Starting Off My Final Semester

It's my final semester. It's already end of Week 2 and there are many things to do. I have 3 courses this semester: Mathematical Techniques for Economics, Contemporary Issues in Economic Development and Operating International Business. IBUS is my only Business School subject. Everything else is from School of Economics. 

I have learned a lot during the past semesters. From not liking economics, I learn to love it but it has been a difficult journey. If I can repeat everything all over again, I can do better but hey, I don't want to repeat things all over again. 

Am currently in UQ Graduate Library. I just feel like writing and will continue reading my book after this entry. I was reading my Economic Development textbook from Perkins. The first few pages talk about Malaysian factory worker, investment by foreign firm in Malaysia in 1970s. Talk about a factory worker in Penang, the salary, a bit on the job description. It brought me back to the stories ayah used to tell me. I don't know why I'm being sentimental with yassin playing on my media player. I miss ayah and mama. I just called mama. Just for no reason. I usually don't call. I don't even sms. It was so hard bringing me up. I hope I don't disappoint them. I love ayah and mama and I miss them so much now.

Am going to continue reading.

I hope I would be able to graduate this semester. I do think math is a bit difficult for me. But hey, I've been studying more difficult stuff using math without having that math background. Ira and I used to joke about our decision to drop one course during summer because it was too technical and all are math. We end up have to go all the way for it and we did excellently but Allah knows how much we have to struggle for that and the grade that we received is unbelievably good. I just hope we can pull through for math too.

Seronoknya Raya!

Wah...!! Dalam facebook, macam-macam gambar raya rakan-rakanku posted. Iskkhh... Since semua pun posted gambar, ku posted juga screen capture aktivitiku yang perlu ku siapkan by 23 August... 

Selamat hari raya, diriku...

Source: http://unctadstat.unctad.org/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=109

Aku x sure nak guna EViews ke tak, nanti nak fikir pula macam mana nak buat modelling.... jika tak sempat, aku buat table comparison je (malas mode). Aku ada lagi 3 chapters nak siapkan untuk discussion hari Rabu dan juga test yang aku perlu ambil malam ni juga. Setelah 2 semester berlalu, baru semester ni aku harapkan dalam seminggu ada 10 hari... (memanglah tak mungkin)...

My latest passion...

I love winter yang rasa-rasa macam di Cameron Highland ni because progress mawarku sangat baik. Keep on blooming, mawar! Ada lagi 3 buds.

Selamat Hari Raya!

Dah lama diriku tidak blog apa-apa. Last week, gastrikku datang lagi. Agak teruk tetapi sebab sedikit rajin makan ubat, sembuh dengan segera- lebih kurang seminggu. Apapun, hari ini adalah hari sabtu, malam ahad, the night before raya. Dari tengahari tadi sibuk cari video di Youtube untuk menganyam ketupat (walaupun sebenarnya aku plan untuk habiskan lecture 2 and 3 Element of Financial Market dan draf akhir bagi paper Trade). Alhamdulillah, berjaya menganyam! 

First percubaan mengambil masa dekat 2 jam. Sebab apa? Hmm.. tadi cari ribbon plastik yang macam selalu orang anyam ketupat hiasan di Malaysia, tapi tidaklah ku jumpa ribbon tersebut. Aku jumpa ribbon kain itupun tak banyak pilihan. Sedihnya. Aku guna crepe paper untuk percubaan awal, sangatlah tidak sesuai! Dah nak putus asa and then aku tukar material, which is ribbon kain yang aku beli tadi di Art Centre. Sanggup perfi Art Centre sebab nak anyam ketupat. Aku potong satu daun pokok yang macam dalam ke-6 di bawah tapi tak cukup panjang. Lepas tu aku potong manila file aku. Still tak cukup panjang. Sakit hati. Lepas tu terus pergi KMart. Tak jumpa juga ribbon yang aku nak. Yang ada semuanya dah siap untuk lekatkan atas present. Tiba-tiba teringat yang di ground level ada Art Centre, maka pergilah diriku kesana. Hasilnya:

Selamat Hari Raya semua! Maaf zahir batin.

Untuk Mama dan Ayah, jangan risaukan kakak di sini. Kakak dah sihat. Selamat hari raya dan maaf zahir batin. Mohon ampun jika kakak ada terkasar bahasa dan menyakiti hati Mama dan Ayah. anti next year kakak balik, bolehlah buat ketupat. Kakak dah boleh anyam. Ni gambar terbaru:

Untuk Nana, kakak dah belikan jaket ni untuk nana. Hopefully nana suka.

Esok akan sembahyang raya di Guyatt Park, St Lucia. If rajin, akan ambil gambar dan upload. Baju kurung telahpun digosok bersama dengan tudung. Telekung akan pack lepas sembahyang Subuh sebab ada satu sahaja.

Dah tempah juga kek lapis coklat untuk open house next week (hopefully aku tak habiskan dulu).

Alhamdulillah!

Hmm... so far, aku masih stress. Aku dah start cakap sendirian sambil berjalan. Bukan cakap merapu ye- aku sedang cakap dengan diri sendiri jadual harian, apa patut aku buat, bila patut buat. Oh, ya! Dah ada organiser. Akulah makhluk paling malas nak ada organiser tapi sekarang dah upgrade diri dengan organiser:

 Oh, ya! Yours truly tak update lagi progress economic project paper. Hari tu yours truly inform yang A/Prof Alauddin akan jadi advisor, kan? Ya, yours truly dah tukar advisor kepada: Dr. Lana Friesen (advisor) and Dr Thilak Mallaawarachchi (co-advisor). Tapi yours truly hampir dua minggu tak contact Dr. Thilak, silalah diriku start menulis. Yours truly tak sihat hari tu jadi seminggu delay. Baca sikit-sikit sahaja dan sangat malas. Tapi dah hampir dua minggu, what an attitude! Aku akan siapkan by Monday ni (hopefully). Tapi dah bincang dengan Dr Friesen. She's very nice and motherly. Sangat supportive. Seriuosly tak nak cerita lagi tentang project paper because I'll start talking to myself again.

Okay, ciao!

My Stressful Week

It's only Week 1 and OMG... I was super busy with my draft outline on privatisation policy and still couldn't get any advisor for my literature review. Some said it's too ambitious, data might be hard to get especially on Malaysia. There is also comment on they gave up on Malaysia because couldn't get data. Well, that is also my concern and that's why I chose a general privatisation. And I do think I did better as I had done some drafting compared to other people tapi belum ada rezeki lagi.

Anyway, since I didn't get anywhere with my current topic, I've decided to change it and I did. I'm doing energy policy and economic development. Seriously, I haven't the slightest clue and had just read some overview on energy policy but things are moving. Finally! Alhamdulillah.

I was online most of the time yesterday, emailing people and finally Dr. Mohammad said he agrees to supervise yours truly. Alhamdulillah! But he said he can only supervise my project paper and not my thesis as he'll be on leave next semester. Anyway, it's a good start as I need to refocus my interest and this is a good start.

The problem with yours truly is that she lost interest in most of the things in her life. She didn't know much but since she lost interest, she hasn't done much reading. She thinks that she doesn't have anyone to discuss with, regarding policies and current issues, that is why she lost interest in most of the things in her life. I do hope she can get her interest up for this one. At least, she has some focus and hopefully can finally be interested in something and most importantly has some stand in the issue. Now, she's just like someone who watch and couldn't care less.

Please, I do need some wind of change.

Yay!! One more year to go..

Alhamdulillah, dalam diam tak diam, setahun telahpun berlalu semenjak ku tinggalkan Treasury untuk sambung belajar. Of course, sedikit rindu tapi memandangkan kebanyakan yang ada pun tidak lagi ku kenali, tiadalah ingin ku kembali ke sana lagi.

Sekarang adalah masa untuk semester 3. Pada semester ini aku hanya ada 3 courses: Trade & Investment, Elements of Financial Market dan Economic Project Paper. Rasa macam sedikit sahaja tetapi diriku, sila ingat walaupun courses dah kurang satu, credit hour masih sama dan assessment makin banyak. Oh.... Yes, jika nak buat masters, sila rajin membaca. Aku masih lagi mencari-cari rentak. Although aku kata aku malas, kawan-kawan kata aku rajin. Tapi sebenarnya, aku cuma sangat rajin bila dah tahu result mid semester kerana to ensure aku tak fail any paper, of course aku kena sangat rajin lepas tahu keputusan mid semester exam. Seperti biasa, aku masih tak suka microeconomics. Walaupun mathematics aku hanya average, aku masih suka Statistics dan Econometrics and aku rasa jika aku dah biasa, aku akan dapat buat dengan baik.

Aku masih mencari advisor untuk projek paper. I've been thinking a lot about it dan mula-mula memanglah aku nak buat tentang PFI, tapi aku risau tentang data untuk mini thesis- dimanakah boleh aku peroleh data tersebut? Kemudian, aku interested ingin buat international trade tetapi aku baru sahaja nak masuk kelas international trade semester ini. Oh, ya! Masuk sahaja kelas terus belajar Ricardian Model. Hmm... Jumpa lagi kita ye Encik Ricardian. Akhirnya, aku decide untuk proceed dengan privatisation policy and contribution to economic growth. Aku harap aku can discuss with some people in Putrajaya on this topic but who to contact? Proper tak if i were to just contact them and ask whether they can help reshape my paper so that it can also contribute a bit untuk Malaysia? (Melampaukan impian macam ini?) Anyway, this semester, masih belum dapat advisor yang interested dengan topik lagi. Monday ada meeting dengan Dr Renuka Mahadevan. She has written few articles on Malaysian economy and I hope she would be interested and I think her econometrics is excellent cause she taught that course and I can learn a lot. Pray to Allah that my meeting with her this coming Monday will go smoothly and she will agree to supervise me. One of the few questions she asked me via email is whether I have taken the econometrics course before and can you imagine how stressful I am now to convince her to be my advisor? Anyway, I still hope I can talk to Dato' Dr Irwan and ask him but I haven't had any courage lagi. I do think if I can his insight and opinions, my paper would be a better paper and not just some scrap yang orang tulis untuk dapat sarjana. Entahlah...

Well, assessment untuk semester ini sangatlah banyak. Diriku harus memberikan ulasan selewat-lewatnya hari Ahad (timeline set sendiri), bagi topik mengenai Ricardian Model sebelum orang lain buat ulasan kerana jika terdapat ulasan orang lain, agak sukar mencari hujah. Juga terdapat lebih kurang 15 articles di dalam fail untuk ku baca menjelang tamat hujung minggu tidak termasuk 2 chapters dalam buku teks. Diriku "Sila rajin mulai sekarang dan bukannya selepas mid-semester exam!". I've been having some problem these past three days and I lost three days reading time.

I still hate economics!

AFL- Brisbane Lions Vs GWS Giants

Last Sunday, there was an AFL game between Brisbane Lions and GWS Giants (Sydney 2nd team) held at the Gabba. I went there with UQMates Mentor- Corey Zocchi, and UQMates member- Regina Peng.

 It's an interesting game. Basically, Corey explained things to us as this is our first time watching AFL. Corey is doing his Bachelor in Sport Science Education and Regina is doing her TESL.

Pictures below are one of the goals by Brisbane Lions top star:

Can you find the ball? Truthfully, masa ambil gambar ni and cuba cari bola, tak jumpa. Rasa putus asa je, ambil gambar beria-ia tetapi tak nampak bola. Tapi sebenarnya, kalau cari betul-betul dengan skrin yang besar sedikit, pasti akan jumpa bola. Corey expained yang ada empat tiang: | | | |. Dua tiang di hujug adalah pendek sedikit. Scoring are based on: |1|6|1|. Jika bola kena pada pihak lawan sewaktu melalui tiang, akan dapat 1 mata. Jika kena tiang, satu mata juga. Jika baling, tidak tendang, satu mata. Game ada 4 quarters and each quarter last for about 20 minutes. Kadang-kadang, games berhendti beberapa saat untuk iklan di tv: suddenly all players jalan-jalan sementara tunggu iklan tamat. Emergency team boleh masuk sesuka hati tanpa permainan dihentikan. Waterboy pun boleh bagi air dengan masuk ke dalam padang tanpa affcting the game.

Semasa rehat setiap quarters, ada aktiviti dijalankan. Antaranya permainan football oleh kanak-kanak:

Kanak-kanak diatas comel, kan?

 Antara penonton yang memeriahkan perlawanan.

Finally, Regina and I pun ambil gambar kenang-kenangan. Thanks, Corey!

 Regina yang sangat ceria. Aku rasa kebanyakan cikgu ada karakter yang sama.

It was a fun Sunday!

Semester 2- How was it?

"Rajin baca buku kalau nak sambung master"- by Dato' Isa

At first, aku tak ambil kisah sangat- kalau dah sambung study barulah nak baca. Seriously, sangatlah tak elok attitude begitu. It's true- what my boss said.

This is my second semester, on average, biasa-biasa sahaja- surviving dalam subjek-subjek yang aku tak suka tapi perlu teruskan juga. I need to put more effort. Secara jujur, subjek yang aku suka setakat ini adalah statistik dan econometrics: it doesn't make sense (sometimes). But I love those two  subjects. It doesn't mean I got A for those subjects, but those two subjects are precise: ada workings,  ada formula, semuanya teratur. I love books with examples, lots of examples. The best book so far is my Finance CD. It has all I need. A lot of examples.

The most frustrating subject is my Monetary- it's not hard and yet I spend so much times on short answers and less time on MCQ: 28*1.5. Frustrating.

Of course, Macro has a lot of mathematical concepts. I thought first part of Advance Macroeconomics Theory is hard, but apparently, it's just beginning. Lepas mid semester hari tu memang dah bercadang nak drop subjek ni dan nak ambil tahun depan tapi JPA tak reply- fine! And it turn up, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I thought I've failed! Seriously... velocity is not part of this semester's topic (it was last semester), when we learn this whole topic on consumption ( such a long topic with so many theories) no "velocity" word exist and yet, there is one, beautifully worded question (long and such a high  weighted for marks) connecting velocity and consumption. Me, who doesn't really pay attention last semester, of course panicked. What should I answer? But, alhamdulillah, it turn up good. Now, it's getting more troublesome: Growth Theory. I hate this topic last semester: Solow Swan... iiikkhh.... and this semester "Tadaaa...!!!" Half of this semester is on growth theory- good luck me! 

I'm saying all these because my calculus wasn't good. I didn't bother much about it during matriculation. Yes, serves me right! Anyway, if you want to study economics, please study your maths first.

I have an econometrics quiz tomorrow. Doakan semuanya baik.

My final exams are as follows:

• 14/6: Econometrics
• 15/6: Adv. Macro
• 19/6: Monetary
• 20/6: Adv. Micro

I can't wait for next semester and the next. I'll be flying back home.. a place that I missed so much!

Applying What We Learned: Exerting Effort

Few days ago (sounds like long time ago but believe me, it's not that long), just last Tuesday, I had an Advanced Microeconomic Theory class ( I always hate Micro). We were currently at contract theory: principal-agent payoffs whereby we calculate payoffs of principal/agents: whether contract is optimum, agent need to exert effort or not, should principal appoint agent, draw the indifference curves (seriously! again?) etc.

After the class ended, my friends (Sajee and Lasitha) and I walk towards Building 23 (I'm sorry, I'm not good with directions now) and I saw Lasitha's shoe lace was untied:

Me: Lasitha, your shoe lace!

Lasitha: I know, I just don't want to exert effort.

Me: (What?.. Yes, good application on the subject...).

Pokok Kunyit

Pokok kunyit dah ada 3 cabang, seronoknya!