Have I been taking it for granted?

This is indeed my second week of my PhD journey. As I am a fully sponsored student, I have to pick up the responsibilities as a teaching assistant. Oh dear, I can’t imagine I am helping in delivering lecture, neither because I am low self esteem nor no confident, it is just not me…

Anyway, ditch that… What I want to say is the MSc students, their passion on conducting research did inspired me a lot. Some of them came out with ambitious ideas, well, I did when I was doing my MSc. Some came out with the idea as they hope the research outcome will help developing their country. Perhaps I am being a bit emo here, however, I did a little reflection on myself, the one and only question I asked myself was – have I been taking everything for granted?

Hmm.. I don’t know. My ethos remains unchanged – work hard, play hard.

Room 321

It is yet another week. Hmm...Let me recap what have I done for the week. It is a 'loads of sunshine' week though.

Right, so for those who wants to enrol your biometric details (as it is part of the visa application), one of the option to do it is at Oxford Post Office. As it was quite sunny that day, I walked for 15 minutes from Oxford train station to the Post Office, with my trolly luggage and my heavy classic lappy...It was a good exercise though.

Post Office at Oxford, quite a nice building though

Old time Post Box? :)

on my way to Burton to start my week...

A sunny start on Tuesday...Having a bit of sunshine at work is definitely a luxury...

Another sunny start on Wednesday

ice lolly on Thursday. Stop frowing Dave! Both of us were working on the same set of tests.

Another nice dinner at The Dial. Starter - Vegetarian Spring Roll

Main - some kind of fish...but isn't the fish too small?

Dessert - 3 diffrent types of ice cream, including my favorite 'Hokey Pokey' ice cream.

Luncheon with bosses at the Waterfront. Sitting under the sun...cheerio, although I got a headache afterwards.

This is why I got the headache. Ha!

To summarise, it is quite a good week though.
However, still there are a few personal issues that yet to be 'fixed'
Sometimes, i feel the decisions are on me.
I decide how I want to deal with it.
I haven't fully mastered the art of letting go.
Am I melodramatic? Am I paranoiding?
Am I taking a bet?
I don't know but we will see...
Stay tune if you are following Chekie's story.
A good friend of mine once said she admired me
seeing me how I went through all sorts
and I survived
A compliment though
However, it is tiring
I don't know how long i can stay on the battle.

Room 305, 008 and 215

305 (7 - 11 March 2011)

Monday: What a train journey from Reading to Burton

On my way to Burton. Quickly snapped a picture as the weather is good.

We met a chatty sales chap, sitting opposite us. Due to the hat and the pose, he called me Yoko. Am not sure whether I should take it as a compliment. lol!
Tuesday: went to Horse Shoe for dinner


Having a bit of quiz while waiting for our dinner. Do you know what is HP stands for for the HP sauce? :) It took my collegues a while to think about it...

Pudding...


Wednesday: Went to Siam Corner Thai Marina for dinner with A.

This is A's fish...What a nice sea bass..

My chicken hotpot....yummy! I really like this tomyam soup oooo :D

What a nice deco...

finished our food with satisfaction...I was pretty tired that evening, after the meal, I was well awaken :)

Sunday: A nice roast dinner

It was a self made yorkshire pudding. Loving it....:)

I want my pudding!!!

I love pudding! Hahaha!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

008 (14 - 15 March 2011)

This time, our train was terminated at Oxford. A severe delay, and we only able to get into office at 11ish!
In the evening, my laptop was officially dead! Showing the blue screen of death!
Bollocks!!

But, I quite enjoyed the giant bed in my room though:)


@Home (Wednesday)
Went to a vendor office at London for meeting.
Apparently no one wanted to sit besides me, coz I was asking too much. lol!
But this is my job, my job is QA-ing the work!!!

215 (Thursday)
Spending my another day in the hotel. I was up at 445am this morning, so I can catch the early train to Burton. I prefer not to pack with others.

Finally got my working laptop back on Friday. Thanks A for driving me back to office.

Basically I stayed on bed most of my time during the weekend. Fell sick.

Hmm...pretty much for now. Stay tune for my next post!

Room 125 & Room 311

I have skipped one week of writting, a bit of mix of 'busy' and 'lazy'. So I will just try to crack on what I have remembered ;)

21 - 25 Feb @ Room 125, Holiday Inn Express, Burton Upon Trent

Missed a stop and have to wait for the next train to Burton on Trent, late to office, and the big boss was there...oops.

not forgetting to have fun even though in a bad situation

Went to Riverside restaurant for lunch, ordered a battered cod but turned out to be a giant cod

Went to The Dial for dinner. The food was very nice especially the pudding that I had, it was exciting!

Look at my Hokey Pokey pudding ;)

Back to the hotel, lift was broken, it wasn't too bad as I only needa climb one floor :)

Not forgetting working a bit on yoga during the week..



28 -29 Feb @ Room 311, Holiday Inn Express, Burton Upon Trent

I had the most maniac Monday ever! I missed the 0711 train from Reading due to the train delay from Thatcham at 0637. And I couldn't contact my collegue to let her know, coz Vodafone was having service disruption. (Details) Anyway, I still managed to get into office at 10ish. Hmm.

Lift was still broken.But I like rooms in 3rd floor, less noise and better connection for my vodafone dongle

Went to a nice Thai food restaurant Thai Marina. The food blew my mind away.



Was in London on the 3 and 4 March to attend a meeting together with client and another vendor. Meeting was ok, quite productive. A bit embarrasing as I left my laptop charger in the vendor office.

Anyway, I was there early on the 4th. Just popped into a Starbucks at Covent Garden. However, the extra seating in the undergroud was a bit stuffed... I didn't stayed long.



Still, the best part was that I bumped into my old uni mate. I haven't seen her for more than five years. This is what we call fate, I suppose. I was happy to see her and we did chat a lot. She was on her one week solo backpacking holiday! Ahhh, living in the dream! I can't wait to arrange mine one soon!

Room 302

Yay! I have survived my first week in the project. It was a long week though. So, I am back to the analyst world, this time my role is a test analyst. So, most of my time was spent on scripting...dealing with various spreadsheets every day.

This is the client office, one of the largest pub group in UK. People there are very friendly and helpful. It took three days to set me up into the office internet and SharePoint though which wasn't that bad ;)

The company I contract with put me in Holiday Inn Express hotel in Burton-Upon-Trent for this project. I like my room, Room 302, because it is a corner room. lol!

Just that I have to pay a fortune just for an hour internet. So most of the evenings, after dinner, I will go back to my rooms, being tired, resting, putting on telly, and on my mobile checking some tweets. It was quite tough on the first two days in the hotel, I just felt very uneasy without internet as I couldn't do stuff over the internet. But this will be sorted out soon, coz I am going to get an internet dongle for my personal use..lol.

Some of the evenings with my colleague, Sandeep...

@Corner House

@riverside, having my dessert Belgian Waffle

See below are some of the pictures when I am bored...

Another 30 hours to start my second week ;)

Monkey: Journey to the West

Brought my parents to watch the Monkey: Journey to the West Opera in The O2 (Nearest Tube Station: North Greenwich) today.

The opera was great, what a combination of the west and east. Several factors of combination:
- The opera was in Mandarin with English subtitle
- The music was composed with Western and Eastern Musical Instruments.
- The opera was in Western Musical style but communicated in Mandarin

The amazing part was the Chinese Acrobatic Stunt...and of course the graphic animation and props. The part I like the most is the Buddha's Palm. When Sun Wu Kong (Great Sage) was too mischievous and he was punished by the Buddha and trapped under the Buddha's palm. The turning of Buddha's Palm, the Buddha's status and props were great in visual.

And most important is the ticket price is worth. Ticket bought was only 10 quid per person. :)

致命伤

想不到一个在台上不回怯场的小安，竟然在最关键的 Evaluation Presentation 中垮了。

'A non stage fright person screwed herself in a presentation'

这也是我拿不到 Exceed 的致命伤。

难过，当然！因为她对自己的的期望相当高，这仗输得太冤枉了。

但是，他们另一个评语是：Lack of Confident. 我得承认这是我对自己的语言能力没信心，所以在当天表现失常。

我会吸取这次教训。八个字形容：勤能补拙，拉长补短。

接下来的挑战会更大，希望万事如意。亲爱的人事部，请你们快快延长我的工作准证，我想到上次我也显了。

拜拜。。

５分钟

５分钟的Presentation,真的有点难度。尤其是因为只有５分钟，要讲那么多东西。。

今天先Present给我的Team,他们很喜欢我的Animation.

哈哈。我最喜欢搞这些。

周末会在练习。。

最后一炮，加油！加油！加油！

Jalan Jalan, Cari Makan

所谓雨过天晴，这句话真是用得贴切。

昨天的天气真的是两个字 - 恶劣。。下雨，又冷又湿。。

今天还不错，有太阳。。哈哈。。所以我们四人就 Jalan Jalan Cari Makan了。。

有 Malaysian Tourism Sign的喔， 应该很不错下

Nasi Campur (大概是5英镑）

Nasi Lemak (5 英镑)

Tom Yam Ayam (2.50 英镑)

Roti Canai (3.5 英镑)

传统的 Teh Tarik (1.40 英镑)

食物基本上都很不错，很有马来西亚的味道，价钱也不会太贵。所以也可算是在伦敦瞒不错的大马餐。

Venue: Bonda Cafe, Malaysian Cuisine, 190, Sussex Gardens, Paddington, London, W2 1PU.
Tel / Fax: +44(207)40251111