My Fellow Juniors

...because I won't be seeing them again next year after graduation. Sigh, sometimes I miss how it feels like to be a junior in my early years in The Business School. Well that time is already over. Its time to move on, just as my seniors have before me.

Visiting an Old Friend

On the night of Day 3, I went to visit my good ol' friend Helmy who had just returned home from Australia for a brief study break to celebrate Aidilfitri with the family. However, he had only stayed in Brunei for a short while as his flight back to Oz is today. Have a safe flight dude.




Razi and Qids were also visiting Helmy that night


Helmy's pet

Recalling Raya '07

Got the Raya mood already? Same here. We're all pretty excited. I'm gonna make this year's aidilfitri more meaningful along with my fellow classmates and colleagues. After all, this is probably gonna be the last Raya we'll ever celebrate as fellow schoolmates of The Business School. Here's a recap of our Raya celebration held last year.






Our annual visit at Rena's.


Open house at our group coordinator's place. (antik uniform kami atu ah! hehe)


I really like this picture.

All images courtesy of Marriz

Farewell To Ms Pg Shikin

We went to the airport yesterday evening to wish Ms Pg Shikin farewell. It was the last time we got to see her this year as she embarked on her flight to UK where she will be taking her Masters for a year. Ms Pg Shikin has been a wonderful tutor in The Business School, and there's been so much memories with her. We'll never forget her kind advice to us, and we will surely miss her.


We've managed to get to the airport half an hour before her 7pm flight. We surely didn't wanna miss her departure, so we bought some stuff from the Gerai Ramadhan at the stadium and break our fast in the car on our way there. It was also great to see familiar faces at the airport like Ms Susi, Ms Nelia, Ms Zaitun and several of my juniors from the Business School.




Our last group photo with Ms Pg Shikin


So many great tutors had left the Business School during my time there; Ms Nelia, Ms Halimahtun, Ms Susi, and now, Ms Pg Shikin. It has been a totally different atmosphere in campus without them. But, like us students, they had to move on to pursue bigger achievements in life. We've started to move on as well, pursuing our dreams and careers in our young adult age. Our journey continues on.






P.S. We had to park so far, banyak kerita yo... Next stop, London Kebab!

Save The Stress For Next Year

These past week I've noticed that my juniors (2nd year) are beginning to experience the assignment and test turbulence which are pretty much what we have experienced during our time in 2nd year. I've read their schedules which depict how tight their days and weeks are, with all the tests and assignment dues all crammed in, not to mention the Business Project activities, organizing school functions and the upcoming Gerai Ramadhan.

May 15 - one hour before our final Business Accounting exam
Hearing all this brings back a lot of memories for us. Clearly we've been there. I suggest that they keep hanging on and save the stress for next year, because the 1st semester hectic-ness is just only the beginning. By the time the 2nd semester (next year) approaches, there will be more wave after wave of tests and assignments which will keep pouring in.

So how did we manage to survive throughout our 2nd year? Basically, and most importantly, is to keep a constant positive mind. With positive thinking, you can get through whatever obstacles that get in your way, no matter how hectic or crazy they are. It's true that my classmates and I experience all this during our days making dead ends meet and lots of sleepless nights (even the seniors before us had to go through the same process), and no matter what, we struggled hard. We had to be strong under pressure and eventually we got better and stronger when the next challenge was given to us.


Picture grabbed from Marriz-Scene.
So guys, I just wanna cheer you up. 1 year isn't really that long. It'll all be over before you even know it. You will feel the joy and excitement by the end of the day after the final exams are completed. For now, please do have a great time during Gerai Ramadhan because it's gonna be the most memorable experience for you all. Don't feel demotivated about the fact that school hours are just gonna take away the energy for the afternoon activities because I can assure you that it's not exactly going to be that way at all, and instead you will have the greatest time of your school life, to be with your close friends in the holy month of Ramadhan. So all the best to you all. I will see you guys there soon.


Next week, I will be posting pictures of our previous Gerai Ramadhan activities organized last year, so stay tuned.

Juniors Are Most Welcome

Dear juniors,

You are most welcome to join us at the gathering which will be held this coming Sunday 31st August at Muara beach, especially the business project students. It'll be great to meet and get to know your seniors and a great opportunity to get hands on advice from them regarding school matters. After all, we've all experienced the sweet and bitterness in school in our early years and we'd love to share with you all. Share with us your thoughts and we'll be happy to hear from you. So do come this Sunday. And yes, there will be fun and games. It's the last day to have fun at the beach before the fasting month kicks in. (I do hope that it's not gonna be on Monday).


Gambar lama (2006) ini untuk sekadar hiasan post ini sahaja.

Reviewing My Course of Life

Lately at work I've been thinking about the past. How the failures that I've endured before haunted me throughout the days at the office. But it makes me realize how I'm glad I've progressed so far. Now currently doing my industrial attachment in my 2nd month, I feel grateful to be able to make it through the past 3 years studying in the Business School, from the younger days of PD to the crazy hectic life of ND. Now I'm almost close to wrapping up my course and experiencing this new-found joy of being at work and out of school. Yes it does make me miss school sometimes but that's just the way it is, every seniors have to move on.

So what's next for me? Well I've been thinking for the past couple of years about considering taking higher education, but I have not the slightest thought of exactly where I wish to go because I haven't received my final year results yet. I'll be graduating next year that's for sure, after that it all depends on my achievements. If I manage to maintain outstanding results for this 2nd year, I will definitely consider taking that degree, whether it be through a scholarship or on my own expense. Regardless, I'll have to work hard on it.


My alternatives are branched into several paths if my results are not up to my expectations. From the advices that were given to me by my lecturers back in school, I'm still going to continue for higher education despite my age. I have my eyes set on taking Higher National Diploma for my next step after ND. The problem is, will I be able to make it to ITB? After observing the slim number of my seniors accepted in ITB I thought that the chances are pretty weak, particularly for one such as myself without good O level results.

Furthermore after reading an interesting post of a good friend of mine touching on the fate of national diploma graduates, I started to realize that this issue needs to be raised again. If there is no road for us to further advance our studies after graduation, then that just leaves us to join the workforce or start a business. If I'm just gonna give up studying after I graduate next year, how would my career prospects be? Despite the fact that the government offers better pay and benefits, I do not believe that by depending on those things will ensure long-term security and financial stability. As far as I see it, they're pretty much exactly at the same situation as those working in the private sector by the end of the day. And don't get me started with people starting up their own business.

The situation now is that at this age, I should be able to support my family. The opportunity cost for me to continue my studies now is that I won't be able to support them for another 3 years or so, and that I'd still be receiving allowances instead of salary slips. By now I should be living the life but due to these setbacks I'd have to struggle just a bit more and sacrifice a lot of things which I should be doing at this decade.

The year 2005. I was class representative at that time.
I remember 3 years ago when I decided to return to studying again. I was only 22 back then. I calculated that by the time I'm 25 and beyond I should be able to start a proper living like everyone else. Now that mindset which I used to have has changed. I've observed that the National Diploma that I'll be receiving would not be enough to support me for the long term. It's true. ND is just not enough. I must advance. Maybe its just human to think this way.

Hey I don't wish to worry much. What I can do now is do my best in what I'm currently doing, and I'll see how it goes after the results come out, which will probably be next year after this attachment is over. I mean, I'm doing fine right now with what I'm going through. Life has its ups and downs. It's up to us to make them as meaningful as possible.


"Udah kitani attachment nanti jangan lupakan kami ani ah. Keep in touch yo."

I Do Not Understand These Lines

I was looking at a bunch of statistical graphs earlier this morning while I was reading on Brunei's National Development Plan. Looking at those graphs, somehow it made me recall the business statistics unit which I did badly back in school. It made me realize how important statistics can be and how useless it would've become if one doesn't know how to read and analyze them. Bummer.

The juniors are so damn lucky this time. They've got better tutors for their statistics class. Back in my days... uh, let's just say I'm really REALLY glad its all over.

Repent? Yes. Turn back time? Hell no!!!

August Is Here

Good morning readers. July has finally ended and today's the first day of another month of 2008. Can you believe it? We've already passed half of the year! Looking back, there has been so many things going on for the past 6 months, but there's more to look forward to in this second half of the year.

I'm doing well on my first month of my industrial attachment, but that's probably just the beginning. What I'm really anticipated about right now is our graduation but that's not gonna happen until next year. I just can't wait to graduate and move on to the next level. I just have to wait and endure the remaining months with my attachment at Armada Properties. Hey, At least I don't have to worry about homework, assignments and tests anymore. (Somehow I missed group assignments, sigh).

July has been a very busy month itself. The days of events and festivities have been crammed up and there's always something going on almost every week since the 15th. Ramadhan is just around the corner and expect to see a lot of stuff to cover on.

To start off the month of August, I've got 2 events to attend to this weekend. Tomorrow is the National Youth Day celebration and there will be an event to commemorate the day of youths at the Indoor Stadium. Whereas on Sunday, there will be 2 events but I'm not sure whether I could cover both. One is the bazaar at Pusat Ehsan and the other is the Go Kart Racing in Bandar.


I highly suggest that you give your support by coming over to the bazaar organized by Pusat Ehsan this coming Sunday. The Havoc Bloggers will be there so your face might show up in our blogs. Look your best and smile. ^_^

Orientation 08 Welcomes Fresh New Faces

It's Orientation 2008 already! Fresh new students coming in (while me and my colleagues left the building). I was able to get permission from my supervisor to attend this honorary event last Wednesday. I picked up Sai along coz he wanted to check it out, despite the fact that he's no longer in association with the school after his graduation last May. Organized by my juniors who will be running their business project this year, the committee actually did a very good job in making the event as entertaining as possible. Just like the good old days.


I was there from morning, and the weather was really hot. To think that I was wearing all black that day. Also, I didn't actually expect that there was gonna be an accoustic event that afternoon, and Sai kept pushing me to sing this one song for the juniors which just slipped his mind. I haven't even memorized the lyrics, mana inda gagar. But I had a great time though, it's been a while since I had a moment like that, performing on stage. I wanna encourage the juniors to bring out their talents and just get up on stage. It has been a school tradition for years.


Seeing that there has been a lot of pictures from the orientation in the blogosphere, I've decided to post only a few from last Wednesday's photoshoot, particularly on the outdoor activities (I still have yet to invest on a decent flash unit). It seems that my juniors took very good shots and I'm very impressed. There has been a rising number of photographers in school lately. And somebody just got himself a Sony Alpha. LoL.


Once again, recalling last wednesday's event made me miss the good old days when we had our first and second orientation years back. We were all being ragged by our seniors, pretty similar to what actually happened a couple of days ago. In fact, I feel like uploading the old pictures pretty soon, so keep coming back here you guys.


To the new juniors, welcome to the Business School. You all are gonna love it there. Make the school proud and study hard. To the 2nd year juniors, all the best with your business project and best of luck with your upcoming final exams next year. Hopefully I'll get to see a bunch of you attached at Armada Properties.




















Jai made a surprise appearance as well.

Lunch Hour Visit at ITB

Poor Sai. He had to go through all the trouble in getting his approval from ITB to allow him to complete his one month job notice at HSBC where he's currently working. Lots of paperwork needed to be done as a result. And so I helped him out lunchtime yesterday by heading over to his future college, the Brunei Istitute of Technology (ITB) to deliver some documents to the general office. Kamal was also there to join us.


At lunch hour, with the unbearable heat and the fact that everyone's out for lunch at that time, Sai had a good time getting himself familiar with the place and the environment in advance. He'll be joining the upcoming orientation session though but after that he'll be at work for the remaining 2 weeks before he could really join his class for good.


"This place is even bigger than the Business School!"


Sai was so excited to start pursuing his further studies here.






Oh that is so not right.