Sinking back into reality...slowly.

Prologue: Life's so far has been...nice. I think. And ohh, it's Ramadhan/Fasting month now for fellow Muslims which means that food in campus during daytime is...scarce. Luckily I stay in Bakti though where there's a convenient store as well as stall operated by Chinese hence I will go through the fasting month without actually starving. But staying in Bakti has its own downside though: it's very hard for me to venture out of campus especially during weekend, where there's little or no (for Sunday) intracampus bus going around. *sigh* It's a tit for a tat then for exchange of security and privacy...

It has been about two weeks now since I have settled down back in campus (well to be exact, not completely yet as there are a few more boxes over my cousin's house and I still don't have a pillow to sleep on) so it's about time to talk about a few bits of my current campus life as a postgrad especially since the euphoria of Graduation has finally subsided. (Dang, I still love that moment).

I believe all USM-ers are all too familiar with this: our very own Healthycampus account, complete with all the vital details needed for a USM student especially results. This was me last June.

This is me, now. As a postgraduate student of USM. And as you can see, even my profile pic has updated. Gosh I changed so much for the past three years in USM that I barely recognize myself!

How about the Student Card then? These two was me from Jul 2007 til Jul 2010. Notice that I have two cards? That's because my original Student card (that horribly faded one on the left) has finally given up (Smart Chip spoiled) in my final semester that I changed for a new one. Paid RM 60 for a new replacement, the somewhat commemorative one released during Academic Year 2009/2010 to signify USM's 40th Anniversary as well as being conferred the APEX status (The Pucuk Rebung logo there).

Now is Academic Year 2010/2011 and they changed a new design again for Student Card which I think much more streamlined and standardized, complete with colour code for fields of student. Arts? Pinkish Red (as listed by the new USM branding guideline here. Large file though so make sure you have fast connection to download the full USM branding guide! And gosh, look at how fat my face is!

Given along with the new Student card is the new lanyard courtesy of IPS. That thing over there actually contains retractable wheel thing that enables you to pull your Student card (to touch the sensor for the gate or something for what ever reason that require you to use the Student card) without taking off your lanyard. Pretty fun to use actually!

I am now belong to IPS. Institut Pengajian Siswazah/Institute of Postgraduate Studies.

Anyway, it is not to say that I completely slacked for the past weeks. Actually done something important last Saturday which is to sent my JPA Borang Lapor Diri as well as my appeal letter to delay my service bond with civil service.  

Please deliver my mail safely and quickly, Pos Express! My future depends on your yellow envelope!

As I said in the prologue that weekend in campus = huge inconvenience for me, I walked all the way from Bakti to Ivory Plaze just to find an internet connection that didn't block Youtube etc. Is it me or the campus has become greener than before? Or maybe it has been too long since the last time I walked the same path in USM...

Lush greenery and a clear blue sky (after rain). Campus in the garden. What a relaxing weekend indeed.

There's yet another food outlet geared towards USM student market opened here at Ivory Plaza. Didn't manage to jot down its name but quite a good ambiance there. To my surprise, it is operated by the Bakti Tong Sui Stall Auntie and the menu here featured prominently all the tong sui she skillfully made for the past 30 years. I wonder why she want to set up a shop of her own here. According to her, her stall over Bakti is now operated by her brother.

Ordered a Nasi Ayam Kunyit set and Bubur Chacha Jagung as dessert for my very first meal here over this new cafe. Pretty scrumptious actually and the Bubur Chacha feels very homely.

Of course besides having proper meal, I still managed to snack up especially after I came back from family holiday at Langkawi, the tax-free island (probably will blog about it in the future or just hop over to my Facebook profile). Bought a few stuff back as souvenir for ChanPao, BeeSze and Lawrence but I have to pamper myself too! So this is what I bought from the tax-free chocolatey haven: Pepero Chocolate and Almond Stick. Da-Yum!

Imported Pringles from United States: Pizza Flavour! The Pringles can in US is also labelled in two language: English and Spanish (Mexican American/Latinos is the largest ethnic minority in USA)

Tastes like...Pepperoni Pizza. On a chip.

Foreign chocolate is a must too so I bought Whittakers Dark Chocolate Peanut Slab.

One thick bar of bittersweet nutty goodness! Don't mind to go back to Langkawi again to indulge in sinful chocolaty pleasure!

This cup-a-noodle however is not snack. It was my dinner last nite. Nap too late hence woke up a lilbit too late: 9pm. And all stalls are closed unlike the bustling business of Tekun which open till midnite. So had to drop by the Bakti convenience store again to buy cup-a-noodle. Thank godness that the public kettle is still brand new and clean.

Besides that, bought Butterscotch and Oreo as well, for my breakfast/snacking purpose. Mmmmm the Gardenia Butterscotch Bread as so sinfully delicious that it is good to eat on its own! No wonder a lot of East Malaysian will stock up Gardenia bread to bring it home to the east! For some reason, there's no Gardenia factory here in East Malaysia. It's quite a lucrative market here, you know!

When I proceed to the counter, I was told by the attendant that their store is practicing zero-plastic policy hence it is either I fork out 20 cent for a plastic bag or pay RM 1 for the official USM reusable bag. I bought that bag as well. I was quite a handful there with carrying two bottles of water (went there to fill up my water) so I guess I had no choice. Oh well, at least we tried to practice it.

Anyway, that's my life for now. Will keep you all update on my mushroom growth status in future post.


Epilogue: Will have to start contacting my supervisor soon. Started a lil on the research tho in terms of literary reviews. Searching it over Google Scholar lol. There's no running away from it! This is an era dependent on internet, yo!