年初九，交Thesis

 

年初九，终于把论文交到Exam Officer, that means 我现在真的是可以等毕业了。

四年的心血，这四年走得不易，

偶尔会有self doubt,觉得自己很笨，

但拿到results的时候，paper被人认同的时候，

那份满足感是之前在工作上没有感受过的。

没有走过此路的人，永远不会明白这条路的甜酸苦辣。

我也希望在业界的专业人士，可以尊重我们这些在学术界的，

不要老是觉得我们是活在另一个星球的人。

没有学术上不断的研究新技术，哪有业界用的best practices and methods.

做研究是份终身事业。

猴年快乐

又是新的一年
又是没有得到回家的一年
在国外久了，真的会感觉到什么叫做
每逢佳节倍思亲
所以呢，为了平复自己想家的情绪
我今天就用红包封弄了一些纸灯笼
然后采用类似于把装饰品掉在圣诞树上的方法
掉在这棵装饰品上
然后再用几张贺年卡和红包封
把客厅装饰下
也挺好的

An Unusual CNY 2011 (cont)

4th day of Chinese New Year (年初四)

As usual, for this year CNY, I went to London for the CNY event with Bee. It was Bee's first time seeing the Chinese New Year celebration in London. My 2nd indeed :)

The main stage was in Trafalgar Square. The event started with loads of speeches, then opened with burning the Chinese fire crackers.

Then as usual, dragon dance...

And the lion dance....on the Mui Fa Jong (梅花桩)

Honestly, the performance is a small trick (雕虫小技), nothing as best compare those I used to see back home. Any how, it is better than nothing. It is Chinese New Year, man! Of course, I have to go somewhere that I can feel the Chinese New Year ambiance as I am away from home. It was quite funny to see those 'ang mohs' (Caucasian) were so into the performance and kept snapping pictures...haha

Right, after Trafalgar Square, we went to China Town for late lunch. It was very crowded until I hardly moved.

Golden Ang Moh Rabbit :p

Squeezing....:S

Buying Bee lunch as an appreciation for helping me a lot all this while...we ordered Spring rolls and spicy & sour soup for starter, half roasted duck, Malaysian Belacan stir fry spinach and Singapore Noodles for main course.

people were queuing to get into the restaurant

nothing too pretty, but it was a nice meal though

the restaurant was visited twice by the 'lion'. So I guess I must huat gao gao this year :)

something funny on our way home..

my last shot in front of the 'Wishing Tree'. Hope all my wishes will come true!

Lastly, I want to thank Bee, who was with bad wrists and light face injuries that time, for celebrating the CNY with me. Truly appreciated :)

Click here for more pictures.

5th day of Chinese New Year (年初五)

First day started working (开工大吉)... Although it is a contractual job, still a good experience though..


Related post: An Unusual CNY 2011

An Unusual CNY 2011

This is my 3rd away Chinese New Year, and the most 'unusual' CNY for me. It wasn't easy for me as I felt extremely lonely and homesick. Also, there were some other personal stuff that bothered me, and I had to deal with it. The whole week was darn 'chi-kek', like a roller coaster. Things just came in and suddenly I had so many to deal with alone. My brain power was utilised up to 200% and I slept less than 25 hours in 5 days!

3 days before Chinese New Year (年二十八)
I felt extremely fatigue. And shoot, it was one week earlier.. grrr...I was feeling grumpy..maybe it was caused by the unbalance hormone or whatever, and still I was working together with my peer in uni, to complete some work for my prof.

2 days before Chinese New Year (年二十九)
I received a call from a company that they would offer some sort of full time role but temporary contract for me. They requested me to start next week. I was excited, at the same time, I had to think about the arrangement of my other work commitment and potential opportunities. Oh dear, it was really giving me a headache. I didn't sleep well that night.

Chinese New Year eve (年三十晚)
I couldn't hold my tears anymore. I broke down quietly in the middle of doing work in uni...luckily no one saw me. Negative feelings aroused! Work arrangement, personal stuff, home sick...all come at once! I took a small break and rang up a few friends, although not telling them much what had happened, I just need something to distract me from the negative feelings. I went to see my lecturer to communicate about my new job and I may not be able to help him and the team anymore. I was happy as my lecturer was being encouraging.

1st day of Chinese New Year (年初一)
I resigned myself from the current part time job. I had butterflies when calling my boss who is currently based in Hong Kong. I do love the working environment there, just that I may have to move on as there is no full time vacancy that can fit me in. Then one by one I communicated the decision across the management.

Everything is new from "inside to outside" ;)

2nd day of Chinese New Year (年初二)
I planned to just quietly leave the company as I am just a part timers. I was surprised when my line manager rushed out from the office and told me they had a farewell card with everyone signed for me. I was moved!If I can, I will say it out a zillion thanks...

Some said I am a very independent and strong person, some even said they wouldn't able to handle situations that happened to me if they were me. I take it as a compliment but trust me, I just have no choice, and destined to deal with situations. I am just same with other girls, I just need a bit of love and care...and a bit of talking...

I wish at least tonight, I can sleep better..

Gung Hei Fatt Choy lar!

3rd day of Chinese New Year (年初三)
I went shopping again. But this time was to get some working clothes and working shoes, as I will be back to work on Monday. Luckily I still managed to catch up the sales, I guessed the sales ends soon.

Boots (Clark): £22.49 (original price: £ 75.90)
Blouse (Zara): £3.99
Skirt (Zara): £9.90
Pants (Zara): £12.90
Thicker tights (Gap): £2.99
Leggings (HnM): £5.99

Also, I went to shape my eye brows in Superdrug, again using my NUS card, I spent £4.5 for it... one word...PAIN! This is the first time I let someone I don't know to do my eye brows...

Just that, I feel quite ill today. I guess that is because the lack of sleep for the past few days.. Yeah, having medicine now and going to take a nap...

Chinese New Year Shopping

Retail therapy is one of my options to recover from the negative emotions. As I haven't got a sustainable and stable income, so I have not shop for myself quite a while.

However, I found a solid reason for shopping this afternoon! Ha! CNY shopping. Although we don't really celebrate CNY here, still, it will be great if I can wear everything new on the first day of CNY which would be next Thursday, the 3rd of Feb.

The whole outfit costs only £8.99. I didn't bought it at last coz I think I look funny

Not sure why the sales continue till date, still, clothes and shoes I bought this afternoon were well worth it,especially when some stores are offering NUS discount. All together I have spent £69.19.

Lingerie (La Senza): £24.3
Socks (Sports Direct, 2 for 5): £5
Shoes (New Look): £16 (original price £29.99, slash £10 then another 20% student discount! Wahaha)
Tights (HnM): £6.99 (no longer buying Primark's tights, reason: you get what you paid for ;)
Dress (Mango): £16.90 (origninal USD59.9, I haven't bought any Mangoes for quite some time as I couldn't afford it if no sales..haha)

Wishing myself a very Happy Chinese New Year! Happy Rabbit Year! :D

2011, I am ready!

In year 2010, I had decided to 're-enter' UK to pursue my master degree. I wouldn't say it was a 100% rational decision as there was an emotional element in making this decision. I was hoping to amend something which was broken, however, things had proved myself wrong. However, I had spent everything that I can possible spend to come over here, therefore, I clearly understood that there was no turning back. The best thing that I could do was to suck it up and finish it.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my friends (Lydia, Suet, YouJiean etc) and family back home and friends here (Kent, Yau, Mei etc) for giving me moral support from time to time. This was my gasoline to move forward. I feel blessed meeting and working with some great people from IRC (Prof Kecheng Liu, Dr Lily Sun etc), Capgemini (Dr Sam Chong, Cameron Spence etc), Dedipower (Craig Martin, Grant Mitchell, KhengSim Sng, Wilkin Lo, Winnie Chen, Suzie Huang etc), thank you for giving me a good opportunity to learn. I have enjoyed working with you all. Lastly but not least, I want to thank Bee for assisting me in my studies especially before the thesis submission. I wouldn't do any better without your help.

Highlight of the year: MSc dissertation presentation. I was glad with the positive feedback that I have received.

I was glad on the 31st December 2010 (yesterday), because I could feel that I had let go the emotional element. Therefore, in year 2011, my resolution are simple. "Stay Focus" on the listed goals, and "Stop Worrying" on the uncertainties! I never feel that positive after the big lump in life back in Q3 2009.

Thus, I am ready!

I would rather to stay in, having a nice dinner (with Chinese New Year song as background, what a surprise! ha!) with good accompany, rather than going for the new year countdown in central London, although I quite fancied going. At last, I watched the London Fireworks on New Year's Day on BBC One in the home theatre :)

I am the cook though :)

Merry Chrismas

This is in fact my second time celebrating Christmas here in the UK. The difference this time is I have feel the Christmas mood, busy doing Christmas shopping, writing and sending Christmas cards. I think I just like sharing the love and happiness to people around me. Some were surprised receiving my card and present..Ha! To be honest, I am the unexpected most of the time, coz I like to give people surprise!

Christmas Shopping
This is the first time I do Christmas shopping in a foreign land. It is quite different than what I used to do back in KL. Coz those I did in KL should call Chinese New Year shopping, coz retailers will do Christmas Sale, and it is time to get prepared for Chinese New Year, buying new cloth, new lingerie, new shoes, and CNY groceries...The thing here is I am actually shopping present for others...ha! I quite enjoyed it...:)

Christmas Dinners
I was invited to a few Christmas dinners this year, which was very nice :)

Xmas dinner with Suzie on the 15th December in The China Palace restaurant, Reading.
Shame that no picture were taken, too busy eating I guess...haha

Xmas dinner with the Chinese PHD students from Informatics Research Centre (IRC) on the 16th December in the Honeymoon Restaurant, Reading. Again, I guess we were all busy eating that time. But I was amazed by how my lecturers enthusiasm in karaokeing..lol.

Xmas dinner with DP folks on the 17th December in The Bel & Dragon, Reading. The meal was very nice, just that for me, I think the portion is too little..anyway, I have enjoyed the food...hehe.

DP queen? :p

25th the Christmas Day
I love my aunt's cooking... She is a good cook. The Christmas meal was a combination of the east and west. Look at the turkey, and all different types of stuffing that we had..I especially love the gravy that my aunt made, it was a mixture of meat juices and granules...best gravy I ever had!!

The small Christmas tree at the corner...still lovely!

East + West Christmas Meal!

Highlight of the day- Mr Organic Turkey... But you are roasted now...ha!

Then it was time for Christmas present....

'Mother Christmas'...present time...

My unwrapped pressie....hehe

26th the Boxing Day
It was also my movie day. Thanks for the unnecessary tube strike which caused me not able to travel places and seeing my friends, I had to stay in at my aunt. Well, the positives was I can have loads of great food still, so I spent my time just watching movies (The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, Holiday in Handcuffs, The Santa Clause)on BBC iplayer..chewing chocolates...and of course chatting around with my friends...

quite like the google interface :)

27th : Seeing Brian, Albee and their mom in Four Seasons Restaurant, Leicester Square
It was a very nice catch up, I have not see them for 2 years. Still, when we sat down, we just have unlimited topic to chat about...eat and chat, then eat again....

28th: Post Christmas Dinner with Bee
This should be my last Christmas dinner of the year. Ha! Bee was making me roast chicken, my favorite mash and sharing me the Pineau... :)

Stuffing in the corn feed chicken...

'yit lat lat' just out from the oven!! The color is nice!

Here we go...roast chicken with stuffing, yorkshire pudding, vegetables, wine and Pineau

we only remembered the crackers after finished our meal...lol

my present....the Pashmina

Christmas here gives me the feeling like celebrating Chinese New Year back home, it is time to catch up with family and friends, knowing how everyone is doing.. I have enjoyed my Christmas 2010 in the UK :)

Flashing my xmas and birthday presents...haha

Lastly, and again...to all my friends and family....

Jom Makan Raya

I was invited to a 'Raya' dinner last Friday. The dinner was in potluck style which everyone contributed a dish or two of Raya food. Except me...hehe...Thanks to my fellow Malaysian organiser who booked a place in HUMSS Building for the dinner and Kak Dian who invited me to the dinner. I don't know Kak Dian until she was introduced by my ressearch supervisor. Then only we know each other and apparently we both were doing our 1st degree in the same universiy, University Putra Malaysia, in same faculty. She is one year senior than me. What a coincidence!

Me and Kak Dian

Everyone was dressing up in Malaysia traditional costume. It's been ages since the last time I saw Malaysian traditional costume such as Baju Kurung, Baju Kebaya, Baju Melayu etc. So I was kinda excited as I felt like I was in my university time. I used to dress in Malaysian traditional costumes when we attended some formal events. Mostly those free 'makan makan '(dinner) event. Ha!

The emcee...MSc in Politics Science...'orang politik ni', don't play play :p

This is my first time meeting Malaysian mature students in University of Reading. Most of them are lecturers in various public universities in Malaysia and currently doing their PHD in University of Reading. Obviously I am the only Malaysian in my course, hence I am glad to see fellow Malaysians in the university.

My favorite 'Raya' dishes are the cookies and Chicken 'Rendang'. I used to visit my Malay friends back in Malaysia during Raya. I was excited when I spotted those food are served. So I had loads of Chicken Rendang, cookies, Laksa Johor and some very mamak-like kopi susu. Absolutely love it! I think I ate a lot.. Ha!

Raya Cuisine...Awesome!!

I ate and ate and ate....

At last, we would like to wish all Muslims,

'Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri & Maaf Zahir Batin'

Click here for more pictures :)