So, as i was saying, I’ve been thinking about the benefits I get from facebook. Well, directly from my profile…almost none, from others profiles, loads of benefits It’s like a treasure trove of information, very well-organised, from which one can learn about others (veille zafaire dimounes) almost in real time. But the thing is that, as the saying goes, “live by the sword, die by the sword”, if you veille zafaire dimounes, expect others to do same on you. And it is so easy to do! Therefore, one has to decide up to what extent one is willing to expose him/herself while maximising the gathering of information about others. Is it worth the risk?

Maybe a complete unfacebooking process is not necessary…just upping up the privacy settings? Another option will be to recreate oneself a misleading profile geared for research purposes only. But the ultimate step will still be a complete shutdown of the activity. I give myself a few months to decide on this and in the meantime, my profiles will have more and more restrictions. (This reminds me of some students saying “We are very open Sir!”, well I am not, luckily :p)

By the way, tomorrow is a great day for this blog

I begin this post at 00:45am this Sunday morning with absolutely no idea what to write whatsoever. So you may have guessed, i’ll be writing whatever comes to my mind in any order they come. I like eating, yep, i like eating things, different kind of eatable things. For example I can eat apples…but apple is not my favorite. When I eat it, i feel hungrier but i heard apples can be beneficial if one is trying to lose weight (yes am trying to lose some pounds kilos (don’t know why people write in terms of pounds…use kilos!). Actually my mum cut fruits for me every morning and occasionally my dad does it. The pieces of fruits are placed in a plastic box which i bring to work. At times it is accompanied with a fork and at times with a plastic stick which looks like some kind of fruit-harpoon, a frarpoon! Lately I’ve been getting apples mainly…probably because they had purchased a huge box of apples and are now scrambling to use the apples before they go bad. But before, I used to get a mix of fruits such as pear, apple, orange, kiwi… If we have mangoes, i get some mango too…all of which are cubified prior to the boxing process. I’m so lazy that if i was given the fruits wholely (u know what i mean by this word right?) I wouldnt eat them…perhaps mentioning the occasions when my gums becoming bloodified when i bite into apples…u see the whitish apple flesh turn red-pinkish with my blood. I dont have much blood…you imagine what can happen if i keep losing blood like this??? and then you have some people asking (as if forcing) me to donate my blood to save others…but guyzzz…i don’t have much blood, go ask the ‘larger’ people….they will give more blood. Maybe we can breed some people for blood? Like we breed cows for milking them…we can start ‘bleeding’ human beings of their blood for a good cause of course. Did you even realise that since no other animal’s blood can fit into human bodies…we can at least add water or petrol to the human-donated blood to get more of it? I heard some people do this for their vans and trucks…they dilute the diesel with petrol….cannot we do same with blood? Maybe use a bloodalised-ethanol for mixing with the blood too?
It’s so quiet right now…so I’ve put on my headset and played something on youtube…I wished i could say what it was but i cannot…because some people will be scared of me if they come to know But don’t worry, i’m safe or maybe not? :p lol scared? common, i’ve never eaten anybody yet…havent even planned to do so yet Don’t tempt me though! And now am doing some live mixing by playing to distinct youtube videos and listening and writing this thingy here…but I can listen to both + write Real live remix, ask you dj to do this :p And yes, am also thinking what to write at the same time…can u imagine? I am still not sleepy…I think i will have to buy a bus engine some day and put it on under my bed…with the sound and vibrations I sleep well…i like to sleep (or I feel very sleepy) while traveling by bus to work and back home. It takes about 1.5 hours to go from home to uni or vice versa. At times it is less, can even drop to 1 hour. Some people find this much…but i’m used to this kind of travel, it is tough for sure, tiresome, but what to do…I believe in sacrifices I’ve done it for years now, I was going to the Royal College of Portlouis since form 1. If this makes you think I am bragging about myself…well no, I was among the last students ranked to get into RCPL (236). Why I didnt go to RCC? well…you know, it’s not so good etc…mentiiii, I was not eligible for RCC which at the time was taking students ranked up to 150. And at RCPL i was far from being the laureate-type students. Average performance…usually ranked around 10th in a class of 30…Not so bad. Among the subjects I was worse: Mathematics, french, account…My SC results were not that brilliant either, i got an aggregate of 10 which when compared to my friends with their 6, my ten was mediocre HSC…result was even mediocrier…A B C just like the cinema which i think has already closed btw? ABC Rose Hill was the first time I went to a cinema with some cousins and an uncle. I went to watch le roi lion there…nice movie So after college, I wanted to go abroad…like most of my friends…but you know lack of finance and my parents saying that I was not mature enough to go abroad and that once I finish my bachelor’s degree, they will send me abroad for MSc. So I accepted the deal…although I knew it was very unlikely to happen…For the courses, I already knew that i didnt have much choice. At HSC level, I had done Computer Maths Design (A B C) and gp & french as subs…So I said i should do computer at uni…but a cousin of mine advised me to do something more challenging…mechatronics or telecommunications….So, when I applied to UoM, i put those 2 first then final choice i put Computer Science and Engineering. Thank you god for not giving me those other courses…I would have died vilain! I got Computer Science and Engineering and soon joined UoM. Walking along the corridors of Phase 2, I felt like in a prison of some kind and for quite some months, same feeling…when will i get out…Then things improved a bit, my dad was giving me pocket money on a monthly basis…So, I was thinking that I get paid to study…let’s just study and earn the pocket money It wasn’t much but it was more than enough to encourage me to study and keep getting it! By second year, studies got a bit harder…but having worked hard and securing a fairly nice cpa, i was coping strategically with it. One important thing, I was reading and knew the students regulation handbook quite well. Then came third year, where things cooled down a bit…more relaxed and i worked on our final year project. By third year, the same UoM which I was viewing as a prison had become like my second home…I liked to be there. I liked to see people around me all studying or helping others study. And before completing my degree I knew what I would do….forget about the MSc…why waste my parents’ resources or burden myself with loans…let’s do an MPhil/PhD…which when sponsored not only becomes free but full time students get a monthly stipend of more than R14000. Soon after the results, I went back to UoM and started seeking advice for applying for the MPhil/PhD. In the mean time I had joined a small company involved in web-based software development. At UoM I was advised by Mr Khedo to also apply for scholarship ( you know the government funded scholarships? not hsc, but for those completing their bachelor’s degree…they can get postgraduate schorlarships but it’s not automatic, you have to apply for it). My chances were slim…despite my first class…other students had higher CPA than me…when I checked the application deadline…it was so near. Well, nothing bad giving it a shot…beside I already had my plan for MPhil/PhD ongoing I went online…looked for UK universities, hiding the cambridge/oxford etc…looking at the remaining with the highest cost (It was like a joke the application…i knew I wouldnt get it, so let’s apply for the most expensive). At the very least I can get a seat offer from the expensive university and since I wont have the money, I will just decline. So I choose the University of Southampton. It was by the sea..warmer..quieter I read…Since I had to obtain the seat from Uni first before applying for scholarship,we managed to contact southampton and tell them to process my application quick. Within a week, I got it and applied to Ministry of Education here for the scholarship. Within less than 2 weeks, I got a phone call from the ministry saying that I should come there because I’ve been selected for the scholarship I applied. I thought i then had to go through interview…i called them again and asked about interview….no interview…they had changed their selection process. And later I found out, most of those I knew had higher CPA, either forgot to apply, or didnt feel like applying then…coincidence? I bet not and so after a few weeks I flew to Southampton for my MSc fully sponsored by the Government of Mauritius.
Normally when you apply for scholarship here, you have to do a small writeup of about 200 words i think. And since they didnt do interview, they had relied on the writeup…in it I wrote that I would like to learn Web Technology, then when back to mauritius, I will become a lecturer and teach mauritians. That was the plan…which has been executed a merveille
Good morning again dear people….am off to bed but am not sleepy…I have a friend sending txt on msn…but I didnt read…I read it then reply and off to bed. bye

On this last day of the year, we know that it is the last day of 2011 but do you know when will be your very own and unique last day? Ok, Ok, I don’t want to spoil your 31st of December, so, I talk about something else.

In a technology-dominated world, it is so complicated and yet so simple to defeat the system and take over the world. The weakest element being the humans. Beat the humans and the world is yours. And that’s exactly what I’m gonna do! Of course, I will not elaborate on my plans else everybody will be copying! Mauritians have inherited a really bad subset of genes from their Chinese ancestry or influence it seems; That of copying; They copy everything from homework, job, business ideas, even babies they try to make copies of their neighbours’ or friends! (He/she’s sooo cute, honey I want a baby just like this!). …and plagiarism is severely penalised, don’t you know?

I bet this is enough writing for the final day of 2011. You had fun, I had fun, we all had fun, we are all very happy for being still alive and hopefully we’ll still be alive in 2012 (and 2013 as well? some crazies have been predicting the end of the world in 2012…damn you, I cannot work that fast to conquer the world, i need more time!)

Ok dear friendlies and enemlies, have a niice time and see you next year

Update: I forgot to wish you all a happy new year 2012, sorry :p (a student of mine wished me happy new year 2013…already?)

So, my mind start wondering around…I look at the list of contacts on Windows Live Messenger (MSN was simpler, wasn’t it? If I call it WLM, will it be ok for you?. I checked the WLM list and there were 3 contacts online…one doesn’t remember me, the second is always busy and replies after a few days or weeks (If i send a ‘Hello’ right now, it’s only next week that I will get a reply and I will be told that the contact was very busy….) and the third contact is a really amazing guy; blowing up my own horn (we no longer use horns now) whistle here…I try to talk to him…but I find myself talking to myself :p I had added Roushdat to my list of  WLM contacts :p Sadly, the one I wanted to talk to wasn’t here

My next target: food! I enjoy thinking about food, I like eating :p When asked whether I live to eat or eat to live, I usually say…

.

.

.

Aha, you guessed wrong I bet! I usually say both; I eat to leave but I also really enjoy eating, so I do live to eat too Anyways, today my mind brought me some nice memories about a particular dessert which I have not seen or tasted in real life yet but it appears to be quite popular in some countries. First told to me by my hardrock singer friend, Shelvy, from Indonesia, Fried Ice Cream is a dessert made out of ice cream , and you guessed it, the ice cream is fried. When I heard this, I really couldnt believe it, how can you fry icecream? It will melt! But, apparently the sugary content has something to do with it.

So here’s how it’s done: The ice cream is scooped into balls, frozen, coated with egg white and breadcrumbs/cornflakes, refrozen and finally fried for about 10-15 seconds. Of course, if you want to try it at home, I suggest that you find a good recipe online  or a video on youtube

But hey, I know you are lazy So, here’s a link: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/fried-ice-cream/and another one: http://bakingismyzen.blogspot.com/2010/07/fried-ice-cream-with-pina-colada-cream.html

Or the Youtube:

Before I forget, Happyyyy New Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar to you allllllllllllll Enjoy!

I’ve been sinking about improvements that i should bring forward for the incoming year 2012. Based on feedback received from you all and from my own analysis of the situation, here are the main points that need to be improved:

1. Smile more

Whether I forget to smile, I don’t know how to smile, not in the mood to smile…etc, all these lame excuses will have to come to an end. Beside, smiling is free and provides many benefits to the smiler; for example, a smile can be the final touch which one needs to convince someone else in doing whatever one wants that person to do!

2. Find time for physical activities

Since ‘mo p rente dans laz aster’ (getting older),I shall definitely be more health conscious. So, i will make sure that I dedicate some time for physical actives (in addition to archery) such as jogging, (maybe playing badminton? I am really bad at this though)…or simply using the stairs of Engineering Tower on a regular basis. Oh by the way, I would like to start a laughing and shaming campaign upon students who use the lift to reach the 2nd floor of the Engineering Tower and down. We cannot prevent those lazy students from taking the lift, but we can make them feel ashamed of their laziness by just looking at them with funny eyes and laughing hysterically at them :p

3. Improve my lecture delivery style

I shall seek to move away from my conventional lecturing style to make lectures more interesting, interactive and fun for my students and myself . This will probably be achieved through more jokes, use of analogies, group activities and reward-based games.

Ok, three points are enough. Better have three and achieving them brilliantly rather than coming up with a long list of items like Navin or Paul and then achieving nearly none of them.

I would now like to do a summing up of major achievements and activities in which I was involved in the year 2011… Thinking about it, it’s better to keep them as classified for now since it will be like pure boasting. Those who know me, already know what they should know and for those who don’t know me, well, know that the year 2011 was a nice one for me, just like all the previous and god willing, the future years ahead

One last thing, there is a leopard-looking (in terms of skin pattern) female cat (because of it’s super-sized belly…unless it’s just an obese cat) roaming around and trying to get into my house. Either it’s really a mini leopard trying to taste human flesh or according to mum, it is trying to find a nice place to give birth and probably planning of having babies at midnight on the 31st of December. Talking about cats, enjoy this cartoon, will you? YESSSS

Oneness and Unity are how the latin word unio is usually translated. And that’s from where onions got their name…the ‘o’ at the beginning is to represent their shape. If you want to read all the facts and sciences about onions including medical properties…etc, go ahead and google it.

As goes the saying “united we fall, divided we collapse”, an onion by its very nature, is extremely united to itself  and very protective of itself with a multi-layered close proximity shielding (MLCPS) approach. Therefore, you can easily make an onion fall down from a table with a single finger but try crushing it with your bare hands and see! But that’s not all, onions can ignore the emotional aspects of crying and force your tears to be shed. Want it or not, they can do it and will do it if they feel threatened by you.

The MLCPS approach can also be credited for its amazing decoupling of information all the way from its tunic (the outer skin) to the bulb’s heart,the immature flower area which requires the most protection and is kept under greater secrecy. Such powerful is the decoupling that at times the heart dies out without any reaction  from the outer layers. Have you never slaughter an onion only to see that its center has completely turned brown but from outside things seems so nice?

There’s just so much we can learn from nature and this is just one small example where an onion can show us how we should be united first. Then comes the layers who in our everyday life may represent the people around us with each layer having only the information they need, not more, not less. The outermost layer, ready to be sacrificed for the betterment of the inner layers and only few knows what lies within the center.

By the way, I now eat onions…but lovelessly :p Happy Sunday everyone

Oh a very good morning/evening/afternoon (whichever applies best when you are reading this and if dont know the time, let’s assume it is ‘bonere moins tard’, ok? no? ok, just forget it…). Today, I will write a little bit about how forgetful you I we are. Our memory as I like to see it, comes in different grades…just like any products today, we get made in Germany, made in USA, made in Libya...no no Ghadafi is no more… and of the course, the now ubiquitous made in China! Can you imagine, more and more of our stuff are now made in China! any product….the Chinese can make…and the Chinese people (I must point out that I have nothing against them) are everywhere! They infiltrate our world as workers, as foreign students and maybe in the near future as clones replacing our friends and parents :S The question is not about whether it will happen or not…it’s just about the ‘when’…as for the why, we already know it: world domination! So, my dear readers, i strongly encourage you to teach your children mandarin and believe me, it’s for their own good.

Coming back to our memory…different grades? you still with me? Good! So different people have different grades of memory…and even then, the quality of each individual’s memory either remains stable, or degrades over time (I dont believe that it can get better, only worse). But the suitability for storing stuff in that memory can also vary…just like in a database you have text, numbers, objects etc…similarly human memory have different rooms of different sizes storing different type of stuff like dreams, facts,people’s name, faces, and dreams etc…and in my case i have the master bedroom reserved for dreams. However, we have a situation, such that i have so much dreams, sooo much dreams that the room is already overloaded…despite having tried compressing some of them using winrar (tried the others too…i know some of you would enjoy suggesting some others!), I still can fit in new dreams…and we all know that new dreams have to be assigned the highest priority level. Therefore, and unfortunately, the only solution that i found was dream-shedding…well, not completely discarding them but just putting them in the basement for storage….the area of forgotten dreams. But mind you, they are not simple dreams; They are highly complex, advanced and achieved dreams But yet, instead of being displayed like trophies, they just get laid there in the dark, forgotten, feeling useless and helpless.

It was just one of those early mornings that I reach the campus around 7:20am…very few students around , hardly any academics and mostly cleaning staff tending to their job of providing us with a clean campus (don’t blame them for the dirty spots, blame ourselves for the lack of education we have in keeping our environment clean). I quietly paced towards the faculty of engineering listening to the background sounds of someone sweeping away leaves, the motorcycle-like sound of someone trimming the grasses from a distance and the barks of a few dogs having their morning walks (health-conscious dogs, you know!) among which there is that scarily black pregnant dog with pointed ears.Within few minutes I reach the Professor Sir Edouard LIM FAT Engineering Tower and order for the lift (I know,  I know, I should use the stairs…but I forget about its benefits very often although I hail from the village L’Escalier (stairs in creole), While waiting for the lift to come offering its service to me, I remember how tiles fell from the wall and missed hitting two students a few months back. So I quickly pull away from near the lift wall and I must point out here that, to my knowledge, no concrete measure has been undertaken so far to tackle this danger! If anyone having some authority happens to be reading this…please do something else students may suffer injuries if not worse…(I will just make as if staff are safe here…those who understand, will). With a tinggg the lift opens up and in i rush while executing a well-rehearsed move to press the number 7 while taking position inside the metal box. If I am lucky (or blessed), it will be a lexpress-style flight to the 7th floor. During the flight I will think about scenario where either the lift get stuck mid-air, after i will do so acrobatic climbing and jumps to escape from the roof or best of all, the cables for the lift break and I get the opportunity to fly a little bit during the free fall to the ground ending with a sachini roushdat. In the latter case, the least the university could do would be to put some kind of text of the wall…reading ‘ This is where Roushdat crash landed. He was the only academic at uom to have died flying to the ground’. Of course, if i die, for those know believe in souls roaming around…I’ll be one angry soul patrolling the campus and kicking students who skip lectures , switching on/off RGB projectors during lectures, and making strange noises in the lift till everybody starts enjoying the stairs

Anyways….d0 you realise that I went completely off-topic? Blame my forgetfulness for this but you know what, I really enjoy being forgetful at times when you have things that goes on in your life and you just dont want to look back and just thinking about them terrifies your brain and burst your soul. With this ladies and gentlemen, have a nice day. I think it is something to do with creol day….so, ‘Anou vive nou creoliter!’