...and exhale.

Listening to: 'No Way Back' by Foo Fighters [In Your Honor]

Over. Term: over. Lectures: over. Research project presentation: over. Chinese exam: over. Life: not over, apparently. I've got a Project Management meeting at 10am tomorrow morning. Yippee. And Rheology supervision on Monday (Have I done any work for it? Are you kidding? That's what Sunday's for :D ).

Let's see how things've gone since Monday. Well, Monday afternoon was good. Research project presentation went well - very well in fact, with us being chosen joint 'Best Poster' winners. 'Winner' in a purely figurative manner of course, we didn't actually win anything. But still...apparently we're being taken out to lunch sometime, which is nice.

After the euphoria had died down, it was time to concentrate on Chinese. 5 minute presentation? Easy! Erm...not quite. YOU try writing a 5 minute presentation on something non-technical after doing Chemical Engineering for over 3 years. Oh and don't forget, the vocabulary has to be simple enough for you to translate it into Chinese. Let's just say I finally had a complete presentation by 1pm today (presentation was at 3pm). It went OK though, and while my pronunciation may have been suspect, I think she understood everything I wanted to say, so it wasn't all that bad.

Oh how I want to finish all this revision stuff and get on with research. Hopefully I'll be around Jiàn Qiáo for a few more years...although those Londoners seem to be pretty keen to see me too. We shall see. Visions of bargaining with universities float into view...hee hee that would be fun.

It's fine that research doesn't appeal to everyone...I understand that I'm in the minority, and I'm not upset about it. But what does upset me is the fact that those who don't like research aren't even willing to acknowledge its value in society. They wouldn't have the wonderful job offers they have right now if the likes of Newton and Reynolds hadn't done research all those years ago. Oil companies wouldn't exist if no one had discovered how to crack crude oil. Pharmaceutical companies wouldn't exist if not for research in biotechnology and colloid science. Most of the big cats in the economic arena wouldn't exist if it weren't for research. And yet my supposedly intelligent classmates are blind to this fact. Money money money is all that drives them. They're convinced that if one has money, one is happy; without need for anything else. When searching for suitable adjectives, the word "shallow" comes to mind. There's a quote from somewhere that I remember...

"Money can buy a bed, but not sleep
Money can buy books, but not brains
Money can buy food, but not appetite
Money can buy finery, but not beauty
Money can buy a house, but not a home
Money can buy medicine, but not health
Money can buy luxuries, but not culture
Money can buy amusement, but not happiness
Money can buy companions, but not friends
Money can buy flattery, but not respect."

I'm not saying that money isn't important...it is. But there's more to life than being loaded. Shallow people make me feel sick.

It's even worse when the same shallow people are also white supremist racists. No I'm not name-calling, I'm stating a fact. And knowing said person, they wouldn't deny it. In fact, they'd be quite proud of it. They think it's cool to belittle countries that they know nothing about. Ignorant fools probably can't even point the countries out on a map (OK this time it was name-calling). It takes a lot of willpower and restraint to tell myself that they're not worth boiling my blood over. But I am a patriot, through and through. And it hurts when someone insults my country. Especially when what they say is totally unfounded, and based on a completely misguided notion of what civilisation really is. My country isn't perfect. My people have made a lot of mistakes...I'm not even trying to dispute that. However, my Motherland is my home...where I grew up. I would not be the person I am if not for her...and I for one, am proud of who I am. I know most people can't stand me, but that's their problem, not mine. If a fellow countryman feels no love for Mother Lanka, then all I can do is feel disappointed. BUT if a foolish outsider thinks he has a right to ridicule my country and my brothers and sisters, then disappointment will lose out to anger. I know, I need to meditate.

Anyway, I guess I've ranted enough for the time being. BTW 'friendindeed', thank you for the support ☺ And Niki, thanks for the offer ;) Let's just say some things are better left unsaid. It's quite sad, because when the beautiful people aren't busy acting ugly...they're actually beautiful inside...more beautiful than most people I know.

Bye bye...