Oooooh!

Last night I went to bed on a somewhat empty stomach. And my stomach grumbled at me.

Tonight I will be going to bed on a somewhat "too full" stomach. And my stomach has already started grumbling at me.

What an unhealthy lifestyle. Tsk tsk.

Almost!

It is 8am on a Monday morning and the weather outside is positively gloomy. Did I say positively gloomy? Perhaps it should be negatively gloomy.

I slept late last night. Not because I was up working feverish at producing a A+ grade thesis, I have given up on that (I'd settle for a A-). I slept late last night because I could not fall asleep. Which is unrelated to my thesis. But what I want to talk about is my thesis.

And the most stupendous, awesome, fantabulous news is:

My thesis is mostly but still not quite DONE!

Yeay!

All I want to do now is just another proofreading session and a 24-hour time period to see if my supervisors have anything to say. Not a lot of time for them, but they seem quite satisfied with my work last week. Okay, not really. It was more of a case that both of them were insanely busy, and only glanced through my work.

I am worried.

I tell myself that it is good. And that the supervisor who is also one of the markers has said that it is good.

But I worry.


I'll probably be worrying all way till the time my results come out. So, proofread, print, bind and submit. That shall be my mantra today.

*Also, am I the only one in my project management class having trouble with the quiz/assignment? I knew I should have paid more attention in class. I am totally lost!

Confessions #1

I must confess, ladies and gentlemen that I have been remiss.I have not been working very hard on my list thingy. *sad*

Now, I suppose you could say that I'm working towards #1 Graduate. But that goal is sort of a cheat since I'm actually already so close! So close, people! I am finishing uni in June and graduating in August. All that stands between me and graduation is

• 1 online assignment - will be done today!
• 1 thesis submission - will be done this weekend seeing as neither my supervisors seem like they'll be asking me to change anything. Hello, supervisors? I really hoped you read the draft I sent you. There's a particular passage that I felt was particularly dodgy.
• 1 exam - in 3 weeks time!

I have an interview in July which I suppose is the first step in fulfilling #2 Find a full-time job that I enjoy. Only problem is that I don't even know whether I would like to work there. In fact, right now I'm not sure if I'm cut out to be an engineer.

I don't get out much and being a creature of habit I usually don't venture any further than the places that I'm used to. However, my housemate has actually dragged me to two new food places that I've yet been to when I wrote this list. So that's 2/3rd of #18 Eat out with friends/family at a NEW restaurant (3 times). Perhaps I should revise this goal and make a bit more... umm... challenging. LOL. Although I suppose the second place we went to was actually a cafe. Should that count? *shrugs*


#44 Maintain blog with regular updates (at least once per week for 6 months) is in progress! Yeay! My biggest challenge will probably be when I get back home! Because I'm super lazy once I get home (plus I don't want my family to be looking over my shoulder when I'm writing out my posts).

Oh, how I wist I could cross something out on that list!

Today's conversation

After class.

Me: I'm going to go grab some lunch.


Friend: Lunch! That reminds me that I have to do a jar test.

Me: How does lunch remind you of jar tests?

Friend: It's cause everytime I sniff my algae I get hungry.

Me: ...

Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.
  - Christopher Morley

Yay! Yayy!

Yeayyyy!!!

Umm... that all I have to say for now.


YEAYYYYYYY!!!

Thesis-writing illness

Symptoms:

• Everything said or written needs have a reference to be valid. Preferably a peer-reviewed reference.
• The threshold indicating an acceptable state of disorder of the project site(s) is raised to an abnormally high level.
• You write sentences that make total sense to you now, but the moment you submit said thesis would make no sense to you at all.
• You start writing a blog post and half-way through you realise you should actually be writing your thesis instead. You panic! But then decide to throw caution to the wind and continue with said blog post
• You eat more. You sleep more. You start crying at odd times for no particular reason.
• You eat less. You sleep less. You start crying at odd times for no particular reason.
• You love your supervisor.
• You delete 50% of what you've previously written because it's all crap.
• You hate your supervisor.
• You now re-write the 50% that you've previously written. It's pure genious!
• You start feeling guilty for not working on your thesis more.
• You start feeling guilty for not working on your thesis each waking minute you have.
• You start feeling guilty for not working on your thesis when you're asleep.
• You don't sleep.
• You hallucinate.
• Your thesis starts talking to you. It is your best friend.
• It is your only friend.
• You must sacrifice everything for your thesis. Everything!
• The thesis only allows you to consume coffee, chocolate or energy drinks. In fact, the thesis urges you to consume as much of these as possible.
• You must never be parted from your thesis. You must work on it 24/7. 
• Your thesis is your life.

Cure:

• Thesis-writing illness will only be cured once the illness has matured by itself. At the maturing point (commonly known as the thesis submission date or due date), the patient will voluntarily (and may be even forcibly) part from the thesis and all symptoms will disappear after adequate rest.
• Note however, that after recovery some patients will suffer a relapse. Postgraduate thesis-writing illness is more severe and will last for several years (as opposed to months).

At least I know what I'm talking about... (most of the time)

I must confess,I've never really been the model student when it comes to attending tutorial classes. I never did the the tutorial questions beforehand (except for maths; I like maths!) and mostly just waited to be given the solutions or to copy them off from someone. I wonder what my tutors thought of me? Hahaha...

Well, for some reason (I signed up!) I am a tutor this semester (oh, the irony!). Given my rather poor record as a former tutor-ee, I don't really mind if a student:
- walks in late (It's a morning class after all.)
- leaves early (I've always always left early for my own tutes.)
- mistakes the tutor for one of the students (Hey! I'm probably 4 years older than you! Grr...)
- doesn't want to do the questions (Sometimes you just don't want to do fluid mechanics. I get that. I don't want to do 'em pesky questions either.)
- pretends the lecturer didn't cover the topic in lectures (What he didn't cover this in the lectures? Really...? Really, really...? Wait, did you even go to the lecture? No?!!)
- lies down on the floor at the back of the class to sleep (One guy actually did this for about 10 minutes.)
- studies some other subject (This is just weird. If you're going to study, why would you want to do it in a noisy classroom?)
- just sits there. Yup. Just sits there. For 2 whole hours. Just sitting. And sitting. And sitting. (Whatever, man.)

What does annoy me is when someone:
- shows up without their lecture notes/ tutorial questions (Oh, the extra money I could have made if I had charged for lending out my copy)
- shows up without paper to write on (Why'd you even come to uni today?)

But what I really, really, REALLY hate is, when someone pulls out their iPhone and starts playing with it. I don't know why. But this is one of the things that really get me annoyed. It is just super duper irritating! I'd rather you talk to your friends or sit down for two hours meditating. Heck, I'd rather you bring in a Monopoly board and start playing at the back of class. But too stare enraptured at a little screen and tapping on it for a whole hour? Dude, it's not good for your eyes! It's not good for your fingers! Don't sell your soul to the devil!!!

.
.
.
Ahem. Okaaaay, moving on.

I have to say though the noisy ones are entertaining, it's the quiet ones who do well on tests. Actually, it's the one guy who never shows up for tutorials that does well on tests. But I remember him. Because the first time he showed up to take his test, he came in 10 minutes late (presumably because he had trouble finding the tute room since it's his first time after all), didn't bring any paper to write his answers on (Nope, sorry. I don't have paper either), scribbled his answer on the back-side of his test paper and proceeded to get FULL MARKS. Awesome!!!
Moral of the story: The tutors are screwing around with you. It's better if you just study on your own. (No, seriously!)
Oh! But it is also possible that this guy actually goes to one of the other tutorials! If that's the case, then I'd have to ask: Why don't you come to any of my tutorials, guy who always gets full marks?)

Oh, the joys of teaching (which on reflection I haven't really talked about at all in this post)! If I had another semester in uni, I'd probably sign up to tutor again.

Pretteeeeeeeeee!

So I've been ogling belt buckles. Yes, it is weird that I'm looking at belt buckles. But then, they are prettee belt buckles. Like so.

You can also buy belts that come in several colours to mix and match! Mix-and-matching... mmmm!!



But then since I'm trying not to spend, I try to rationalise:
i) On the rare occasions that I do wear a belt, it gets hidden by my top anyway.


But then they also have these:

Pretteeeeeeeeeeee. 

ii) I'd have to buy several. Because it's too prettee to be bought just for yourself. But really, considering I that I am relocating in 2 months (ie getting out of uni and running full speed back home where I can once again be the spoilt pampered youngest child who mooches off her family members)
iii) International shipping. Will it get lost? Will it arrive before I leave?


Ahhhh.... But I want one!!! Or two! Or three.......

Anyway, these beautiful things are from Gamiworks.

Natural remedies

It's cold today. Even though I've been in doors the whole day, my hands are so cold that if I hold my forehead, they'll act as a natural ice pack. Which is good. Because I also have a headache.

Awesome possum.

A list thingy!

The Challenge:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on your part).

Why 1001 Days?
1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips, study semesters, or outdoor activities.

I like lists. I've always liked lists. I have probably made thousands of lists. But I'm a total failure at following them. Anyway, hoping that this one will be different.
Anyway, a disclaimer: There are some tasks marked private for reasons known only to me. I may or may not decide to share later on. Also, I've tried to choose tasks that are things that I'd really like to do but for certain reasons have never tried to accomplish or (because I'm super lazy) procrastinated on. Having said that, I've taken some liberties. Some tasks are easier. Some tasks will still get done regardless of whether it is on this list. But some tasks even I doubt will be completed. Also, because i.is.engineer (or soon to be), I've made sure that everything is "measurable or clearly defined";  though some of those pesky details may have been omitted from this blog.

Clicky to see full list.