Fingers crossed

I am having hard time with my professor for the past 1 month.
Busy is the only word I have with my life nowadays.

I had a meeting with boss yesterday.
The past 2 meetings didn't end well and I sort of disappointed him...he said. Well, that's something you don't want to hear from your supervisor, in any possible way. He has been given me 3 big jobs to do. First, to handle my own project. Secondly, to help out a collaborator in UK for another project and lastly, Lei's project. He trusted me to complete them.
Well, I have to say I am doing a good job so far. I have fulfilled everything he asked me to do. I had all the results but it was my presentation that he did not satisfy. Well...I have to accept that he's a real perfectionist. He said, you did your job but that should include the way you present it. If you never thought of how to present it, your whole effort went to drain. Well, it's true. I took his point. But then again, with my whole day taken for experiments, when do I have the time to prepare the presentation? I should search my way into finding time to prepare the presentation for weekly meeting!? That is too much to handle sometimes.

For yesterday's meeting, I was so afraid that I delayed my experiments so that I have my results presentable. Well, he said he liked the way I presented it. Ohh...thank god! Do I have to do this every week? Too much effort every time. My husband could feel my anxiety and didn't like it too much. But I have to if I want to stay in this lab and graduate with a degree. Just in another year if everything goes well.

Cross your fingers for me...

Valentine's day

Valentine's day is around the corner. For Japanese, this is the time when females get the chance to show their affection by giving chocolates or presents to the guys they like. It's a big thingy in Japan. It's celebrated by females from age 7 to the more matured ladies. How do I know? Well, my colleague who is a mother to a 7 year-old girl is looking for a chocolate recipe. Saying that this year too, the daughter would like to make chocolate and give to the boy he admires for the past 2 years. My another colleague who has a masseur boyfriend complained that she would be fat during the Valentines because her handsome boyfriend would be getting lots of chocolates from his 'auntie clients aging from 50 to 70 years old'.

By the way, my son who is going to turn 5 this month asked about Valentine's day after watching a commercial about valentines chocolate. He asked his father, 'Daddy, what shall I do on Valentine's day? Shall I grab a girl and hold her hands?'. I laughed and walked away. Letting my husband to take his turns to give him a 'man to man' serious discussion.

Pen

Boss is back from Minnesota. And today's Monday so it's our weekly progress report day. Boss seemed excited to be back...a little too excited I thought. Maybe because he's glad to come back to the warm climate of Tokushima compared to that -25 degree celcius when he was in Minnesota. Anyway, the meeting went quite smoothly.

After lunch, around 3pm I finally decided to go up to 5th floor to check and organize the mice, since I was given a new duty to look after Lei's precious mice. Never mind the work...I just have to follow whatever I was told. So...there I was, changing mice cages and cutting ears for genotyping. Ahhh....somehow seemed to be an endless job. Later, one of my colleagues came up to check on his mice too. He saw me and said, 'Boss is looking for you. He wrote {see me}, under your name on the whiteboard.''Oh, oh...I thought. What does he want...? Did I forget to do something he asked?' So there I was, trying to finish everything as soon as possible before the office hour ended. I managed to be downstairs at 5.30pm. He was still in the office. True enough there was 'see me, YT' under my name. Nervously I knocked on his door and went in to greet him. I apologized for not being there when he was looking for me. ( Now I wonder is there a reason to apologize....hmm). Anyway, he looked at me and said, 'How are you? Are you busy? busy busy busy?' I answered, 'Yes...I have to help N2-san to do some small experiment.' He sounded relieved that I was busy. (huh? am I imagining?) He then said, ' These are some pens from Minnesota, do you want them for omiyage?' I smiled at him and said...'sure thank you.'. 'I hope you are productive...', he said finally. I looked at him and smiled without saying anything. Then, there was a pause. I cracked the silence and said, 'Is that all?' He said, 'Yes, that's all'. Inside me...I was laughing perhaps, crying. A mixed emotion indeed. So, let me analyze the whole scenario. He wanted to see me so that he could give the pen personally to me? Or, he wanted to see me so to warn me that I should be productive? Hahaha....

You make the guess.

And by the way...the 2 pens were, 1: ball pen from the airline he flew. 2:Pen from the hotel he stayed. So he didn't actually have to pay a cent for the gifts...^-^
Oh...another piece of info from my colleague, only N1-san, our lecturer and I were given these presents. Sweet? or weirdly funny? ^-^

Whatever you think of him...that's our dear boss. We have to love him anyway.

Arithmetics

My son is going to be five in 1-month time. My husband and I were a little worried because we haven't seriously thought about his education until lately. Last month, we started him with Mathematics in Kumon-shiki. At the same time, we also started him on piano lessons. Hoping that would help him catch up with Malaysian education system when we go back, which I heard is becoming more and more competitive.

We learned from his homework that he hasn't started on fraction arithmetic. Adding and subtracting is alien to him. So, being the enthusiast here, I gave him an example of addition mathematics: If you had 5 candies and mama later gives you another 3 candies (showing him 5 fingers on the right and 3 fingers on the left), how many would you have now?' I asked. He looked at my fingers, and proudly announced fifty-three. Hahaha...my husband who was driving laughed hardly (perhaps also laughed at me for underestimating my son's capability to create a headache for me). I am no expert here, but isn't the sum 8 easier than fifty-three? Then there was another occasion in the car when we were joking about something and I suddenly decided to test him his maths again. This time, I asked, ' If you had 3 candies and mama ate 1 of the candies...how many would you have?'. He looked at me and said, 'Mommy, why would you be eating my candies? You are not a kid anymore?'. Huh...why do I feel a tinge of guilt here when my intention was purely teaching him...tsk tsk tsk.

So...the lesson here, I will leave the maths to the wonderful teachers at Kumon instead of giving myself a big headache. ^~^

Snow

It snowed today in my campus. And quite heavily too.
Not that it never snows here...just that we were amazed that the snow continued for more than 6 hours and it did pile up a little until the sun decided to come out.
Unlike other people who decided to stay indoor, I took the opportunity to stroll home for lunch, enjoyed the heavy snow and took some shots of the scenery.
Lovely sight indeed.

Shhh...secret!

I have a secret. And I was told to keep this to myself till 23rd of February. My lips should be sealed until I am allowed to tell people about this secret. Urghhh...it's so difficult!
One small piece of info that I can reveal is...it definitely is a cause for celebration, but it doesn't concern me or my family. Ok...enough, that's the furthest I can go. Don't bug me for more cause I will not tell a word till the 23rd of Feb! So...hang on there friends!

Happy New Year 2010!

Happy New Year 2010!

It's the year of tiger! I was born in the year of tiger so I am all 'tiger up' for this year! My Chinese friend once told me that in China, this year should be the best year for people born in year of tiger. She also advised that I should be wearing 'red panty' to maximize the effect! haha...need to dig out my red underpants. Should be there somewhere in my drawer. Get ready my dear hubby! ^~^