Christmas is over, and we're in the last week of the year. this year's christmas was less festive than last year's, but i'm ok with that. i got a surprise present from one of the guys in the lab, in the form of a multi-tool and torch combination. it seems that he went to the trouble of choosing different presents for everyone, and i must say, he did a really good job. out of all the presents that everyone got, i wouldn't trade mine for any one else's. except maybe the large plush mickey mouse glove pillow, but that's just for the novelty. i was/am rather surprised that he read me that well to get such an appropriate gift. i should get something nice for him in return. let's see...his interests include books, ice skating, and chinese orchestra. that's it! a book on how to play the flute on ice! ok no. not because it's a bad gift idea, but because i doubt such a book exists. well...i'll buy a suitable gift soon.
the usual chemistry friends christmas thing was nice. plenty of food and good conversation. plus, i finally met the fiancee of one of my friends! remember i helped to decorate a hotel room for the proposal? my friend's (the host's) kids are noticeably older. like, the older one can talk more or less coherently, and the younger one can walk. they are really the only reason why i MIGHT reconsider my decision to not have kids. for kids of their age, they are remarkably well-behaved! no unnecessary/random outbursts, polite, and interacting well with almost everyone. there was a super super negative example, though. one of my friends was babysitting for his other friend, and brought the kids to the party. i think they were 7 and 5, or was it 9 and 7? the older girl was well-behaved enough, but the younger boy...oh my goodness. running and jumping all over the place, even off the living room table and onto the sofa. bear in mind that this is at someone else's house. at least my friend (the host) was gracious enough to not make a big deal out of it. i really think that i may be better off i stick to the original plan of babysitting for my friends.
also this christmas, two things happened involving the ex. one directly, one indirectly. indirect first. one of my JC friends (the one whom i can't handle too much of) met the ex at a final fantasy TCG event or something. and not knowing that we're no longer together, he took a photo with the ex and sent it to me. i really didn't know how to react. at least he was apologetic when he found out about the breakup, so that's forgivable. still didn't really do me any good. the direct thing involving the ex was that they whatsapped me a christmas greeting. even now, i am still undecided on how to handle communications from the ex. i'm not sure if i can even maintain a cordial relationship with them. given our past, and knowing that they felt i wasn't good enough for them, it doesn't really provide strong motivation for me to associate with them right? oh well. i think this is also advance warning to me, don't date within the workplace. while it did work out for four(!) of my friends, i probably don't have their luck as far as relationships go.
for school matters, i'm due to present at the year-end thing. but you knew that already. turns out my senior isn't going to present, so that means i'm first in line. the thing is 32 hours away, and i haven't started my slides yet. luckily i have last year's stuff to fall back on. just need a few edits. i went to the department office to find out a bit more about thesis requirements, and it seems that there's a whole bunch of formatting that i have to follow. one interesting guideline was that the margins have to be 1.5 inches on either side of the page. no wonder my seniors managed around 40 pages of introduction! i've done the formatting, and my thesis now looks so much longer. plus, there is a length guideline, and that's 40000 words for a science thesis (i'm assuming references and experimental sections are excluded). between the two finished chapters, i've got about 16000 already. not bad. just 8000 words per chapter on average for each of the 3 chapters to go. should be doable. arts and law theses are double that length, which is quite terrifying. then again, i guess maybe it's because the citation style differs, and there's more quoting from source text.
while at the department office, i also asked about money matters, and it seems that i'll be paying school fees no matter what since a fee waiver is out of the question. i suppose i have to ask the undergrad lab TA coordinator if there are additional TA slots available. apart from that, i also asked my friend to keep an eye out for tuition opportunities. he has one ready on hand, which is a tuition centre job, teaching maths. bet you never saw that coming right? i didn't think i'd see the day where i would be teaching maths either. at least it's at the secondary level, which i should be more or less capable of. hoping for some chemistry jobs to materialize, though i'm not sure how that will go.
next major hurdle is the aforementioned year-end presentation. after that, there's more lab work to be done. should still be on track as per the earlier timeline. three chapters finished by early to mid-january, then another one by early february, and the last by early march. not forgetting the preface for the thesis, like acknowledgements, the various lists, summary, contents. hope things will come together nicely.
the usual chemistry friends christmas thing was nice. plenty of food and good conversation. plus, i finally met the fiancee of one of my friends! remember i helped to decorate a hotel room for the proposal? my friend's (the host's) kids are noticeably older. like, the older one can talk more or less coherently, and the younger one can walk. they are really the only reason why i MIGHT reconsider my decision to not have kids. for kids of their age, they are remarkably well-behaved! no unnecessary/random outbursts, polite, and interacting well with almost everyone. there was a super super negative example, though. one of my friends was babysitting for his other friend, and brought the kids to the party. i think they were 7 and 5, or was it 9 and 7? the older girl was well-behaved enough, but the younger boy...oh my goodness. running and jumping all over the place, even off the living room table and onto the sofa. bear in mind that this is at someone else's house. at least my friend (the host) was gracious enough to not make a big deal out of it. i really think that i may be better off i stick to the original plan of babysitting for my friends.
also this christmas, two things happened involving the ex. one directly, one indirectly. indirect first. one of my JC friends (the one whom i can't handle too much of) met the ex at a final fantasy TCG event or something. and not knowing that we're no longer together, he took a photo with the ex and sent it to me. i really didn't know how to react. at least he was apologetic when he found out about the breakup, so that's forgivable. still didn't really do me any good. the direct thing involving the ex was that they whatsapped me a christmas greeting. even now, i am still undecided on how to handle communications from the ex. i'm not sure if i can even maintain a cordial relationship with them. given our past, and knowing that they felt i wasn't good enough for them, it doesn't really provide strong motivation for me to associate with them right? oh well. i think this is also advance warning to me, don't date within the workplace. while it did work out for four(!) of my friends, i probably don't have their luck as far as relationships go.
for school matters, i'm due to present at the year-end thing. but you knew that already. turns out my senior isn't going to present, so that means i'm first in line. the thing is 32 hours away, and i haven't started my slides yet. luckily i have last year's stuff to fall back on. just need a few edits. i went to the department office to find out a bit more about thesis requirements, and it seems that there's a whole bunch of formatting that i have to follow. one interesting guideline was that the margins have to be 1.5 inches on either side of the page. no wonder my seniors managed around 40 pages of introduction! i've done the formatting, and my thesis now looks so much longer. plus, there is a length guideline, and that's 40000 words for a science thesis (i'm assuming references and experimental sections are excluded). between the two finished chapters, i've got about 16000 already. not bad. just 8000 words per chapter on average for each of the 3 chapters to go. should be doable. arts and law theses are double that length, which is quite terrifying. then again, i guess maybe it's because the citation style differs, and there's more quoting from source text.
while at the department office, i also asked about money matters, and it seems that i'll be paying school fees no matter what since a fee waiver is out of the question. i suppose i have to ask the undergrad lab TA coordinator if there are additional TA slots available. apart from that, i also asked my friend to keep an eye out for tuition opportunities. he has one ready on hand, which is a tuition centre job, teaching maths. bet you never saw that coming right? i didn't think i'd see the day where i would be teaching maths either. at least it's at the secondary level, which i should be more or less capable of. hoping for some chemistry jobs to materialize, though i'm not sure how that will go.
next major hurdle is the aforementioned year-end presentation. after that, there's more lab work to be done. should still be on track as per the earlier timeline. three chapters finished by early to mid-january, then another one by early february, and the last by early march. not forgetting the preface for the thesis, like acknowledgements, the various lists, summary, contents. hope things will come together nicely.
-random thought of the day: Slightly unwell.-
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