Another week has gone by. We have started teaching last week with me handling three hours (1+2) worth of lectures on Monday. For the first hour, there seems to be hiccups in the Faculty's wi-fi and I was disconnected twice from the class without me knowing, until the student(s) notify me through the phone. So for the next two-hour lecture, I decided to use my Yes mobile broadband to make sure the class went uninterrupted. On Wednesday, tried back with the Faculty's wi-fi and it was working fine. The same for Thursday. So I hope it will continue that way. This coming Monday, we were just told on late Friday that the campus will have the staff in full force. I hope the wi-fi will still be good; will experiment with the first lecture at 10 a.m. I am actually fine with going to campus (I think most of us are tired anyway staying at home); as I have said I enjoy working but with the right environment. As I discussed with my colleague, we are passionate with our work but things can change if the conditions get too rigid and I hope the administration should understand this human nature.
In a way, we need to come to terms with living with the virus in the community by proceeding with our lives with caution. In the past, we heard people lost their loved ones to Covid-19. Today, we still have new deaths but the numbers are smaller, perhaps due to the vaccination. Recently, just received the shocking news that one of my house-mates in Adelaide, Khir Abd Jalil, had succumbed to Covid-19 late evening on Thursday last week. I received the news rather late i.e. after reading the message of Dato' Suhaizan (another house mate during matriculation days) early Friday morning. I tend to go to bed early these days due to my tired physical conditions and so was not browsing the social media that much. Was unaware of what's happening. After getting the message, checked his FB page and saw his colleague mentioning the sad news. May Allah forgive him and bless him with jannah. Here is a pic of me with him (without glasses).
Just after this news, we have also received news that our brother-in-law was Covid-19 positive despite him being fully vaccinated, but so far he is ok. More recently, a school-mate was admitted as a Stage-5 patient;May Allah help him. Thus, we still need to be careful despite the opening of many economic sectors and state borders.
Renovations update: Currently they have started working on the kitchen and room downstairs, while the room upstairs are still in the plastering stages and not completed yet. Thus, most of our things had to be moved to our living room, making things a little bit unbearable. This is today's pics:
See the video below taken by my other half (like a horror movie with a soundtrack).
I have booked an extra hotel room (see below) for my sons to stay (on and off), to get away from the renovation when they want.
Like I have mentioned earlier, I tend not to read too much social media these days. Occasionally, there are some posts that are of interest, and some perhaps I have strong opinions on. Particularly those related to theoretical physics. After having gone through much, all I can say is that we have yet to build a strong theoretical physics tradition locally and as such it needs help rather than obstacles. What we need is not more constraints but more opportunities. Some posts triggered bad memories for which I will get turned off easily. We can talk so much about what we or other people want but unfortunately we do very little to help ease the work we are doing. Just this morning, I mention to my younger colleague that I have done what I can during my administrative years. I now prefer a quiet life, away from most things, and will not do much unless necessary. Currently, I was given the tasks of handling seminars at the department and some of these are posted in YouTube channel. For this week, I'm quite excited to have Kwek again, speaking now at the department. Hope my colleagues here will see how far has Singapore gone into quantum technologies. Recently an old boss messaged me about conversations held elsewhere on the wish for Malaysia to be in the quantum race. I told him we had a few initiatives trying to get quantum technologies but none has been successful. I guess, we can only dream at this stage. Anyway here is the poster of Kwek's talk to be held this Friday. I took leave so that I can use the hotel's wifi to conduct the seminar uninterrupted.
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