Here I Go... Again

I thought pretty hard (about 2seconds) on whether to blog about my supervision experience yesterday... While I really ought to be spending my time (wisely!) on writing my thesis, I think I also need to write this down, if only to serve as a reminder of the trials and challenges that come with PhD-hood. And to remind me of the dire consequences when I fail to put my foot down.

As most of you already know, I got dumped by my (now former) principal supervisor.. and my associate supervisor has now taken over as principal. We are in the midst of appointing a new associate, which by next week? I should know the results. For the record, I'm perfectly OK with the swap, in fact, I sincerely believe with the change, I will be pushed and shoved? and highly pressured to finish.. simply because with my now current principal.. whom we shall initial D, is very good at putting (intimidating?) pressure.. whether he realised it or not.

And it's not necessarily a bad thing, considering how I do tend to slack a fair bit (loookies, I'm blogging!). And given that we are not that familiar with each other (in comparison with my former super), I believe the distance will really SHOVE me to write and keep our meetings direct and productive. Right now, it's not the carrot I need... though some scraps (of kindness and understanding) every now and then won't hurt...

Anyways, back to the supervision meeting, I learned that:

• I have a right to supervision. 5 months with absolutely NO PhD supervision is very, very, very, very (have I said 'very' already?) bad. You forget where you're going, you get side-tracked, you WILL feel neglected and hurt and a lot of other emo-ness.. and once you sink into a bottomless pit of self-pity.. you are likely to come to the point where you end up telling yourself, SHIT, I'm NOT going to finish on time.


• I should have said 'no' so many times and rejected all non-essential tasks. I should not be guilt-ed into doing what is really, not essential at this final stage of my PhD-hood.


• I have to take responsibility for my own PhD because really, that's my job. Even though I like to blame my former supervisor for wasting? the last 5mths of my life, I can't. Because I did not say 'no' when I should have. And really, I'm an adult. So I should know better than to blame other for my own f*cked-up.


• I do not have time to wallow in any more self-pity. I will do my great big cry AFTER I'm done writing... in the meantime, I will try to be strong, and just write.


• Thank the gods for Mayday and their inspiration lyrics.

On that note then, I'm going to be more disciplined. Or try to be anyways. And so here goes logging off Blogger (and Facebook... and MSN). Bye bye world!

Pensive Moka

Moka had a massive hair fur-cut. He dropped at least 2 doggy sizes. I wished my haircut would help me drop 2 human dress sizes too!

Job Offer

It's not quite what you think.. my unimelb email got spammed this morning... and with my thesis not looking so hot at the moment.. despite the weather being VERY HOT.. the job offer is thus.. very tempting indeed. Here is the mail in full.

Dear Gin,

Do you want to participate in the greatest Mystery Shopping quests nationwide? Have you ever wondered how Mystery Shoppers are recruited and how prosperous companies keep up doing business in the highly competitive business world? The answer is that many companies are recruiting young, creative, observant, and responsible individuals like you to give their feedback on various products and customer services and thus improve their quality.

As a Mystery Shopper you have only one responsibility: Act as a real customer while evaluating the place you are sent to mystery shop and enjoy all the benefits that go along with your job. Remember that you have nothing to lose, because you are awarded generously for your efforts:

-You get paid between $10 and $40 per hour for each mystery shopping assignment;
-You keep all things that you have purchased for free;
-You watch movies, eat in restaurants, and visit amusement parks for free;
-You are turning your most enjoyable hobby into a well-paying activity.

Be aware that as a Mystery Shopper you can earn on average $100 to $300 per week. The most experienced and hard-working shoppers earn up to $500 weekly. This well-paying job gives you the possibility to visit and observe shops, restaurants, banks, movie theaters, etc. in order to find their flaws and help their owners correct and improve them. You can be a Mystery Shopper whenever you have time, because there is no fixed timetable and you are not obliged to take all the assignments offered.

If you are interested and would like to give a shot to this intriguing job offer, just write me back and I will provide you with more pertinent information.

Good Luck,
Dorothy Porter
Recruitment Coordinator

If you're interested, why not drop nice Ms Dorothy... and by the way, yes our unimelb anti-spam-ware is not really so realibble la.. one can only wonder how she gained access to my email...

Oh well, back to the thesis~!

It's All About The Thesis

Well.. more specifically, this post is all about the (interpretive!!) findings gleaned from a discourse analysis of the 12th general election.. and from a close reading of focus group discussion transcripts.. Thanks to Esther for inspiring me to put the scribbles into er.. blogspot. XD

So what about them? Well, if we maintain the scribbly format, they look something like this..

Part I. Discourse Analysis
Finding 1: Ethnocentric Nationalism

• BN only choice for Malaysians


• Opposition threat to unity

Finding 2: New "New" Media

• Popular campaign tool


• New looks like old

Part II. Ethnographic Analysis
Finding 1: Being Chinese

• It's not the school, it's the language

Finding 2: Contested Belonging

• Discrimination behind close doors

Finding 3: Mediated Gen Y.. X.. and Z?

• What the young are doing with the media

So far things look very organised.. yea? Well, as the cliche goes, looks can be deceiving.. =p

But anyhow, I am making slow progress.. at least I know what I need to write. Each part needs to be at least 20k at length, otherwise DN will kick up a fuss than the thesis does not have adequate original material... so breaking it down to how long each finding needs to be.. well.. you can do the maths yourself.. I'm off to meet the word count.. lolx