Happy Christmas 2017

Tis the eve of Christmas 2017

Illustration by Ah Guo

Change

Brought the girls to the hairdresser's to get their haircuts as school is reopening soon, in another week's time. I decided to do something different with my hair haha. 

Can't really tell what I did to my hair, right? :P

Happy Winter Solstice 2017

Wishing all who celebrates a Happy Winter Solstice 2017! 

I woke up early to cook tangyuan for my kids. I am not my mother so I bought the tangyuan packets from supermarket rather than make them from scratch as my mother would. :P 

Big Move

We have to move office due to some restructuring of office space. 

I went back to move today. I had lots of stuff because I have stuff since 2004. It was really bad for my back as I was moving on my own even though I could use the trolley for the moving back and fro between the old and new office. There were others who enlisted the help of their RAs. Personally, I don't feel right doing that as it is my affair, not my RAs' business. I have moved most of the bigger, important stuff into the new office but there is still more nitty-gritty stuff to be moved. Need another few more days but right now, I need to rest my back. Really feeling my age! :D     

Winter/ Spring Cleaning

Took advantage of my leave to do some winter/ spring cleaning of my room! 
I seriously need to reorganise how I organise things! At least I still have time before Chinese New Year in February 2018 haha.

Nitty Gritty

On leave. But back at work  to do more nitty gritty administrative matters.

Take Leave?

I have a few outstanding writing tasks. Thinking of taking leave to write lol. 

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Besides the original Star Wars (Episodes III to VI, 1977 to 1983), I like this new Star Wars (Episode VIII) the best because of my childhood heroes. It is hard saying good-bye to Luke and Leia in this movie (it was good-bye to Han Solo in the last movie). It is the end of the chapter for the old guard of Star Wars. Thank you for the wonderful memories!

BB-8 (to Poe): *nervous beeps* translates to "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Poe (to BB-8): "Happy beeps here, buddy. Come on. We've pulled crazier stunts than this."
Leia (to Poe): "Just for the record, Commander Dameron, I'm with the droid on this."

Yoda (to Luke): "The greatest teacher, failure is." 

Yoda (to Luke): "We are what they grow beyond. This is the true burden of all masters."

Holdo (to Leia): "May the Force be with you, always."

Leia (to Poe): "She is more interested in protecting the light than seeming like a hero." 

Luke (to Leia): "No one's ever really gone."

Kylo Ren (to Rey): "Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. That's the only way to become what you are meant to be."

Luke (to Ben Solo): "The rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning and I will not be the last Jedi."

Luke (to Ben Solo): "See you around, kid."

Rey (to Leia): ".. it wasn't sadness or pain. It was peace and purpose." 

Last Christmas

The song, Last Christmas has a special place in my heart. I first heard it when I was in Europe for 3 weeks in 1986. I like the original version by Wham. Over the years, there have been different versions of Last Christmas and I like Ariana Grande's version. 

Last Christmas (uploaded by ArianaGrandeVEVO)

Programme Schedule

I am involved in the programme sub-committee for another international conference that is happening in early January 2018. All I can say it is a nightmare scheduling the programme. We had extremely late, and incomplete data to work with. Other than that, still had to contend with colleagues who only knew how to talk but nowhere to be found when work needs to be done.

Runnin' (Lose it All)

Heard this advert song at the cinema when I watched Thor a while back.

Runnin' by Naughty Boy ft Beyonce, Arrow Benjamin (uploaded by NaughtyBoyVEVO)

Claims

Another day spent on the administrative aspect of research work - preparing claims. 

Emails

After two weeks away from the office, I spent the whole day clearing 200+ emails and archiving the important ones. Not the most exciting part of research work.  

Missing Starbucks

I was surprised during my recent trip to Australia that there is no Starbucks in Canberra. No, I am not a coffee drinker. I am only more interested in the kinds of merchandise that the Australian Starbucks carries. :P

Unwanted Guest

After my shower, I found an unwanted guest in the bathroom.
A centipede! 
How in the world did it get here?! We are staying on the 9th floor! 
What happened to the centipede? 
I killed it.  

Perfect

Heard this duet when I was in Sydney.

Perfect duet by Ed Sheeran and Beyonce (uploaded by Play Music)