Skip to main content

Life and Proposal


When you're stuck at a proposal your life doesn't seem to move forward.

Ask that to the sweating man whose heart is pounding like a hammer while he is down on one knee, holding out a gold ring, waiting for the fateful answer...

It's like time stands still.

The same concept applies to the man in the office, sweating it out in the hot summer sun, shivering it out in the cold summer rain, typing and typing away, just so that a bunch of very highly placed professors get the chance to critique his work and shred it to bits before they give the OK for him to proceed with the next phase of his life.

That, dear friends, is the proposal.

And that is how I have been spending these past few months. It's not like I've been slogging day and night over it; I have had time to do other things, but I guess the combination of a few factors has made it seem rather daunting.

First off, I am now working on a deadline. I was supposed to have sent the proposal in on 31 December, but have asked for an extension due to the stresses and the perils of the recent earthquake. I asked for a month, and they very kindly gave me a month. It seems like I have been going on overdrive, but do not yet have the results to show for it, and the deadline is looming ever so closer.

Secondly, I will be going back to Malaysia in April (thus increasing my need to meet the deadline) to kill two birds with one stone - I will carry out my pilot study, and will also be back home for my sister's upcoming wedding. This is all well and good, but anyone living overseas with a family of four can attest to how expensive it is to transport them home for a single event. That is what is happening to me. It's a good (mixed blessing really, but still...) thing that Airasia has come to town. We can now fly direct from Christchurch to KLIA... but Airasia really needs to up its game.. let's leave it at that shall we?
Back to the story - because we finished up quite a sum of money for the fare, we now had to live on what I earned from my job... And couple that with the fact that I have been unemployed for the past 2 weeks, and will only resume my job in 2 weeks' time, this also means we have very little money to spend, which makes the whole process even more miserable...

And so the conclusion is, life and proposal are one.

Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... (medidative chanting)

Comments

Cat-from-Sydney said…
Wow! You sound so stressed! Now, go jog 10 rounds at the Botanical Gardens. purrr....meow!
Hehe... yeah, but still manageable.. hey Ange when r u coming down do CHC again? just book a flight down and we'll play host.. :)
Jordan said…
Hang in there bro!
Cheers bro! Slog on I must..

Popular posts from this blog

My first fast food experience ever

Growing up in the UK in the late 70s and 80s, it was almost impossible to get fast food that was halal. Definitely not like what it is today. Back in the day, we lived in many different places when I was growing up, but I consider Bath to be my where I struck my roots. As a kid you don’t really remember many things that were not within your immediate scope of experience. Everything was taken care of by your parents, and that is something I have go to remember again with my own children. Sometimes I expect them to be aware more of what is going on around them, but when I remember my own childhood, all we knew was we did what our parents told us, moved where they moved, went where they went etc. Anyway, I’m rambling. Back to what I was saying, It was literally impossible to get fast food, and all we could do was just imagine how the burgers would taste. Fries or chips was not too much of an issue because we were able to eat Fish and Chips, especially from Evans in the middle ...

Premature Mid-Life Crisis?

"Sejak bila lu jadi mat rempit beb?" (Translation: Since when did you become a street racer?) Were the first words that blazed onto the screen of my Dopod PDA Phone when I told my cousin that I had bought a bike. I mean...Is it that strange that I happened to work my butt off, save up, and buy one of the meanest most beautiful bikes I ever set my eyes on? I mean...just look at it... Shiny jet black finish, laced with highlights of blazing red, topped with rugged racing streaks...  I think I just wiped a tear off my face... No, no, don't get all worked up... I haven't gone off the wall. It's just that with the increase in fuel price, it seems silly to spend RM600 just going to and from work every day... Think about it, that's a month and a half's pay for my maid! Just to get to and from work!  So, I figured this would be a good compromise - maybe 2 or 3 days a week going to work by bike, and going to the local stores, local eateries, and even the local mosq...

TESL my TESL...

Every journey has a beginning, and an ending... And thus, my wonderful journey that I embarked on as a lecturer to my first Drama in Education cohort is almost coming to an end... I remember seeing them all, one by one, their faces eager to learn, but shying away in the beginning, all reserved in the small cocoons of their own little worlds... And when they opened up, one by one, I saw in them different, beautiful personalities, each unique in their own way... each finding a place in my affections...and eventually each finding a place in my heart. Yesterday night was a special night that marked the ending of this journey with them, on the one hand a sense of overwhelming pride that I had directly played a part in their journeys as teachers, building the very foundation of our nation, and even more so, as human beings, being the very essence of who they were and what they became... To commemorate this night, I sang for them... A tune that they all knew and loved... A tune that we shared...