Whirlwind!

Over summer, I worked on my book and papers. Coming back in September, it was just one thing after another - with 130 postgraduate students on my SMM course and 167 undergraduate students on my Principles course, it was really a huge load. That, and juggling with meetings, meetings and more meetings (as head of postgraduate studies), I took to just teaching and admin duties during office hours and doing my research on weekends and in the evenings.

Thankfully, this semester saw aid in the form of Nick and Guo Lei (my PhD students and research assistants) who have been a great help in reviewing papers and with the book. And with Yin Foong as the sub-editor for my book (she is certainly God sent!), I found a way to cope.

Finally, coming to the end of the year, the book is almost ready. We are all so excited by it - I really hope it does well.

A pleasant surprise came when I was told 2 weeks ago that I am being expedited for promotion to Associate Professor. It was quite a surprise because I just turned SL in August! Talk about speed.....it's amazing what universities are capable of when they put their mind into it. Also amazing what the RAE does in this market....are good researchers really that hard to find? I don't find myself extraordinary. True, I work hard but that's because I love what I do and it still comes as a surprise for me when people think of it as 'achievement' - how can it be an achievement when you just did what you liked? I think I still have miles to go and will still pursue that elusive top journal paper. Now THAT would be an achievement. Anyway, I guess it's still nice to be appreciated and if the RAE game brings out university's 'appreciative nature', who am I to complain?