recently i’ve been writing the introduction segment for my thesis, and i really feel the time pressure. i have to start work on the first of june, which means that i have to submit the thesis by then. i need to give my supervisor some time to vet through the thesis before i do the final submission. which means i have to finish my parts by mid-may, latest. unfortunately, by then my supervisor and i will be busy marking final exam papers. oh no! i gotta finish the thesis ASAP!

i heard from a friend that the lab i’m supposed to work in has no windows. eew. i hate that. it’s depressing. hopefully, one day i’ll have a really nice working environment. if i manage to do my phd… maybe that will come true.

lately i’ve also been researching on property in singapore. prices have been rising and rising, and i think it’s a better idea to get a property right now if we can afford it, than to wait for 5 more years. my search all started because h and i went down to view a newly launched property out of curiosity. but the prices quoted were so exorbitant! at first i just wanted to prove to myself that i am a good researcher, and i will be able to find nicer units with much better prices. and now that i’ve found a couple of way-better deals, i’m really hoping that we’ll find something we like. will be busy with property search while i deal with my thesis and while i speed up my recruitment at the hospital.

jia you!

an earthquake and a tsunami hit japan last friday, ruining entire villages and causing tremendous amounts of destruction. unfortunately, the ordeal is not over because their nuclear reactors are currently facing the possibility of a meltdown. i’ve been reading the papers and watching the different news channels cover the situation live, and i really wish i could do something to help.

you really have to respect the japanese people for the way they dealt with the disasters. people looked calm, and they still queued in lines, patiently waiting for the aid workers to hand down emergency supplies. the tsunami has flooded streets with water and debris from the destroyed towns, but you don’t really see garbage like waste paper or tin cans floating in the water. i’m very sure people in my country would have fared 100 times worse than the japanese in such a scenario.

i’m going to donate to the organizations helping out in japan at the moment. that’s probably the only thing i can do. i hope they will recover soon. japan has been and will always be a fantastic place.

i met up with my future boss yesterday and we discussed some details… she wanted me to join them as early as possible, even if it’s just on a part-time basis. but i told her that i don’t think it will be possible. in the end, we decided that june seems more feasible. anyway, we’re starting all the paperwork already. and she sent me another email saying that she hopes that i can join in april, “worst case” by june. i can feel the stress already.

anyway i sent the white car for paint protection today. then i took a cab to fitness first for the trial workout. i did quite a fair bit of workouts on my own but realized that it’s still too early to collect the car, so i joined a group exercise. now i’m feeling my thighs aching. it’s a class meant for toning of the butt and thighs. i think i very nearly got a cramp while exercising. too much exercise today. but i’m proud of myself haha. if only i could do this more often….

i just got back from beijing last night. i’m still not done packing, but i have to start work immediately. i doubt i’ll be in the most efficient working state today.

anyway the trip was great. relaxing. makes me think about where to go next. h and i have already decided that the next destination is KL, because i wanna visit my grandma. i heard that the govt wants to buy over their house because they need the land to build something. which means that the house where i grew up in will be gone before long. that’s really really sad! i want to go there for one last time, and hopefully i won’t cry when i visit.

alright i really need to start preparing for my class. gotta leave for school in half an hour’s time.

after months of contemplating and planning, she’s finally in melbourne. took off last night. i wonder how many times she’s going to cry over there. hmm.. see her in about 5 – 6 months’ time. i asked her to set up a blog, but i doubt she’ll do so, because she’s pretty lazy

it’s now my turn to pack and prepare for my trip to hong kong and beijing. setting off this saturday… i  think it’s going to be another memorable and fun trip, because we planned everything on our own again. this time round, i put h in charge of the itinerary for hong kong, while i settle the itinerary for beijing (which in my opinion, is tougher?) hence, i’m more excited about beijing than hong kong, because i know more about the exciting events that lay ahead in beijing.

we’re visiting the forbidden city, the great wall, the summer palace, tiananmen square… etc etc. i just hope that the weather will stay nice for me. i don’t want to freeze to death there!

alright.. i gotta prepare for my trip. there’s so many things to do before i set off… including getting the mani/pedicure done, buying warmer cloths (i haven’t done so), buying toto (10 million draw tomorrow), collecting h’s suit, attending dry runs and meetings in school, submitting my write-up to my boss… etc. i have 2 days. doubt i can accomplish all that.. but i’ll try.

hello hong kong and beijing!

i’ve been wondering whether i can complete my thesis in time the past few days. i’m pretty confident that i can write a huge chunk in a limited period of time. my biggest concern is the methods section, because i don’t have all the information i need to write it up. my knowledge of the technical aspects are minimal. i sent an email to the guy who’s good at it, but i’m not sure when he’ll get back or whether he’ll do anything about it at all. what a headache.

right now, i just can’t wait to finish this thesis and get on with something else. because of the various limitations, i wasn’t able to do exactly what i want. it’s pretty disheartening at times.

please give me everything i need to finish the thesis on time!!!

took me so long to leave a note on xanga because i have been really busy. i also felt so drained and tired the past few days. it felt like flu, with the sneezing, heavy eyelids and constant tiredness, but i think it also had a lot to do with the stress wearing me down. i feel better today, thankfully.

we had the ceremony indoors, because it was raining quite heavily that day. it would probably be nicer to take photos outdoors, but i think it’s a blessing that we had our ceremony indoors. everyone was paying attention, and because the room was rather small, it felt very cosy. no strangers, and we didn’t have to worry that people couldn’t hear what we were saying. the solemniser was very nice and friendly too. it turned out well. at the moment, i’m eagerly waiting for the photos taken by the official photographer. that will probably take about 2 to 3 weeks…

my grandma went back to kl a while ago. everytime she goes back, i feel a tinge of sadness. we usually get to see each other only once a year because of the distance. i have no idea when exactly i’ll get to meet her again. even though i didn’t get to spend every minute with her while she was in sg, i like her being around. maybe she’ll be here in march. maybe i’ll see her in may, if i manage to squeeze a trip into my calender. or maybe she’ll be here in june? i have no idea at the moment. i’m really glad she witnessed the solemnisation though. i think she’ll be even more happy when december comes, because i’ll have the banquet and the traditional ceremonies then.

i am getting really excited (and stressed) about this saturday. i’m getting married on saturday! can’t believe that it’s really happening. even though in the eyes of the older generation, i’m only considered ‘married’ after the traditional ceremony, i think that signing the papers means i am already married. the law recognizes that i’m married. we exchanged our vows. our parents signed the marriage certificate as witnesses. who can argue that we’re not married?

anyway, i’m really very stressed about the event. worried that i’ve forgotten to handle this and that. for instance, i almost forgot to develop some photos that we wanted to display on the registration table. i’ve been so busy lately, dealing with the wedding. can’t believe that i have to go through another round of preparations later this year, to prepare for the grand banquet. (i consider it a grand banquet because the venue looks grand, is expensive, and i’ve never tried organizing an event for more than 300 people, with me as the centre of attraction for the entire night before.)

meanwhile, i hope that everything will go as planned on saturday. and please bless us with a great marriage!

at work, i’m supposed to collaborate with a number of people and i do need a lot of help to get my things done. i’m really very grateful to every single person who has helped me along the way.

i do feel kind of bad when i need to bug someone to help me with this and that, even though it is not an unreasonable request. for instance, i finally received the dataset that i’ve been waiting months for, but i still needed more data from the person, and i do feel bad about it. even though collaborations of this sort is the norm in my field.

i wish i could do everything on my own. that will never be possible though. so i hope most people i work with (if not all), can see me as an efficient and good worker whom they don’t mind collaborating with in future.

it’s the last day of the year. reminds me that i have to start working seriously hard very soon, if i intend to graduate in time. i have been busy with a whole lot of other stuff for the past 2 to 3 weeks,, didn’t manage to write anything for the thesis.

i’m starting this last day with a visit to the hairstylist. i wanna start the year with new hair colour actually it’s just part of my preparations for the wedding. h is getting a hair cut too, after work. it’s a half-day for him. and after that, h and i will have to shop around to buy whatever we need for that day. the wine, the decorations. etc etc.

we have no intentions of going to marina bay for the countdown this year. if i have my own place, i’ll probably invite friends over for a potluck and games. too bad. one day, that will happen. i’m also hoping to countdown overseas with h. maybe sydney? taipei? and one day, i intend to book a room at marina bay sands just to catch the fireworks from that location. maybe next year

h’s “new” car is also here with us to celebrate the new year. we cleaned it quite thoroughly yesterday. because the previous owner left little little things inside, and didn’t even remove the ‘da bei zhou’ and a buddha card from the car, we suspected that he left in a hurry and perhaps the car was ‘haunted’. but thinking about it rationally, i think it’s quite unlikely that there will be a haunted vehicle in singapore. most vehicles are within 10 years old. if there was any serious accident involving the car, it would have been confiscated by the police or whatever. this all shows that we have great imagination

alright. time to prepare for a long day ahead!