"The one with the hazy ramadhan, and the fresh new labour..."

Ahlan-wasahlan Ramadhan; though I must admit this coming holy month was greeted by the nuisance of hazy conditions nowadays. To all, figuring that it's still briefly 12-days into ramadhan I'd like to wish everyone a happy fasting this month; but more importantly let's take full advantage of this years' to be a better and more loyal servant to God.

Years gone by and by the passing of each one we'll almost certainly be hit by this haze problems; and guess what - still people are blaming it on the forest fires of Indonesia. It's rather odd perhaps; that we haven't learned anything from our past than to be prepared for what's ahead of us. The great thing about re-occurences is that we're able to almost perfectly anticipate the future. It's been two weeks since the nation's ambience was obscured by this atmospheric phenomenon, and I observe no indication of how well we're prepared for it. Schoolkids still playing on the field (considering it is ramadhan) and people walking without any proper breathing protection, etc. Not to mention we're doing all we can to 'prevent' it by still conducting open burning though. It's rather disturbing to the fact that we can no longer walk outside without feeling sick. Even the horizon's changed - it's much scarier in a way, according to Mok that is.

Anyways, on a much lighter mood....ramadhan also means one other thing - that we're a few weeks away from Aidilfitri now! Some people look forward to hari raya for the duit raya, and some for the occasional long holidays, but I'm especially keen for it this year for it'll be the reunion of families since a long time. Many, many things to look forward to these next few weeks, and until my next post let's just put this matter to end. Much to be excited about, and of course to share with...

Alhamdulillah, rezeki this year has been quite abundant for yours truly. My thesis research has been progressing quite well, with the previous two awards I had from the past conferences and the thumbs up from a lot of renowned researchers. Hopefully this would be the drive I'll be holding on to finish up on schedule. I've also progessed carrier-wise; of course withdrawing the PTD offer I got in June gave me that 'yang dikejar tak dapat, yang dikendong berciciran' kinda scare but at least the one I 'kendong-ed' didn't 'berciciran' after all; when I reported in as an officer of UPM last week. Hey, call me chessy, poyo and all but log on to http://biotech.upm.edu.my and check out the academic staffs of the Cell and Molecular Biology Department. For some you'll find a familiar face there.

Of course, with work comes responsibilities. As if I don't have enough already with my Masters, now I have new responsibilities to cope with. However, the only way to progress is definitely ahead, so I'm looking forward towards new interesting endeavours from so forth.

-JeP