Just submitted my thesis yesterday.
Never thought I'll be able to do this...
So, that's my thesis. Completed & submitted, albeit sure there's some flaws here & there. Maybe one or two major flaw. I was rushing through it at the end. Anyway, inaccuracies aside, it's about playgrounds functioning as a social space. By social space, meaning a place where people socialise, meet-up with people, random encounters. That sort of stuff. In other words, a vibrant and happening place. It was quite an interesting journey while it lasted. Of course, I had certain expectations about the topic and area of research already. Some weren't met, some were, while some were just way too enthusiastic about meeting the expectations. That aside, I'm glad it's done now.
Just.. couple of weeks back, joined this event called Tough Mudder (TM). Check it out if you haven't already heard what it's about. I'd signed up for it early this year in fact. Was hyped up, then the hype went down. Then back up again one week before the event.
It was fun. Good fun. I was nursing both my calves at 8km, and then my left quad at 12km, through the worst muscle cramps I had. Not forgetting my right knee got sort of busted at 10km or so. Total distance was an estimated 20km, with approximately 20+ obstacles to clear.
I just wanted to challenge myself you know. And challenge I did. Without much training, completed the course in 3 hours. Just for comparison, the stipulated completion time is 3.5 hours. So, although I'm at the low of my fitness now, I'm still better than the average. Muahahaha. And I'm proud to say that I cleared everything on my own. Now, who wants me in their team for a zombie apocalypse? Professionally military trained too.
The morning - Prepped and raring to go.
By the way, for those that already know me well enough, that headband is now serving as an accessory to one of my stuffed toy, as a waistband. It actually looks damn cute.
So, the day itself, woke up at 0600 hours. I think it was a 2 hours drive there. Got there, registered, and just enough time to chill with the housemates a while before heading to the starting block. I think I'm going to be doing TM almost every year now. Am going to collect them headbands and put them on as many stuffed toy as I can manage.
Round of croquet anyone?
Damn, I do like the office I was in.
Commemorative mug, signalling the end of my intern days.
I'd must say, I think my intern days turned out better than I expected. Officially, I was only there for... 14 days. That's almost 3 working weeks worth of time spent. It started out as a drag the first 3 weeks honestly. On the fourth week (I went in once a week), I was shadowing someone. At the end of the day, I was thinking to myself: Is this how it's going to be every week? Honestly, I wasn't sure if I'm going to last that long. But I'm glad now that I'd stuck it through to the end. And I'm actually very very thankful that I was given some actual work to do. I'll need to go back some time and thank them properly. They even gave me a mug (which I absolutely adore) and a bar of Tolberone chocolate.
Game of croquet (pronounced "cro=kay" I think) is actually quite entertaining every once in a while. It's a good garden game for all ages. Ruthless, strategic, & not too much experience needed. I thought I would never ever touch that game nor appreciate it, but I'm a changed boy now. Always thought it was some boring game which only seniors would enjoy. But turns out I was quite wrong on that.
Now all that's left to do is just a 3000 word essay, and I Think I'm sort of done with academia. Unless if I'm offered to go for further studies, or as a tutor or something.
Oh, oh, oh. Almost forgot to mention. Mae came by and stayed with us for about a month. Good times, good fun. And on the same topic, aunt & uncle's coming over tonight. So, it's going to get quite lively in the house again.
So many things to do, so little time.
