Trip to JB, Independence and All That

Took leave last Friday to enable me take a trip that afternoon to JB for my other half's niece engagement event. But the day before that, I had to chair a viva examination for one of my younger colleague's student. While I have chaired many viva sessions before, this time I had both internal examiners not from the department; so, I did not know what to expect. Alhamdulillah, the viva went well and here is a picture of us after the viva is done.

For the JB trip, my eldest son drove us the whole way. All five of us were in the trip and we reached JB around 5pm. Experienced how far it is - five times the distance I travel to work each day. We stayed at Homestay Casa Tropika with my in-laws (three families). Our son in JB also came to the homestay to stay with us. That night, our nephews staying in JB decided to treat us for dinner at Family Port Asam Pedas Claypot. Here are some pics.

The next day, we went to my sister-in-law's place for the engagement function. Here are my other half with her sisters and nieces.

The niece (Amira Syafiqa) who got engaged is the one dressed in white below.

We headed off back to Seremban in late afternoon, reaching Seremban sometime in the evening. We had Sunday to rest. Bought a cake for the belated anniversary celebration (supposed to be on the day we travel to JB).

On Monday, I went back to work and I received a call from the auditor to be present at her office. I answered all the queries, some of which I just do not remember. Hope everything will be cleared up. Also, feeling a little touchy, I set up a group with my students and colleagues to help prepare the report for my research project (the final one, I guess). The report is due on Wednesday (independence day).

On Tuesday, I took leave to send off my son to his apartment in Desaminium Rimba in Lestari Perdana, Seri Kembangan, where he will travel to work beginning tomorrow.

Today is our independence day. The celebration is pretty modest. On a sidenote, I admired what Alffy Rev did for his country on independence day - people should watch his videos. Have many thoughts of what I think of independence within our own limited context, as I have conveyed to my younger colleagues. Within our limited scope of theoretical physics, we need to build a tradition of theoretical physics for which it is recognised (internationally) by others, and this is not easy.

Also today, with the help of my students and colleagues, I completed my research report (still have one final report to do later) and submitted it to our RMC. Hope this time, they will not make a fuss out of what we have prepared. I still got another report to prepare for another viva tomorrow. Pray that I have the energy to complete everything.