接近终点了 Last Milestone

耗时四年多的“大工程”终于来到尾声了，赶在2015年结束前，把这份算是呕心沥血之作呈交上去。目前能做的只是祈祷考官们心地善良仁慈，对我手下留情，网开一面！

这四年多的日子，说长不长，说短不短；可是耗损掉的脑细胞，心情的起伏转折，只有同为研究生的人才会感同身受，了解个中滋味。一开始踌躇满志，计划着三年就要完成学位；接着，一年过去了，导师还再不断的否定研究专题，眼前的路开始变得无止尽。然后，导师指点了一条不算是康庄大道，至少还有街灯的道路，别无选择，只能硬着头皮勇往直前。 再然后，发现原来只有自己一个人走在那条忽明忽暗的路上，导师神龙不见尾的，只是偶尔客串一下。幸好，身边还有几位同是“天涯沦落人”的朋友，遇到瓶颈时互相开玩笑释放压力，笑一笑，闭上眼睛，就过去了。

感谢一直以来都在无条件支持我的家人，让我可以坚持下去完成我的理想，虽然不是很伟大的那个！希望很快就可以看到这样让人豁然开朗的蓝天！

Another Milestone Achieved

It has been taken almost a month to confirm the date for my proposal defense after the submission is done. Finally, the officer confirmed with me that I'll have my proposal defense two days later when I checked with on Monday. Luckily, I had ready with the presentation slides 2 weeks ago. If not, I'm sure I'll be in big trouble to rush for the preparation. 

Perhaps, due to the early preparation, both mentally and physically about the challenge I'll face, I actually slept quite well last night, unexpectedly. So, today I came in "well-prepared", fresh and energetic, ready with the invisible "bulletproof vest" on, let us finish it!

I quite satisfied with my presentation, I think my supervisor also has the same feeling, at least I able to present it confidently. And here comes the questions from examiners. Well, the first question is already so challenging that it alerted me not to step into examiners' trap! I tried real hard to defense my work (my supervisor had reminded me to be careful before!) and to convince the examiners that my work is worthwhile, though I myself not 100% sure about this (haha...). They spent almost 1 hour to throw all the questions, haih!

"The examiners agreed that you have passed your comprehensive exam, subject to amendments. " Har? So is it pass or fail? I'm waiting for the Chairman to tell me "you have 1 month for correction and re-submit your proposal writing before we release your result". But, there is nothing else from them. 

"Congratulation! You passed!". Finally, the best statement came out from the mouth of examiners. OH! I had passed my comprehensive exam! Yes! Finally!

But, can't be happy for too long. This is only to confirm that I can proceed with my research. There is still a long way to go before I really earned my PhD title. 

Halfway of Journey

Finally, I managed to come to this point after struggling for two and half years of hard work. Although it is just a submission, I'm still grateful to have this small small achievement. The next thing need to do is, pray hard for the coming comprehensive exam, which is the so-called proposal defense. Hopefully, I'm lucky enough to get a not so demanding examiners committee who are kind give me a pass.

I know, it is still a very long way to go for the second half of the journey. No matter how, I'll definitely continue the way down to the end, and complete it!

书本的妙用

有一天，终于熬到下班时间，迫不及待的走去停车位。在我打开车门就要跨入车内的那刹那，发现了书本的另类妙用！这一发现，让我会心一笑，带着愉快的心情下班回家去！

首尔之旅（二）-- 出发咯！

今天是大年初三，我却躲在家里忙着收拾行囊，明天就要飞咯！大乡里第一次在冬天时节到四季国家出国公干，真是兴奋+紧张，既期待，又害怕受伤害，哈哈!

一再地确定该带的物品都带齐，卫生衣毛衣羽绒外套必须带，应急药物少不了，护照文件登机证不可漏。

明天还要起个大早到机场，今晚不知睡得着吗？

首尔之旅（一）-- 出游前

继上一次出国旅行，隔了整整三年，我们终于又要来个自助游了！这次的目的地是韩国首尔，下个月就成行了。我还得特别感谢我的老板，如果不是因为她看到将在首尔大学举办的学术研讨会加上她很想参加那个研讨会，（美其名是参加研讨会，实际上是借机游玩），然后再鞭策我交出一篇联名研究报告，再然后又肯带我同行；我应该会继续呆在那儿为了博士论文耗尽脑汁，最终永久性脑残（Permanent Head Damage, 简称PhD），哪里都去不得。

对于这次的出游，我可是五味掺杂。一，公务在身，必须在著名学府及众学者面前呈现拙作，忐忑不安哪！二，跟老板同行，吃住喝睡走二十四小时，还有不知上哪儿找清真食物，想到就一个头两个大。三，现在的首尔是冬天，温度非常低，我可以预知那里将会多了个雪人冰冻伫立着。

为了这次的冬天之旅，我特地向弟妇借了羽绒外套、围巾、手套耳套、毛衣外套等等，务必要让自己有足够的保暖装备御寒。还有近期有人受同事影响迷上网购，然后又教坏我；结果，在E-Bay看到这个Passport Holder, 加上邮费才15令吉罢了，就手痒痒的订购了一个。我选择灰色，但是当我们收到实物时，左看右看上看下看，怎么都觉得是绿色，就向卖方投诉货不对办。他们相当注重名誉，所以，愿意作出补偿 -- 全额退款。于是，我赚到了！哈哈！

无题

新学期又要开始了！这意味着我离原定毕业时间只剩下两年时间而已，开始飙汗了。可是，读着一份份的学术报告，只觉得那些原理啊、数学公式啊、试验方式啊什么的，缥缈虚无错综复杂，难以捉摸。

希望顺利毕业这一梦想，不会是镜花水月吧！

当然，我何其幸运的，在经历人生这段充满挑战的旅程中，始终都有一座灯塔指引方向，一个避风港让我加油充电，再昂然出发！ 

Back to work

After enjoying 1-week long holiday, I'm back to work again. Some of the research fellows busy with  preparation of a conference paper as they've been asked by their supervisor to present in a graduate student seminar jointly organized by few faculties in early December this year. Luckily my supervisor doesn't ask me to do so as well, otherwise, I'd have nightmares for this coming 2 weeks. 

So, I can still enjoy my time playing FB game while reading those boring articles.

Raya

All the Muslims celebrated Hari Raya Aidilfitri on the weekend, and we are happy to have long weekend holiday though we are not celebrating the festive day. We are not going anywhere, afraid of the terrible traffic jam on the highways as people are heading back to their hometown.

I wonder, how many of the youngsters nowadays know the reason celebrating Hari Raya Aidilfitri? They know Muslims need to fast for whole day long, but do they know actually they start fasting from the moment sun rises until the moment of sunset? Fasting supposedly let them feel the hunger of the poors, so they would appreciate what they have, and help those in needs. That's why before they break fast, they should pray and appreciate what they are granted. 

But, I think, we can find many youngsters sitting in front of the food they bought/ ordered, waiting for the breakfast announcement. Once the moment come, make a simple pray, then start eating eagerly and lots. Actually, it is not good for health if we eat too many after whole day long of fasting. It's a burden to our stomach. 

Well, in the modern days, when the technology is so sophisticated, we start to lost ourselves. We forget the moral, the meanings of those customs and traditions, and we critic people who still apply it as out-dated and naive people, without understand it. 

By the way, I got 'duit raya' from my supervisor days before Raya. First time to get a 'duit raya'! To my surprise, the amount is not small (don't want to reveal the amount here). haha...

Hectic week

I was very busy last week. There were 2 assignments due on the same day. I had started doing the assignments few weeks before, try to avoid last-minute work, still unable to finish it earlier. It's an assignment in the form of term paper, plus, I'm now a PhD student. Thus, I required myself to at least do something up to standard. But, it's not easy to write a good term paper, especially when I do not have such experience. So, in the end, I only manage to do an average work and submit it just-in-time. Really just-in-time, because I printed it out and submit directly, you can still feel the heat of the paper. Some more, I honestly told my lecturer about this. Haha...

I thought I can relax myself for few days. Too early to be happy, just a day before I submit the assignments, my supervisor  gave me a 'mission impossible'. She asked me to prepare a proposal and apply for the research university grant scheme. She told me this on Tuesday, and the application due date is next Monday; means I only have 4-5 days to prepare it. What can I do? Anyhow also have to come out with something. I simply think of an idea, furnished with some facts, then passed to her. I guessed, she must be thinking that "gosh, what is this rubbish?" Finally, she told me what topic we're going to do, ask me to refer and follow previous studies and prepare the proposal. Haha... this is easier; copy, edit and paste is my strength.

Finally, submit the application form and documents required on time. Phew! That night, I finally can sleep well and have a good dream! Actually, I also don't know whether I have a good dream or not, because, I'm fainted! 

安身之“位”

本来，我们这班研究生像一群无家可归的可怜人，只能委身于电脑室里，完全没有属于自己的位子，也没有一丁点的隐私可言。还被其他学生以匿名信投诉我们在里面高谈阔论，吃喝玩乐！我想投诉人恰好看到我们谈天的时候，却没看到大部分时间我们都是默默的埋头苦干（读），就武断的认为那就是我们每时每刻都在做的事情！真是。。。无言。。。唉

基于这个投诉，加上管理层觉得有必要监督我们这班领大学研究生助学金的工作及出席率（盖因常没看到我们，哈哈！），终于，在一个丢空的办公室里，让我们每人拥有一个属于自己的工作空间。美中不足的是，并没有提供每人一架电脑，只好，每天携带自己的笔记型电脑去。

由于那个办公室丢空了好一阵子，设备不怎好，冷气年久失修，吹出的是热风，窗帘也缺了一大片，下午西晒，相当闷热。结果，我们一开始并不喜欢这个办公室，没人进去利用办公。后来，由于越来越多外国学生进去电脑室，我觉得不怎么舒服。既然已经拥有个人工作空间，为何不好好利用呢？于是，我就开始出现在新办公室里，其他人看到了，陆陆续续地也跟着去了。

如今，冷气维修了，我们也习惯了新的空间，大家每天都自动报到！所以说，如果想要员工尽心尽力地工作，那就一定要制造一个舒服的工作环境，一个可以给员工归宿感的空间，自然而然，不须威逼利诱，员工都会自动自发了。