Master Graduate

That's it isn't it? My studying journey has finally hit the end, or at least a long pause until the next phase. Though, for whatever I have got myself into for the past year, I have realised that the next phase of studying may be not what I want to do.

So that's that, just a quick update about life as I have been rather busy and enjoying my work and life a lot more, hence have not got much time for this blog.

Happy November to all!

Life lately

It has been almost 2 weeks since I handed in my dissertation, so this is just to catch up with what I have been up to lately.

Life is not quite the same and for the first time in the year 2013, I finally feel I actually have some time off, totally off. I hardly come to the office these days, partly because that is not really my office but mostly because I don't need to hide there to work or from the noise that tends to stress me out at home.

I enjoy things a bit more. If it's a good day, I head out to take photos, for a random walk and perhaps may end up somewhere else around Devon. If it's a bad day, I sleep and don't have to worry what I would miss or have to catch up when I wake up.

Nonetheless, there have been a few big events in life that I shall note down to remind myself in the future. Last Saturday (07/09/2013) is the last time I acted as a student ambassador. It's hard to accept it but I guess it's now time to move on to the next chapter despite how long I have been doing it. Today, I turned my room up side down to clean and throw out a few things (well, lots of things) that are no longer relevant to my life. It's also amazing to see/read those that I keep and remind myself of how precious some of them used to be or still are.

And just in a few more days, the welcome week will kick in, my last ever welcome week.

It's really like the end of an era to me. It's time to let other people take my place and hopefully they will do a better job!

Hand in day - and those strange feelings after that

I was meant to write this blog on Wednesday after I handed in my dissertation, which I had been working on for the whole summer. Yet, I have been carried away by the excitement, emptiness and all sorts of strange unnamed feelings that I decided to write it up today, the day in my original plan when I would have handed it in.

The binding didn't take long. In fact, I was the only customer and it literally took me 2 minutes to have it bound. I walked down from the Forum towards my office to collect the DVD and submit onto Turnitin with a massive grin. It felt like everything was over. Years of work, or rather more precisely, weeks of work would be handed in a few minutes for better or worse.

I didn't have a supervisor for this dissertation. It has not been proofread by any of the senior staff, which is the same for everyone in the course this year. I'd had absolutely no idea how I did it, but I did it and so it felt incredible, but at the same time, it felt strange.

I now know, I wouldn't have to worry about what to write tomorrow or what models I need to tweak the next day. I wouldn't stay in the office until late because there is nothing to be there for, that is if I still have the office. It seems like I am the last accounting scholar to have a proper place, and next year they don't even have an office!

So that's that. My holiday finally started yesterday with a short day trip to Torquay to see the penguins and other funny/friendly creatures. And now, Welcome Team is just around the corner, my last welcome team that is! :(

Side note: yesterday was the first time I am not in Vietnam for my grand-dad's memorial... :)

Goodbyes

It has been a while since graduation week, or in other words - goodbye week. I know goodbye is always hard but honestly I haven't felt much from goodbyes because I tend to be the one to leave.

Yet, this year is rather different. Everything is coming to an end, staff are changing jobs, leaving for maternity, friends are finishing and heading else where. And I'm still here. It's not that my life is not progressing to any different state or anything like that; I do love my job and what I have been doing over here except for the dissertation I "have to" submit soon. It's just that I am the one to stay and see people leaving. I have to admit, it's not pleasant.

Though, on another note, goodbyes are inevitable. However, there are goodbyes and see you soon, yet there are also goodbyes and that's goodbye. :)

A proper comeback

One used to tell me to go on to Flickr or 500px or the like of these for my professional photography quality and I didn't do it. I thought and sometimes still do, photography is just a hobby and I want to share it with other people (mostly Facebook users). On top of that, moving to a professional website potentially leads to more commercial photography which I have been trying to avoid all of my life. When you put the money into your hobby, it will soon become something other than a hobby; and I clearly don't want that.

Yet it struck me the other day, I can no longer do that. I can no longer offer every single thing for free without asking anything back. It feels great when you do something for free just because you love it, honestly! But we all need to move forward from there and support our life, to live, and to support other people who care for us.

So yesterday, I returned to Flickr, after using the service for a very short moment back in 2007, and started to revamp the whole new look.

The page is now here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anhviet199/

They are not art of the world but they are my way of looking at things. I will still have photography as my hobby and enjoy every once in a while a random walk at night to take photos. And if you happen to like them and need me for some events, let me know.

Enjoy!

Less for more

Sometimes, I find it absolutely intriguing for those directors to understand how much enjoyment they can give the audiences considering the time scale and time line. In fact, they always make it a hell lot more fun when it has come the end of a season, to create the excitement and maintain the interest for the next on even though it may be in months.

And today, after years watching HIMYM, thanks to a special person that is no longer in my life who introduced to me to the show in 2009-2010, the "mom" finally appeared.

And more on that in September I guess. :)

April

I had the urge to write something earlier on today, something just for today or perhaps yesterday. The trip to Nottingham really rang the bell in my head that I realised I always happen to be somewhere but home on the 2nd or the 3rd of April, the start of Easter break.

This year was not an exception. I took the longest trip and furthest trip up North as a getaway break that is really much needed! And in the middle of those fun moments I had, I started to see the ugly truth about April 2014. Where would I be at that time? And what would I be doing? It is no longer certain and even though there are still opportunities, the door is closing quicker and quicker.

This is to say, I'm not anywhere close to pessimistic, but I can now hear the ticking time bomb that I have to negate in the next 8 months. In the meantime, I guess all I can do is to put 1000% efforts into everything and pursue what I really love.

But sometimes, love is not enough!

Good evening March

Not too much for these days, when I literally live in my office 7am to 9pm, this blog is somewhat I have wanted to write for a long time but I didn't have a chance to.

March has always been my favourite month of the year. Not because it is the beginning of spring, the sun starts to come out rather more often, or I hate the miserable British winter. It is because I always feel more productive, more energetic, and most importantly have more fun in March.

I remember I used to come down to Plymouth to visit a close friend of mine. Other times, she visited me up here in the Exe. Or other times, we just visited a new city together. We took photos, we sat down and ate as, figuratively and literally, 2 hungry pigs, we enjoyed the new city, etc. And those moment kind of sprinted to my mind yesterday about how people can actually enjoy the moment together, and not the specific things that they are doing.

If I'm not making sense of myself, let's take eating as an example. We enjoy eating together and having a company to restaurant. Yet, if the fact that the food comes out not that good according to your preference can ruin the mood, clearly the food is the priority in this story. And please bear in mind, I'm not the type of person who would criticise about food or anything, or against people who loves food, etc. I eat to live not live to eat, but I do enjoy good food! Who wouldn't??!!

Anyway, that's it for my rambling after a long Wednesday in the office. Have a good rest of the week everyone!

Academics life :)

So, this is the second entry for today (obviously the first one was not posted over here, yet I just feel like I want to share this with you) and I can’t seem to stop myself from writing. It was not because I have been taking notes of everything that happens during the day which has become a rather addictive habit, but it was due to the fact that I want to write for the moment I have finally felt the love or shall I call it the passion I have always longed for.

I skipped the second half of my entertaining behavioural lecture in order to attend the lectureship presentation panel along with other members of staff, to make sure we recruit the best lecturer/researcher for the department. They were all inspiring lectures I have to admit but the skills varied. Some were great in engaging the audience, some were tedious (according to the others because I missed a few), some were quite targeting at a different group of audience I would think... But at the end of the day, they are people who want to teach – or at least I hope they are! 

There was a little joke with Aurel about the most handsome man in the room, the fair value question from Kevin, funny stories and comments. There were also a few people that I couldn’t recognise and neither could Bill but it doesn’t matter. Then we all walked back to the office corridor where we have been working together for over 6 months (to me, as a new member of the group). It felt perfect. At the end of the day, we are a group of people, working together, towards the ultimate goal of bringing knowledge to students, enjoying the academics joke, despite the fact that we do think differently and have various opinions.

This is what I love - being an academics, and everything is just the beginning. :)