For National Science Week, I spoke at the Super STEM Careers event about my career in STEM.

"Good Weekend" magazine (included every Saturday in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers) was interested in what I was up to, so they wrote this extensive feature about how things are going for me.

ABC made this short video, as part of a three-part series, about my Chinese culture and Brett Leary’s (founder of Virtual Songlines) Aboriginal culture and how that has influenced our journeys in technology.

My last, large, in-person networking event I went to in Australia since before the pandemic was the 60th anniversary celebrations for the Australian of the Year awards in Canberra on 25 January. We had a luncheon at the National Gallery of Australia, where three previous Australian of the Year Award winners were interviewed.

Then we had the Awards Ceremony at the National Arboretum Canberra.  To celebrate the 60th-year occasion, they invited all the previous Australian of the Year winners to the stage to celebrate. It was totally epic to see 10+ previous Australian of the Year Award winners take to the stage!

National Arboretum Canberra

It was great to meet Aussie maths teacher Eddie Woo and all-time swimming legend Dawn Fraser.

The legend Dawn Fraser

Ash Barty was named Young Australian of the Year remotely in Melbourne. Former Young Australian of the Year Pat Rafter presented her trophy in person. She then went and played tennis the next night in the Australian Open - and won! Amazing! She later on went and became the semi-finalist for the Australian Open that week!

Socializing and seeing other people seems like a long, long, long, long, long, long time ago now.

Here’s some cute dog photos from the dog park from before Covid, to make you smile. :)  (Note: not my dogs!)

Lockdown is certainly a change of pace for me. I used to fly around the world twice a month! Now I’m stuck inside my 768 sq ft apartment for months on end - apart from the occasional walk or grocery store trip. I miss my friends, I miss exploring, I miss doing something different, I miss leaving my house and neighbourhood.

I’ve realized how important it is for me to have things to look forward to and to experience different things - whether it’s a new bricks-and-mortar grocery store or a new online grocery store.  (I'm easy to please!) :) 

All the uncertainty around what would happen with all my plans was also very stressful in the first few months of the pandemic. But I’ve come to terms now that I won’t be going anywhere for a long time and that’s given me a lot of peace to just focus on making things happen from the confines of my apartment. Just trying to do my bit and stay inside so healthcare workers can do their bit. Thank you healthcare workers for caring for us all.

On the positive side, I’ve learned how to make pizza during lockdown, and I’ve made many delicious pizzas, and successfully looked after a basil plant for many months. It’s been fun discovering my green thumb!

Me and a friend I made during one of my lockdown walks