Entering the home stretch

I’ve submitted my “intention to submit” form today which pretty much symbolizes the beginning to the end of my doctorate journey. I’ve been writing my thesis for about a month now in between the lab sessions and it’s quite surreal to think that it’s already been a little over three years since I started this.

I still have some experimental milestones to hit before I can officially go into “thesis writing” mode but hopefully, I can get it resolved over the next one or two months. I haven’t had much luck with lab results lately despite a lot of hard graft over the past two to three months. Curse the uncertainty of semi-novel research!

However, the good news is because I write my journal articles as I go about doing my lab work instead of leaving it until the end, all I have to do once I finish this batch of experiments is to collate all the papers together to form a coherent piece of work. It’s a two to three week job at most, fingers crossed.

Also, I have had one eye on my post-graduation career for the past one year now, and after a lot of uhm, “extra-curricular” reading, I feel like (or at least, I hope!) I’m sufficiently equipped now to handle any rigorous interview processes that might come my way. I should be starting to apply for jobs by mid to late April depending on the progress of my doctorate work.


I’m feeling a whole whirlwind of emotions right now, to be honest. There’s a bit of fear because at the back of my mind, there are still some lingering doubts as to whether I can actually make that final step and complete the doctorate. Just the thought of the humiliation of ending up with an MPhil instead of a PhD makes me feel nauseous. There’s relief because either ways, no matter what happens, this mentally and physically draining journey will end by the middle of 2012.


There’s contentment, because again, no matter what happens, I have come on leaps and bounds as a person and I can feel the improvement in maturity of thought compared to where I was three years ago, and really, isn’t that just what everyone wants? The feeling that you’ve made progress and not just stagnated as the days went by?


The dominating feeling right now, however, has to be excitement. There’s just so much to look forward to over the coming months and the uncertainty adds so much to it. So first, I have to get the final project out of the way, and then comes the job applications while finishing up the thesis, and if all goes well, I’ll successfully defend my thesis, become Dr. Ng and land the job that I want. Onwards and upwards!

……. or crash and burn, end up with an MPhil and wallow in misery for the rest of my life. That’s pretty exciting too, I suppose.


Whatever. Sit tight!

The Kerinchi Link Conundrum

So it was announced last week that the government had decided to abolish two of the Cheras-Kajang tolls; one on each side of the road. This should be great news for me because I travel along that stretch every day and hey, we all love money, right? Well unfortunately, it wasn’t quite as simple for me.

“ASALKAN BUKAN BARISAN NASIO… say what? toll abolished?! FUCK YEAH!!!!”

That’s because the government has a rebate program going where if you pass more than 80 toll booths a month, you get a 20% rebate on your toll charges. Since you also get a further 20% on the rebate that is credited provided you pass 80 tolls again the next month, it is effectively a 24.8% rebate.

What this means is that if the government abolishes 2 tolls, it brings down my monthly toll count. So if (1) the abolishment of the tolls brings my toll count below 80, and (2) the savings from the rebate prior to the abolishment is more than the direct savings from the abolishment, I actually stand to lose more money.


Thankfully, it doesn’t in this scenario. I was crossing 7 tolls daily prior to the abolishment, so assuming I travelled to the campus every weekday, which equated to 20 days of travelling, I was crossing 140 tolls monthly. The abolishment of the 2 tolls brought the total down to 100, which was fine by me.

However, this turn of events did bring a new dilemma which I dubbed during my drive home “The Kerinchi Link Conundrum”.

(www.dramabutton.com)

 

You see, on the way back from Semenyih, I am usually faced with two route options, with significantly different costs each. I can either go up the Kerinchi Link and pay a total of RM 2.50 or I can wait a little longer in traffic (generally about 15 minutes) and go home via the toll-free Jalan Universiti.


Of course, for a typical driver, the cost analysis is pretty straightforward. If you can stand to wait, do so; otherwise, cough up RM2.50. With the rebate program however, it gets slightly more complicated because of the monthly toll count.

(For the sake of discussion, assume 1 month = 20 weekdays)

Each time I choose not to go up the Kerinchi Link, I lose 2 toll booth “passes” off my monthly toll count. If my monthly toll count drops below 80 passes, I don’t qualify for a rebate. Before, it didn’t matter: my monthly count was 140 passes so even if I chose not to go up the Kerinchi Link every time, my final count still stood at 100 passes. No problems there.


With the abolishment of the two Cheras-Kajang tolls, however, should I choose not to go up the Kerinchi Link at all, my monthly toll count drops from 100 to 60. So now, I do have a fairly interesting situation on my hands. Since I had time during my drive home (I always do; it’s a fucking 45 minute drive each way), I decided to do a quick cost-benefit analysis.


It turns out that to achieve the perfect balance between cost and time spent waiting in traffic, I have to go up the Kerinchi Link at least ten times. Interestingly, the difference between going up the Link ten times and not going up at all is a mere RM 1. That means it only costs me RM0.10 each time I go up the link. The explanation is simple enough: not going up the Link at all means failing to meet the 80 toll requirement and consequently, losing out on the rebate for the other 3 tolls that I do have to pass daily.


The worst case scenario would be if I only go up the Link nine times because then, not only do I lose out on the monthly rebate, but I also have to pay the full RM2.50 toll charge. It would actually cost me money to NOT go up the tenth time. I was actually amused by how counter-intuitive this whole thing was.

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In the grand scheme of things, however, I’m not sure I should be pleased about this whole toll abolishment thing. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the traffic along the Taman Connaught stretch has gradually worsen since the RM0.50 toll was abolished last year. Since it doesn’t cost a cent to go along the East-West link now, more motorists would understandably prefer to take that route home.


Which sucks for me, because, well, I’ve always been okay with paying the measly RM0.50. So screw you, BN, yet another reason to vote for the opposition….


…. except those guys are proposing to abolish ALL tolls in the country.


Hmmm…



P/S: The opposition has been saying that should they take over Putrajaya, they’ll slash tax rates, abolish all tolls, provide financial aid for the needy, maintain/ increase fuel subsidies and keep essential goods prices steady, among other populist measures.

Which begs the fucking question: How do they plan on financing all this? Just by eliminating corruption and cronyism? Even if it’s possible, I’m not entirely sure it’s the most beneficial way to spend the purported savings.