Goodbye 2018

This blog has always been on the back of my conscious mind that it needs some updates. Unfortunately, I simply couldn’t bring myself the time to really sit down and pen my thoughts…until today, where it is already near to the end of year 2018. How time flies, in just a year since my last updates.

“What have I been doing this past year?”, I wondered. A matter of fact, I think I really did quite a lot this year but I’m not sure this is a good achievement yet. While I was struggling to keep up with new management (a.k.a the new boss) in my department, I celebrated my fifth year in academia. My love for teaching has never wavered, even though the abundant of admin paperwork and the pressure to involve in research activities increases too. My 5-year plan didn’t work out as I planned earlier and that’s not a big surprise. I have to be honest that while my love for teaching remains strong, my interest in research is dying off slowly due to various reasons.

In a twist of fate, my ‘new boss’ stepped down and I was offered to become ‘the boss’ of the department. That’s a real surprise. I deliberated the decision together with the husband as my acceptance of the position would not only affected me but to our family time. Running a department requires time and effort that I must sacrifice one to the other. In summary, I accepted the challenge and I have been running the department for the past 3 months. Obviously my stress level has increased since then as I was required to solve problems (all kind of problems, seriously!) nearly every day. I’m not sure yet if I’m a good reliable ‘boss’ but I’m trying my best to be a good problem solver to the faculty. Anyway, what’s most importantly is I give it a try to make a difference.

What is going to hold in 2019? I’m not very sure but I foresee I have more problems to solve, both at work and for personal life. I really wish I can write more, to put my thoughts in writing so I can enjoy reading them again like I used to. I also wish I can read more, though I think I have read more than what I did in year 2017. That’s an improvement.

So what are you wishing for 2019? Whatever you wish for, I hope you have a great year ahead.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. See you again in 2019.