I ended my teaching for the first half-semester today though it was not on a good note. I fumbled in my last class for both subjects much due to I'm falling behind in my note-making (typed and uploaded) now in both subjects. For Statistical Mechanics, it was pretty obvious that my note-making will usually be behind time because I do not have any notes before for the subject. I must say, I spend a lot of time to get a feel for the subject and to do this, needs a lot of reading beyond the suggested textbook. For Mathematical Methods, I do have some amount of my own notes but now I have used it all up and for future topics, I will start the note-making from scratch. In doing these notes, I prefer not just parroting what is already in the book but I tend to give details and sometimes even different perspectives that I had. Yes, that is why giving more weightage for first-time teaching is indeed the right thing to do (for assessment) but I would rather have this heavier weightage be gradually reduced beyond the first-time teaching since usually one's set of notes will not be stabilised until after a few cycles of teaching. So next week being a semester break will indeed give me some breathing space to catch up on the notes. Now, I still have the SCL modules to do because I have promised my students to give them before the break. This usually involves selecting suitable papers for them to review related to the topics of the course. Hope I can finish this before the weekend.
Happening today was also my turn to give a talk in our group meeting. Some weeks before, I was contemplating to review some materials for some unsolved research problems given to my students. Alas, weeks gone by without me preparing too much for the talk (which was on symplectic topology). In fact, I stumbled into Alisa Keating's Part III notes just yesterday. With Statistical Mechanics 9am lecture today to prepare, I did not get to say much and did not even get to the point of introducing J-holomorphic curves. So I did feel bad about the talk. In any case, I did upload the talk on YouTube (unlisted) just for the record.
So Monday next week is the beginning of the semester break and it is also the end of the almost nation-wide CMCO. Will the CMCO continue? Well the number of new Covid-19 infections today is back to four figures (1075 cases) and there are 11 new deaths. In the state of Negeri Sembilan (where I'm staying), there are 52 new cases adding to the few thousands of confirmed cases before (some have been discharged).
The worry is still there that the infections go out of control; the balance between people's livelihood and this worry is wholly nontrivial. Going back to lives within my sphere, chatted with my own students on how they are coping with all the online learning. Some of them yearn to be back in campus and wish to have face-to-face interactions to study better. I feel sorry for them. That is why I recorded all my lectures and made them available for the students to revisit. I made extra efforts to make sure my notes are properly typed for them to download and learn. I hope they manage.
For me, being an introvert, I tend to work better in isolation, away from most people. In this sense, I prefer the current work from home situation simply because it is more flexible and I do not waste time travelling. If I decide to do long hours in late nigh for work, I do not have to worry much since I do not have to drive (about 50 km to campus) the following day. I prefer to shy away from limelight particularly when it tends to lead to controversies. For instance, my recent blogpost was posted on the social media and there were ensuing discussions about the matter. On social media, people often get to be opinionated and left unchecked, strengthened later on by their respective cheerleaders. This is why I rather have a face-to-face discussion on serious matters without any audience. But that is just me I guess.
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