Backlog: Guilty of Gluttony. (and Convex '11 too)

Prologue: I think I am slowly getting the hang of making photos collages just to cut down the amount of time used to upload photo to blog as well as the need for reader to scroll a long way down just to read one post. Plus, lumping photos of similar theme into one photo collage makes it kind of...artsy.

A two weeks late of a backlog! USM Convocation Expo 2011 (Convex) has ended on 25 September (Sunday) together with the actual Convocation Ceremony. Along the one whole week (19-25 September) of Convex, I had been guilty...of gluttony. Binging and snacking every time I went past the fairground/Tapak Konvo, succumbed to sinful desire despite being on austerity measure. Along that one week, I tried so hard from being tempted by all the noise and music from the fairground while I am in my room and from time to time, I did fell under the influence and I spent some more money to fulfill my desire such as snacks at night and regretting it later...because it went stale. I totally let myself go throughout that whole week.

Undeniably the highlight and most lucrative business in Convex: the food tent. It's steamy from all the cooking smoke, it's humid, it's crowded and noisy and every patron is going to be sweaty after sitting there for a while....but that's where the food is and it's packed almost all around the clock.

Now the bounty list (or collateral damage to my wallet), shall we?

Whole meal for lunch or dinner: On the left (top to bottom): Beehoon sup in savoury beef soup hauled from boiling caldron, sizzling hotplate and laksam, Asam laksa from Terengganu that uses flat rice noodle (similar to Chee Cheong Fan type of rice noodle) instead of the Penangite version of long thick rice noodles. On the right (from top to bottom): Nasi Ayam Golek Madu, Nasi Ayam Goreng Belacan, Nasi Tomato (all from the same corner stall with larger open top chicken barbeque) and nasi kerabu by HAAK (Himpunan Anak Negeri Kelantan) which is not authentic enough because their rice is not blue, almost home made.

The undisputed champion of all snacks during Convex has to be Melawati Doonia Kebab Stall. It's basically slightly browned pita bread stuffed with hearty chunks of ground beef or chicken chunks mixed with cucumber and onion slices (if I am not mistaken) lathered with hearty dollops of mayonaise and chilli sauce. Every bite of it oozes juicy goodness in your mouth. I had five or more of it and I always get the beef kebab.

Another close contender for the best snacks in Convex is Roti John, basically a long bun stuffed with eggs batters that contained beef or chicken with more mayonaise and chilli tucked in the middle of it which oozes out whenever one takes a bite. I had about three and two of them are beef. I have a thing for beef. The price for both Kebab and Roti John has rose however: last year it was RM2, this year it's RM2.50.

The rest of snacks that I had however ranges from generic meh to bad afterthought, all because of impulsive decision swayed by desire. The coconut with ice cream (top right) was nice but since it's always available every Saturday over Pasar Malam Sungai Dua, it's not much of a novelty. The chicken nugget/chunks (top left) was alright but at RM2, it was blatantly overprice for such miniscule portion. A&W Wiener and Root Beer was...meh. It's just fast food, it's messy and it's far from filling for me but I guess I can't exactly compared the one they actually sell in a proper outlet to a hastily set up temporary stall. Last two pictures which is fish balls and such on skewer and chunks of keropok gave me disgusting afterthought mainly because it was cold and hard (for keropok lekor). What was I thinking?

Of course, Convex is not just about food. Here's are some random bits during Convex Week.

An old school reminder, complete with classic spelling (Bilek. Terima-Kaseh) and oddly placed hyphen (obsolete by modern Malay grammar. Di-dalam. Terima-kaseh) by the cleaner lady, paste at every single lecture hall at Foyer DK. It must have been extremely frustrating to clean up the hall every evening especially DK G & H used for public live broadcast of convocation ceremony with all the spilled milos and food crumbs and baby puke and etc.

These pictures was taken around 19 and 20 September right before Convex and Convocation Ceremony starts. Preparation works and rehearsal such as (on the left) Guards of Honors for welcoming His Majesty The Lord Chancellor to officiate the convocation ceremony on the first day by Navy and Army PALAPES/ROTU (complete with Army Marching Band performing anthems and procession music) and SUKSIS/Police Cadets. Meanwhile (on the right side), fairground going through preparation, setting up floral decoration and water features as well as picking up graduation regalia by graduands. The anticipation is in the air!

And when everything is ready, the fairground is buzzing with activities from all the stallkeepers trying to vie the attention of prospective customers, florist and souvenir stall owner parading their best offering to be given as presents for the graduates, stage for musical and theatrical performances from dawn to dusk and exhibitions by clubs and departments in USM. Redbull had made their presence felt in campus as well with Monkey Run which is an obstacle course and anyone who can finish it in less than how many seconds will be entitled to win a prize! To participate in the monkey run though, one has to purchase one Redbull energy drink. Guess that's one way for simultaeous publicity and sales boost. Meanwhile at DK U (top right), students of USM Medical Campus Kubang Kerian, Kelantan has made their home there by putting up exhibitions about all aspects of healthcare and some of them do run small check up (blood pressure, ENT, BMI etc) on site, not to mention a dummy for CPR demonstration.

One very prominent exhibition (smack on the middle of the fairground!) done by SCOMM (Strategic Communication. Feels like Public Relation Office but more on public engagement and information dissemination) highlighting all the APEX initiative and achievement done ever since USM started its APEX journey from 2008. I think two of the more prominent achievement in the aspects of student affair (on the right corner) is the introduction of MUnSyi psychometric test as part of USM's effort to handle our own student admission as well as the introduction of Student Consultative Council or student parliament in campus as an avenue for student to debates on issues. (Which I personally think it's a good start but could've done more and better...especially with regards to representation which was loopsided towards the elected Student Rep instead of other student bodies and it's transparency in application for observers membership. The number of times it assembled was inadequate too. Two...per year.) Besides that, they've set aside one corner for all the achievement in research including actual artifact from Bujang Valley site by the Global Archeology Research Centre.

Last but not least of course, Convocation is about the graduands. Their joy, their excitement, their anticipation, their anxiety, their sadness and every other emotions, shared with all their loved ones. Hat throwing (middle upper left), present and flowers are obligatory. There is one particular amusing moment in which there are tambour/Indian drum troupe drumming away in upbeat music in the middle of the crowd which then I saw one Indian guy graduands in ceremonial headdress and scarf and flower ring/bouquet on his neck. I have always known the Indian are very lively and theatrical (with their huge family convoy and close-knitted friends) but this is bordering Shivaji "The Boss" type of theatrical! Anyway, joy and love are shared and fellow graduates with scroll, knowledge and experience heads off on respective path to their future. What a memorable event it was, Convocation.

The weather has been fantastic too for most part of the week, with rain at times (but not during the time when the graduates came out from the hall. It will be devastating it that happens) followed by sunny weather with clear blue sky and undulating clouds. Made me wanna take picture of it again.

Epilogue: Meanwhile, September ended and still have plenty of backlogs to clear not to mention research progress moving at glacial speed. Just when USMwifi has finally unblocked Youtube and I finally found a full collection of QI and all sorts of British comedies! Internet: weapon of mass distraction.