Finale of student life

Sorry, I've been MIA-ing recently. Just submitted my FYP and had the presentation last Friday, followed by the end of Management dinner. We better get an A cause I think our presentation went very well and we managed to answer all the questions in our Q&A.

My group & our lovely supervisor

Us in front of the Business School

After a whole week of trying to cut down our essay by 4 000 words, practising our presentation and spending the entire day being drowned by other groups' presentations, we headed to Hotel Rembrandt in Knightsbridge for our end of year management social. Food there was surprisingly not that bad, the way they arranged their food was very professional and pretty looking. Only disappointment is that food were served way too slow and service was quite poor. 

Chicken salad (5 stars)

All you vege haters would love this dish cause it tastes nothing like a salad.

Salmon (3 stars)

Lemon cheesecake (4 stars)

Though to be honest I was too full to judge by then :S

Then of course there was the usual cam-whoring. (:

Mo, me, Sel

Niki, Kristy, me

Jacq, me, Minglee

Yabo & I

Iain &  I

Amirah & I

I'm wearing this white Lipsy dress for the first time although I bought it a year ago. Stupid me. It's probably out of fashion already. Anyway, after that we went for the usual karaoke. We were all very knackered from the continuous lack of sleep so it wasn't that great but it was our last gathering ):

I'm quite sad that another year has come to an end again. Time to move on with our lives and enter the working world :S I hope everyone gets a good job (if you haven't already) and reach your dreams. To those lucky bitches on a gap year, have a time of your life and sorry to say but you'll have a harder transition to the suits and ties. See you all during graduation, till then...

Seven wonders of the world

Did you know that wonders of the world are broken down into many groups? I used to think that it was just seven wonders of the world :S 

The first category is the oldest one ie seven wonders of the ancient world consisting of:

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon in Iraq

(The Babylonian king built it for his homesick wife who had a great liking for fragrant plants and tress of her homeland, Persia)

Lighthouse of Alexandria in Egypt

(Like a normal lighthouse, it's duty was to guide sailors into the port at night)

Mausoleum of Halicarnassus in Turkey

(It's actually a Greek tomb but the land it's now on is under Turkey)

Colossus of Rhodes in Greece

(It's believed to be a statue of a Greek god, Helios)

Temple of Artemis in Greece

(A temple dedicated to a Greek goddess, Artemis)

Statue of Zeus in Olympia, Greece

(Made by a Greek sculptor for Temple of Zeus)

Greece was very popular and tech savvy back in those days huh? Anyway, I was happily googling the wonders of the world thinking I'm gonna visit one of them next summer and guess what?!? All the six wonders above are gone. Most of them were destroyed during war time or if not during earthquakes :S I was a bit disappointed and upset that this generation can't witness the architectures and art work of these structures dated back to about 300BC.

But at least there is one sole survivor of all the mishaps and it's still standing tall in the dessert in Africa. 

Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt

(It's the oldest and largest of the three pyramids. It's main purpose was used as a tomb for the Egyptian Pharaoh. It is the tallest man-made structure in the world for more than 3 800 years!)

I'm just SO glad that I'm going to Egypt next month to see this breath taking structure. It's like killing two birds with one stone cause I always wanted to go to Africa & I'm also very keen on visiting the pyramids and the sphinx and all that. (: Although to be honest, I prefer going to Cape Town where the real deal is. But when I told my parents, my mom was like, "What? What if something happens to you? All my investments on you will go to waste!!!." My mom sees me as an 'investment'. :S

On a brighter note, since I'm going to Malta & Egypt next month where the sun is scorching and the heat is boiling, I obviously went shopping to be prepared and not return, sunburnt again. Thus, E and I went to Selfridges ytd. We had salted beef sandwich which is ok if you don't eat too much but it's one of those things which are negatively correlated; it tastes less delicious the more you have. 

We were shopping for a short while cause the temperature was just too hot and we were over clothed for the weather. I only managed to buy a straw hat and sunglasses but I was content.

My new purple shades

My straw hat

E's black shades

Oh, before I forget, the other groups are seven wonders of the: medieval world, industrial world, underwater world and seven natural wonders of the world.

A walk down memory lane

I can't deny that when I first came to London, I was so fascinated by the whole British lifestyle, the lovely Victorian houses, the bustling nightlife and the attractions in London particularly Madame Tussauds, Ripley's Museum and Passaje del Terror. However, the affection grew stale in two years (but in London's defense, I do get bored quite easily) and that was when I started touring Europe. Hence, I thought I'll blog about the things I'm gonna miss in London so they will always be engraved in my heart. 

1 Winter Wonderland - it's an event held in Hyde Park annually during Christmas. It has rides, food, wine, skating rink and some art & craft shops. 

One of the rides

Some of us in a queue

2 London Fashion Week - it's another annual event held in London. There are many designer stalls, wine/champagne, food, hair & make up booths and of course a fashion show.

One of the models

Cindy & I at the entrance

3 Ripley's Museum - inspired by the Ripley's Believe It or Not documentary. It's smacked in the centre of Trafalgar Square, consisting of five floors with interesting facts from all around the world.

The world's tallest man & I

Try this out!

4 Thorpe Park - it's a theme park situated not too far from London. But I'm not a fan cause I'm afraid of heights so I ended up wasting all my money on playing those stupid games. What an imaginative way to con people of their money!

The scariest and fastest ride

Sumi & I with all the toys we won

5 Movida - it's a club in Oxford Circus and the best club I've been to by far. The DJ, the ambiance, the crowd, everything about this club just makes you want to get up on your feet and dance till dawn.

Jein & the lady serving our table

HK, Cindy, me, Chong

6 Legoland - situated in Windsor. Everything is made out of tiny pieces of legos. Whoever constructed those master pieces must have a lot of patience and creativity.

Everything is made of lego

Nathan, Chi Hin, me, Cathy

7 Nottingham Games - an annual Malaysian event comprised of netball, soccer, badminton, volleyball, basketball, table tennis and recently, 'batu seremban', scrabble, chess and many more.

Imperial's team

We got third (:

8 Dress up days - in college, my best friends & I used to have our own dress codes every Friday. It used to be so much fun although we probably did look silly sometimes but who cares, we enjoyed our college life.

Red day

Tie day

9 My 18th - my crazy friends forced me to put on this bunny costume and hired a striper. Enough said!

10 Joining the 'two one' club - Payal & E tried to have a surprise party for me but I ended up knowing half the details :S We had Indian food cooked with love by Payal and had drinks in a limo hired by E followed by drinks in a bar.

All of us after dinner

In the limo

When we got a wee bit drunk

These are my top 10 fondest memories which I will always cherish and treasure. A smile instantly lights up on my face just by looking at these pictures. I wouldn't have made it through if not for all my closest friends who had been there during my ups & downs, supporting me through my toughest times and just being there for me. So, a shout out to all of you and I'll end this with a simple thank you, from the bottom of my heart. xoxo

Equality

What is equality? Equality is the state of fairness and having the rights to receive the same treatment as others. In my opinion, equality plays an important role in uniting the society in terms of gender, religion, nationality, race and so on. 

I'm surprised that even in this modern era, inequality is still widely practiced; for example, women are still under treated in offices and during rare occasions, harassed. I'm delighted to tell you that in UK & US, the popularity of women in offices had increased significantly over the last few decades. However, there is no denial that when you read any reputable company's annual report, flip through the board of directors section and you will find that women will only make up to less than 20%. 

In many countries, one of them being India, the effects of inequality is still evident because till date, men have a higher literacy rate than women. The verdict - girls were not allowed to go to school back in the golden age. It's sad that this is still exercised in Pakistan. In China, girls were taught from a young age how to cook and clean well as that's the key requirements for getting married. Thank god for evolution or I'll be stuck at home, ready to be paired up with my parents' best friend's son or something.

So how can anyone possibly blame me when I want Holly Robinson Peete to win in the latest finale of Celebrity Apprentice which is airing next week? (as opposed to my Mr E who wants Bret Michaels to win and his reason: cause he's a real man. Pfft.)

Thus, when Barack Obama became the first African American to win presidency in the States, I was over the moon. I respect this man for being able to care for such an enormous nation and yet have time for his wife and two daughters. Taking up the presidency post is a tough and noble job to me; dedicating your life to serve your country.

And three days ago, Rima Fakih, 24, from Michigan became the first Muslim Miss USA. She really is gorgeous and with her Arabic blood (she's from Lebanon), no wonder her features are strong and prominent. She's also a graduate from University of Michigan-Dearborn with a degree in economics and business management. Who says a woman can't have both beauty and brains?!?

In her wedding gown part of the competition

In the swimsuit section of the competition

Miss USA 2009, Kristen Dalton passing down the tiara to the newly crowned.

I am just so glad that the States is initiating equality in large scale and being a lead example to the world. It just shows that we are all capable of change if we put our whole heart in doing so. 

Final year project (FYP)

FYP is due next Friday! Then I'm officially done with uni life and my degree would be beyond my control. That leaves my group mates and I, 1.5 weeks to come up with 25 000 words and a 20 min
presentation plus 10 min Q&A :S But there's six of us so I hope it turns out the way we want it to.

And the topic? CARS!!! When we decided on it I was like wha, what?!? I know close to nothing about cars. Occasionally, I know most brands but if you ask me for the model, I'll have no clue. Same goes with phone models and any sort of model is a huge question mark to me. Especially when it includes numbers plus alphabets like N97, N99 for Nokia phones or S500/C300/E100 for Mercedes cars. (Not even sure if those models exists)

Anyway, our title is actually, 'Influences on consumer adoption behaviour on low-emission vehicles.' So, we focussed on hybrid cars. Interesting facts about hybrids:
1 The first hybrid was actually made in 1902.
2 First commercially available hybrid is the infamous Prius by Toyota.
3 Resale value for a year old hybrid is 75-85% of it's purchase price compared to less than half for conventional cars.
4 Hybrid drivers are known as the 'silent driver' for the minimal noise they produce.
5 Hybrids produce 90% less pollutants than conventional cars.
6 Most hybrid parts are very costly but they come with many years of warranty.
7 Hybrids do not require any plug-ins. They get recharged when you're driving.

Despite, all the extra benefits of a hybrid, it still hasn't penetrated the mass market and we are looking for the factors/causes. One very obvious reason to me:
(Hint: Look at the pictures and see if you can spot the 'difference')

I think these manufacturers are in dire need to hire some designers to revamp their idea of how a car should look or the designs of their production. Dolce, Gabbana, Alexander Wang or Versace would be ideal. To me, it's as though they copied it straight out of cartoon network.

BUT on the other hand, hybrids do wonders to our environment. With greenhouse gases consistently on the rise and global warming becoming a hot topic, why don't we all take our first step in going green? There's only one earth and we should all play a role in taking good care of it for the sake of our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Also, with the rise in adoption, you'll save some other student from being stuck with this kinda report.

So, if you're thinking of getting a new car, what better choice than the hybrid? And if you decide otherwise, feel free to tell me why so I can add it to my FYP report :D