A moment with my future MIL aka supervisor

Had a meeting with my supervisor at 2pm today. I printed out the things that I want to give her. While waiting for the meeting, read a book by Kvale. Gosh, I have to finish reading the whole book before going back to Malaysia. S****** came to the research room to have her lunch. Take a break from my reading and had my lunch too. It's kind of awkward to be in a same room with other people yet, not talking to each other. I need human interaction. So, stop my reading and had a little chat with her. About study and life in general. Then suddenly she said "You are a genius". Errr... what did I say? Did I say something smart? Err... what did I say just now? Looking at my confused face, she explains why she thinks that I am a genius. She said that I can easily figure out the head and tail of the things that she describes to me. Errr... so, does it mean I am a genius? Errr.... Well, to stop her from keep on saying that again and again (being Japanese she has this tendency to bow and at the same time praising me for being such a genius - whatever), I excused myself on a pretext that it's the time for me to see my supervisor. Off I went to Barbara's room. Alamak... it's locked. Is it at 2pm or at 3pm? I checked my diary again. Errmmm it is 2pm. Ok. Let's wait couples of minutes.

While humming Cliff Richard's songs in my head, I heard her footsteps. I stood up (I was seating on the floor while waiting for her - nasib baik ada karpet tak ada sejuk my a**).

With a cheerful Hi and a smile, went inside her room. Gave her the things I printed out etc. She gave me Jim's review on my presentation last week. WOW! Every single page in the report is written with something. I laughed. Barbara looked puzzle. Giler ke apa minah melayu ni ketawa? She asked me, why are you laughing? I told her that I don't know what to expect and seeing Jim's review it seems that I need to improve A LOT! I laughed again.

Barbara said that Steve, Mike and her feel that Jim should not comment that my summary is not enough for the report. The thing is 5000 words is not much. Well, I don't mind at all. I know that 5000 is too little to summarize a 20000 works (my literature review, I mean).

I am glad that I am doing fine. Alhamdulillah.

I reminded Barbara about my progress report that I have to send to the MOHE and my faculty in Malaysia. This time around, Barbara gave me 10/10. Whoah... can you please change that? Barbara said that she is really pleased with my work. She knows how committed I am with my work (there is a little incident with the cleaner lady that got me into a little "trouble" that testify how committed I am to be at school as early as 7am until 7pm every day. Day in, day out). Aiyoo... the thing is I think that PhD is my work. In Malaysia, I went to work 630am and went back after 5pm. Only on certain occasion, I went back earlier than that (especially after a long hour drive to supervise students who are doing their teaching practicum). That's only because it would be such a hassle to come back to UTM from Kota Tinggi after I finished my supervision at 4pm. So, apa lagi balik terus la ke rumah? Kalau balik UTM balik pun, by that time, orang lain pun dah balik kerja.

Barbara said that it doesn't look nice if she changed it. So she retains the point that she gave me. Adoi... I have to make sure that I got 11/10 for my annual review next year then?

Discussed with her about interviews and analysis a bit (adoi... so futuristic... belum ada data dah nak bayangkan mcm mana nak analisa? adoi.. pening kepala bakal mak mertuaku itu). She told me that it is hard to discuss about it especially you don't have any data yet. I admit that (even though deep inside me telling me otherwise).

So what's the little incident with the cleaner lady?... It is like this. Since subuh is around 4pm++, I went to school early like when it was summer last year. Like summer, I arrived at school 7am. Sometimes earlier than that, depending on the bus that I took. The cleaner usually will come around 730am to the research room to clean. So when she found that I am already at my desk and do my work, it's annoyed her. Then, she told me that I am not allowed to be at the school before 8am. Err since when? For all I know, I EVEN can sleep at the school if I want to. I have the key to the main door so what's the big fuss? She made a formal complain to the janitor who apparently told her that I am, as the postgraduate student are given a privilege to use the research room 24/7. Even on Saturday and Sunday. Out of curiosity, I asked my supervisor's secretary the regulations etc if just in case I misunderstood it. Anita told me that I am allowed to be at school whenever I want and she knows about it (apparently Neville, the kind and friendly janitor told her about it). So, somehow one way or another, Barbara knows about it. Ait... aku tak cakap pun dengan dia? I used to think that mat salleh don't gossiping. Well, after all, gossiping is a universal behavior. Errm... what can I say about that?

Met Steve on my way back to the research room. Had a little chat with him on the corridor. Then Jim passed by. Said Hi to Jim and I laughed. He had a chuckle in his eyes. Yeah, this minah melayu even had her supervision on the corridor. Errr....

What can I say? Steve seems very interested to talk about cluster analysis. What's that? Just a type of statistical analysis.

I walked back at the research room feeling as if there are wings on my feet! I just about to say Whoopiiieee... when I saw Mike standing at the corner talking with the receptionist. Ops... what a day!