Sem 6, Week 8: I Have No Time...

Ok, so the week that went by was the e-learning week, so there's no need to go for lectures. There were learning materials uploaded onto the IVLE, but I had not touch them yet. I have more pressing issues at hand.

The most pressing of all issues is the thesis. It is due by the end of this month, and I'm only about a third through with the writing. I initially expected to knock out the first draft by the end of this week (i.e., today), but obviously that's not going to happen. It seems more likely that the first draft is going to be out by next weekend, and that is not a good situation, because that will leave only two weeks for all the editing (by my boss and co-sup) and vetting (by the patent attorney, before sending it to my co-sup for editing). However, keeping to this new timeline is the only thing I can do now, as the alternative (i.e., delaying the completion of the draft further) will be more disastrous.

To complicate the matter - and to add more stress to an already stressful situation - is the CA of Advanced Optical Spectroscopy and Imaging. Turns out the lecturer's style is to finish teaching the whole syllables before dishing out the homework (10% overall), test (20% overall) and presentation (30% overall). It was just my luck that when he talked about it in the lecture last week, it was at the final bit of the lecture that was edited out in the recording. So, it was only on last Thursday, via the email from the lecturer, that I found out we have to submit the presentation topic and the names of the group members by next Monday, and that the test is the Friday after next. To top it all off, the homework is due next Friday. I had not been following the module very closely, so I can say I know next to pretty much nothing about what is taught. So now having to do the homework and taking the test within the next two weeks is like dropping a bomb on me, because basically it means I'll have to do catch up for the whole of next week. Then there's the presentation.

The first thing I did after receiving the lecturer's email about the presentation, was to request to do the presentation individually. The reply I got from the lecturer was that he recommended me to pair up with another student who was also looking for a group to join, which I did. And somehow, without knowing much about what is being taught, I have to come up with a presentation topic (my team-mate has no idea for presentation topic either, and basically delegated that duty to me. Sign of how the partnership is going to be?). I did come up with a very general topic just now, and is waiting for my team-mate to OK it. I guess that is one thing settle. For now.

Looking forward, there is still the thesis presentation, which will be on the first week of November (within a week after the submission of my thesis). Then there's the exam at the end of November, which means the revision will have to start as soon as I am done with the test for Advanced Optical Spectroscopy and Imaging. I have no idea for the date of the presentation for Advanced Optical Spectroscopy and Imaging, but seeing that it's a small class size and that the semester will be over soon, I am guessing it will be the week after the test. Laying everything out like that, it becomes quite apparent that I am heading for a very busy October. If only I had see it coming earlier.

Actually, I brought all these upon myself - the stress and all. If I had been a bit more studious and more consistent in following the lectures and doing up my thesis, I will not be in such a panic state now. Most likely I will be handling everything with much more ease. It's a lesson I should had already learned, as it is not the first time I am in such a situation, and I had also witnessed it happened to others. I do hope by the end of this episode, I would have finally learned my lesson, because it will do me a whole lot of good in the future. If not, I will be doomed to repeat this same mistake again - with more dire consequences.

Sem 6, Week 7: Presentations...

OK, so this is the mid-term, and I had managed to get through two presentations rather unscathed.

The first presentation was on Thursday, for Advanced Organic Materials. Up till last Sunday afternoon, I was still unable to come up with topic to present. Somehow, by Monday, I was able to come up with a topic and knock together my slides. It was a rush job no doubt. Usually, my slides will more or less be done a week before presentation, and I will be practicing on my presentation throughout the week. This time round, I only practiced for two days and there I was in front of the lecture group presenting. It wasn't the best presentation I gave and there were some mistakes made (diagram too big covering the slides, unable to answer the lecturer's questions). Fortunately I was still able to pull it through, thanks to my past experience.

Second presentation was on Friday, for Bioanalytical Chemistry. This is a group work, so luckily, I just needed to prepare 5 slides. Even more lucky, the topic was assigned and it was a familiar one, so I was able to get away- more or less- with last minute work. It almost didn't happen because the lecturer wanted to postpone our presentation to the following week (we are the last group for the day, and it was getting late). Fortunately, our insistence to go ahead with the presentation paid off (we promise to keep within the time) and it is now behind us (not much Q&A on this one, because the lecturer wanted to wrap up on time. the questions are still quite ok too).

With the presentations over, it practically means I am done with the CA of the two modules above. So it's really time to focus on my thesis (due the end of the month), and on Advanced Optical Spectroscopy and Imaging. Both are worrying me quite a bit. For my thesis, I am really trying hard to complete at least the first draft by the end of the coming week, having written nothing down yet - and there's the presentation that follows. As for Advance Optical Spectroscopy and Imaging, I had not been attending the lectures and had not been catching up on the webcast. From what I watched so far, there's nothing about CAs, but I really don't know. Therefore, from now on, I will attending the lectures. Let just hope I had not miss anything important.

Sem 6, Recess Week: It Will Happen...

OK, so the recess week is over. In fact, it has been over for a week already. I should have wrote this post last week, but maybe it's really 'cos I'm busy, or just simple procrastination, or both, that I am writing this now. The thing is, I don't really recall why.

So there are times when I know I have a lot of things to do, and I absolutely have to get them done. I had even got it all planned out - the schedule and all. However, when it comes to getting down to doing it, it's quite a different thing. There's a lot of procrastination, dilly-dallying, lazing around before I finally drag myself to get the things done. There always seem to be this great inertia and restlessness to overcome before I can settle down and get things going (especially on weekend). Recently I am thinking that's because I am tired. Mentally tired.

I had always believed that I had unexpended energy and can keep going on and on. Now I am starting to doubt this. There are times in the past when I thought I still have energy left after going-through some strenuous, physical activity (e.g., kayaking, soccer, even route march). It is only after I try to exert myself after the activity that I realized my tank is empty. It is the same case now: I might feel like I can still go on, but mentally, I am already exhausted.

Maybe that's why I'm not as productive and not as focus during the weekend. Maybe, after a whole week of work and studies, all I want to do in the weekend is to laze around and recharge.

So that's why instead of working on my presentation slides and thesis on this recess week's weekend (after spending all the weekdays hours at work), I ended up procrastinating mostly and achieving very little.

But, as past experience goes, I will still be able to come up with something before the presentations in the following week. I don't know how, but it's going to happen.

It will happen.

Book List- September

It's the end of the month (Ok, I'm a couple of days late)! Time to update my book list!

I am drawing up a book list. Till the end of the year, at the end of every month, I shall add a title to the list. Then from the start of next year, I will read one title a month....

Jan 2011 - Did You Spot the Gorilla? (Richard Wiseman)
Feb 2011 -Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) (Richard P. Feynman)
Mar 2011 - SuperFreakonomics (Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner)
April 2011 - 13 Things That Do Not Make Sense (Michael Brooks)
May 2011 - A Moveable Feast (Ernest Hemingway)
June 2011 - Quirkology (Richard Wiseman)
July 2011 - The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies---How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths (Michael Shermer)
August 2011 - Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology (Kenneth Feder)
September 2011 - 59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute (Richard Wiseman)

DVD List- September

It's the end of the month (OK, I am a couple of days late...)! Time to update my DVD list.

I am drawing up a DVD list. Till the end of the year, at the end of every month, I shall add a title to the list. Then from the start of next year, I will watch one title a month....

Jan 2011 - Sense and Sensibility
Feb 2011 - 300 Days of Summer
Mar 2011 - Sweeny Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
April 2011 - The Men Who Stare at Goats
May 2011 - The Rocky Horror Picture Show
June 2011- Tootsie
July 2011 - Grease
August 2011 - The Godfather
September 2011 - Frankie and Johnny