A Busy Week

I have been so overwhelmed with work (see below) these past two weeks that it has left little time for me to blog, which is too bad because lots have been happening.

Friday, June 12: We celebrated grandma's 84th birthday over a traditional 10 course Chinese dinner. Lots of food, lots of laughs and lots of pictures. Here's this year's family photo:

Whoa! So many Chinese people! I'm startled by it.
Photography by Aunt Elaine

Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 14: I spent the weekend with my amazing Leaders of Tomorrow: Graduate (LoT:G) committee at Hart House Farm which is located about 1hr north west from downtown Toronto. It was my first time at HHF in 8 years as a UofT student and I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it is. The purpose of the retreat was essentially to pass the torch to the new co-Chairs of the group. I have to admit that it was hard to let go but it is the right time =)

Aside from eating more than I did on Friday night, we had a yoga lesson (my first) which was quite challenging. I needed lots of help:

My attempt at yoga with support from Maygan and our yoga instructor
Photography by Erin Kim

It was also refreshing to breathe in the clean air, see the stars at night and roast marshmallows by the fire. Of course, we did some work but the retreat was really about building friendships with wonderful, intelligent and creative engineers - which I think we successfully did!

The only photo evidence of productivity
Photography by Erin Kim

Monday, June 15 - Present: The many deadlines that I have has translated into long hours of sitting in front of the computer reading and writing. Specifically, I have to prepare 3 presentations for 3 upcoming conferences, finish editing 2 scientific papers (one based on my Master's and the other on entrepreneurial education in engineering curricula), and work on my thesis (thank God for my summer student) as well as the annual report for LoT:G (my last duty as exiting co-Chair). Despite all this, I find time to miss Jeff (though I'm not supposed to say hehe). And the only breaks I have had from work and thinking about him were when I took grandma to the dentist on Tuesday AND Thursday morning to get her dentures realigned, and when I played Ultimate on Tuesday evening. I somehow got 5 bruises on my arms and legs but at least I broke my scoring drought. Yay!

I'm soooooooo glad tomorrow is Friday.

-ange xx