Saturday, February 23, 2019

25 Years of my life

On Friday, I received an award from our university for having worked here for 25 years.  Such awards are given to staff who have accumulated 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 or 40 years of service.  This year, 70+ people have 25 years, like me.  Compared to those who have 30, 35 or even 40 years of service, mine wasn’t so remarkable at all. 

Prior to this year, I have skipped these events.  I decided to go this year because this is most likely my last chance to attend such an event.  I didn’t actually tell anyone that I was going.  But I knew that some of them knew about it and were planning to attend.  I expected some photo-taking.

When I went on the stage to receive the award, my team of ~20 stood up, hoisted billboards and shouted, creating quite a commotion.  I wasn’t expecting it and was really quite pleasantly surprised.  

Then my superior gave me a bunch of flowers (of types that I could not recognize).  That’s another surprise.  Many other colleagues also came up to shake my hand.  

Some colleagues made me a nicely shaped laser-cut tree, reminding me of my days researching on manufacturing automation and geometric modelling, decades ago.  In those days I thought that was most exciting.  Little did I know what was to come. 

There is also a nicely-shaped real-life bonsai tree.  I will put it next to the one that I am trying to shape myself.  I am hoping to shape it a little, without killing it.  


Evidently many people were impressed by my colleagues’ enthusiasm.  They are not the only group to make a commotion, but they are among the loudest.  

Before I got seriously into service-learning, I wasn’t expecting to stay at the university for so long.  Even now, 25 years does not seem so remarkable, although this is, by far, my longest job.  But the last 10+ years of service-learning have given me a lot of opportunities to do challenging and meaningful things, make a lot of friends inside and outside of the university, go to a lot of exciting places, watch a lot of students grow up and change, link up my job with my faith, and discover a lot about myself.  

Come to think of it, the 25 year award presents a reminder of the good time that I have had. I am very grateful, to my students, colleagues, collaborators, friends, family and ultimately, God.  



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