The Tooth, the Move and the Writing

I brought Juliane to see my dentist friend, Hoon at 12pm. Juliane needed to extract her milk tooth as her permanent tooth is growing up behind it. Sigh. It's the same problem with her previous milk/ permanent tooth.

We went to Hoon's place after she knocked off at 1pm. We had lunch at her place, followed by her showing us the common areas around her condo such as the zen pond, swimming pools, playgrounds. Juliane had lots of fun running around and having her photos taken by my friend, Hoon whom she calls Teeth Yi Yi (literal translation, Teeth Aunty because of her occupation :P). I also managed to help my friend moved her stuff out from her rooms to the living room as there would be repair work on the parquet flooring in her 3 rooms. Hoon later came over to our place to see my mother.

More writing needed. I am almost near completion with my dissertation. I am onto the revision of my last chapter. I just need to pull another all-nighter or two and I will be DONE!

The Move III

Some colleagues, belonging to a big-scale project, have been reassigned work stations from Basement 3 to Basement 2. At the moment, it is only a handful of them because the project will only start massive hiring at the end of the year or early next year.

Two good friends have to move. However, I think they would much prefer to stay downstairs because they have been at their current work stations for over a year. It actually made more sense for new RAs to move to Basement 2 rather than the settled RAs. Sigh. According to some (from another department) who have moved to the same Basement 2, the new place is quite dusty and the air circulation is quite bad too. :(

I will miss my friends as we have been neighbours for close to 1.5-2 years now. It is hard to get nice (work) neighbours. Sigh.

Moving II

Here's Part 2 of The Move saga... lol.

As you know, we moved to "The Abyss" yesterday. Today is our second day. I thought after one night of good sleep (err... quite tiring, you know, both mentally and physically unpacking the boxes), "The Abyss" might look and feel different today. One can hope, right? So did it change? Unfortunately, it is still DEEP, SECLUDED and SIGNAL-LESS. :( Sigh.

A quick walk around (being kay poh lol) showed that 2/3 of us have managed to unpack all our boxes. Oh, don't be too happy for us so soon. When I said unpacked, it didn't equate to organised! Lol. We just dumped everything we unpacked from our boxes into our filing cabinet, overhead cabinet and drawers without care if they should be there or not, haha. We only cared about getting the boxes out of the way, out of sight, lol. We will slowly organise them another time lor, lol.

Boxes still around.. Good luck with the unpacking, friend.

In a bid to make the place more cosy, many of us tried to personalise our work stations and work areas. I did by getting more stationery, colourful ones (orange, green, blue), to brighten up my work station, lol. I have yet to put up my postcards and photos because I have no idea where I have dumped most of them into... Hmm, is it the filing cabinet, or overhead cabinet or ... Argh, look for them another day, too lazy... :P

Trying to make the work area more cosy and personal

Friend's work station, personalising and organising still in progress

My work station, personalising still in progress. Very organised hor... just don't open the drawers and cabinets. Lol.

Hmm, it is beginning to look and feel more like a conducive environment to work in when... "RING, RING, RING"..."HELLO?..Hi blah blah blah..." What the ....?! "The Abyss" is an open space and so, everyone can hear everyone's phone ringing and conversations! Sigh. There goes my peace and quiet... Ok, never mind, can still try to bear with it, with ear phones/ plugs. I smart lol. Wait, what's that smell?? Who is spraying what?! Ewww. Ok, I am going to look so darn ridiculous wearing ear plugs and nose clip. Forget it. No wonder, some of our colleague had gone back to their former fishbowls to work. They the smart ones lol. Actually, I (me sour grape) think they suffering from Fishbowl withdrawal symptoms, lol.

Ok, so in "The Abyss", noise/ sounds/ conversations can be heard by everyone, scent can be diffused to every corner... What's next? Wait, do I want to know? Maybe I should work from home more, hor? LOL.

Keep tuned for the final exciting conclusion to The Move saga. I will take more photos when everyone is much more settled in - of the work stations and of colleagues who are happy to be in "The Abyss". :) Today, people too shy to let me take photos of them...

PS. CD, don't worry about me taking photos of people sleeping because I won't find anyone sleeping on the job! We are all such hardworking people. Hahaha. :P

Moving I

Today is the BIG move for our research centre. It is moving over 70+ people from different fishbowls into one big Fishpond. I was being nice calling it Fishpond. Some have "fondly" called the new office space "The Cave", "The Bat Hole", etc. Hmm, actually I would like to call it "The Abyss". Lol. "Why?" you asked. There are three reasons - Deep, Secluded, Signal-less.

Reason 1: Deep
All of us were formerly in fishbowls on the 3rd level. Now our new office is in BASEMENT 3! It is literally a big drop in height, from Heaven to Hell, hahaha.

Reason 2: Secluded
To get to our new office, we have to take 2 lifts and walk a fair distance in order to reach our office. First, we have to take a lift from Level 1 to Basement 1, and walk down a slope to Basement 2, and finally from Basement 2, take a lift to Basement 3. "The Abyss" is located where it is really secluded and hidden away. No one ventures to this part of the "world" except for students of a particular discipline, lol. :P

Reason 3: Signal-less
For some of us, mobile reception might be a bit of a problem in the new office, depending on the service provider. Also, if we are not careful, we might end up using the auto roam service as somehow we are being registered as being overseas, lol. Yes, it has happened, lol.

As you can see, we are pretty deep within the bowels of the earth or rather, the institute, pretty secluded and hidden away and pretty signal-less at times. So, if not called "The Abyss", then what?? Lol. I like "The Abyss". It definitely has got depth. Hahaha.

The move started at 9am, beginning with offices in Blocks 2 and 3 first, and then followed by offices in Blocks 5 and 7. Around 3pm+, the movers finally came to move our boxes to "The Abyss". It was both exciting and sad at the same time, having to move to "The Abyss" from our fishbowl. After the boxes and the people are moved, the fishbowl seemed so lonely and empty. I managed to take some photos just as the boxes are being moved...

Boxes, chair, more boxes

Colleague gone nutty trying to move the boxes

My lonely-looking work station with my work stuff in 4 boxes...

Over at "The Abyss", it is a flurry of activities and action. Boxes, chairs and metal cabinets are being delievered. Researchers are doing one of the following or all of the following:
1) trying to locate their work stations,
2) waiting for their boxes,
3) trying to unpack their boxes,
4) cleaning up their work stations
5) trying to personalise their work stations/ areas ...
Unfortunately, I was too busy unpacking my boxes that I forgot to take photos. :( It would have made a good visual journal for all of us.

Oh well, there is always tomorrow. There are still plenty of us not unpacked yet, or still trying to sort out where our things should go in our work stations...

Watch out, Friends. I will be coming round with my camera, lol.