2 pieces of news to end this week off - one good, one neutral/annoying.

good news: the results of my degree verification came back! they took 6 working days from the time i submitted everything and paid the fees. considering they set 30 days as my expectation, i am beyond happy. i'd like to think that it was because i was on the ball and gave them every single document that they requested, so all they had to do was check and not waste time requesting more stuff from me. or it might be that the queue was short because fewer people are looking to move to the UK due to brexit...i don't know. whatever it is, i'll take this win and run.

this also means that one hurdle in my visa application process has been cleared. the biggest one right now is setting my date of entry. i have to enter the UK on this visa within 90 days of my stated date, so although there's a window, the unpredictability of a job offer and start date now mean that i'll essentially be guessing and gambling if asked to state an entry date. i suppose the safe way is to set an early date, but that would end up being detrimental because visa duration starts counting down from first entry into that country under that visa. ideally, i'd get a job offer first, then plan my visa date accordingly...but if forced to blindly choose a date, i guess i'll set mid-may or something, because i know hiring picks up in the summer. so i'll go over early and job hunt while i'm there. maybe that might make employers more amenable to taking me on.

neutral/annoying news: i decided to send another email to one of the singaporean IP firms, to politely ask why they still had job ads up when they told me their vacancies had been filled. it shows that i'm interested/invested, and most importantly, actively searching and keeping track of job ads that interest me. so, as i always do, i wrote an email in gmail and scheduled it to send during office hours. only that i forgot it was a public holiday in singapore today because of polling day for the presidential election. well, no big deal. it just means that i have to wait a little longer for a reply.

been feeling tired, as expected from the ramp up in activity with school starting. should start sleeping earlier, like when i first arrived.

-random thought of the day: I have 40 days' leave!-