Groupmeeting

Today marked the start of the winter semester, and with it, the return to a tense and busy academic life. We had a small group meeting at noon with Dr. Liu serving as today’s chair. We shared stories about our holidays and discussed our resolutions for the new year. I shared my four main goals for the year: To continue improving my English and become a more confident speaker. To learn the ropes of academic research and strive to complete one or two first drafts by the end of the year. To travel to another Canadian province. To save up enough money to buy a new laptop. In the afternoon, Dr. Zhao invited me to his office to discuss my future plans. He suggested two research directions: RFID technology and concrete energy storage. Both sound fascinating to me. I need to start carving out time to read the literature and learn as much as possible from the senior students (my shixiong) while they are still here. ...

Today had a group meeting in the noon. I became the social leader on the meeting. I and Zhiqiang need to hold a coffee time on Friday. I worked till midnight for the office hour of tomorrow.

Today was a fulfilling day! I woke up early and found that my preparation time was much shorter than usual, thanks to having the microwave. I spent the morning finalizing the slides for our group presentation. As is often the case, I didn’t enjoy the group meeting, and I realized I might have a somewhat unhelpful mindset. I’m constantly worried about the professor’s judgment of me. Worse, I find myself adding my own negative personal thoughts to what I imagine the professors think, which then reflects negatively back onto myself. This cycle leads me to underestimate and doubt my own abilities. This process is genuinely damaging to my self-esteem. ...

Just woke up, I picked up my phone and saw three voice messages from my sister. I clicked them and found that are blessing from my little niece, and asked me to buy a cake for my self. It’s so cute and delightful. Rui messaged me and wanted to treat me KFC or McDonald’s. It’s hard to order remotely and finally she sent me a red envelope. I recorded the assignment video in the morning. ...

15:21 Bought two long-sleeve shirts Why is the quality of these clothes so bad? I don’t know 15:41 Feel sleepy I don’t know why I’m so sleepy. 20:06 Smelly lamb meat I bought a lamb leg on Saturday and I boiled it yesterday. The lamb of Canada is so smelly. I became a fat lamb after eating. 20:08 Weekly journal I added the weekly journal function on my blog so that I can prepare the notes for the group meeting on Monday. I hope I can keep it as a good habit.