10 years since left Malaysia

"10 years since left Malaysia"...

That's not for me...at least, I haven't lived abroad for anywhere near 10 years...

Today, 7th January 2008 is the 10th year anniversary for Jiin Joo . I assume it would be similar as well for others like Ying Ying, Mean Yeit, Chieh Suang and many other my grand seniors, especially those from RJ.

Time really flies. I would strongly encourage you guys, especially those who know Jiin Joo, or you have heard about him, to read his blog post. Jiin Joo is a guy who has been a great role model for many. From Hua Chong Junior College, he moved to Carnegie Mellon University to Stanford University to Amazon.com and then back to Singapore Computer System and now Infocomm Development Authority.

These bunch of seniors (or I should call them grand seniors), because they are really 2 batches my seniors, and that's how we call them during our ASEAN Scholars day.

Reflecting back on what Jiin Joo wrote, my 1st journey out was on 21st January 2000 (that's about 8 years ago). Time really flies... :)

And similar as what Jiin Joo wrote, his first flight was on his flight to Pittsburg. Mine was on 20th August 2001, for my flight to Ithaca, New York, where Cornell is.

Time really flies. The last 8 years have been exciting. Many things that I have never expected to happen, has happened.

Many things were beyond my expectations.

Before I left for Cornell, I would never imagine meeting any Nobel Prize Winners. But today, looking back, I have met quite a few. Including Professor David Lee , who used to sit in my Physics 213 lecture. At one point, I even thought that how come this teaching assistant is so old. Only much later did I know that he was actually Nobel Prize Winner for Physics for 1996.

Other Nobel Prize Winners that I have chance to cross path while in Cornell, include Shirin Ebadi - Nobel Peace Prize 2003 , Jody Williams - Nobel Peace Prize 1997 , Joseph Stiglitz - Nobel Prize for Economics 2001 etc.

That's definitely interesting, and beyond my imagination. Last year, back in Malaysia, during Khazanah Global Lectures, I managed to listen to Joseph Stiglitz again, as well as 2 other very prominent Nobel Prize Winners. Kofi Annan - Nobel Peace Prize 2001 and Muhammad Yunus - Nobel Peace Prize 2006

All those, might be just a meeting of an hour or two, but definitely significant. Something that before I made that maiden journey to Singapore 8 years ago, I would never have expected it. I wouldn't say that it is because of my studies at Raffles Junior College, that opened my doors to all of these, but I would say that a combination of various factors, and definitely include my days in Raffles Junior College did shape my future.

Okie. Would blog more later on. My life after SPM is not just on those Nobel Prize Winners. That's definitely just a little part, just that somehow I started on it, and I would let it stay there. Would blog on many other more interesting experiences on other occasions..

Have to get back to work.. :(