sqrewloose

Life's pretty crazy right now. I have been living on the fast track for the last few weeks, and I don't foresee the use of any brakes until the plane I'm on is well on its way to my home country.

With the final target of my project in sight, my work hours reached a peak of 14 hours last Thursday. I changed gears and worked extra hard for the last few weeks as I wanted some sort of closure/results for my project, before I take 2 months off to go back to Malaysia. I can't testify that working long hours and weekends is a good thing, but the satisfaction of reactions (or experiments) working and being able to carry a starting material through so many steps, slowly but surely getting closer to the target compound makes the long hours and non-existent lunch hours worth it. (Note: Chocolate is great when you don't have time to eat and need a lot of energy!)

At the same time, I have also started "mini-supervising" a friend, a third year student with some work that she's doing in our lab, coordinated Chemistry helps sessions for first year students, mentored Maori and Pacific Island students via Awhina, packed and is still in the process of packing to move out of my flat, looked and is still looking for someone to take my room on Glenmore Street, and I have yet to start on writing that research proposal!

But I'm looking forward to the week to come, as things start to wrap up (hopefully), seeing that I am one and a half steps away from making a fluorescent compound! I'm looking forward to some catch-ups with dear friends before I leave... and my neurons are already pulsing with excitement as I brainstorm for to-do's when I'm back home. Satisfying my food cravings is definitely at the top of the list, but I am also determined to not let this holiday go to waste, and so.. I'll be bringing some homework back- some work-related stuff, some intentional reflection time and also some artsy-futzy hobbies which I have been wanting to get on to. Oh, and maybe some cooking and baking too!

Right, gotta get some sleep. Swine flu has hit New Zealand. And funnily enough, my biggest fear is not whether I will manage to make my final target, but rather if I drive myself sick on my way back, and happen to have flu-like symptoms at Malaysia's Immigration checkpoint... it'll be quite sad but also funny if I get quarantined in my own country! Gotta pile on the Vitamin C's!