It's been a while and to skip the formalities of my apologizing profusely for my lack of updates, let's just get to the point now shall we? The month of March has perhaps been one of the most event-filled months in my life (and we're only talking the first week here!). The commencement of my enrolment into the PhD program at Monash University has left me up to my neck with work, and the increasing pressure to immerse myself in the Indigenous communities of Peninsular Malaysia (out of self interest but also as a principal component of my research) has meant that I have been driving up and down the peninsular (Literally!) to attend events, festivals, or just (as some anthropologists would say) "scope out the possible sites". While it is always good to keep busy, and it is a very amazing and humbling experience to interact with some very empowered members of these communities, I really do wish I would be able to take a break every once in awhile.
However, not all is exactly unwell. In fact, you could say something very exciting has happened. Our dear friend, Khalid Fadil (you must remember him as I have mentioned him here on more than one occasion) has been very kind in that he has offered us a very generous donation to our butterfly and moth collection. And by generous I do not mean just one or two envelopes with nice things in them (although that would have been more than I would have asked for!), I'm talking about an entire box filled with envelopes of papered specimens that I literally pick out from a box!!! It was like a lepidoptera buffet, and I had an all-you-can-eat pass! Indeed it was more about resisting the temptation to just grab the entire box and go than it was about choosing only the ones I really want and have the skill to spread, besides (I'm afraid an amateur like me will do more damage than justice to the wings of the very small microlepidoptera). As you can imagine I'll have quite a lot to share within the coming weeks. A literal treasure trove!
However, not all is exactly unwell. In fact, you could say something very exciting has happened. Our dear friend, Khalid Fadil (you must remember him as I have mentioned him here on more than one occasion) has been very kind in that he has offered us a very generous donation to our butterfly and moth collection. And by generous I do not mean just one or two envelopes with nice things in them (although that would have been more than I would have asked for!), I'm talking about an entire box filled with envelopes of papered specimens that I literally pick out from a box!!! It was like a lepidoptera buffet, and I had an all-you-can-eat pass! Indeed it was more about resisting the temptation to just grab the entire box and go than it was about choosing only the ones I really want and have the skill to spread, besides (I'm afraid an amateur like me will do more damage than justice to the wings of the very small microlepidoptera). As you can imagine I'll have quite a lot to share within the coming weeks. A literal treasure trove!
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| Khalid's very kind, and very generous donation to my personal collection. |
Cheers,
Cyren.
Cyren.
