In my first/second year studying in UKM, my faculty organized the first competition involving robots. The competition was called “Robomaze”. We were supposed to program the robot to pass through an obstacle course. At first, I was a little reluctant to join because I was studying computer science which doesn’t involve hardware. To be honest, I was afraid of losing. I had no confidence of beating the other guys. There are some really good programmers in my course and others as well.
In the end, I did join the competition. The fear of losing is still there but I really wanted to test my skills and knowledge against the other 50+ or more witty brains.
The robot actually looks like a stripped down “car”. It has two big wheels at the back and another smaller on at the front. It has two types of sensor detectors — one to detect light and another two to detect objects. We were given some basic tutorial on how to program and control the robots. We get to play and experiment with the robots a few days before the competition day.
On the day of the competition, we were given a “map” of how the obstacle course will look like. We then had a certain amount of time to plan and do the coding. We then had to store the coding into a diskette and hand it over to the judge. We were only able to take it back when its our turn to test it out in the obstacle course.
When all of us saw the obstacle course for the first time, everyone was in shock. The “map” that was given earlier was different compared to the actual course itself. The whole place erupted and became noisier than a market. In the end, all of us had to rethink our design for the coding. We were given 2 minutes to modify our codes before running the robot on the course.
(this post will continue onto the next……)
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When I was in secondary school, I started wearing braces. I used to have what they call in Chinese as sao ngah. There was a big gap (probably about an inch) between the front row of my top and bottom teeth. It took the dentist 4-5 years to “realign” my teeth. Maybe that’s because I didn’t follow his instructions enough. hehehe.
They made 3 or 4 moulds of my teeth at different stages of the treatment. I wanted to snap a photo of the moulds but it’s not with me now. I might post them up this Monday or so.
There was a few months during the treatment where I needed to wear some sort of headgear that was supposed to pull and realign my teeth. For those of you who have seen it before, it looks a little odd, doesn’t it? I was supposed to wear the headgear for a certain period every day. However, shyness got into me and I always ended up not wearing them enough. LOL.
Every visit where the dentist tightens the braces, I would end up with ulcers, my teeth and gums will be painful. Even chewing food becomes a problem. The only solution is to eat porridge or things that requires minimal chewing for a week or so.
I’m so glad those days are gone.
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I am 5xmom who is doing a guest post here. When I heard that Kelwin is going to pick MAKNA, I immediately recalled something which I saw in UMMC five years ago. At that time, I never realised that children, teens and all the young adults can get so sick. Let’s say that my life was a bed of roses until my fourth son was warded there in the Paediatric ICU. (He has since passed away in 2002) I am sure everyone of us live with this ignorance bliss for some part of our lives. So, let me share something that may not occur to you.
My son stayed there for about 10 ten days and it was then I came face to face with the stark reality that babies, children and teens too can die of cancer. However, sometimes it is not the death that was the hardest part in our lives. It was the kind of treatment they had to endure and the pain they went through. There is another kind of pain that we cannot quantify with what can be felt. It is the pain of the parents’ hearts to see their children suffering while they couldn’t do anything to ease their sufferings.
My son’s ward was just nearby the bone marrow transplant unit. Sometimes, some of us parents will pass our time in a little pantry outside the wards and that was when we shared our fears and worries. I will not relate all the details but what I can say is there is nothing more heartbreaking than to see young, active, lively, promising teens and children whose lives are cut short by cancer.
Therefore, remember to be thankful for your good health and give a little thought and maybe say a little silent prayer that these young people do not have to endure too much.
Thanks, Kelwin for this little piece. Folks, it is not too late to pledge. Give generously. God bless.
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Suanie wrote a post about her planning her wedding (updated) a few days back. I tried looking for it but gave up after merely 10 seconds of search. Firstly, I’m tired. Secondly, I’m running short of time for this post. LOL.
One thing about Chinese weddings that I do not understand is, “Why must they (we) have shark’s fin soup?” As I know, they slice/slaughter off the shark’s fins and throw them back into the sea. That’s because the rest of the meat is somehow not “valuable”. The sharks couldn’t swim without their fins (of course right? You try walking without legs and see) thus lay at the bottom of the sea and die.
(The photo above taken from flickr. Contact me if it should be taken down.)
I’ve eaten shark’s fin before. What I do not understand is, “WHY?” Firstly, it’s just some “tiny strands” of “meat”. If someone were to serve me shark’s fin in a plain water soup, I wouldn’t know it’s shark’s fin. I might think it’s just some kind of “mee” or “meehoon”.
Seriously, shark’s fin soup taste good because of the soup itself. It has crab meat, eggs, and some other things (I’m not a cook :-P). So, why shark’s fin? Why a Chinese wedding cannot go on without serving any shark’s fin? Is it a “symbol” of prosperity or something?
*sigh*
If you are going to kill the shark, at least do not leave the rest of the fish to waste.
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I found the photo below hidden in one of my sister’s folders. I have no idea whose blouse that is. I hope she doesn’t get upset of me using the photo without first asking. Even if she does, ahhh, sue me 
hehehehe…
Right now, I would love to be able to multi-task. If I were able to multi-task, I’d love to take a rest on the bed while blogathon-ing. Unfortunately, I may end up dozing off instead. LOL.
Ja Mustapha is blogging for MERCY Malaysia [Pledge].
So far, he’s been blogging about food, food and MORE food! Anything from hainan chicken rice, yong tao fu and char kuey teow. He’s making me hungry. LOL.
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