End of Semester 2, 2007/2008

Assalamu'alaikum,

I daresay this has been the greatest and most productive semester yet for SCIENCESS! Did we have a lot of fun or what, people?! XD As for myself, it was fun managing the blog--though stressful. Thanks to Lan for extending me this opportunity to flex some journalistic muscles. Mid-way through the job, I realised that it's impossible to do a one-man show. Try juggling covering four events happening in the same week and writing lab reports. Anyway, hope there would be more reporters next semester.

I would also like to apologise if the reports don't make much sense or if anyone was hurt by the articles posted. Other than that, on behalf of SCIENCESS, I would like to wish everyone at KOS the best in their final examinations. Break a leg (or two). And to our lecturers--good luck with the marking. Go easy on us =b Till then! Take care, everyone =)

Regards,

Muhammad Zulhilmi Bin Mohd Ghouse =3
Public Relations and Information committee

Vote for Vids

As all of you know, the SCIENCESS Video Competition (SVC), which ran from the 4th of February to the 3rd of March, 2008, has ended Monday. We received two entries, which is too bad for the rest of you because they' ll be winning all the cash prizes.

Now, you can't have the money. But you can get a bit of that succulent lump of cash. Don't worry, we'll tell you how: By voting for the two teams (see right). We need your help to decide which video is the Most Creative and which is the Most Hilarious. Here's how you get your money: After you vote, you can bug the teams 24/7 (get together and mob their rooms) and claim your share for voting for them. They'll ignore you at first, but as your numbers increase and tensions rise, they'll surely succumb to public pressure and agree to treat you to (at least) a KFC barrel or Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Pizza each. Wicked plan right? It's guaranteed to work because they don't have water cannons and tear gas! A tip: Block all emergency exits and access to the toilets. That'll sure to speed up the 'negotiating' process.

Vote on! Power to the people!

*Note: The voting period has ended. Results will be announced on Monday, Insha Allah.

Family Day

When we first heard that the Kulliyyah of Science’s Family Day was going to be cancelled, boy were we disappointed. But fortunately, the organisers managed to solve the problem caused by IIUM’s ‘observation’ of the elections. I’m sure there was much to see on the 24^th of February. People hanging election posters, flags (only to be out-hung by another higher flag). It’s been scientifically proven that blue and green are soothing to the eyes. Perhaps they needed a break? Back to the topic, although we didn’t have the sand and beach, the atmosphere at the Family Day was great. Some events like sand castle had to be scrapped due to KOS’s lack of sand. But we made up for that by adding a few more games.

There was coconut bowling (biggest nut we ever threw in our lives), futsal (with four goalposts–double the confusion, double the fun!), galah panjang (where all the galahs screamed a lot), helicopter (a game where you pretend you’re a chopper and compete in a race where air crashes are possible), paper princess (dress up in old newspapers with headlines like ‘Holy war against monkeys’ and ‘Polis kata jangan’), baling selipar (where Asadis and Batas turn into deadly projectiles), war game (Unreal Tournament-style four-sided balloon fight in the middle of the KOS courtyard), water balloon (girls’ game of pass-the-bursting-parcel), straw building (no, you don’t build straws), konda-kondi (ball version of baling selipar for our delicate girls), pancing botol (where bottles are fish and bait is shoved down their throats), treasure hunt (a game full of aches for the feet, heart, and head), gunny racing (four people in a gunny–4WD redefined), and musical chairs (where push comes to shove, and shove comes to scream).

Magenta emerged the surprise champions this year, accumulating 260 marks. Coral and Chartreuse both tied at 230, while Dodge Blue trailed behind at 175. Magenta had a series of first-place wins earlier in the competition, thanks to the stellar performance of their girls. That gained them a big lead early on, and despite a low-key performance by their guys later in the games, they managed to win. You guys deserved it you sly underdogs!

Chartreuse was a real dark horse that day. They didn’t have a lot of guys, and had someone’s drapes for a flag (probably bought at Kamdar on Saturday). In spite of that, Chartreuse dominated a lot of the games earlier on. But even though the guys ruled the roost in both futsal and coconut bowling and the girls won paper princess, they had a lot of third-place wins towards the end, which allowed Coral to tie with them.

Coral, the apparent powerhouse, and expected winner based on sheer number, didn’t win surprisingly. Maybe it was just the i-QUEST shirts, which gave everyone the impression that they were everywhere. They had their shining moments, but never had a real lead and only caught up with Chartreuse later in the day through a few second-place wins.

Dodge Blue had the most dismal performance. They didn’t have a lot of major wins, which was why the gap in marks between them and the rest of the teams was very obvious. The staff didn’t miss out on all the fun either. They had representatives as well. Dubbing themselves Team Rocket (early declaration of support for the 8^th?! 0_o), they had a few second-place and third-place wins, which was not bad since they were short in manpower.

It was really great seeing everyone just having a good time that day. Even those that didn’t play came to give support. The staff bought their families over, and even Prof. Ridzwan, Dr. Ahmad Aman, Dr. Jalal, and Dr. Ibrahim Shogar showed up in sports attire! Just before the prize-giving ceremony, the Dean was mentioning the possibility of having the Family Day next year at KOS again. Well, he was outvoted by everyone. We all know that's impossible... Unless someone rigs our votes =)

Rock Climbing

There’s a difference between rock climbing and wall climbing. In rock climbing, you climb a rock. And in wall climbing, you climb a wall. Obviously. Those colourful vertical tall things at the X-Games? That’s wall climbing. Amateur stuff. You can easily see where to get that foothold you desperately need when your hand’s just about to give up. Rock climbing is something else. Whoever thought that climbing a wall of rocks was easy would better think again. We had guys jumping the gun and giving up just a few feet away from the end point. It all boils down to ‘spidey skillz’ and determination. Hoisting, jumping, footing, wedging, pulling, and all manner of bodily skills come into factor. Arm strength and length isn’t everything in this sport. In fact, we had four able-bodied guys fail to climb a couple of routes!

When we reached Wira Damai (near Sri Gombak), the first thing we did was set camp and pitch our tents on a clearing just beside the big rock we were supposed to climb. Turns out the rock was near a kampong. A Masjid was 400 metres away (that was where we bathed), and there was another field between our campsite and the Masjid. Sundry shops and restaurants were a stone’s throw away. Schoolchildren were enjoying the flying fox as we watched on in envy. That afternoon, we had an outdoor classroom where we learnt the history of rock climbing, the types of rock climbing, basic terms, and knot tying. For the first time in our lives, we had an inkling of what it felt like to be in a war. Amidst shells of bird droppings, we listened distractedly to our instructors–Abang Man and Kak Lili–who went it over with us while we worried about getting bird poo on ourselves.

We had a barbecue that night, a very late dinner, since it was past 11. God were we starved! A snake appeared out of thin air near the barbecue pit, causing a dude to almost get scared to death. We had a brief snake hunt, then there was a botched Ta’aruf session with the students from Gombak. I think we were all on the same mental frequency (I’m citing already strong Ukhuwwah), which was probably how we silently agreed that it was corny and abruptly cancelled it. After dinner, stuffed full of oily goodness, the guys laid down under the stars for a while and the girls retired to their tents.

The next day, we practised our knots–actually, there was only one knot, called the figure eight follow through with double stopper. The climb was very satisfying overall, with everyone averaging 3 routes each. A route, mind you, is just a vertical path on the rock. You climb with a rope tied to your crotch, which extends to the top of a route where it is looped around a ring, and extends down back to another person who holds the rope, called the belayer. This person controls the rope by pulling on it so that you don’t fall if you let go of the rock. So to climb, we had to work in pairs.

The climbing part wasn’t easy. We only had bowling shoes, which weren’t great for climbing, but did the trick for some. Some preferred to go barefoot for better grip, but came down with cuts–the rocks were very sharp (we’re talking about granite here). What amazed us most was the atmosphere and the amount of people there at the climbing site. It was a weekend, and there were families climbing, kids, babies, old people, foreign tourists. And the kids! They had such nimble fingers and limber bodies, they put some of us to shame, scaling the walls at super speed. Talk about mad ‘spidey skillz’!

For first-timers, a lot of us were pretty awesome. A couple of the guys managed to climb one of the highest routes that day. And yet a few others nailed a 5C route (1-4 being the toughest). Someone even managed to climb in a pair of jeans! It’s a wonder his equipment’s not damaged =)

Events Galore! Writer's Horror!

I am downright overwhelmed by the amount of activities SCIENCESS has been organising lately! 0_0 And despite what some people might think, I can’t just spit out articles like, well, spit. Particularly because I wasn’t there at those events. Physically. I mean, mentally I can try to imagine what it was like being at the Sisters’ Open Futsal Tournament. But truth be told, I’m a guy. There are… Complications. Enough said ^_^ Here’s a recap:

Since the past month, we’ve had:

3^rd Feb

CENFOS – A Step Closer to Your Future

(Training and Career Development Bureau)

13^th Feb

Medical check-up

(Research and Education Bureau)

15^th Feb

ScienceTrex: Bank Negara Malaysia

(Training and Career Development Bureau)

16^th Feb

Healthy Lifestyle

(Research and Education Bureau)

15^th-17^th Feb

Al-Khawarizmi Camp

(Public Relations and Information Bureau)

16^th-17^th Feb

Rock Climbing

(Sports, Recreation, and Culture Bureau & Adventure and Recreational Club)

18^th-20^th Feb

Sisters’ Open Futsal Tournament

(Sports, Recreation, and Culture Bureau & Mahallah Representative Committee)

18^th-22^nd Feb

The Way of Life According to Sunnah and Sirah of the Prophet

(Islamic Affairs Bureau)

23^rd Feb

Explorace

(Islamic Affairs Bureau)

24^th Feb

Family Day

(Sports, Recreation, and Culture Bureau)

25^th Feb

Charity Movie

(Social Welfare Bureau)

2^nd Mar

KOS School Tour

(Public Relations and Information Bureau)

Mondays: Professional Day

Fridays: Jumaat in Style

Islamic Affair Bureau

Under Construction.....