Moving On to Next Station

Two years at Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC).

TARC Administration Block.

Some liked it, some hated it. Some chose to stay, some chose to leave.

Sad to say, I'm among the latter.

Going up in TARC.

I still remember the first day in TARC. I was burning hot with a high fever, and had to find my way around the largest college in Malaysia.

There are always new things to look forward to in TARC every year.

I walked two steps, stopped, took a long draught from my bottle, and continued.

Several steps later I stopped again, thirst got the better of me.

Basketball court.

After a while I wondered where the toilet was.

The worst was that all three lessons on the first day were not held due to the absence lecturers and tutors.

I also remember recounting this story to my English teacher. She was so fond of the story she paid me the best compliments in class.

The fountain near Communication and Information Technology Centre (CITC).

I can't help but wonder why I never got satisfying grades for my English modules in TARC. Boy, the teachers at this college are sure hard to please!

One of the many gardens at TARC.

Well two years later I found myself graduating with a diploma. Diploma in Technology (Mechatronics Engineering), to be precise.


And, sadly, I find myself leaving the college. I've decided after much dilemma, more trauma, and even more drama, that I need a fresh start in a new environment.

New robot arm of automation lab... specially for Mechatronics students!

Not to say TARC's no good, hell, no. In fact, I was actually kind of sad making the decision to leave. The facilities aren't exactly top notch, but they are more than satisfying. The library is full of useful, albeit slightly old and outdated books. The food in canteen may not go well with everybody, but it's hard to find a meal costing less than RM2 nowadays. There are several good and memorable teachers around, many of which managed to recognise the potentials of talented students and hesitated no further in exploiting them.

Me getting my scholarship "certificate" from former principal, Ms Yoong Lai Thye.

I also managed to join a society for the duration of my diploma course. As the factory visiting manager of Mechatronics Society, I arranged two visits to Perodua Manufacturing Sdn Bhd's factory in Rawang during our second year. Many may think it wasn't enough, but believe me, arranging a single such visit takes months.

Group photo at Perodua. Great photo by S. H. Lim and Ms Kintan.

Other than the visit, I was also involved in the society's fund raising events as a rather unimportant salesperson. For the first fund raising event I helped the seniors sell electronic gadgets such as MP3 players, pendrives, memory cards, mice (the computer type), webcam, etc. For the second event we took the exact same corner and sold flowers and soft toys to visits to the graduation ceremony. We sold so much flowers the other day. Too bad the soft toys didn't sell that well.

Flowers for sale! Toys for sale! Anyway, why would a college student be buying soft toys? No wonder it didn't sell well!

I was also one of the six facilitators for our Programmic Integrated Circuit (PIC) workshop, also held by our society. Assembly language programming was never my favourite language, human or computer, but I did it for the participants', the society's, and also my benefits.

School in the forest, or forest in the school?

Then there's ProDEx. I still can't believe some people think that idiotic robot looked like Darth Vader. Being a Star Wars fan, I never thought it looked like Vader until the name appeared as the caption of the photo in the school magazine.

"Darth Vader" appearing on TV. The lady to the left was our principal, Ms Yoong Lai Thye.

We also played some "childish" toys too. Remember our Robocup? I truly enjoyed that assignment. How often do you get teachers who give you marks for playing toys?

Me and my group's Edubot. Whoever took this wonderful photo, thanks a lot!

There're also the countless times we made ourselves famous among students and teachers alike. It's just a sense of satisfaction when a lecturer says "that DMH2, EE2 group, never quiet!" Or a student mumbling, "you're from DMH? Sir says you guys are troublesome." And of course the usual quotes like "Bad! Bad! Bad" and "You look handsome today, Sir!"

Bowling session with Ms Bong. Bottom from left: J. H. Yip, H. P. Tan, Me. Top from left: M. W. Yeo, L. H. Ngue, Ms Bong, Y. L. Koo, M. J. Tiang with his girlfriend, and P. C. Soo.

I really enjoyed my life in TARC. However, as Ms Ng Foong Kee, one of my favourite lecturers in TARC, puts it, "friends are passengers of life, and life is just like a journey on a subway. Sooner or later you'll have to get down at a station, and bid goodbye to the fellow passengers around you." Or so I remember her describing it more than one year ago.

Good ol' hostel.

Well, I think I've reached my interchange station. I bid farewell to those who have sat and stood with me throughout the 2-year-journey in the train so far. So if I've left bad impressions on you, please forgive me, and you probably won't see me ever again. For those who liked me, I hope our journeys intersect again some time in the future.

Mechatronics Society notice board.

I wish all my fellow classmates (ex-classmates, actually) the best of luck in their future endeavours. So long, my friends.

Bon voyage. Credit of the photo goes to S. H. Lim.