1 day until Boss M goes on leave

I've still got a week ahead of me of official university days. But Boss M will be on leave for the rest of the year starting this Saturday, so I won't be seeing him until January. Tomorrow will be our last research meeting. Our last lab lunch didn't pan out as I blogged previously, but I was able to chat a little with M and F(V) for lunch today. It was a surprise but M did manage to go to work today despite being under the weather. He still looked a tad bit tired though, I hope he's fine. Surely he'll get his much-deserved rest come Saturday when his leave starts.

In other news F(V) will be going home to Belgium with his family for the holidays. Won't be seeing him 'til February next year.

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So before M went home he popped his head into our room to say goodbye. We ended up somehow talking about drinks on Friday. So looks like we will have our last lab drinks for the year after all :)

Black ants in my bedroom, and their bites sting!

Well, not really looking like an academic post today hey, but that's just the title. Some ants were socialising on my bedroom floor, and I thought nothing of it. Coz black ants really don't cause any trouble as far as I knew. Boy was I wrong! My feet stung a few moment after seeing that first ant. It hurt!!! So I've cleared out the lollies I had in my bag for fear that there was a social group there. I was right :(


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Today, the lab (M, A, Z, Y and myself) was supposed to meet up for a lunch. I was going to bring my camera in to take a photo, the last one for the year. Unfortunately, M felt ill this morning and sent out an email he won't be able to make it. He still encouraged us (the students, so basically no A) to go out without him. An hour and 5 minutes later since M's email, no one has reacted. I've sent out an email to Z and Y to follow up. Maybe they're still sleeping, or they might have not checked their email so early in the morning yet. I hope they do reply soon as I have no intention of doing the 1.5 hour commute if they aren't up to it.

I was disappointed to miss M and A today, as we were supposed to talk about something important for one of the upcoming projects. And of course I'm worried for M, as he's been swamped with work (recently, and most of the time) and now he is ill. Poor guy. I hope I still see him on Friday for out last meeting for the year before he goes away on leave.

Conferences and alcohol.

I had not blogged about the conferences we've been to the last month or so. In late October I was in Canberra with Z and Boss M at the Evolution meeting. That was a fun one. A big conference, with mostly Aussies, but a handful of big international names too. My favorites were the Helsinki plenary and Simon Ho (of course), who's recently moved back to University of Sydney. Another special thing about this conference is more time spent drinking alcohol with the lab and other scientists. After getting lost for a time Boss M and I found the famed 'Wig and Pen' in Canberra Centre. That night was possibly the most amount of beer I've drank. 3 bottles, a singapore sling and 2 glasses of wine. Good times.

I went to New Zealand by myself just last week to attend another conference. NZ is still cold this summer season down under, and of course alcohol consumption is still a central part like any conference :P It wasn't as much fun to attend conferences by myself than it is when it is with the lab. But I did meet some interesting people there. And I wouldn't mind living in NZ too, now I've been there twice (once in the South Island and now in the North Island) . I really like the climate.

99 days, and then I'll have a good beer spree

I've set the deadline for myself on the 18th of March to submit my thesis. Officially I have until the 31st of March, but I figured I'd leave a few days slack... just in case.

I had a very good, long "chat" with Le Boss yesterday, which gave me a good boost of confidence on finishing. In case I forget, I am going to breathe a thankful noise of acknowledgment to my mentor out into the ether. I really owe him a lot, and he deserves lot of good karma his way.

In other news, my scholarship has been reinstated. Well, it never really went away, but I lost a considerable portion of it after an administrative issue about the source of funds. Apparently, the contract for the other source had expired. It meant I had to live on half the amount in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Le Boss had a big hand in me getting more funding. After having a row at all the people responsible, he was not getting any positive responses for months. Ultimately, he asked the administration to dip into his own funds to append to my scholarship. That was excellent, and will help me heaps. Thank you <3 :) Clears my worries greatly, and makes me focus more at the tasks at hand.

The holiday break is coming up shortly, and I will not be seeing Boss M until January 2010. He invited me to stay in contact over the break, but I figured since he is going on leave early, he'd appreciate the silence. Though he insisted so, since it's quite important to us both that I finish on time, and do a good job of it. For now he has told me to focus on the thesis, and shelf the other projects for now, until I submit.

I am lucky I get these encouraging exchanges with him. From some other students I hear they are not in good terms with their supervisor and get very little time to talk to them. Or even if they do get the time to chat, it sometimes still amounts to them feeling confused and as if they've wasted time.

With only a few weeks left in my official enrolment in this degree, I feel more pressure and actually have more appreciation for this chance to work with Boss M. Even today I feel sad that the time is to end soon. It's not always that you spend a lot of time working on problems and have a brilliant mind to help you work it out. After this stint, it's going to be more about me doing all the thinking and driving on projects, with other scholars considered on level ground. Technically at least.

I hope the community of scholars do welcome me and grant me the award. With Boss M's signature, I think I have a pretty good chance. When I do get awarded, I will not accept his refusal for that sampler of beers, and he MUST have a beer spree with me!