An experience shared – viva July 5, 2007

Oh my.. today is Chris’s viva. He’s a collegue in Chemoinformatics section of CISRG (Computational Information Systems Research Group), sitting back to back with me in the lab.

I went in quite early in the morning after my morning work shift – around 9.15 am. But lately he turned in even earlier. He’s working both on his Post-doc and PhD since April 2007; going to 4th year of PhD anyway. He looked nervous. I asked him when he’s going in for his viva – around 10am. Still busy preparing things to talk about in the viva. God.. I can sense his nervousness through!

Prof Willett went in for extremely short discussion with me & Dr John on the project that I am going to carry on. It was 10 mins discussion. Basically he talked on a train speed and explaining things to Dr John – making sure at least Dr John can understand his idea by heart. Then he left.. me.. wide mouth opened. I discussed again with Dr John with his translating Prof Willett’s idea at a slower speed. That’s how things going here – it’s not easy, really! I am so fortunate to have two extremely patience and wonderful sipervisors!!! Alhamdulillah.. Anyway, I’ve got much clearer idea about what to do next.

Then, did some ammendement on my first chapter writing (this must be the 4th or 5th time!) based on Dr Diana’s comments. More of it on grammatical errors and construction of more formal writing. Did some reading on updates in chemoinformatics and some useful stuff. Can’t believe it.. I’d really go ‘no-nuts-doing’ today (apart from blogging these ).

At 12.30, Chris came in with smile on his face. Knew it – passed with minor correction! Really minor!! He has been given 2 weeks to do the correction – mostly typo, and that’s all!! Oh my God.. I really wish it was me. Well, I hope when my turn come 2.5 years from now, it will be something brilliant like his. I congratulate him and we had a chat. He shared some experience with me. Obviously he didn’t send his writings to any proof reader. I guess he is good at formal writing and no problem on grammar since English is his first language. And international students like me have to save alot of money for proof read before submitting the thesis Well.. that’s a challenge. No matter we set ourselves to reach our dreams, there’s always obstacle waiting to be conquered.

So, there you are. Starting 15th July, I might have to quit my evening work shift – to spend more time on my research and to look after Hazeeq since he will start his school holiday until September. Starting from October, I will have 2 jobs again.. morning shifts.. weekdays and weekends. But at least it will not interfere my research time. I ought to be more serious with my study now.. it’s been 6 months and only 5 times today, it will be 3 years after all.

Pray for my success, please

6 months already July 2, 2007

Weii.. dah lama giler dah tak tulis blog ni.. payahnya hidup kat sini barulah eden tau.. lol

Mana nak start ek?.. Firstly, dah 6 months I dok kat bumi Sheffield ni.  Rindunya kat MY!!! Serius.. tak tahu camana ada gak Mysian yang teringin nak PR kat sini. Isk.. isk.. Prof W dah buat 6 months evaluation report utk I.. satisfactory, is my level.  Dah lepas 20 kredit utk upgrade from MPhil to PhD.  Next week nak start new project for part of my data collection – to find new ways for logP from MDDR (MDL Drug Database Report) using holograms.  Why logP?.. it’s used to pull in extreme numbers to readable numbers for easy countify.. like 10 power of 100000.. camana nak compute further kan?..  heheh.. this is one of the answer that I was unable to put in for the last Chemoinformatics 2 assignment.. too late for that

Second.. kereta dah tak boleh guna lagi.  Volvo 440 tu kena scrap laa.. belum hantar scrap lagi tapi akan diaturkan satu hari nanti.  Reason?.. skrew utk buka clutch plate tu dah rosak.. banyak sgt karat.. kereta tahun 1991.. what do u expect?  boleh repair gak kalau nak.. GBP800.  hmm.. baik angkat kereta baru.  tapi setakat nih.. biar dululah.. byk mende lain nak dipikirkan.

Third.. dah jumpa rumah baru kat area Walkley/Crookes.  Jauh dari Uni.. kena naik bas.. tapi masih dalam kawasan city.  Dekat ngan Netto.. supermarket yang giler murah la kat Sheffield ni.  Rumah dia comel.. 2 bilik je.. no extra room for storage(like cellar ke). Hmm.. banyak pulak pantang larangnya.. no nailings.. no new big furnitures.. bla.. bla.. Tapi ada hikmahnya tu, rasanya.  Tak delah rasa nak membeli memende yang bukan2x nanti.  Harapnya dapat berjimat byklah dok rumah baru tu.. dan jauh dari muka2x yang menyakitkan hati Hmm.. anyway.. sekarang tengah kumpul duitlah utk masuk rumah baru.  Hopefully akan ok balik cash balance nih.

Fourth..I kerja 2 shifts sekarang.  Satu kat HSBC.. 7am – 9am.. gaji 200 pound je.  lagi satu kat Notre Dame High School 4pm – 6pm.  Ni gaji 300 pound.  Mizi lak keje pagi kat Uni 9am-1 pm.. around 3-5 days seminggu.  Gaji around 92 pound seminggu.. 360 pound sebulan. Petang lak keje kat City Hall 4.50pm – 6.50pm.  Gaji around 200 pound la sebulan.  Cadangannya.. kontrak keje Mizi tu sampai September 2007 ni je.  Pastu kena carik keje lain.  I pulak nak keje kat Notre Dame High School tu pun sampai September je sebab start October nak keje pagi je (i’ve got a morning weekend cleaner job at the University which pays around 245 pound/mth).  Then.. bolehlah concentrate lebih baik kat keje lab.. boleh stay back lama sikit. Sumer di atas ni keje cleaner ek.  Baru ni buat budget balik.. tetiap bulan perlukan 850 pound utk survive one whole family.  JPA/UKM bagi 776 pound je sebulan.. camana tu?  Prof W sibuk suruh I fight utk kenaikan elaun.. hish.. berzaman dah sumer org try nak fight tapi entahlaa..

Fifth.. dah kena pikir pasal nak raya kat sini.. tak sure la Ibu masukkan bape pasang la baju kurung I.  Alahai.. sayunya rasa

Sixth..  rutin harian yang sangat penat.  Bangun abt 5.30 am .. siap n pi keje kat HSBC.. 7 am-9am.  Tinggalkan jam loceng utk Mizi 7am.. dia akan hantar Hazeeq pi sekolah.  Habis hantar Hazeeq.. akan pi keje pagi dia(kalau ada keje utk hari tu.. sometimes tak de).  I lak terus pi lab after habis keje kul 9am tu.  Stay kat lab tot tet tot tet sampai kul 3 pm.  Solat Zuhur.. then bretolak pi keje kat Notre Dame High School tu lak.  Keje sampai kul 6pm.. then balik rumah.  Mizi akan amik Hazeeq dari sekolah kul 3 pm then sorang student undergrad yg baik hati, org TGanu.. nama Jang (pompuan) akan dtg rumah around 4.30 pm utk babysit Hazeeq.  Mizi pi keje sampai 6.50 pm.  Bila I balik rumah around 6.30 pm tu.. then Jang pun baliklah rumah.  Malam selalunya I tak makan dinner sebab dah tak selera.  Tunggu Maghrib around 9.30pm tu.. (selalu I jamak je Maghrib n Isya’) then terus tido.  Gila betul .. I patut kena bangun lebih awal laa.. sebab Subuh 3.30 am-4.30 am sekarang!  Hai.. missnya MY!!!

seventh.. ada new quest.. nak masak Mysian dish every weekend.  I dah naik bosan la makan mende yang sama je tetiap hari.  Semalam, I masak Nasi ayam.  Mak la hai.. sedapnya!!!  Nasib baik la jadik.  Hazeeq pun kata sedap.  4 pot masak nasi.. sekali hadap je.  I admit mmg I banyak makan .. tapi x tambah nasi ek.  Mizi sampai 3 kali tambah.  Today sebab lauknya ada lagi.. so masak nasi je lagi.  Fuihh.. best betul.

Eigth.. plan utk round UK.  Rizal Tinsley ajak pi Scotland August nanti.  Jan lak ajak round London July nanti.  Nak pegi mana?.. terpaksa pilih satu je sebab byk nak pakai duit sekarang ni.  so.. pi Scotland jelah kot.  Boleh jumpa Mas n Zaki kat sana nanti.  Hee.. rasa sunyi la dok sini.. tak sama ngan geng kat UKM dulu.. best je.

Hazeeq yang comel ni pulak dah makin byk cakap.. cakap cam omputih.  Slang dia.. kalah.  Pastu asyik bercakap and tak leh dok diam.  Manja sangat.  Bila berjalan tu mesti nak melaompat2x.  Yang heran tu.. ngan I je dia dok jalan gitu.  Kalau ngan Mizi elok je jalan nya.  Tetiap hari masa Jang babysit dia.. asyik main online games je.  Bila kitorang balik keje .. suruh dia tutup komputer and tgk tv lak.  after i solat Asar selalunya akan ajar dia Iqra’.  Alhamdulillah dah separuh buku Iqra’ tu dia baca.  Basically dah boleh baca 3 huruf  bersambung.  Semua huruf dah kenal pun cuma sometimes tu tak lancar la.  InsyaAllah 3-6 bulan lagi hope dah boleh start Quran lak.  Kat sini susah la nak dapat CD education Melayu/Islamic.  So kalau rajin tu.. hantar le sikit utk Hazeeq ek.  So at least dia rasa attach ngan MY.

Oklah.. tu je kot takat ni.  Will update more soon.. salam kat sumua.  Salam.