally make your own decisions, apparently.

Without going too much into what other people think of birthdays, celebrations aren't really my thing. I've been thrown a couple of surprise parties before and, while I appreciated the gesture, I really had no idea what I was supposed to do when faced with such a situation. I'd much rather people didn't go through all that trouble just to celebrate something I'm not really fussed about anyway.

Reaching this age, though, served as a reminder that time is, in fact, moving steadily along, instead of creeping slowly across the ground as the slow pace of the early days of the current semester might have fooled me into believing. That, in turn, served to remind me that I have some big decisions I need to make about my future.

One of those decisions concerns my future career path. As a student of Actuarial Finance, and one who is doing well enough as far as CGPA is concerned, I'm mostly expected to continue along the actuarial line - intern at some multinational insurance company, take a few papers, and eventually become a full-fledged actuary.

To be honest, though, my heart probably hasn't really been in that for a long, long time. I've been giving it a lot of thought lately, and I've finally decided that becoming an actuary isn't the right choice for me. Frankly speaking, I've always enjoyed the Finance component of Actuarial Finance more than the Actuarial, and that's where I see myself now. I have a new dream, and it's to work in the finance industry.

Besides that, something else I've been thinking about is marriage. I'm not saying that I want to get married right now, but surely it's coming to the time where I need to start planning. I'll be graduating soon, and after that I'll start earning my own income - sooner or later I'm gonna have to get married, and I'm gonna need to be financially sound enough for that.

Some people want to build their careers first before they even begin to think about getting married, while some don't even want to get married at all. I respect their choices, but I'm firmly in the (relatively) early marriage camp. I'm a family person, and I just think that having one of my own would provide me with a strong support system to get me through life's challenges. A wife and kids shouldn't be a hindrance to you living a good, successful life - they should instead be motivating and inspiring you to work hard towards one.

I feel myself growing all the time, and thinking about such things as well as finally having the strength to decide on them only provides further evidence for that. There's no guarantee that things will turn out as planned, but at least now I have a plan. Let's just see where this road takes me.

Languages.

I recently started learning French in preparation for my planned trip to France to watch the Euros next year. I use this website called Duolingo, which I found out about from a college friend who's using it to learn German. The site has other European languages as well (and even the man-made Esperanto), so I'll see if I can add other languages to my repertoire as I go along. For now I'll just focus on the French.

I'm always hearing about how French is such a hard language to learn - I do, in fact, have a few friends studying in France who can attest to that - particularly in terms of the pronunciation and the grammatical structure. It's true, of course, and especially when compared to the two languages I grew up speaking: Malay and English. I am coping, however. I like learning new things, and it also helps that I'm highly motivated to study French right about now.

Personally speaking, the pronunciations aren't too much of a big deal for me. It's just a matter of knowing which letter combinations produce which sound, and then speaking with your best impression of a French accent. I've heard a lot of English spoken in French accents over my life, and I love imitating accents, so enunciating the words isn't something I find burdening. I'm yet to have a native French speaker evaluate me though, so for the moment I'll just assume that my imitating of the audio voices on Duolingo is good enough.

As for the grammar, well, I'll admit that it is a bit difficult, but that's only because it's different from the languages I know. And even so, it's not too different: for example, pluralizing words is generally just a matter of adding the letter 's' at the end of a word's singular form, which is similar to English, but easier. The thing is, I think the reason people have problems with a foreign language's grammar is because they subconsciously (or even consciously) try to tie it to their own language. 

I see why people try to find similarities (it makes the new language's grammar easier to remember, for instance), but the problem arises when they assume these similarities are the rule, rather than the exception. The main thing to remember is that all languages are different, and, though they share the same roots, they each have their own structure. Understanding this concept makes learning new languages easier since you learn them as being completely new systems, rather than basing them on ones you already know.

I have studied other languages in the past. In my private school days, Arabic was part of the curriculum. I hated it and was terrible at it, but it helped me to understand Arabic grammar, which, according to a friend of mine who studied Arabic at lower secondary level and is now in France, is even harder than French. Quranic recitation classes up until I was in secondary school helped out with my pronunciation. Equipped with this foundation, it probably wouldn't be too tough if I were to start taking up Arabic again in the future.

I also studied a bit of Mandarin many years ago, when my brother was taking Mandarin tuition in preparation for going to a Chinese kindergarten and subsequently a Chinese primary school. Our parents made me and my sister join in - I absolutely hated it. I found every aspect of that language difficult and annoying. Looking back, though, my parents were, of course, right to make me learn it and I wish I'd taken more interest in the classes. I can still pronounce Chinese names and words properly, though, so there's that.

Besides that, since coming to MIU, I've picked up some Tamil and Hindi words and phrases - hard not to, considering the people I'm surrounded with. I've been told that my Indian accent while speaking Hindi isn't bad either - unfortunately, the accent sometimes seeps into my Malay and English as well. Besides the aforementioned two, there are also many other languages being spoken here - at times it's like I'm a foreigner in my own country, which is even more ironic considering that my own native Malay is this country's official language.

All in all, from my experiences with studying languages, the most important things are interest and effort. I was terrible at Arabic and Mandarin because I was forced into them, and I didn't (and still don't) like being forced into things - though I do retain some of the knowledge, I would undoubtedly know more if I had actually been interested. 

I'm doing all right with French at the moment because of my interest. France serves as my motivation, and hopefully it will continue to do so. I hope I'll still keep up my French after the trip, or even if the trip doesn't go ahead. I regretted not studying Arabic and Mandarin properly; I'm not about to go the same way with French.

Going with the Flow.

The short semester finally came to an end last week, after possibly the least stressful final exams I've ever experienced throughout my life in university. That had mostly to do with this being a short semester and I only took two straightforward subjects with straightforward exams set by my generous lecturers, but an easy ride on the studies front did not mean that it'd been an easy semester. Far from it.

Things started out rough at the beginning, but, thankfully, time heals all things. Everything either sorted itself out or I just learned to deal with the predicaments I'd found myself in. As I read somewhere, life isn't about what happens to you, but about how you respond to what happens to you. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

I realize I am being very vague regarding the details of what has transpired over the past few months. I've never really been the type to discuss every single nuance of my life, but I've noticed that I seem to provide even less details these days than I used to. Perhaps nothing has just struck a chord with me strongly enough to prompt me to properly write about it.

It all has to do with experience, I suppose. The first time you experience something, it's just so new and exciting and you want to tell everyone all about it. I remember the first time my roommate let me drive his brand new Mini Cooper - I was so excited that I was literally giggling and bouncing about. Over time, though, I got so used to driving that car that it became nothing more than routine. And such is life.

I will be starting my final semester before going for internship in mid-September - I should be excited, but I'm not. It just feels like yet another semester, only with different subjects, different lecturers and, of course, different challenges. It could just be the fact that I've only just started sem break and I really don't want to be thinking about next semester right now, but well.

The other day my classmate was talking about how she couldn't believe that we'd be graduating soon. I, on the other hand, could believe it. We'd sat for our first semester together about two years ago, and, for me at least, two years are two years. As our degree was a three-year program, it was only logical that our time at Manipal was almost up. The clock was running out, and our lives as university students would soon be over.

I'm guessing what she meant to say was that she doesn't want it to be over. She doesn't want to escape the easy life of being a student and go out into the cold, cruel world. She doesn't want to be one of those people who are forced to put their jobs ahead of their family and friends because they need the money to survive. She doesn't want to have to be responsible for her own life and livelihood. Not just yet, anyway.

Those are all very common, yet very understandable fears. I would be lying if I said, if given the choice, I would choose a hard life over a relatively easier one. At the same time, though, I understand that it's all a part of life and everyone's gotta go through it sometime. You can't be a kid all your life, after all. Furthermore, by choosing a degree program that's a year shorter than usual, I knew the consequences of my decision and that, no matter what, I'd have to go along with whatever happened.

Just like my previous semester, what is to come for me is bound to be rough at first, before getting better over time. Whatever happens, I'll take it as it comes.

Happy.

I waited until the last day of July to write my post for this month, but well, here it is. It's not that I couldn't have done this earlier, but a combination of computer viruses, being busy with other matters, and just being plainly uninspired have led to me putting it off.

It's been pretty eventful since my last post was published early last month. I have learned and experienced so much over the last two months or so, and I am thankful for that. You couldn't really tell much of what I've been up to by just going through my social media, though, since I'm not really the type to post frequent online updates. Just because a tree falls in the forest and nobody sees or hears it doesn't mean that it didn't happen or make any sound. Likewise, just because nobody knows what I do doesn't mean I don't do anything.

Speaking of doing things, here is one thing that I plan on and really hope to be doing next year: backpack solo through France. Euro 2016 will be hosted there next year and, since I also have friends in France, it seems to be a great opportunity to go. Furthermore, I might not limit myself to just France, either. While I'm there I might as well go visit two or three other countries if I can.

The Euros will start in June, and, if all goes according to plan, I will have graduated by then. While I am excited by the prospect of soon completing my undergraduate studies (ahead of pretty much all my other friends, too), it is a bit concerning to think about how my life will be after. As someone who's never had a job before, my first taste of the working life will be during my internship at the beginning of next year. It's not just the working part, either - I'll also have to move out of my parents' house and start living on my own money.

For now, I'm able to keep such terrifying thoughts from taking over my mind. I'm generally happy these days and I believe it shows in the way I go about my daily business. Ignorance is bliss, I suppose, but I don't care. For now I am still a student at Manipal - not yet an alumnus. The frightening real world will have to wait; I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I prefer to think thoughts that help me stay happy. There is such thing as unnecessary stress, after all.

And that's probably why I don't usually involve myself in discussions related to politics, current events, or the state of the nation, which are apparently things adults talk about, and are what my friends and peers talk about as well. For one thing, it's good to see that my old school buddies are growing up and that they care about these things. On the other hand, I find these discussions to be boring as heck and try to stay away from them whenever possible.

It's not that I think these things are unimportant; on the contrary, I do keep a passing interest on the goings-on in the country and the world. It's just that I don't find it particularly stimulating to discuss and dissect them. I don't see the need to have an opinion on everything, and even if I do have an opinion on something, I don't see why everyone would need to hear it. The thing is that I can't really be bothered to talk about things that are ultimately temporary and, no matter what, will always come to pass.

There are, of course, issues that I can and will willingly discuss (like racism, for example), but most of the time I prefer to talk about things that don't make me go red in the face. I don't like getting worked up about things; much less getting myself worked up in front of other people.

Do the things you talk and think about define how mature you are? I don't think so. Maturity, for me, is defined by how you respond to whatever happens to you in this world. A person who loves talking about politics isn't necessarily more mature than someone who doesn't care about them at all. The mature one is he who realizes that the person he's passionately talking to about politics would prefer they talked about something else, so he changes the topic. The mature one is he who, despite not being in any way interested in politics, patiently allows his friend to continue talking about them because he values the conversation more than its topic.

I feel myself growing and changing every day. At the end of every semester, I find that I am a much changed person from the one I was at its beginning. Sometimes I wonder if it's normal for someone to be changing so rapidly and consistently - after all, more than a few of my friends whom I've met recently don't appear to be too different from when they left school. Or maybe they have changed since then, but felt the need to act the way their old friends expect them to act? That's certainly an interesting thought.

I guess the only person who really knows how far you've come is, well, you. You are the only person who knows all your innermost thoughts and desires. You are the person who knows you best. This is why I believe it is important to love yourself, and why you should do things that keep you happy - though at the same time not being too selfish or too much of a douche to others. As for myself, at this moment, I am happy, and that's all that matters,

Final Year Syndrome.

I recently finished my final exams. They were different this time around, in that I felt mostly indifferent about the whole ordeal - much like how I was throughout the whole semester. There was no anxiety, no great urgency - I was pretty relaxed and laidback about studying and while sitting for the exams themselves. 

I'm definitely not getting a perfect GPA for the past semester, but I guess the reason I'm not overly upset about it is partly because I know I don't deserve to. Besides, my days of chasing 4 flats are long gone now. It's all about doing well enough to obtain first-class honors so that I won't have to pay off my PTPTN loan.

I've contracted what I like to call Final Year Syndrome (FYS). I've come to the point where I've grown somewhat disillusioned with university life and just want to get it all over with so I can get a job, make my own money, start a family, and basically just begin life on my own. Classes and studies are no longer the primary focus of a semester, but are merely nuisances that get in the way of extra-curricular activities.

At the same time, I do realize that the most important thing at university is my studies. I mean, that's why I'm here for, isn't it? I'm not paying thousands every semester to organize events, write for a newsletter, or play futsal - I could actually get paid to do all that out in the real world. The main purpose of going to university is to study and earn my formal academic qualifications - everything else should be coming second.

Unfortunately, it's not as easy as simply quitting all the student societies and organizations that I'm currently affiliated with and just hitting the books every day. In most cases, I'm in too deep, and quitting would just be irresponsible of me. The problem with setting high standards for yourself is that it's difficult to find a successor who'll be able to meet those standards.

But let's not think about all this depressing stuff right now. I'm on holiday for the next two weeks and I intend to give myself a well-deserved break. I bought a bunch of books with my government-issued book vouchers and I intend to finish at least one or two of them by the time the next semester begins. It's been a while since I've had time to read fiction; possibly since last semester started.

Besides reading, I haven't really made any other plans for the next two weeks. I might meet up with some friends, but that's not cast in stone. I see myself just sitting at home, reading my books, surfing the internet, doing some writing, going for the odd outing every now and then, but that's about it. Before the upcoming storm of the next semester arrives, I'd like to spend some time in calm waters.

International.

One of the good things about studying in an international university as a local student is that you get to meet lots of different people from different countries. It's the closest anyone can get to studying overseas without actually studying overseas.

I'm typing this while occupying the same room as a couple of Zimbabweans, an Indian, a Singaporean (who was originally from India) and a Malaysian Chinese. It's interesting to realize that in spite of our very different backgrounds, all the decisions we have ever taken in life have led us to this exact moment - all of us taking a break from the hecticness of university life by just chilling out in the middle of the night as the rain beats down on the streets outside.

Back in Rembau, I had no choice but to spend almost all of my time with fellow Malays. I'm not saying that was a bad thing, but as someone who grew up being surrounded by people of different religions, ethnicities and backgrounds, I often craved a little diversity. Furthermore, as someone who prefers the English language over his own mother tongue, I seldom got to put my English skills to use.

In spite of everything, I still thoroughly enjoyed my two years in Rembau. You make your own happiness and all that. I believe in taking life as it is and, instead of complaining about the things you don't have, you'd be better off making the most of the things you do have.

I've spent almost two and a half years in MIU and, once again, I'm thoroughly enjoying myself. My experiences while being in an almost exclusively Malay environment throughout my time in Rembau have actually allowed me to appreciate the fact that Malays in MIU are very few and far between - there are probably more Zimbabweans (not to mention Africans in total) here than Malays.

I'm not sure how many different nationalities there are here in this university, but an advertisement I saw some time back indicates the presence of at least 20, mostly from Africa and the Indian subcontinent. Plenty of languages are spoken here as well - I've picked up a few Tamil and Hindi/Urdu words, and it's pretty cool to be able to understand what people are saying when they converse in these languages, albeit only in bits and pieces.

I'll be graduating in about a year after I finish my internship, which is due to begin in February next year. I have no idea what will happen after that, but I'll depart from MIU knowing that my three years here were well spent. The experiences I've gained here could never have been gotten anywhere else, and for that I am forever grateful.

Void.

I try to write in this blog at least once per month, but, not for the first time, I failed to do so throughout the whole of March. No, I haven't abandoned blogging - the reason for not writing in was simply because I've either been too busy or just plain uninspired. With regards to the latter, I don't typically write here without having something I really want to talk about.

Many, many things have transpired since my last post, which was written near the end of February. That was when the Cricket World Cup was still in its early stages; Australia has since won the whole thing after beating holders India in the semi-finals and then co-hosts New Zealand in the final.

It may seem a bit odd, but of those many, many things that I mentioned, I can barely remember any of them. No, I do not suffer from short- or medium-term memory loss, and no, those many, many things were not so insignificant that my brain hasn't even bothered to attempt to recall their details. Many of them were excellent experiences that I'm sure have helped me to grow as a person, and, surprisingly enough, it this growing that I believe is the reason for this void in my memory of the past two months.

I've noticed how much I've grown over the years that have passed since I first came to MIU; I remember the bright-eyed naivete of my first semester - it's a bit funny to look back on that time and wonder how I could have been so nauseatingly positive and optimistic, especially considering the more cynical and world-weary person that I am these days.

(Yes, I'm still only 21 this year and haven't seen that much of the world yada yada, but world-weariness is a relative term, and I seem to be more world-weary than I've ever been every few weeks or so. Young people can get tired of life's sh*t, too.)

Anyway, one reason why I've stopped bothering to talk about things that have been going on in greater detail is probably because I've stopped seeing the things I've been up to as experiences - merely work that needed to be done. It's always exciting on your first day of work and you want to tell everyone everything about it, but as time goes on everything just becomes routine and you just get sick of talking about the same things happening over and over again.

Besides that, some of the things that have happened are things that would probably get me into some trouble if I were to write about them on a public platform such as this. I'm not a fan of getting into trouble - I accidentally skipped a talk by a visiting speaker back in Rembau once, and afterwards I lay on my bed for a good few minutes thinking about what I'd done.

The purpose of this blog - just as it has always been - is mainly for me to keep my writing skills sharp. Simply doing my assignments isn't enough; research-based drivel isn't something that I've ever been a fan of doing, since there isn't much room for creative expression.

Having said that, I realize that I've been ranting for pretty much this whole post. If you were expecting this post to contain something interesting or thought-provoking, then I apologize for disappointing you. I just wanted to write something; my only plan for this post was to start writing and see where it would take me.

I have two open-book tests tomorrow, and I probably should have been studying in the time that it took me to write these ten  paragraphs - not to mention the time taken to actually count the number of paragraphs that I'd written. Still, at least I didn't decide to count the number of words.

Cricket.

You could be forgiven for not realizing this, but apparently there's a huge international sports tournament going on: the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Being a football man myself, I've never really cared much for following other sports, least of all a sport that virtually no one in this country cares about or even knows the rules of.

Malaysia is a football-mad nation. As I perused the sports section of the newspaper today, half of it was talking about local and international football, while other sports took up the other half. This included the Cricket World Cup, which took up maybe a single page, and even that was nearer the middle of the paper than the back. The lack of coverage in the written media clearly indicates a distinct lack of interest in the event, and, of course, the sport itself.

Photo courtesy of Indian cricket legend MS Dhoni's official Facebook page.

If you, dear reader, are an avid cricket fan, then I hope you can forgive the country's collective ignorance and disinterest in the game. I do not intend to offend anyone, but the fact is just that we Malaysians are simply far more interested in other sports, including (but not limited to) football, badminton, golf and F1 racing. Most of us have no idea who the two cricket players in the above picture are, even though one of them has his name written on the back of his shirt.

I recall a time back while I was in boarding school, when the school decided to start a cricket team to compete in an inter-school tournament involving other SBPs (fully residential schools, for you non-Malaysians). Almost no one was interested in joining and, since all the sporty types were already involved in other games, the school ended up sending a team full of bookworms looking to get co-curriculum points for their CV. They ended up getting soundly beaten, of course, but one would think that they hardly cared.

As for me, I've only recently started opening my eyes to the world of cricket, mostly from having university friends from countries where the so-called 'game of the lords' is a pretty big deal. I now have a rough understanding of how the game is played and how scores are calculated, but I'll never fully grasp cricket until I've actually played it. Hopefully I can do that before I graduate.

I did a bit of reading on cricket last night, and I found an article explaining why the World Cup only starts getting serious in the knockout stages. I found it an interesting read at first, as it explained how in the 2007 edition, India got eliminated early on and millions of cricket fans basically stopped watching, causing the broadcaster to miss out on a serious amount of advertising revenue. The tournament was then restructured to ensure the big guns stay in the competition for as long as possible.

But then I made the decision to read the comments below the article and...well. If I wanted to read internet comments written by angry Indians, I might as well scroll through my university's confessions page - at least there I'd know whether what was written was justifiable or otherwise. Being a distinctly non-cricket and non-Indian person, I had no idea if those commenters were right to be so offended by the article. Anyhow, I guess it's not really my problem, so no point in dwelling on it.

It's true that you learn a lot at university, and not just the stuff you get during lectures. Cricket is one sport that I never thought I'd show any interest in, but the fact that I've written this post indicates that I was mistaken. My interest in this sport, however, is probably just due to my natural curiosity instead of genuine enthusiasm for it. The article I mentioned earlier stated that 80% of Indian males under the age of 25 follow cricket to some extent; I couldn't just let myself be completely ignorant of something that so many people are crazy about.

Like I mentioned earlier, I really do hope I'll get to play at least one game of cricket before I graduate early next year. After that, I don't really see how I'll ever get the chance, unless I somehow move to a country on the subcontinent.

They say love makes you do crazy things. On this evidence, I'd argue that curiosity can have the same effect. 

Orientation.

You know how some people log into their social media accounts after a lengthy period of inactivity and post stuff about their Facebook/Twitter/blog/etc. being 'dusty' and pretend to blow the dust off? It may have been kinda funny or witty when the trend first started, but it's been grossly overused to the point where it makes people (me) want to bang their heads on any available flat surface at its sheer lack of originality. Everything - including (but not limited to) jokes, music, films and books - gets old with repetition.

Next week I will be registering for the first semester of my final year at my university, and in the time it has taken me to reach that point, I have taken part in eight orientations for new students. The first seven of those ranged from 'just plain bad' to 'alright, but still kinda meh', but the most recent one, which just ended yesterday, can be honestly described as being pretty good. The main difference between the eighth orientation and the previous seven, was, of course, the lack of repetition.

My first orientation was for the June 2013 intake. I don't have much memory of this one really - I don't remember being an official member of the orientation committee, but I do remember helping out a bit, so still I count it as my first orientation.

But then I joined the Student Representative Council (SRC), so I was made to be a part of almost every orientation from September 2013 onward. I would probably have taken part in more if a couple hadn't clashed with tests or exams.

The thing about the orientations between my first and last ones was that they were all almost exactly the same in terms of program flow, structure and personnel. There were some variations in the first few in terms of games and activities, but eventually, for some reason, the people in charge of running the orientation just settled on a particular set of games that would be played for every single intake from then on.

What I found incomprehensible, however, was the fact that, despite things being pretty much the same for every orientation, the same mistakes were constantly being made. What was worse was that these same mistakes always seemed to be made by the same people. Any improvements in the quality of personnel were minimal, which is unsurprising when half the personnel is the same every single time. You can't polish a turd, and all that.

My seventh orientation, September 2014, came at a time when my term as a member of the SRC was drawing to an end. I figured it would be my last since I had no plans to rejoin the Council in the future. Just like a number of orientations prior to this one, most of the games and activities were exactly the same. The only thing that made it different from past orientations was that there were more new people working as members of the orientation committee (OCs), as opposed to the same old faces from before.

It ended up being the best orientation that I'd done up until that point, although that's hardly saying much. I might not have realized it at the time, but with the benefit of hindsight I'll say that it showed how sometimes things need to change for them to become better. By bringing in new blood to be mixed in with the orientation veterans, the program went more smoothly and was more enjoyable to both participants and organizers due to the eagerness of the newbies guided by the experience of the old heads. Personally, I enjoyed guiding the junior OCs throughout the process, which is what us senior OCs were supposed to be doing instead of stamping our authority on them at every chance we were given. I found it detestable when, during the post-mortem meeting we held at the end, several senior OCs chose to criticize the juniors for making some mistakes. Well, seniors, maybe they would have done better if you hadn't waited until everything was done and dusted to address those issues.

Fast forward to after the SRC elections that took place two months later, and I was, once again, called up to help with orientation. As I considered the offer, I realized that my haul of seven orientations greatly dwarfed the number racked up by anyone on the current SRC and the other guys invited to organize this latest orientation. My decision was made; I figured they could use my experience.

As it turned out, this orientation, for the January 2015 intake, was completely different from the previous seven in terms of both structure and personnel. For once, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and not just because none of the other orientation veterans (whom I had never really gotten along with) were involved. We had new games and activities, new leadership and, most importantly, new spirit. Gone were the days of handling orientation because we had to; now we did it because we damn well wanted to. This was helped by the fact that, besides the hand-picked main leaders of the committee, the remaining OCs were selected through an interview process, resulting in capable, eager OCs being called up. This was a welcome change from 'buddy' system of old, which was partly responsible for there being so many orientation veterans who never seemed to learn from their mistakes, in spite of their experience.

In the end, everything turned out well. We had mostly positive feedback from the new students as well as the OCs. As for me, well, anything remotely decent that was unlike the orientations of old was good enough - and this one definitely was. The flow of events wasn't as smooth as we had hoped, but other than that things were just fine. Funny how good leadership, mutual respect, a friendly working environment, and a lack of favoritism can help an event become a success.

(On a side note, I probably would never have been involved with orientation had I not been on the SRC in the first place. And if I hadn't been forced into being involved with all those orientations, I would never have been given the pleasure of helping to organize this one. God certainly knows best.)

If the next orientation was to be organized in a similar manner to this one, I wouldn't mind taking my orientation count to nine. Despite being a massive introvert, there's just something about meeting new students and guiding less-experienced OCs that I just love. Come to think of it, that's probably why I've done so many orientations; to be happy with any situation you need to focus on the positives more than the negatives.

Now I just need to keep that up throughout the final year of my undergraduate degree. Do pray for me.