PhD? Maybe...maybe not

To do or not to do? I work in the field where mastery of technical and vast knowledge is a requirement to succeed. From day one, after graduation, I had ventured into the field of Industrial Hygiene also known as Occupational Hygiene in most countries. I went in by chance -- its the job offered to a fresh grad who didn't really know what she's getting into. Acceptable as long as the job was within vicinity of the town I lived and pay was good:)

Anyway, I had 2 choices if I choose to continue locally. A little bit of a background... continuing education in the field as specific as Industrial/Occupational Hygiene in Malaysia at any level, is not possible now. There is none offered yet. Maybe demand is not high... most of my colleagues went to UK or USA for their Masters and stopped there. So far, no academician that I know of pursue this field for their doctorate degree... well, somebody told me, just recently 1 UKM staff now, doing her PhD in this field in Australia.. Anyway, going abroad is not a choice due to family reasons (and also career reason). My choices if I were to try and do a PhD in Malaysia are:
1) take the general PhD from UiTM or UPM - not specific to IH but can be a related study in the science field. Be prepared to be totally independent (I heard this is expected for a PhD candidate) and maybe for help or advise, I have to get it from my own external network. or...
2) Wait...few more years maybe, the program will be offered in Malaysia. Who knows, the current project with UiTM that I am working on with my colleagues will materialized, and we will have post-graduate course in this field and thus..more research available in Malaysia...very ambitious of us actually.

If I were to pursue this ... lotsa things I guess, I have to sacrifice, if I were to start on this within this 1 or 2 years...
1) Reduce or totally stop the pleasure of watching TV especially the Korean drama series that I enjoyed so much :(
2) Maybe quit the Korean Language course that I am in currently. And this relates to number 1 actually. Watching the drama helps me with listening practice (ha ha!).
3) I will have to switch from more pleasure readings (novels of course) to little pleasure readings and more academics, text and journals reading ... ahhh..
4) What about family? vacation? what do I have to sacrifice?
5) Maybe at some point, I have to take unpaid leave or work part time only? Can I afford it?

At this age... I don't know if I still have the physical and mental power to do hard study. This is actually part of my "retirement" plan though. To teach/lecture. And to do this, I need to have that academic qualification. I do not plan to work full time till retirement age...hopefully, when the family is financially stable with enough savings, I will not need to work full time. Part-time lecturing is something that I look forward to ...

To do or not to do...? *sigh*....

Kembali Senyum

Phew...many moons has passed. My head has been itchy with so many topics to write and share but my hands are a bit slow to respond...thus, the long silence. Alas, here I am, back to this blog....

While driving back home today, I had song collections played on the CD player. Alif requested for the song "Kembali Senyum" by Izwan Pilus, adapted from a popular song from korean drama Full House. That's one of his favourite, he said. And he continue to sing along in his own way:) I asked:

"This is a love song... so, who do you love?"

"I just like the song, mummy", he said, avoiding the subject.

Ok, I didn't push for it and sang with him...

Then he said.."Can you keep it down, I'm trying to to listen!"

Wow...this kid! So, I asked, "why, Ummi nyanyi tak sedap ke.."

After a short pause he said..."uhuh..."

I say.....ala, memang nyanyi tak sedap pun , saja memancing, maybe he'll be back to his sweet talking but didn't mean it:)

Well...this is Alif's rendition of Kembali Senyum while on the plane ride to Seoul last year...he hummed the song while having it played on abah's device.