27 posts tagged “academe”
I hand in my final assignment for my PGDHE course.
YAY!!!
Now gimme my cert.
If you haven't been to see the Families & Friends exhibition at the National Museum, do go and see it before it ends on the 18th of March. And don't forget to donate your own family's treasures!
I fly to Melbourne tomorrow night for my graduation. I've waited so long for this, I'm really more excited about being back in Melbourne and meeting various people than the ceremony itself. And it shouldn't be this way - on Wednesday, I finally fulfil my goal of obtaining my Masters before I turn 30. Not only that, but I haven't done this well in my studies since I was 12. (I nearly decided to skip the graduation ceremony for my Bachelors because I was so ashamed of the fact that I'd nearly finished without honours.)
Doing my Masters was also a huge turning point in my life. Before, my plans for the future were all rather vague - I now have a much more definite goal in mind. It's all the more concrete because I met so many awesome people who've achieved it, or are in the process of doing so. In my current job (which, arguably, I got because of my Masters), I've got to meet more of such people, and I think my determination can only grow as a result. Who would have thought that academia is where I'd be happiest?
I still have no plans to display my graduation photo in a prominent place, though *shudder*. Private sharing only! Anyway, as so many people tell me, my uni is nowhere as well-known as Monash in Singapore. It begs the question of why exactly that's the case, especially since the same isn't true in Australia (or, indeed, the rest of the world).
TM resurfaced today, after a few months of being MIA. If this sounds familiar, it's because he's done it before. Same time last year, in fact. My theory is that when he's on the move, his unread e-mails pile up rapidly so that by the time he checks his account, there's a huge mountain in his inbox that he just can't be bothered to sift through too carefully. Thus the "lost" mail.
It's actually funny that he should e-mail me today. This afternoon, the consultant I'm working with, RK, had just asked if I was going to meet TM on my trip back to Melbourne for graduation. Maybe it takes a third party to invoke his name for him to reappear! LOL.
His e-mail is very encouraging, and really what I've been hoping to hear (again with the déjà vu). Maybe it's fate that he should get back to me after I've committed myself to this institution (no pun intended) for the next two years. Otherwise I might have been too distracted by the elusive promise of a scholarship to actually work. When we meet, I should get some direction as to how I can finally get that damn thing published (M says he probably won't be much of a help, but I hope she's wrong!)
Today was my second day at my new job, and it really is very hard, these long hours; by the time 5.30pm comes around, I'm dying for my bed. I've never been so wistful for my days of working 9 to 12. Because classes don't start till May at the earliest, lunches are long and leisurely for now. My new laptop arrives next week - might be able to stave off possible drowsiness at work then, I hope!
I finally got my minor thesis result: 84%. It's an H1, but I must confess I was hoping for higher, in order to boost my chances of getting a scholarship.
I'm not sure what to feel right now. On the one hand, I'm rather disappointed, of course, and worried about my scholarship chances. But OTOH, part of me is just really relieved it's OVER.
Today actually wasn't a bad day. My new decants arrived (I got Divine L'Homme Sage, Mazzolari Patchouly, Serge Lutens Encens et Lavande, and Lorenzo Villoresi Alamut). Tomorrow (today, I guess), I was planning to buy L'Artisan Fleur d'Oranger, but spending this kind of money on a perfume is going to make me feel rather guilty when I'm not even sure if I can fund my ambition. OTOH, I could do with some consolation!
I've drafted an e-mail to TM, should send it now and see what he has to say.
Ok, sent. In it, I admitted that without a scholarship, I might have to rethink the whole notion of doing a PhD, and truly, I think this is an option that deserves careful consideration. I shouldn't be so fixated on the idea, and not consider what else I can do with my life. In any case, a careful plan for the next 5 years or so is what I need now.
Yes, I'm back! I've been busy, then lazy. This is a summary of what I've been up to since my last post.
- Started a part-time contract at SAA. It's a very small class, lovely students at Pre-Intermediate level. I'm using the new Cutting Edge, which is definitely an improvement over the previous edition. I like the longer terms they have in this school, which allows me to teach (and the students to learn) at a comfortable pace. This one ends in mid-December, which is great if I get to start a new job in January.
- Went to China on holiday with my parents. We joined a tour of the classic Jiangnan cities of Hangzhou (pleasant), Suzhou (got barely a glimpse), Wuxi (underrated), Nanjing (duck!) and Shanghai, with a stopover in the canal town of Wuzhen (if one more person tells me Zhouzhuang is better, I'll scream). Also wasted a day (and night) at Hengdian (Hengdian Movie and Television City, where we never got to see the really interesting bits) and Yiwu (Small Commodity Market, humongous and a complete waste of time). Shanghai, well... Shanghai has to be seen to be believed. Probably a fantastic place for pampered expats to live in, but doesn't have that much to offer tourists. Has a great museum, and the food is good if I don't have to eat Shanghainese every day. All in all, an attractive region of China, I think. More beautiful than the northern cities and more historical than the cities south of it.
- A tied the knot with her honey! I was maid of honour, and the wedding was beautiful. The 2-day affair was fatiguing, but I had fun lah.
- I got my first interview! This was at a place far, far away, called Boon Lay (haha). It was quite a formal thing, with a panel of 4 interviewers, but I came out of it relatively unscathed and I really don't think I could have done better. That said, I'm not sure if I want to commute to Boon Lay on a daily basis.
In other news, well, there's no other news, that's the problem. I had been waiting patiently for my MT result, until I's came out (congrats again! what an accomplishment!!) while I was in China. 3 weeks later, I'm still waiting (not quite as patiently) for mine. I've refrained from bugging CR about it, since I figured (correctly, as it turns out) that the markers have probably been too busy to get around to marking my MT. It looks like I won't be able to graduate until March, which is just as well. I need time to save up $$$ and summer in Melbourne is quite miserable anyway.
Our QM marks were released last night, to our pleasant surprise.
I actually have mixed feelings about this: on the one hand, it's a load off my mind, but on the other, it does free me up to obsess over my MT mark (more than I already was, I mean). Anyway, I'm quite pleased with what I got, so credit where it's due:
- TM, for encouraging us to take QM,
- CR, for making the subject far less painful than it could have been,
- I, for letting us use part of her MT as our final project and doing most of the writing as a result, and
- K, for being such a great project partner.
Really, who'da thunk my best subject would have anything to do with statistics? (The fact that it tied with Language Testing makes it even more puzzling.) Let me state for the record that I still harbour a deep-seated antipathy towards figures, and probably always will.
Here's my scoreboard, minus MT mark.
Language Testing 93%
Seminars in Second Language Acquisition (LSP) 89%
Second Language Acquisition 81%
Pronunciation of the Spoken Language 86%
Research in Applied Linguistics 83%
Quantitative Methods in Language Studies 93%
I wished I'd done better, but I guess I have nothing to be ashamed of, really. My average is now 87.5%, which I hope will impress the powers that be.
Yes, it's all done! Vetted by TM, and edited and re-edited by myself about a dozen times. It reached Melbourne yesterday morning. I'd thought I would rush to post this once I'd printed and bound the copies on Tuesday, but I guess I was just too numb to do anything more than give a feeble "yay". This is probably not the end of it, though. I might have to present it soon, and there's always the hope of publication, so there's still work to be done.
Never mind that, let's look at some pretty pictures now of clothes I've bought!
You probably can't tell, but this is deep green in colour. I got this cotton cardi from Mango. Cardigans are tricky for me - so many of them look too mature on me. A high round collar like this helps.
I got this silk blouse from the Morrissey outlet on Bridge Road. You can't tell from the picture, but the fitted cut is actually quite flattering.
Okay, this one I bought in a moment of weakness. Ever since I was back in Singapore over the summer, I've wanted something from Massimo Dutti. This is a Spanish label that's been in Singapore for about 6 months now. Beautiful, classy pieces. I adore the bright red of this cotton shirt, and the fitted cut too.
I'm sooo tired. I've been running around like a mad woman for a week now.
Saturday: Moved the bulk of my stuff from my old place at Cardigan St to UCA in the city, with the help of 3 classmates. Had spent the previous 5 days packing and throwing away stuff. The first van-taxi driver wouldn't take us unless we paid him $60. Bastard. Fortunately the dispatcher found another driver who was okay with it and I paid $24 in the end. Had to make another run in the evening on the tram to move more of my stuff.
Sunday: Met K and I to discuss the DCT coding for the QM project. Made 2 trips back to Cardigan St in order to get all my stuff over. Left laptop behind since my new internet connection hadn't been activated yet.
Monday: Picked up laptop, then attended meeting for LTRC volunteers in the morning. Had cleaners over in the meantime. Met K to discuss her RM, then had to meet J since she was returning to Canada. (Bye, J!) Went back to Cardigan St to clean up some more. Finally ready to hand it over.
Tuesday: Was at campus at 7.15 to help with the first workshop. Was so tired and sleepy I probably didn't do full justice to TM and Rasch. But got to play with Quest and Facets software. Had my internet set up, then met K for dinner. Helped her finish up her RM back at my place. We were only done after midnight; fortunately K was able to get a ride home. After she left, I stumbled onto a crucial article - had to work it into my RM.
Wednesday: Another early day helping out at the second workshop. Interesting but not enough to keep me awake the whole day after my late night, so I left after the morning session and went shopping. Bought something at Cue and lunch, then returned to UCA to sleep. Finished my RM to my satisfaction, finally. I would be able to look CR in the eye when I met him the next day, at least.
Thursday: First real day of the LTRC. Wasn't on duty but ended up helping out anyway with K. Lots of presentations on multitrait-multimethod analyses using structural equating modelling. Completely bewildered and befuddled. Met CR during the tea break and "assured" him the attachment on the e-mail I sent him wasn't a virus. Haha.
Friday: An early day with K, who's on duty. Met somebody who's living proof that you could be a PhD holder and still be stupid and shallow. Helped out some more, and after the morning session, ran back to Cardigan St for the bond inspection. It went ok, and I should get my money back in a couple of weeks. At tea break, chatted with TM, who reassured me that I didn't have to understand MTMM and SEM to do language testing (it's just a particular school of research led by one of the leading lights of testing). K and I became experienced mic girls, and managed not to fall flat on our faces running up and down the aisles of the lecture theatre. Some cool presentations on pair and group oral testing I could actually appreciate.
Saturday: Avoided work till lunchtime, when K and I somehow ended up playing tour guide to stupid/shallow PhD holder and friend. After lunch, played mic girls again and made TM happy (because our morning replacement sucked). The final symposium on the use of native-speaker norms in testing was fab - conference ended with a bang.
I've really enjoyed the LTRC, it was fun and revived my interest in language testing. It was amusing to see academics enjoying themselves too. I also met quite a few people who were envious of the fact that 1) I was doing my postgrad studies with this department, and 2) my supervisor was a "star" in the field. The next step is obvious! I should do my PhD on testing here and have him supervise. Right?
Feels like I haven't blogged forever, so here's a quick update on me.
I finally finished transcribing all my tapes. Well, all the ones I'm planning to use now. I had to discard an entire category because of poor sound quality, but fortunately I could afford to. Another tape had to be re-copied because I'd missed the second half, and it took awhile to get that done. If I never have to deal with those test centre people again, it'll be too soon. (Okay, it was just that one person that got in my way, naming no names.)
In the last couple of days, I've been working on my lit review, and I think I'm mostly done. I'm surprised it didn't take longer, but I really didn't have that much to write. Hopefully my results and discussion section will be more substantial.
Next up is methodology, which I can't write about until I test my ideas on a bit of data (thus my decision to finish transcribing first - I wanted a complete data set).
Surprised at all this hard work? It's not, I assure you, due to any sudden distaste for procrastination. The first half of this thesis (up to methodology) has to be submitted as a research methods assignment that was due a week ago. I managed to wheedle a 2 1/2 week extension from CR. Breaking my own record for extensions, I might add. I'll be sure to clap extra loudly after your conference presentation next week, CR.
Today was the last class of the semester (and if I'm lucky, ever). We handed in our test answers - fingers crossed! After that the two of us (I and me) went down to UCA to make our downpayment for our short-term flats. I'll be moving out of my beloved flat here in Carlton on the 24th of June. From UCA we walked to Chinatown, where the department's end-of-semester dinner preparations were underway. K had been "volunteered" for this, and we thought we would lend a hand.
This turned out to be a tactical error, because instead we got strong-armed by KY, event organiser extraordinaire, into giving a speech on behalf of the graduating students. We hastily scripted a short and sweet one on the back of my grocery list, and I thought it went fairly well, though I was deeply embarrassed.
Dinner was nice, but these occasions are never about eating, really.
T, my supervisor, came over, and I had an embarrassed little speech all ready to explain why I hadn't been in touch for a month or so and that I was still transcribing even though it's been ages since I got the tapes. I was therefore completely taken aback when he apologised for not following up on my work, and then praised me for being independent. I was just about struck dumb, but then scrambled to make tentative arrangements to see him next week, and told him I'll be in Melbourne till the end of July. Fortunately for me, he's not leaving Melbourne for his sabbatical till August, and will be contactable via e-mail even after that. I wonder about him sometimes, how could anybody possibly be that nice a person? Everytime I think he couldn't be any nicer, he stuns me again. It doesn't hurt that, as K says, he has a lot of power and influence not just in the department but probably the faculty too. And, of course, I'm just in awe of his academic accomplishments. It's almost depressing - I know I'll never be that smart. Or that nice.
KY, buzzed as always, was a scream. He swears he's retiring from organising these events, but I'll believe it when I see it. He lives for this sort of thing. He and CR are jetting off to Spain for a holiday soon; CR totally deserves it, after teaching 4 classes a week, on top of all his supervisory duties, papers/books he's working on and whatever administrative work he has as course coordinator.
I had a good time chatting with classmates, and was sad to realise that I probably wouldn't be seeing most of them again. I think the general enthusiasm among our classmates reflects very well on the department as a whole. Even students from other departments have commented on that! In addition, it's very well-run and organised, which makes our lives so much easier.
Right, plenty of time to wax sentimental later. Like, after my MT is done.
