Graduating in 80 days!!! 

An evening at the center of campus 

2005

Graduation year, and much more. This year will be a huge turning point for me. If things turn out right, I should be graduating in May, I should be moving from Los Angeles back home to Malacca, but only for a month or so, I should be moving again to Tokyo, and finally, I should be starting my first real job as an engineer at Sony Japan. I was fortunate to have more than one job offer before I graduate. But it was difficult to choose. Finally, I came down to this choice.

There are too many variables in life, and to be able to predict and control each one of them is impossible. Sometimes, you and I just have to decide and move on. And with a lot of hardwork, determination, courage, and just by believing, other things will follow.

Recently, I went to two great concerts and one of them just happened last night. The first one that took place in Caltech was a Pipa solo concert by a woman called Wu Man. She was absolutely fantastic, or should I say phenomenal (and because of that I bought her CD online and just got it today). I have never seen any solo performances like that. She totally became "one" with her pipa. Highly recommended for those who like real music.

Last night, I went to a Herbie Hancock's concert called Directions in Music (took place in my school, and only $8 for students). There were Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, and Roy Hargrove as the three main featured artists. It was an incredible experience as there is so much creativity in Jazz that I don't think there is any limit to it. Highly recommended too, to those who want to have a change and stay away from pop for a little while.

Will post again soon.

Peace.

early birds 

ant on orchid 

takara kuji 

A troubled Singaporean?? 

A shot of Singapore's beautiful waterfront. 

A church in Singapore. 

home sweet home

Pardon me for not being actively updating my blog for the past 2 months or so. School was taking up almost all of my time, plus I had a bunch to do because I decided to come home. And now I'm back.

Strangely, and beyond my own expectations, nothing has really changed much in Melaka. People, places, and even the radio stations seem to be playing the same old songs after 2 years. Besides some major road changes, everything else seems stagnant.

Anyway, I'm glad that I have survived yet another tough semester. The past semester though, different from all other semesters, could never get any better. Once again, USC footbal finished first in the nation and we will be heading to Miami for the national championship game at Fedex Orange Bowl. To add a little spice to it, our starting quarterback Matt Leinart won the Heisman trophy. There is really no other better time to be a Trojan.

Besides football, I have had a great semester too, mostly from taking the loudspeaker building class. I have completed my project and now I have a pair of working speakers. Although they might not be the best pair, but I am really satisfied with what I was able to produce. Each student in that class also made a final presentation at JBL in front of professionals, and I mean real-hardcore-legendary-audio professionals. It was really cool.

I will have a busy holiday this time mainly because of an unplanned trip to Japan. I was invited to be further interviewed by Sony in Japan, although I wish to spend more time with my family and friends in Malaysia.

Until next time. Peace. And happy holidays.

Thanksgiving "hotpot" dinner 

A view from my cousin's apartment in downtown SF 

Thanksgiving holiday

Finally I have a chance to sit down and write a couple of lines. I have been enjoying my 4 day weekend, mostly by hanging out at my girlfriend's place playing this game called Katamari Damacy on PS2. Although the game looks stupid but it's really funny and entertaining, definitely a good family game.

Anyway, my interview at San Jose went well and I should know the result by the end of next week. The entire interview was quite long, it took about 3 hours. First, there was the interview by human resource for 20 minutes, then technical interview by the engineers for 30 minutes, then a written logical thinking test for an hour and they were all in Japanese. Luckily I have a cousin in San Francisco, so before and after the interview, I got to hang out with him.

Now, my long weekend is coming to an end and I have to really start doing my final project for a class which is building a real loudspeaker. Without me knowing, this semester will end in a week (at least for classes but I still have to take my finals throughout the first two weeks of December). You might think that I must be very happy now but conversely, it's kind of sad because this will be my last football season. I wonder when would be the next time to return to the Los Angeles Coliseum to watch the mighty USC Trojans.

Interview again

I just got myself into trouble again. Not always a bad thing though because I am going to San Jose for an interview with Sony. Because of that, I will have to prepare myself a lot since I do not wish to blow this chance. The Sony Japan website is so cool. Even though you might not read Japanese, but it's definitely worth checking out.

Besides preparing for the interview, I would also have to prepare for a presentation for my district's general meeting this Friday, the day before my interview. On top of that, as usual, I have my weekly school work to deal with. What a busy November! Thanks to Thanksgiving though, I will have a rather short week next week.

This is an alpha box for my speaker design class. As you can see, it's made out of a wine box. The final speaker will be made out of real wood. 

This is the main EE building and the open space (called E-Quad) is also where my departmental graduation ceremony will take place. 

Weekend again

I think my sleeping problem is getting better since I was able to wake up before 9 on a Saturday morning. In fact, I have been waking up before 8 for the past 2 days. It's drizzling outside but today is also our homecoming day. "Homecoming day" is the day of the semester when alumni come back to school to have a gathering, sort of. And it's also on a football Saturday so that people can have tailgate parties with their family/old friends, then go to the football game. As USC is famous for our Trojan family spirit, it's always super crowded on campus on homecoming day.

Yesterday's loudspeaker design class was fun. We were measuring the performance of our alpha box (a test box made out of cardboard that resembles the final speaker box) in class. I saw a lot of interesting designs including a pyramid-shaped speaker, a balloon-like speaker, and some others. By the way, my design is a simple rectangular bookshelf type speaker. The only things left to do to complete the design are to design the crossover (an electronic circuit for the speaker) and to build my real box out of wood.

Have a good weekend!

Future

Can someone's future be potentially promising yet somewhat dissatisfactory at the same time?

It's the time of the life to make "the" decision. I have been thinking a lot lately about this major if not the most important transition period in life. Where do I go after college? As I'm under a scholarship, things get a lot more complicated. Furthermore, as it does not only involve myself, it became even more difficult to make a decision that will create a win-win situation for everyone. Sometimes I wish I wouldn't have to rely on a scholarship (or in this case a scholarship that applies constraints), so that I have the full flexibility in terms of choosing my own future. Of course I still have the freedom to do so, to some degree. I guess that's the price I have to pay. Thinking about it, I do appreciate the "free money" as without it, I wouldn't be what I am today. "Appreciate whatever is happening to you", an SGI leader once told me. I shall remember his words.

Los Angeles Downtown Skyline 

One of many fountains on campus