M. Sc. VIVA done!

In case you haven't heard, I've passed my VIVA examinations last two weeks. It was indeed a victorious day for me, being able to prep within a week's time for everything. I have waited for this day to come for the last 6 months and the waiting game was really draining my creative/productive juices out of me. I was probably the most unproductive for the first few months, and then slowly got back into the game when I started to embark on the healthier lifestyle with my husband. So that was a phase that I totally looked forward to. Just a little background on the what, when, how etc..

I received an email from Sekretariat Siswazah FST on the deets of the VIVA. As expected, it was to be conducted online instead of face to face due to the restrictions we are still living in. I felt nervous probably because it was the first time to not stand and interact in front of real human beings. But in the end, I am so thankful it was conducted online lol because I can sense they will have more time to dissect my thesis and all of the corrections being pointed one by one. All in all, it lasted roughly for two hours. I was expecting it could go more than that since Wana had hers from 9am until 12pm. Good god, I can't imagine sitting in the hot seat for hours and trying to defend your thesis as if you're in for some psychological battle. In the end, I made it. I think I crushed it. I think I answered all the questions and clarifications. This was the ULTIMATE time to outshine myself and my work and how I have incorporated as a part of my postgraduate journey. The format was:

1. 20 Mins Presentation

2. Questions and Remarks by the Evaluators (External & Internal)

3. Private discussion to decide whether I would pass or not

4. Inform the student's results

5. The end

I didnt know I was to be informed straightly after the session but, alhamdulillah I passed with flying colors and also...a bunch of stuff to be corrected lol. Towards the end, we said our thank you and gratifications, internal and external examiners (which was my ex-supervisor for undergraduate Degree).

It was a very laidback session, more like a discourse between a student and her lecturers. So I pretty much relaxed the whole time to answer the questions, maybe I slipped one or two, but to my knowledge I think I did pretty well. Alhamdulillah. As you can see I was all smiles..when I knew I passed.

It kinda felt bittersweet too. Why? I think choosing Taxonomy as the major branch of botany was a very brave thing to do. I had no clue what I was getting into when I started. From my previous years doing FYP, I had extra help from Dr. Yong. He was extremely helpful and always clear on what I should achieve, what problems am I solving with the research. Moreover, I thought the discipline was straight forward and there was a manual for every botany student to refer to. Instead, half of the time I was clueless on my next steps. In conclusion, that is research everybody. When you know what is your first step, you'll take time to wonder what is your next step. And then you are bonded to a grant, passing your research was the only option to make it all worthy. Your work is a way to say 'Hey stakeholders, your money was invested into a really great discovery!'. Don't even get me started on chasing deadlines after deadlines. Deadlines was always the motivation to do anything, I basically live by numbers, relatively speaking. I'm not talking about my research area, but more on the academic writing. Parts and parcel of attempting to become an academician is that you're always pushed and pressured to publish, publish and publish whatever you can find in your lab. I was thankful to have a supervisor that was very assertive and ambitious. Well, they kinda have to be like that. Academicians these days are pressured to climb the ladder by having numerous of publications and collaborations. The right term is KPI I think? Sometimes it can be very daunting to master the language of science, which in my case is taxonomy language. You gotta know the right terms, the numbers of species genus families, the percentage, the discussion, the abstract and yada yada. Then you gotta find the right journal who wont give an ass of time in reviewing your work, IF your paper is accepted (thankfully all lol). If there are many comments and amendments, that will also take months to be reviewed, going back and forth with the same paper. How the heck did I do all that? I still do not have the answer. It was all an adrenaline rush kinda moment, you forget how it felt but only know this has to be done pronto! Lol

The genus or my research was claimed to be difficult and often frowned upon. So I was told that it was a brave attempt to study the said genus. Not many updated literatures can be found, mostly are all in latin, german, greek and whatnot. I spent a significant amount of time to study the terms, abbreviations and then having to translate in English, and then in Malay. Again, how was I so productive? I dont even know honestly. The transliteration process was probably the hardest of all, besides making an endless amount of slides to view the plant specimens. I think I'll do another blogpost of everything I did related to my work. Its definitely gonna be a looong one lol.

Anyways, I am not at the end of the tunnel yet. I still have to face the corrections made by both reviewers. Reading the reports by both examiners gave me a faint heart attack. I received the report one week after the VIVA. Guess who promised to work on the correction as soon as the VIVA ended? Me of course. I didn't know that reading the report would take a huge mental strength to indulge in every remarks made. It was terrifying guys. I viewed the report once last week, and I have not touched it since then. I've been procrastinating for days. Me blogging this is also me getting away from facing the corrections. Good God. Please do not be like me. Part of me wants it all done quickly, submit and print and bla bla cos this chick desperately need to find a job but then part of me thinks mehhh okay lets procrastinate for one more day. Before you know it, it has been a week. Ughhhhh lord help me!! Okay so I'm just gonna photodump everything below. Another blog post coming soon I hope. This lassie needs an outlet to be in touch with her feelings and words and syllables again. I tried journaling earlier this year, but I stopped in July. Its so tiresome to be writing again lol. I think faster than I write, hence going back to this blog was a smart decision. Okay toodles guys.