IT'S A PANDAN LIFE ...!

“Go where we may, rest where we will,  Eternal London haunts us still.”  ―  Thomas Moore I actually wanted to write a review of my life for the first half of 2017 but I shall put that on hold. The London trip that I took recently is more urgent, considering I have a few pointers (which I would soon forget) that would make my travels in future, London or anywhere else, much easier. (Yeah, I never learned from my previous travels). As a side note, this trip was a reward to myself for completing my PhD last year. Yeeha! But in order to make it more economical, I purposely found a conference (in Brighton) to present a paper.  1. When in London, the first thing you need to do at the airport is to get the Oyster card. This can be used for tubes and buses. Pay 5£ and top up whatever amount - 20£ would be nice and gets you to many places. 2.  You can practically get to any where in London through tubes. Buses are cheaper, of course but tubes are faster....

There are times When I listen to music I feel like sharing it with you Certain beat just add up And merge with this image of you Running, breathing, sweating When I watch a movie even I keep having this conversation with you in my head whilst my heart swells  and eats this bitterness. 

Writing a review of 2016, as is customary when the new year has begun (for quite some time now, huhu).  Hmm. If I could summarize 2016 in a sentence, I would say that 2016 has been a hectic yet rewarding year for me. Here's why: Career I guess career-wise 2016 was really a hectic year for me. After 8 months of waiting, I was called for the PhD Viva in April. I was informed two weeks in advance, when I was chilling out at Nok's place in Kuantan, so practically I had ample time to prepare. But preparing for the Viva was  really nerve-wrecking. I really had no idea who my external examiners were until the day before the Viva. I was so fucking worried!  I mean, these two examiners were like professors in the field I am doing - so yes, there was that worry that they would be very critical of my work. But it turned out the internal examiner was more critical - well, that was sorta expected. My supervisor had assured me that the internal examiner had passed me but still...