I Am Now Mobile

If this gets posted on itsajugglingact.blogspot.com, it means that I have sussed out Mail2Blogger. WUHUU!!


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Viva Voce

Masters Viva the other day. I was one of the internal examiners. The student (far right) passed with minor corrections. Semalam dia datang bagi gambar ni. Dah berpuluh-puluh tesis aku baca, this is the first time I gave minor corections. It is so refreshing to read a well written thesis. Sangat bengang menjadi examiner kepada tesis yang macam tak pernah dibaca dek supervisor! Kudos to his supervisor. Bukan senang nak supervise postgrad students. Kalau dapat winning combination of good supervision and hardworking student then only would it be possible.

The next day nya student mastersku yang ketiga pulak viva. (Tapi dia tak bawak camera so tak de la gambarnya :p). Alhamdulillah, she also passed with minor corrections. She struggled for 4 years tuuuuu (2 years full time, 2 years whilst working)...Leganya daku...

Her external examiner was a Professor from UTM. This professor adalah pensyarah termuda yang mendapat pangkat professor di negara ini iaitu pada umur 35 tahun. How? At 42 he was promoted to Professor Grade B. Gaji beribu-ribu lemon. Sangat kagum..Orang UTM may know who I am referring to.

Sempat la sembang-sembang dengan dia after the viva. He shared some really valuable tips about how to succeed in this career. Bukan senang wooo nak dapat tips from orang yang dah berjaya macam ni. Kesimpulannya ialah it all boils down to the number of publications you have. Success won't happen overnight, it is a cummulative effect, so one needs to focus and strategize. It is the same in any profession la kan. Yelah, senang lah cakap, tapi macam mana gayanya nak strategize in this profession? Itu lah salah satu perkara yang mula2 daku ingatkan nak blog about tapi belum kesampaian huhuhu...

As for me, walaupun KPI tahun 2010 dah tercapai, I need to strategize for KPI tahun 2011 pulak. Yang paling susah untuk achieve is publication in high impact factor journal. So need to strategize accordingly from now blablabla. Jangan jadi macam last year, although KPI was met, but prestasi kureng power sebab tahun 2008, I was distracted big time. Instead of sebok ngan my nanotech research, sebok dengan research handbag, BOLEH??? Padan muka. Now I have learnt my lesson. Ye ke? But what am I doing now then?

Semalam dapat email from my Ketua Jabatan. "Your application for Associate Professor dah OK. Please proceed to do the paperwork". Ini baru kelulusan untuk APPLY. Belum dapat lagi. Fakulti akan saring dulu, kalau dah layak baru boleh apply. Dalam kerjaya ini promotion semua kena apply. Tak apply tak de sapa nak bagi. Yang bestnya kalau dah layak bolehlah apply tak kira la kau umur 30, 40 atau 50 In theory la!

Tiba-tiba jantungku berdebar...Bukankah masa itu emas, blogging tak dapat emas, well for some dapat lah kot. And yet I still find my fingers typing itsajugglingact.blogspot.com...

Ha...pandai-pandai lah ko juggle ye!

Unwritten

Good morning sunshine!

Have never been a fan of Natasha Bedingfield, to me her songs are so so. But yesterday heard this piece on the radio and thought Aha! Very apt :) This song is dedicated to YOU; newbies and otais alike.

I am unwritten
Can't read my mind
I'm undefined

I'm just beginning
The pen's in my hand
Ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

~Natasha Bedingfield~

*Just because we all appreciate a little bit of eye candy...hehehe

Escapism

Hari ni saya excited kerana terjumpa belog Liyana. Saya excited kerana one of the reasons I wanted to start a blog was to network with like-minded people and share some experience in my line of work.

But it doesn't look like it is happening. Lagi best sembang pasal women stuff like slimming tips and handbags to be quite honest. And blogging is beginning to feel more and more like a form of escapism...

*image googled

Mr. Hubs: "So what do you blog about?"
Me: "Erm...mostly random female stuff for the time being..."

With which I receive a pair of rolling eyes as a response...LAME! I know. But we shall see how this creature evolves. For the time being I am having fun hehehe...


Anyway to Liyana, all the best for your PhD babe. It brings back fond memories of all the blood, sweat and tears of mine. Oh tetiba emo, mengarut!

*updated on 30th April 2010: Today I found Lila's blog that I would like to add here. Yeay! All the best for your PhD Lila!

Blogger Eyes Syndrome

*All images googled.

Satu je masalah saya hadapi semenjak terjebak di dalam alam maya ini ~ dark circles under eyes. Sungguh menensyenkan.

Mana tak nya, habit burukku ialah membaca blog, di bawah selimut, di dalam gelap, on my blackberry, pada waktu malam. Dahlah tulisan kecik, skrin terlalu terang, oh sakit mataku! Atau pun, menulis blog sehingga larut malam di dalam gelap. Lappy Vaio ku juga terlalu terang skrinnya. *Tak ke laki aku meluat? Tunggu lah dia tidur dulu. Juggling act la katakan kehkehkeh. Tapi kalau tak nak kena cold-sholder with the hubs tak leh buat selalu, sebab tidur-tidur pun dia tau kita buat apa!

I have sensitive eyes, tapi terlalu vain untuk pakai spectacles, how? Nak guna contacts malas, sebab bukannya tinggi sgt pun power needed, cuma 75 je. Mungkin astigmatism agak tinggi. That reminds me, I need to check out Permata Hijrah, belakang rumah je…Ada sapa2 yang dah guna boleh bagi feedback?

Antara eye products yang saya pernah cuba untuk mengatasi masalah dark circles.’

1. Clinique ~ All about eyes.

I have used this product on and off semenjak 10 tahun lebih? This is a very good product to reduce puffy eyes. Selalunya kalau lepas nangis sakan (contohnya lepas tengok cita koch koch hotahe ke, malu la konon orang nampak kan, ceh.) it works wonders to reduce puffiness. Tapi tak berapa berkesan untuk dark circles.


2. SK-II ~ Signs Eye Mask.



Waaah…yang ini seingat saya very the berkesan. Tapi yang ni rasanya quite a few years back (2006) saya guna dan seingat daku, zaman itu, saya mendapat beauty sleep yang mencukupi rasanya. And tak tau lah kalau psychology sebab ye la, SK-II la katakan. (It is so overrated, I have tried the product and am over it. My dear Ladyofleisure pun didn't have much luck with it. The first 3 months memang cun melecun muka, then after that macam immune pulak jadinya.) Tapi memang betul rasa macam, wah, macam cun je mataku gitu.

3. Hylexin ~ Dark circles eye cream



I used this in 2008, masa tu ada masalah dark circles yang agak kritikal. (Buat apa ye masa tu? Hehehe…very the shallow one. I will share later.) Masa ni pikir2 nak beli balik SK-II eye mask, tapi ketika itu daku tersangatlah guillible dan terpedaya dengan produk Hylexin. Yela, just check out the add:

Aku sorang je ke yang terpedaya? Hampeh!

Masa tu tak gentar dengan harganya yang hampir RM500 se-tube kecik. Ni mahal nak mampos ni mesti berkesan gila. This MUST be it. Kecewa? Totally…tak.ada.beza.sikit.pun.

Kesimpulannya, masalah dark circles akan ketara jika tidak mendapat tidur secukupnya. It is plain and simple. Dulu tak nak mengaku, tapi sekarang semenjak hylexin, dah mendapat pencerahan agung haha.

Oleh itu, get your beauty sleep people!

* Habis tu, bila masanya aku nak blog? Siang kerja, petang exercise dan layan anak2, awal malam aktiviti bersama keluarga, pertengahan malam blogwalking, lewat malam je lah tinggal nak buat entry.

Haaaa...pandai-pandai lah kau juggle ye!

Beribu-ribu Lemon

I went to SlimWorld with a RM2000 budget. Sebab masa tu ternampak iklan pakej sekitar harga tersebut. Boy was I in for a surprise!

Susah nak terangkan apa sebenarnya isi kandungan pakej yang ditawarkan kerana ianya bergantung kepada keperluan individu tersebut. Tambahan pula keberkesanan rawatan bergantung juga kepada komitmen yang diberikan terhadap penjagaan makanan. Jika anda betul-betul mengikuti diet yang disarankan, lagi cepatlah proses pelangsingan anda, lebih berbaloi-baloi lah investment anda. Kalau asik curi2 makan je, atau malas pergi buat treatment, maka lambatlah proses tersebut. Maka pakej RM3000 katakan, yang mungkin sudah mencukupi untuk sesetengah individu, tidak semestinya memenuhi keperluan anda.

So which package is suitable for you? It totally depends on your budget and target weight loss. However, obviously, lagi mahal pakej tersebut sebenarnya lebih menguntungkan. Walaubagaimanapun tidak dinafikan memang susah untuk mebuat keputusan kerana tidak tahu keberkesanannya.

Tektik yang digunakan untuk memancing pelanggan adalah:
*saya menjalani rawatan di Putrajaya Branch. Ianya mungkin berbeza di tempat lain.

1. Membuat background check pelanggan. Kerja apa. Suami kerja apa.
2. Memberitahu pakej kategori mahal. Ini untuk desensitize you. Yelah, 5 ribu tak la semahal 10 ribu kan? Pandai ko ye.
3. Meletakkan tawaran same-day offer. Ni mesti sebab dah buat background check aku nih. Kononnya hari ni aja offer, kalau datang next time or even next day tak boleh bagi offer yang sama. Yang ni memang mangkuk sebab dia tau suamiku outstation masa tu. What ever!

Pada mulanya (setelah di-desensitized-kan) saya telah mengambil pakej dalam sekitar RM4000 kerana tertarik dengan tawaran yang diberikan. Setelah menjalani rawatan, owh alangkah terkezutnya daku apabila mendapati ‘ampule ajaib’ begitu berkesan! Maka terjebaklah lagi dengan menambah beberapa ribu lemon, khas untuk ‘ampule ajaib’ sahaja. Padan muka, dulu tak nak amik pakej mahal sikit yang lebih menguntungkan!

Note that kalau anda bersalin normal, pakej seperti diatas sudah memadai. Tapi sebab saya c-section, maka lepas tu terjebaklah pula dengan pakej khas untuk perut yang menggunakan rawatan infra-red, rainbow treatment dan slimming mask. Hasilnya? OK la, berkesan, tapi menyesal ambik sebab patutnya kalau nak tambah pakej, amik je lagi pakej ‘ampule ajaib’ untuk keseluruhan badan termasuk perut!

So, what was the damage? Tepuklah dada tanya selera, nak badan cantik atau handbag cantik? Huhuhu…

(Kalau beli di KLCC…)

(Kalau beli obersea can get more value for money…hehehe)

Saranan saya, pergi lah slimming centre hanya jika anda benar-benar komited untuk menurunkan berat badan. If you are an average sized women looking to lose 10 kg, then sebagai benchmark, RM4000 can get you a reasonable deal *berpandukan harga lama, sekarang dengarnya dah semakin mahal :(. Jangan ambil pakej terlalu murah, tak berbaloi, lebih baik exercise je, lagi jimat.

*Slimming centres are for short term weight loss. A healthy lifestyle is needed for sustainable weight management.

The Slimworld Approach

*This was the approach catered for me. I was 58kg at the time. My height is 155cm. The approach will depend on the person's condition e.g. health/fitness history, obesity etc.

I went to Slimworld after 44 days of confinement. Do note that both of my children were delivered by C-section. This really affected the treatment approach; basically my mid section was initially completely ignored. So sebenarnya agak rugi di situ sebab they succeeded in tempting me to take the stomach package after the rest of my body dah kurus (although I was happy with the end results). Sebenarnya if I had known at that time that there were simpler and cheaper albeit slower ways to a slimmer tummy, memang tak perlu pun. Tapi masa tu tak tau, and alang2 menyeluk pekasam...So kepada sesiapa bersalin normal bolehlah concentrate on one package only.

Basically women tend to accumulate fat around certain areas of the body as illustrated below:
*Picture adapted from google. Click to enlarge.



Does it remind you of anyone?

"Tapi kau tak gemuk pun?"

Owh, ini adalah soalan biasa...Ada kalanya saya juga bersalah dalam memperlekehkan kerisauan wanita tentang masalah badan mereka. Maybe because women are so supportive/accepting of each other?

Tapi bukan ke prevention is better than cure?! Honestly, takkan nak tunggu sampai dah melarat baru nak terhegeh-hegeh? Habis tu nak tunggu sampai aku 75 kg baru nak do something about it? I have fat genes in me, so in short due to lack of health/nutrition knowledge, at 27 I was well on my way to obtaining the ultimate makcik body at 30! For those of you blessed with skinny genes, you are allowed to be smug bersyukur here.

The fact is that what a slimming centre helps the average woman do is eliminate the stubborn/hard fat that she has accumulated over the years in areas as illustrated above. And not only the subsurface fat, but those that surround and pad the internal organs as well. I lost 10 kg during the treatment. Although I accumulated 4 kg over the course of two years due to poor food choices, I did not see any substantial increase in inches, suggesting fat accumulation around organs. I am happy with my weight now, but I am currently focusing on decreasing my body fat percentage.

Of course there are other ways to losing weight, especially through a healthy diet and exercise. How many times have we heard that before? And yet women still have weight issues. Most of us weren't taught by our parents on how to live a healthy lifestyle. For me it was and still is a self-learning and self-discovery process...

*I will be addressing some queries regarding the diet and especially the $$$$$ in future posts... Stay tuned!

Today's juggling act

Gosh, this blog thing is really demanding. It's like another baby, requiring constant attention!

Impressed with how you guys manage work and blogging!

My immediate pending assignments:



1. Exam scripts to finish marking. Nasib baik semester ni I only have 23 students; 12 postgraduates and 11 undergraduates. But s'like taking forever to finish.
2. 2 Masters and 1 PhD thesis to examine.

Kat rumah pulak laki aku dah start jeling2, how? Sorry yang, I guess it will take a bit of time for me to get into the rythm. Afterall, its only been a week...

The image below is for illustration only. Nanti orang ingat aku blogging kat office pulak kang...kuang kuang kuang.



OK peeps, although ada banyak juicy (perasan) stuff to talk about, I'm off to the office now. See you soon.

Slimworld ~ Sesi ganyang dan penderaan yang berkesan

As promised, here I want to give you some insight into my Slimworld treatment.

1. They will ask you to follow a low carb diet. No fruits allowed, no dark meet allowed, no sugar, no food and bla bla bla. Since this was temporary whilst the sessions helped to increase the body's metabolism, so I followed it more or less.
2. Makan kena berhenti sebelum kenyang. OK.
3. Kena minum 3 liter air sehari. I did this religiously.
4. No exercise. No complaints here!

Sessions included in no particular order:
1. Detox of the lymphatic system. Guna electrodes. Relatively tak sakit.
2. Body contour system yang seolah2 membuat 300(?) 900(?) situps or something along those lines. Guna electrodes. Relatively tak sakit
3. Sesi ganyang badan dengan tangan, menggunakan minyak ampule ajaib serta garlic oil. I swear that the effect was like dissolving the fat cells! Paling mencekik darah yet very effective! Sakit macam nak tercabut nyawa.
4. Sesi ganyang badan dengan mesin. Sakit juga macam nak tercabut nyawa.
5. Wrap dengan cling film and jemur dalam sauna for 20 minutes. Sakit tengkuk ooo dok dalam tmpt sempit tu.
6. Hot blanket.
7. Infra-red treatment.
8. Slimming salts and mask.

Of course each session would just be 2 or 3 of the items above. Tidak dibenarkan membuat lebih, I guess because they would rather not anyone dying on the premises. Owh, and be prepared to be black and blue all over for a few weeks.

So selepas pantang dan sementara masih cuti bersalin dan sementara sang suami outstation, saya mengambil peluang pergi 3 times a week. There would be a weighing session after each visit. Here you could see with your very own eyes the weight coming off slowly yet surely ~ up to 500g sometimes. There was evidence of fatty substance in the stool even, indicating elimination of the evil stuff.

The good news is that after a few read: many sessions, the body gets used to being beaten up and it doesn't feel so painful anymore. After further sessions the whole experience was rather pleasant and you could actually take a nap whilst diganyang. Ceh, masa ni macam pro gitu, no hal...

When Mr hubby came home, he was delighted with the outcome to say the least. Tau pun. Susah gila kot mula2 nak convince dia that it was going to be a whole lot of money well spent!

*Image googled

Blogging Incognito?

Terasa seperti ada orang yang mungkin tak sudi berkawan dengan diriku yang kerdil ini...

Don't know how to take it, more surprised than hurt actually, a bit sad because I like to think of myself as a friendly person.

Honestly I don't bite, I'm very friendly!

I guess my presence in the bloggosphere really ruined it for some.

I am deeply sorry if it is true, but I do think the world wide web is big enough for everyone...

Maybe that is why my dear friend ladyofleisure chose to blog incognito...but I don't think that in my case that was the way to go...Just because of the nature of the blog that I had intended to do. Everyone would know it was me...And those who don't then couldn't care less. I would still be a stranger...

To each his own...But I sincerely wish everyone the best...

Sedikit selfish ~ Can you relate?

Unlike lecturers of yester years sorry kalau stereotype, I believe more is expected from lecturers zaman sekarang. My parents were both lecturers, my mum in UKM, my dad in UM. However, I honestly can not imagine bringing up 4,5,6,7 children in this day and age, whilst simultaneously striving for career success. Something has got to give. One needs to make a choice; one cannot achive both. Especially if one is a Yummy Mummy wannabe. Daddy boleh lah kot sebab bukannya daddy yang mengandung, menyusu, nurture anak, struggle with weight gain etc. Tapi ini career Mummy, bukan Daddy. Mummy penat kerja which also requires juggling action. Mummy also needs to unwind. Mummy needs her ME time.

A lot about being a lecturer is if you can handle stress associated with multitasking. That is the nature of the job. The level of multitasking however, really depends on your goals and ambitions. You can take it easy or work as hard as you want, it is entirely up to you. Di bawah adalah pangkat dalam kerjaya seorang pensyarah:


Tutor --> Lecturer --> Senior Lecturer --> Associate Professor --> Professor epitome of success in this profession.


At this point in my life my career is extremely important to me. And what exactly is career success you may wonder? In my books career success is achieving professorship at the age of at least 40, kalau ada rezeki and umur panjang... Tak pe la kot mengaku in public? Tak dapat tak apa, asalkan usaha. This is generally 10 years in advance compared to lecturers of yester years. Entahlah kenapa nak dikejar2kan sangat. Sedangkan I am relatively young compared to my colleagues. I am 32 this year. However, anak baru dua orang.

"Bila nak tambah lagi?"
"Tak kan dua orang je kot?"
"Umur semakin meningkat".
"Adam dah besar *hint*"

Ikutkan nafsu hati, boleh tak kalau aku nak tunggu dapat naik pangkat jadi Professor Madya dulu? It won't be long anyway. Jangan la kacau momentumku...

Walaubagaimanapun, saya sedar bahawa tanggungjawab sebenar isteri dan ibu adalah di rumah bersama anak2, mendidik anak2. I always have conflicts with myself, guilty sebab mengejar cita2 dan guilty sebab penat and therefore malas dan juga garang. In my mind Ibu2 mithali walaupun berkerjaya although I also wonder how successful they would be in their careers akan meluangkan masa memasak untuk anak dan suami, bermain bersama anak serta mengajar anak mengaji, menulis dan membaca serta membaca buku cerita kepada anak2. Ye ke? I am sooo not that person T_T.

When I get home I will spend some time catching up with the children about their day, cuddles, huggs and kisses then its time to Exercise/FB/Work not necessarily in that order :P. My children and I will have parallel activities, whereby I will do my work, my girl does her homework/activity books and my boy plays with his trains. They will all be close beside me la obviously. OK la kot?

"Yang susah Aida tak payah buat dulu sayang. Nanti Teacher ajar".
"Adam, pergi main toys or watch your movies sayang".


Sekarang tambah satu lagi selfish activity: Blog. How?

Slimworld ~ My Best Kept Secret

After 2 years, I have finally decided to sort of publically confess.

Pertama sekali saya ingin mohon maaf kepada sesiapa yang terkejut sebab by not informing/sharing I sort of lied by ommission. But I did it because I didn't really want people to judge me at that time.

"Gulliblenya minah ni, sanggup bayar mahal sebab percaya boleh slim, ceh."
"Ko tak gemuk pun? Apesal ko nak gi slimworld? Bazir duit je!"
"Ha? Slimworld? Tak mahal ke?"
"Kau exercise je lah, kalau tak kurus macam mana, buang duit je!"

Ini antara komen2 yang takut didengari...Biarlah rahsia, sementara masa menentukan samada usahaku pada masa itu boleh mendatangkan hasil.

Anyway, at that time, I had just finished the confinement period after the birth of my second child. Kebetulan ternampak advert dekat TV one day and thought, what the heck, I need to try this. Kebetulan husband pulak masa tu was stationed in Korea, so perfect opportunity to focus on myself. During the pregnancy I had made the initiative to keep relatively fit by going swimming. In fact I continued swimming until the final weeks. During confinement pun I tried to minimize eating fatty food and snacks, but choosing appropriate food to eat was still a huge struggle. Amende aku nak makan nih?! I had had enough of being frumpy! It was time for an intervention! Bersemangat waja betul time tu haha.

So on the 44th day after confinement, I drove over to the Putrajaya centre and took on the challenge. Oh the horror! Oh the torture! It was the epitome of No Pain No Gain!!! But that is for another day ;P More details later, I promise.

Meanwhile, kebetulan sesiapa yang join at that time dapat free tickets for a Gala Dinner with Slimworld Stars. Best sangat to be up close and personal with my fave celebrities. Check out the frumpy me in the pics *bracing myself*.

Slimword Ambassadors. From left: Wardina, Chinese celebrity sorry lupa nama, Datin Norjuma, Ziana Zain, Amy Mastura.

Amy was just oh so petite, pretty and ever so sweet!

Oops awkward pose, sebab ni semua curi2 tangkap gambar. Ziana nampak garang di sini tapi she's quite friendly actually. Check out her fabulous speedy ;)

Owh yang ni keterujaanku tak dapek nak dibendung lagi haha! I LOVE WARDINA! She is sooo tall, beautiful, extremely friendly and approachable!

So was I happy with the results? Heck yes! Alhamdulillah. The after pic below was taken a few months back with my weight at approx 52kg. Sebenarnya after 3 months of joining Slimworld, I was 48kg, whereby I lost roughly 10 kg. Ini bermakna, I managed to keep most of the weight off after I finished my sessions. Masa tu agakla risau dengan kekurusan yang melanda la pulak? The 4 kg increase was a cumulative effect from raya 2008 and 2009 kerana kemelantakan yang agak kritikal! In future posts I will share with you more info about mistakes I made in terms of food choices and lack of exercise that led to the weight increase. Biasala kan...ni semua trial and error! In case you have any queries about Slimworld, feel free to ask me any questions ;)

Before After

Apa? Gorilla?

After the birth of my first child in 2005 I had gained 8kg and was feeling very frumpy. Note that my anak dara weight was 48kg and pre-pregnancy weight was 51kg ;P. After the 2 months confinement, di tempat kerja ramai yang komen bahawa saya sudah gemoks. Owh sungguh tak best. It didn't help at all that through out roughly one year of breastfeeding I was quite top heavy. My nephew (anak cousin) yg berumur 3/4(?) tahun pada masa tu juga telah komen, "eee..macam gorilla la". Owh sungguh sadis!



I knew that the reason I had put on weight was because of a very poor diet and lack of exercise. Mana taknya, sepanjang pantang, snek kegemaranku adalah biskut kering Hup Seng cicah Milo. Bukan sekeping dua, dalam 5 keping sekali makan. Bukan makan sehari sekali, malah 3 atau empat kali sehari apabila perut terasa lapar dan takkan nak makan nasik lagi? Another favourite snack was toast (gardenia white bread) sapu nutella. Easy-strider yang dibeli kononnya kerana nak low impact exercise telah menjadi gajah putih dan tempat buat sangkut baju lagi menyemak.

There were times when I felt quite down because the centre of my other half's universe was no longer on me, but now on his little precious daughter. When once his eyes would sparkle at the sight of me, he would then come home from work and make a bee line for the baby. With a quick peck on the cheek for me, his eyes never left the baby. And I didn't blame him of course, I knew that it was natural and that in order for me to feel good about myself I had to get back in shape and look good.

Since most of the extra weight was gained during pregnancy and post-pregnancy, maka kerana itu saya telah berazam untuk memastikan bahawa saya menjaga makan dan kesihatan sepenuhnya apabila mengandung kali kedua. And that was what I did...

Mummy, are you a teacher?

My 4 year old daughter asked me this recently.

Me: No darling, I'm not.
Aida: Tapi mummy kan ada students. Ye, Betul! Mummy memang teacher!
Me: Mmmm...I'm a lecturer. Students mummy semua dah besar2. Students teacher semua kecik2.

Mungkin agak bengap la jugak jawapan tersebut. Of course, there is nothing wrong with being a teacher, but I honestly feel that being a lecturer is totally different. Even though both have four legs and a tail, cats and dogs are just not the same.

Job scope of a lecturer:
1. Lecturing (on average 1.5 courses in a 14-weeks semester. This translates to roughly 4.5 hours of contact with students a week.)
2. Research (Apply for grants, conduct research, supervise postgraduate students, publish papers in journals)
3. Consultancy (Providing expert advice to industry for example)

So agak la berbeza di situ kan?

Tu belum lagi masuk bab Outcome-Based Education, what with all the Program Outcomes, Course Outcomes, Learning Outcomes, Bloom taxonomy, Cognitive/Affective/Psychomotor domains...

Tapi ada tak pensyarah yang tak buat research, yang mengajar je? Ada kot, especially pensyarah yang bukan berada di university penyelidikan ataupun Research University(RU). Di Malaysia ini, hanya 4 universiti sahaja bertaraf RU iaitu Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) terchenta where yours truly works, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) dan Universiti Malaya (UM).

But to be totally honest, even though teaching is the core business in universities, for the past few years most universities are really beginning to emphasize on research. Career advancements are most definitely based on research performance. Publications in impact factor journals tak cukup, jangan mimpi la nak naik pangkat!

I personally like to think of myself as a researcher. That is my passion. I love research and I love the field that I am specializing in ~ Nanotechnology. Mensyarah itu sampingan aja. Bukan bermakna tak meletak sepenuh jiwa dan raga untuk mengajar (kalau tak, tak dapat la anugerah Pengajar Cemerlang 2008 *wink*) Tak pe la, apa apa pun, asalkan buat kerja dengan betul dan ikhlas. Tapi yang pasti, even though I love research, I always come back from class with a smile on my face...

OMG, I'm scared!

Okay, this is my first entry ever.

Never thought I would do it. Then, recently inspired by some really cool blogs out there, I finally decided, eh eh aku nak cuba lah. However, I am scared. Kenapa?
Sebab:
1. EEE, ada ke orang nak baca?
2. Do you really want the public to know your personal life?
3. Ada kawan pernah komen, tak paham kenapa orang buat blog. Tak malu ke?
4. Bukankah lebih baik menulis journal paper rather than this? Buang masa, tak berpekdah.
5. Rajin ke aku nak mengupdate blog?

So that is why I am scared. Sebenarnya banyak lagi sebab kot. I am sooo late jumping on the bandwagon, but hey, you've got to start somewhere. And I feel this is the right time for me to start sebab mungkin sudah sedikit matang untuk berkongsi pengalaman dan juga kerana KPI tahun 2010 ini telah pun tercapai *muahahaha*.

We shall see how this creature evolves. We shall see whether I suck or succeed...