november
so i'm off to london again tomorrow. the nation's capital twice in 2 weeks. cosmic_mud has promised me japanese food for dinner so that thought makes me happy. and i'm keen to try out this new bakery cafe called Konditor and Cook which according to Ms. Lawson herself is a place which makes fabulous cakes if you had the time, energy and inclination. so hmm...i like the fact that they have cakes called Whiskey and Orange Bombe, Curly Wurly and tiny mini cakes called Magic Cakes! then there's a steamboat dinner on friday and fireworks on saturday.
work-wise, things are beginning to change in new and scary ways. which i would probably spend the rest of november thinking about.
it's my final year of research and my supervisor wants to see me a lot more often now because as he reckons- we are getting into the nitty gritty of the writing now and we need to go through my writing line by line. which is a HORRIFIC thought when you think that i have about 70,000 words at the moment. i fell asleep once reading a chapter of mine, so i'm not quite sure how'll i cope with him and me going through every one and single line. lots of coffee and chocolate i guess.
but he's also brought up the subject of jobs and that's another area i need to think about. every time i get back to singapore, i meet up with people and get 'offered' jobs. and they are interesting and i don't mind considering them. and i was pretty set in my mind that i would go back to singapore and get in touch with these people and see what pans out and also apply for the specific opportunities that i am quite keen about which i have shared with some of my friends.
but my supervisor has offered to do the nicest thing or maybe it's just a sign that he respects the research that i do (lots of people assume just because you're a student it means that you wake up at 11am, party all night, work 2 hours a day, take an exam and get a degree. which to a certain extent is true when you're an undergrad. it's hard to defend what i do because there's misconception so huge that i can't be arsed to explain it. i think i've boiled down my riposte to- if it's so damn easy to do a Phd then why aren't more people doing it? which doesn't really help with changing the myth!) but what has my supervisor offered to do? He's stated that i should seriously consider applying for Fellowships. and not only that, he would be happy to be listed as Co-researcher on any applications as well. i don't know what a corporate equivalent would be. but perhaps it would be an account director telling his copy writer that they should bid for a new account together.
it's a nice feeling. but it's giving me a lot to think about. fellowships are not easy to get for one thing. for another, it would mean staying on in the UK for another 2-3 years. on the other hand, fellowships are hard to get because to get one is pretty prestigious and sets you for a good position at a respected university and they are worth a lot of money.
so what does november bring for me? quite a bit of traveling, a bit of socialising and a whole lot of thinking.
work-wise, things are beginning to change in new and scary ways. which i would probably spend the rest of november thinking about.
it's my final year of research and my supervisor wants to see me a lot more often now because as he reckons- we are getting into the nitty gritty of the writing now and we need to go through my writing line by line. which is a HORRIFIC thought when you think that i have about 70,000 words at the moment. i fell asleep once reading a chapter of mine, so i'm not quite sure how'll i cope with him and me going through every one and single line. lots of coffee and chocolate i guess.
but he's also brought up the subject of jobs and that's another area i need to think about. every time i get back to singapore, i meet up with people and get 'offered' jobs. and they are interesting and i don't mind considering them. and i was pretty set in my mind that i would go back to singapore and get in touch with these people and see what pans out and also apply for the specific opportunities that i am quite keen about which i have shared with some of my friends.
but my supervisor has offered to do the nicest thing or maybe it's just a sign that he respects the research that i do (lots of people assume just because you're a student it means that you wake up at 11am, party all night, work 2 hours a day, take an exam and get a degree. which to a certain extent is true when you're an undergrad. it's hard to defend what i do because there's misconception so huge that i can't be arsed to explain it. i think i've boiled down my riposte to- if it's so damn easy to do a Phd then why aren't more people doing it? which doesn't really help with changing the myth!) but what has my supervisor offered to do? He's stated that i should seriously consider applying for Fellowships. and not only that, he would be happy to be listed as Co-researcher on any applications as well. i don't know what a corporate equivalent would be. but perhaps it would be an account director telling his copy writer that they should bid for a new account together.
it's a nice feeling. but it's giving me a lot to think about. fellowships are not easy to get for one thing. for another, it would mean staying on in the UK for another 2-3 years. on the other hand, fellowships are hard to get because to get one is pretty prestigious and sets you for a good position at a respected university and they are worth a lot of money.
so what does november bring for me? quite a bit of traveling, a bit of socialising and a whole lot of thinking.