Yes! I have finally printed my thesis! WOOHOO~~~ Actually, I printed it yesterday. But after proof reading the hard copy, I found lots of typo errors, missing information and wrong concepts! So I made the changes yesterday night and went back to the office to print the corrected pages. Not to mention the laser printer that was giving me not-so-nice confocal images from my PDF. So I have to frantically make the brightness and contrast higher so that the red dots on the black background can stand out. Nonetheless, I managed to print them all and insert the corrected pages.
It's, however, not the end of my Honours. Tomorrow is just the thesis submission date. Two weeks later, I have an oral defense that requires me to give a 5-min brief sum up of my project and also a 15-min Q&A. It is only after 10 November can I be considered a FREE MAN!
Looking back, this hasn't been a smooth flowing year for me, at least in terms of this project. Failed and un-optimized experiments and frustrating cloning stuff are just some of the setbacks I have experienced. Not to mention that my supervisor doesn't really trust my results even though I have done the experiments a few times. And also, my fickle-minded supervisor keeps changing his mind about certain ideas. Makes it even more difficult for me trying to go one direction and halfway through it, he wanted me to go another direction. Very frustrating indeed...
I was chatting with ZQ that Honours is a very mentally-torturing year. We have to be disciplined to stick to our experimental deadlines. We have to constantly pick ourselves up after failed experiments and harsh words from our supervisors. For me, my last 3 weeks were extremely demoralizing. My drafts all came back with harsh words and comments. Even after I have managed to change my drafts to the way my supervisor wanted it, he asked me if I got any help from the rest of the lab people to be able to come up with such good work. My heart was totally shattered. So my supervisor doesn't think that I have the ability to come up with excellent work. (-__-)!!!
Nonetheless, the stressful and tedious period of writing is over. I just have to pray hard that I can score a H1 (1st class Honours). I don't care if it's a high H1 or low H1. A H1 is a H1. So, now I will be able to update my blog more often and also go out and shoot more pictures. My cameras are seriously under-utilized and I need to capture more of Melbourne and maybe other parts of Australia before I come home for good. I seriously don't think I will be coming back to Australia in the near future. Although these 2 years of my life in Melbourne have been an unforgettable one, I do like to come back to Singapore where all my loved ones are.
So friends and family, await my return!
