Words before leave (9) : CKL vs SS

I am leaving already... Don't know whether you still remember the date I am leaving... Haha...

My form 6 life would be a hard time without you... Though you might not really sense how much you helped... I am not as strong as you might imagined...

We are now on two very different roads... Though I tried to make them meet... I failed... In the end whether I will keep my promise or not... It all lies in the hand of God... I can't say anything now... ^^

I was still wondering why... Until very recently, I suddenly understand... How it feels... I might not know the results... But I will let everything to go the way it should... ^^ I am happy, I get to understand before I leave this land...

It is always joyful to know life there is letting you enjoy... I always know you can live well and take care of yourself very good... Keep it up... Like how you have always been doing... ^^

High Praise 2009

Hmm... I am not sure, but I guess there are people who actually will feel happy that I actually blog about it... Haha...

As what I mentioned in the last post, I am willing to attend any Christian-based activities... I guess that inspired Mr. Chin to invite me to go for this High Praise 2009 organized by Christian Fellowship of ACS, at 17th June 2009... I went to Kampar that day since early morning... To visit Jinn Shian... And I brought him along to that event... "See see look look" is what say I...

Some might find it weird that I actually appeared in that event, some might not... Trust me that I belong to the former... I am actually quite excited and looking forward to get to know more about this "religion"... Well, that's my motive, and I guess I had achieved it pretty well...

OK, first thing i must say, those people with the surname 陈 are very much not trustworthy... Remember there was this part where we are SUPPOSED to CLOSE our eyes... These two fellows beside me actually didn't close their eyes... WTH... But nevermind... I dare to do, I dare to admit... When they asked me whether I am willing to... Erm... I forgot what was that... It was something like to believe and love the Lord... I raised my hand... OK, you didn't see wrongly... I RAISED MY HAND...

One thing I learnt from this event is, I think I get to know more about Christianity... Maybe I never mentioned before, I certainly learnt more about Buddhism in my life before this... So at times I am actually not so used to the Christians' way... If you don't understand can ask me, it is very hard to explain in words... But I think after this night, I think I accept Christian more than I did before, when I was writing my last post...

Why? I did say I pray to God at times right? I think it is not fair if I don't love God but yet I am asking for His love during times when I need God's help... And I think if I chose to attend activities, I can't go there like I am an outsider and not commiting fully into it... It is meaningless... So expect me to be better next time... ^^

I think this religion issue is taking places more than it deserves in my blog... It makes me look like I care about it alot... So I guess it ends here... Still wanna know what am I now? Lolz... Please refer to the last post... Hiek hiek hiek....

Talk about religion...

Do you know I am a member of both Buddhist Club and Christian Fellowship? For Buddhist Club, I often tell others that I joined to support our Dai Lou... As for Christian Fellowship, I guess they wrote my name out of accident... But, actually, I won't do things unless I am interested in them... Buddhism, a religion that I know for the longest time, not the best... It is actually a very interesting thing to learn... So there are actually interests there... Lolz... And for the second half part of my upper six life, I had been doing morning prayer almost every morning, joining the Christian Fellowship... And I went for their function in MYC for once, so they have my name written down... Lolz...

So, what am I? A Buddhist? A Christian? That's actually a very good question...

I learn Buddhism, but I am not a Buddhist... Buddhism is a form of education... An education that claims to be one of the most complete education as it not only teach about things in life but also pre-life and after-life... It is interesting, undoubtedly... I am happy to be educated...

I pray to God at times, but I am not a Christian... They say it is a kind of relationship... My friends need it alot, so do I... I pray to Him for good things to happen... Instead of doubting the existance of God, I prefer to choose to believe that He is there... Someone to help when our powers are so limited... I pray for good things, and I feel happy when they come real...

So, again, what am I now? Muslim? Taoist? Hindu?

I believe that, good things are worthy to do... To get good education is worthy, to pray for good things is worthy as well... So what's with the choice? It doesn't really matter anymore, right? We shouldn't be stingy in doing good things... I choose to believe all, and none... That's me, I am a free thinker... Doubt it not!

So, don't feel shy to invite me for Christian activities... I can pray to God... And don't hesitate to let me know more about Buddhism, I like it...

That's the benefit of being a free thinker! Hehe...

Decision made!

I have to say it is a bit funny... As I took such a long time to make this decision... But it is only a bit... As it wasn't an easy decision to make... It is going to affect my whole life... Just one thing I am sure, I am a future civil engineer... As all universities offer me the same course...

It all started with a phone interview from Hong Kong in the 21st of April... It is Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) calling... It wasn't really much of an interview... Simple questions... And they said they would give scholarship to me... Around 50%... I was quite happy actually... At least it is a hope not to study local... And it is a good one...

2 days later... I got an offer from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in the morning, another one at night, from National University of Singapore (NUS) ... I was over-joyed... As I am sure this time that I won't be studying in local university... Singapore offers full loan... It is just a matter of choice...

I applied for 4 oversea universities in total... One more is University of Queensland (UQ), which my cousin Mr.Chuee said it is very good in engineering... Actually I wanted to apply for both University of New South Wales and University of Queensland, but the counsellor in AusEd suggested to choose only one, as it would be a waste of money... They would surely accept me, as they don't consider Pengajian Am... (That makes me a straight A student, lolz...) I had to choose one, I chose UQ because of its faculty scholarship... And some personal reasons...

Problem... NUS wanted me to reply by 8th of May.... UQ's application was quite late, so the outcome was yet to be known... I had to choose between HKUST, NUS and NTU... Before the deadline mentioned... I actually talked to my father, he said I can consider everyone of them, and let him know my decision...

For your information, during that time, the latest ranking of those 3 universities in the world are: HKUST 39th, NUS 30th, NTU 77th... Actually I wasn't very much into this ranking thingy, as I actually prefer NTU more than NUS in the first place, as I heard NTU's engineering is better than NUS... (common knowledge, technological university mer...) To me, it is more to the cost problem... I wanted to choose the cheapest one... So I had to wait for better scholarships... Though I knew the chances are slim...

Then I heard people getting scholarship interview invitations... I knew i failed to get scholarship for Singapore universities... And it got to a time when I made up my mind, in this fine morning that, I wanted to go to HKUST... Cheapest (Scholarship), Fastest (3-year degree) and Good (for civil engineering, China is coming up...) are the main reasons.... And I had to make the decision fast as the deadline for NUS was near... But to the least of my expectation, my father put his hands into my decision... He wants me to go to Singapore, due to financial issue... (until here, I must emphasize that I am NOT RICH... My parents's income is OK but they have 5 children with very small age difference, they can't afford to send me overseas if I don't get any financial aids...) Singapore offers loan, though it is more expensive, while Hong Kong doesn't, which means he has to pay for everything... My father wanted to do it the safe way... Or maybe he listened to his sister about the ranking thingy? I don't know... But at that moment, I really thought I was going to Singapore......

My father is working in Indonesia... So, I actually talked to him through phone... Then, that day at night, I told my mother about it... My mother actually supported me... And she said she would try to talk to my father about it the next day... I wasn't really expecting much as I usually dare not to disobey my father... But she managed to change his mind... He allowed me to go to HKUST... But that lasted for a few hours... In the afternoon, again, he asked me to call him, and told me about his retire plan... He insisted the more secure way... And this time he even chose the university for me... "NUS" he said, with longer history, higher ranking, cannot be bad in engineering... Once again, I thought I was going to Singapore.. Lolz... Funny huh?

I had another discussion with my elder brother and my mother again that night... My mother didn't say anything... My elder brother actually contributed a lot by stating many benefits to study in Hong Kong... He prefers me to go to Hong Kong...

The next day again, this time, I didn't actually know what happened... What I know is my beloved mother pursauded my father successfully... I got the permission to go to Hong Kong... I really need to thank my mother for that, and my father as well for understanding... Not to forget Chung Kok Loong who had been so helpful throughout my hard time... Thanks alot...

I really thought it has come to an end... I really thought I am going to Hong Kong... I even wanted to pay the HKD20k deposit to HKUST... That was when I received my conditional offer letter from UQ... Condition is IELTS... The date was 11th of May... One of the days in the week I named as "crucial week"...

Why crucial? HKUST's reply deadline is 18th of May... And the reply must be with deposit to be valid... The deposit is not refundable... Back to UQ... I don't know about the scholarship thing even till now, so I presumed it is a no... Australia Unis' tuition fees are expensive... Expensive to an unaffordable level to me without full scholarship... So I thought of just to reject UQ, stick with HKUST and pay the deposit... Until I found out about this one... What it takes to get a PSD scholarship? (Take note the group of eight part...)

It is about JPA scholarship for undergraduate, where they said they will sponsor students to study in top universities in the world... Including the Group of 8 in Australia... (UQ is one of them) As long as the students get unconditional offer from the universities, in specific fields...

Walao... This made the hard-to-make decision even tougher... The scholarship will be announced in June... People in forum said they are still uncertain about it... It might not run this year... And UQ might not be in the list... I am taking risk if I take this one, a big risk... So I planned to pay HKUST first, then only see whether this is applicable or not...

But HKD 20k... It is not a small amount... So my mother and I came to an agreement that, if I am going to wait for UQ, choose Singapore where we need not to pay... While if I am going to HKUST, pay the money and go... To prevent further lost of money...

12th of May, I couldn't make a decision... We planned to pay the deposit during this day... Had to postpone... But can't be too long... The deadline is near...

13th of May, is my old best friend, Ng Shuenn Siang's birthday... And this old friend of mine, kicked my ass all the way from US, to wake me up from a unrealistic dream......

In the end, HKUST instead of UQ... Based on the reasons below:
1. The JPA scholarship is uncertain, not only it is not announced yet, the complaints lately made it changes to Perdana Schoalrship... Everything is so uncertain... HKUST is giving me half scholarship, though not full but affordable...

2. To get to UQ, many things need to be done... IELTS which is expensive and quite torturing... Book accomodation... Postpone reply date... Time consuming indeed...

3. I don't want to work for JPA... A quote from my old friend "You are a smart person, go out and rock the world..." I think I will stay in Hong Kong after graduation, to work there first... This is a country for the last two of CIMB, not me...

In the end, HKUST... No turning back, I paid HKD 20k!!! Lolz... Non-refundable, so, quite sure going... lolz... Wish me luck my friends... I need it... And I will be leaving in August... Ya, to make this decision, the road was sure a tough one... Lolz... If don't like to read about them just read the 1st paragraph and the last one will do... Haha... Anyway, to all my friends who are going to pursue their higher educations, all the best! I am anticipating the day when we are all professional people... Hehe... NEVER GIVE UP!

Btw... For those who don't read newspaper... Asian Top 200 Universities... Take a look... Hehe...

人善人欺天亦欺? People good people bully sky also bully?