Battle of the brains

December is a demanding month for me! Early of December made me shudder in fear (not due to cold weather but rather the anxiety in gearing up for 6th SAC of Quantum Leap and R & D Symposium). It’s been a busy month around here as I’m sure it’s been the same for all of you. That explains my absence from blog entry for more than a week. The days gone by was somewhat mixed experience for me altogether. I call it the ‘Battle of the brains’. Simply because I was mentally drained out working for my project progress meeting. As I remember writing about eleventh hour working-style in my office, this time it proves again they out beat other corporations when it comes to last minute work. It is a privilege to give them the reign (Sarcasm!).

First of all, what kept me busy in the last week was the rush in the office gearing up for our scientific symposium; ‘Unraveling the Oil Palm’ and also our bi-annual SAC Progress Meeting, 6th. Preparing lot of upshot in the office while getting lesser lunch break in between at the office turned out to be grueling for me as I would turn on laptops speakers with a lowest possible, yet listenable, voice just to get me going all day long churning out the data. In a quest for breaking the monotony of my tasks, I came across a really cool collection of songs on the net. The catchy musical collection is among the top played items now in my office laptop. Now, what does it suppose to mean by ‘Battle of the brains’, you all must be thinking. Scientific conferences provide a common platform for all the scientific community to share new ideas and exchange views. This one-day event brought together top players of Oil Palm industry in the likes of FELDA, MPOB and some researchers from public universities. This symposium is especially useful for networking with our peers in the oil palm industry besides looking out for promising collaborations towards enhanced sustainability, and brings about changes to the oil palm industry. It was a good opportunity for young researchers like us to get insight on other facets of research work being carried out by our competitors as well as contribute our ideas for oil palm research. In research there is always room for improvement and strategic planning with other researchers for benefit of community. It was an enriching experience for us to mingle with fellow researchers at IOI Resort during after-hours.

So while the current time-bound tasks at hand were successfully accomplished, I can reasonably expect more busy times in the days to come, and as far as I know I have my happiness project in hand. That’s not easy. I don’t have much time left for my actual wedding preparation which is barely 40 days. Just a month away to roll! My god! 37 days?!#@%

So, big day seem to be just a month away. Still, I hope I would enjoy the upcoming busy times as all my married friends tells me. I seem to fairly understand the pleasurable fun they keep reiterating. Literally, I love the wedding planning and had clandestine concept of starting my own wedding planner business someday if I could. But it is not fun anymore when it is getting closer to the day. This year I had to steal my enjoyment from Xmas spirit, just like what happened last year (my Christmas enjoyment was short-lived due to relocation of my office to new place).More fun was waiting for me last weekend as I had a kind of a pleasurable work with my fiancé. As we spend time together meeting our banquet manager to plan out our wedding dinner agenda. All the nitty gritty details like food menu, cake selection, décor theme and other miscellaneous points were ironed out. Then we headed to Times Square just to check out the apartment suites for our relatives but it seems quite pricey. We decided to look for other options since Bukit Bintang area is famous for many hotels mushrooming every now and then. It was past lunch time and we decided to head home for lunch since mommy prepared lunch meal for both of us. After lunch we rushed to our Universal Bridal Studio for finalize the photo shoot date, costume selection and outdoor venue. It was so tiring by the time we completed. We missed our evening tea! Knowing mom always caters us with a hot tea the moment she saw us dreary. More enjoyment was there for me this Sunday as I got to celebrate Christmas with my loved ones.

Christmas is around the corner. I put up my two miniature Christmas tree with poinsettia flowers. I have yet to bring out my other tree which I had been putting up all by myself each year with different decorations. I have not gone in quest for checking out the Christmas décor in various famous malls in town which normally I and my sis used to do. However, I caught a glimpse of it last week in Midvalley Megamall and Times Square last week. Can’t wait for my weekends with plenty of wedding works and Christmas celebration!