My new years since 2013

2015 NY Lisboa Hard Rock Cafe

Since 2013, most of my new years have been in Europe or the USA: 2013 (Lisboa), 2014 (Lisboa), 2015 (Lisboa), 2016 (Lisboa), 2017 (Zurich), 2018 (Lisboa), 2019 (Atlanta), 2021 (Kanab), 2022 (Utqiagvik), 2023 (Fairbanks), and 2024 (Anchorage). 2020 was my first new year in Sri Lanka again after eight years. Most new years have been quite exciting since I left Sri Lanka.
 
2013: Lisboa, Portugal.

Praça do Comercio/Lisboa, the most remarkable one ever.  My first new year abroad: my first one in Lisboa, with my EMDC friends. No other new year's memory could overtake that one, I am sure. We repeated this experience in 2014 and 2016.

2014: Lisboa, Portugal.

Praça do Comercio/Lisboa again, after a remarkable trip in Scandinavia. The second remarkable one was the 2014 new year. We had a cruise to Helsinki from Stockholm, then flew to Copenhagen, and also visited Malmö. But we came back to Lisboa for new year's eve. It was an eventful Christmas - new year vacation. A most remarkable year-end vacation to date.

2015: Lisboa, Portugal. 

This time in Hard Rock Cafe. We were too late to go to the Praça do Comercio and decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe instead and had some drinks with the festive mood amid a huge crowd. 

2016: Lisboa, Portugal.

Back in Praça do Comercio. Same as 2013 and 2014. Crowded metro. We arrived quite late and couldn't reach the usual spot in Praça do Comercio. But we witnessed the firework show a few 100 meters away from our ideal spot in front of the river, blocked by a happy crowd.

2017: Zurich, Switzerland
2017 in Zurich was equally exciting when we traveled to Switzerland, Austria, and Liechtenstein. 2017 was also the first time we celebrated the new year in a country other than our resident country. No wonder 2017 became the year of travels.

2018: Lisboa, Portugal.

This time idling at home. 2018 was the first new year (since moving abroad in 2012 August) when we decided to idle at home during midnight. It also implied either we were getting used to Lisboa New Year's Eve and not too excited anymore, or we were getting old!

2019: Atlanta, GA, USA.

In SunTrust park. 2019 in Atlanta was quite fun as well. But we did not wait until midnight. The SunTrust park had countdowns for every hour since dark, at 8 pm, 9 pm, 10 pm, ..., giving a new year countdown experience early on.

2020: Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.

Back in home in Soyzapura. A vacation in Sri Lanka brought back memories of 2012 and earlier new years.

2021: Kanab, UT, USA.

A road trip with a colleague. It was a small boring town. But our hotel had a good view.

2022: Utqiaġvik, AK, USA.

A walk in temperatures reaching -40 to witness the fireworks on a frozen Arctic lake. A magical moment.

2023: Fairbanks, AK, USA.

Yet another Alaska new year. This time it was frozen Chena River.

 

2024: Anchorage, AK, USA.

First Alaska new year after moving to Anchorage. In between returning from Adak and flying to San Diego. So, we stayed home during the New Year's Eve.

 

2025: Shenzhen, China.

Extremely crowded OCT, Shenzhen and a boat ride in the river, enjoying the bright LED lights. 

Friday Feeling

Sesimbra, 2018, before leaving Portugal

This year is going fast. That is something I often felt with many years. Some years start eventfully. This year did! Especially with the new year day. We came back from our travels by the second week of January. But then when we returned home, the momentum slowed down. Drastically. It took some time to recover from all the food overdose. The year was already on full swing. January 10th. Weirdly, Anchorage is not as cold these days, although we are in the peak winter. Temperatures at mid 40s! (that is, 7 c). 2024 was a great year. 2025 so far felt like a hangover from the remarkably fun 2024. The semester is already getting to its speed. We are planning the summer and travels for 2025 already. Although it felt like a continuation of 2024, 2025 is starting to have its unique features too.

View of Tagus River

I often wonder how travels are an inevitable expense in the life of a person who is living abroad. Even when international students struggle with their finances, they travel back home once a year or once in two years. I did. We all do. Such a long-haul trip would feel like an unwanted expense or a luxury for a person who lives in their own country (unless they take pride in being international travelers). But for foreign students and foreign employees, travel is just a part of their identity. Most of us don't even consider going back home as a "travel."

When I hear from students who just got accepted to grad school, it brings me back to 2012. A time that feels so close, yet too far. An intermediate time between now and a time when I was in Sri Lanka. It feels like a previous birth at times. Grad school is a fun experience. As grad students, we already knew how to build things, how to write proper software. We felt like adults. But we also felt like kids - we were students, after all. Things look beautiful when you look back!

It doesn't feel right that I must spend thousands of dollars to fly across the ocean to walk on the same riverside I walked ten years ago or to enjoy some bacalhau in my favorite restaurant of my 20s.

Why does the world feel big sometimes? Don't mind me. It's the Friday feeling.

#WeAreTécnico

Exactly 10 years after I joined Técnico Lisboa for the first time for my masters, this month Técnico created an alumni network to connect past and present students and faculty of the university. It has a LinkedIn integration. If you too are from Técnico, feel free to say hi!

Técnico alumni network

Portugal, from ten years ago...

My journey to Lisboa

Ten years ago, on a day like this, I left home for Colombo airport to head towards Lisboa for my grad school. I thought I was going to grad school. To do coursework and do research. Maybe for a couple of years? I did not know I was on for a life of adventures of diving into cultures and making friends. A journey that changed me completely.

 

The journey was not direct. I first had to go to New Delhi to get my Portuguese student visa. Getting the visa was a story on its own.  Then three days later, with the visa stamped on my passport, I headed towards Lisboa via Dubai. Two days of August 2012 are of high importance to me. One is the Monday 20th for leaving home to live abroad for the first time, and the other is the Thursday 23rd to arrive in Lisboa finally.

View from my apartment in Lisboa, August 2012

During those early days in Portugal, I would think about where I would be in 10 years. Here, I am writing this blog post from Atlanta. Arrival in Lisboa was smooth. Emirates upgraded me to business class. The border control was friendly to me. The landlord was waiting for me with my name typed on his tablet. On his drive, he mentioned, "Portugal is having economic hardship now. But we are always happy." I also asked him why it was cold in the summer, coming from Colombo. He replied it was the end of the summer and almost autumn. The following days, I walked the streets alone. Everyone was helpful, despite me not knowing the language. Most people there can and will speak English, unlike, for example, in France. In some ways, it was like the opposite of Emily in Paris. Lisboa was nicer to me. (Oh yes, I have made a blog series about my life in Lisboa,  Pradeeban in Portugal!) But I did not know that I would end up doing my Ph.D., primarily based in Lisboa, eventually spending seven years of my life centered around Portugal until I completed my Ph.D. in 2019.

The Pacific Ocean, Santa Monica. June 2022

Moving to Lisboa started season 2 of my life. Due to Erasmus Mundus mobility requirements, I moved back and forth from Lisboa to cities in other countries - Sweden, Belgium, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, and the USA. Then in June 2018, I moved to Atlanta after submitting my thesis. I finally defended my Ph.D. thesis in July 2019 in Lisboa and August 2019 in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Erasmus Mundus joint degree requirements! 

I moved out from Lisboa in June 2018, did not visit Portugal after July 2019, and my last connection to Portugal was completed with my final Ph.D. defense in August 2019. But I feel I am still in season 2, which Lisboa started in my life. The last three years of the pandemic have significantly changed many aspects of our life and even how we interact with people. Things have slowed down significantly. My travels since February 2020 are entirely restricted to local trips within the USA. My life in Lisboa and my seven years of Erasmus Mundus are like pleasant dreams. I believe I will have an equally exciting season 3 somewhere sometime later. Until then.

Heating and hot water diaries

Begich Towers, Whittier, AK

Lisboa's winters were cold indoors. We did not have proper heating in most of the apartments and hostels that we stayed. The hot water was okay - but not too stable. It got cold when we opened the kitchen water simultaneously. On the other hand, Stockholm and Louvain-la-Neuve had a better but central heating. That means, it was cold in autumn until they turned the heating on. Once they turned it on, it was warm enough always, as in the summer - quite comfortable. In Atlanta, we have a better personal heating. So we have a better control of the heating. Hot water in Stockholm, Louvain-la-Neuve, and Atlanta are quite stable too.

We never had to worry about heating in Colombo. It was always hot. Whenever it got "cold," it was a pleasant surprise that was to be cherished - not something we needed heater. But still, taking a cold shower was fun. Most apartments did not have proper water heating. We used to boil water in pans to fill a huge containers for warm showers. Not as convenient - but it worked.

I did not enjoy the Lisboa winters as much as I enjoy Lisboa summers. Indoors got colder than the outdoors in winters. But still, the foggy days of winters were a magical feeling. Nothing to complain about.

"Perceived Time" is not a linear entity

Playing chess in Pousada do Castelo de Óbidos

"Why time goes faster as we age" is a question often asked to the Google Gods. Just do  Google search yourself and find interesting and satisfactory answers that the perception of time going faster as we get older s universal. The logic is simple. When you are 10 years old, 1 year is 10% of your lifetime so far. When you are 30 years old, 1 year is just 3% of your time so far. So, as you get older, you start to perceive that time goes faster.

Sounds simple. right? But no. It is not entirely true. Perceived time gets extremely tricky. Sad and boring days go slow. The pandemic 2020 with mostly lock down and work from home home-alone felt to be moving in a snail speed. But looking back, it also feels like time went fast. boring periods feel differently when you experience it vs. when you look at it later.

I also kept moving across nations pretty fast between 2012 - 2018, every year living in 2 countries in average. When you arrive in a country, you feel like your life starts from scratch. Especially if you knew no one from the country, you could really redefine yourself. I often feel like a blank white sheet when I arrive in a country for the first time. As I was living a nomadic life from 2012 - 2018, I rarely bought many things. Any stuff I bought, I had to throw away as I moved to another country. Then, we buy new things in the other country that we arrive. It was like getting new blood. But since 2018 June, I am in Atlanta. Almost 3 years with no change in location, even the apartment. With 3 years, my minimalist lifestyle has slightly changed as things accumulate at home. Also, unlike the new blood coming in when you move around, staying in one place makes you gather more garbage. Things break, and we have to buy new things - not because we threw away things when we moved to another country - but rather, things decay - the wear and tear.

The first academic year in Lisboa went quite fast - but also left ever-lasting memories of friendships, romance, smiles, and tears. But I have also reviewed and relived those memories several times. I have gone through those photos repeatedly. I fondly called those times, "those days," especially the first 6 months of Lisboa. The first year of Lisboa - I lived it again and again, every time I returned to Portugal from other countries such as Sweden, Croatia, Belgium, and USA. Now, looking back, the period between 2012 August - 2013 July feels like quite a long time, compared to the rest of time in my life such as 1987 - 2012 and 2014 - 2021.

I used to write weekly blog posts during my first academic year in Portugal. Then, when I moved to Sweden, I started writing monthly posts. Then upon return to Lisboa, I intermittently blogged my life. I resumed the weekly blog posts during the early COVID19 days of 2020, which I later stopped as WFH was normalized and became normal. Especially with the vaccine, now we feel we may get back to normal life soon. The cases still remain high though. Those excitement of weekly posts also brings a perception of long days when I look back at 2012 - 2013 in Lisboa. We don't remember the events. We remember the last time we remembered the events. When we repeatedly recall an event, it starts to feel closer than it actually is.

When I go on a long-trip that lasts more than 2 weeks, the first half goes feels long. But the second half goes too fast. Maybe that the first half is like the 100% of time I have been in that place where the second half is just the 50%? As I am getting used to all the new places, nowadays, once I land on a new city, the very second day I start to feel home even if I am just staying in a hotel.

Things felt differently when I was young. We used to eagerly wait for the annual trips during our middle-school days. We just started with one-day trips to the villages of Sri Lanka, which became two day trips from grade 9 onward. The 2-day trip involved sleeping over in a new village, and got all of us excited. 2010, my trip to Paris for SoCPaR was both my first foreign trip as well as my first conference experience. As such, it felt special. Now, as I have been to 46 countries and hundreds of cities, such an excitement becomes harder to achieve. I have to go to a farther interesting place to indeed feel the same excitement. Still, I surprise myself in a few exciting trips, such as my visits to Panama or New Orleans.

Perceived time is a weird construct. Trying to explain it makes no sense. This is my conclusion. Long live the memories of our young days.

* Embedded music videos are from INNA. I spent the best days of my life since 2012 (from 2012 and ongoing) listening to her music. It is like growing old with her music, witnessing how her music also evolves and matures. Listening to her music from 2012 - 2013 days takes me back on the memory lanes.

Pandemic Atlanta Lockdown - Week 36

A long walk on an abandoned FL highway

So I have lost the habit of this weekly blog post in the middle. Thoughts were getting repetitive and nothing new to report. However, I managed to start writing for this week. Perhaps, I have resumed the practice? Hard to say. We need to wait until next week to confirm that. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I had like thousands of emotions, positive and negative. I am overall a positive person anyway. But the COVID-19 leaves me with 2 emotions - sad and not sad. haha. Boring times. Although there are vaccine candidates now, there is still a long way forward before the end of the pandemic. I have witnessed 2 strangest natural disasters in my life. First, 2004 December 26th Tsunami. Although I was not directly affected by the tsunami itself, the aftermath was visible. On the other hand, the COVID19 pandemic has directly affected us all in all sorts of ways.

Atlantic Ocean from FL

While in Lisboa for my first year (2012 August - 2013 July), I managed to keep the weekly blog posts active. At latter weeks of the first year, I had posts that merged multiple weeks. However, the posts are still there. They are a nice read when I go back in time. Those memories, coupled with those posts, are like drugs. :) Once I moved to Stockholm, I had monthly posts. Upon my return to Lisboa, I lost the habit of the weekly posts eventually, although I had a "Lisbon - Week n" post and continued to post travel and life updates on Llovizna. Another reason for the lack of posts is, my use of other social media. I had an active Facebook account until end of 2015 for such frequent updates and then an active Twitter account. It is easier to post a quick Facebook or Twitter update and also receive some audience rather than a long blog post. Now that I have deactivated my Facebook, I kinda miss those updates from my previous years.

Happy Memories of Lisboa

Often life feels like a movie. Or rather, an interesting teledrama series? There were certain years that felt like the climax, such as the happy ending of a movie? Years like 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019, for example. Then I have this complete bizarre 2020 which feels like there is no end. However, to give some credits to 2020, the first 45 days went quite well. I felt very energetic for the whole of January until I realized the seriousness of the pandemic. With travel restrictions and ruined travel plans, I was still optimistic until mid-February.

What is interesting is, 2020 managed to portray a dystopian reality for the whole of 2020, excluding January and the early days of February when we were hopeful that these "outbreaks" would be contained soon. Now the normalcy bias of pre-COVID19 days is gone. What we now have is the "new normal," -- which, as of now, seems, sounds, and smells, like a "lonely normal" supported by technological advancements such as zoom and other online communication technologies. Years later, will I still remember 2020 as the most depressing and the worst year in recent memories? Or will I feel better about it when I look back? Is 2020 an exception, a cautionary tale that we will tell our next generations, or is this a trailer for the larger future disasters to come?

Pandemic Atlanta Lockdown - Week 20

I am a GitHub Arctic Code Vault Contributor.

I have named my project, Sintra (Self-adaptive Inter-domain Network Transfers for Radiology). Sintra is a romantic and historic town in Portugal that I love. It is touristic and quite close to Lisboa, well-connected by train and bus. I used to name a few of my projects with Portuguese town names during my PhD: Sendim, Óbidos, and Évora were those 3 towns. Now, Sintra becomes the 4th Portuguese town which name my project after. Interestingly, all those 3 projects were implemented during my stay in INESC-ID Lisboa, Portugal. This is the first time outside Portugal. But that doesn't matter anyway. I name my project whatever I want, and that makes me happy. :P

My initial plan for the work-from-home/lockdown era was to "somehow survive" it, as many of my plans came to a virtual halt. I was assuming it to last only a few weeks, maybe until May 2020. But now I come to the realization that the pandemic is here to stay, perhaps even for the whole of 2021. I cannot be in a "survival mode" for a year to come.

Seeking entertainment from my friend in class, 2012

The forced separation of families due to the pandemic and the associated travel restrictions has left many of us home alone. However, replacing that with the shallow online communications (such as Twitter) is counter-productive in the long run. Now we are looking at the scale of years, rather than weeks! Even if most people don't really care about you on Twitter (I am referring to social media as "twitter" as it is the only social medium I use), the "likes," "retweets," and supporting comments from random Twitter people can be reassuring when there is no actual human interaction for months.

An economic depression is inevitable. It will cripple the developed world. Globalization, especially working in foreign countries, will become challenging. Already nations are adopting "citizens first" approach, closing their borders to foreign employees. We received an email, informing a pay cut of 5%. This comes in addition to the removal of the annual 3% cost-of-living increment of the salary. That is sad news this week. Depending on how I will see it, 2021 can be either a challenging or a difficult year. I must prepare to fight it, rather than taken by the waves in a survival mode.

Regardless of all these, companies do not stop sending me random emails, congratulating me for being a loyal customer, which I clearly am not. I also aim to be better prepared to fight this uncertainty that waits for me in mid-2021. In the meantime, focus and optimize for the pandemic life, in a positive manner.

You know your perception of time is messed up when you go, "oh, I miss those good old days," when you refer to 2020 early January, literally just half a year ago. Crazy days, indeed. Cheers for August!

Remote conferences - Conferences during the COVID19 Era

Lisboa, 2013 NY, and my Zoom background

COVID19 has made the conferences go remote. Some conferences, such as SDS 2020, were postponed in the hope that COVID19 will end soon. But eventually, COVID19 became a deadly pandemic that no conference could survive. Some conferences, such as DisCoTec 2020 became free to attend for any participants while charging the authors a negligible fee. Other conferences offered discounted rates, such as 50%. For those who have already paid the full registration fees, refunds for the overpayment were issued.

DisCoTec used the Zoom webinar for the conference. Unlike a Zoom meeting that lets you see and listen to every participant, Zoom webinar gives a monologue-kind of environment. Most, if not all, presenters had recorded their presentation as videos. It is similar to the SDS 2020 presentation that I am supposed to give by the end of June. We all have recorded PowerPoint presentations with our voice over and uploaded them as videos for the conference. DisCoTec had a similar approach, with the videos uploaded to YouTube, unlisted. I mostly attended the tutorials (Monday), and DAIS sessions (Tuesday - Thursday). I skipped the workshops (Friday).

There are several advantages in conferences going remote. First, remote online conferences let us continue conferences as usual, without giving up. Now the options are: remote conferences or postpone or cancel the conference. With the pandemic still going strong, postponing does not seem to work. That leaves us with either no conference for 2020 or a remote conference. Something is better than nothing! So remote conferences, it is. Second, they open up the conferences to a wider community - those who couldn't travel to conferences due to funding and visa limitations. Now, with less funding, we could join more conferences. OK, these advantages are quite obvious.

Now, let's look into the shortcomings of a remote conference, done in the DisCoTec way.

1. No scientific interaction between participants

Following the recorded presentations, there were live Q&A sessions that lasted up to 5 minutes. But, mostly, it was just listening to recordings. With time, I am sure the conference will list those uploads, making it possible for everyone to go and watch them on YouTube, on-demand. To incentivize attending to the conference session remotely, conferences must put additional efforts, beyond the Q&A. Otherwise, I may just watch them at leisure, and send my questions as emails to the authors.

Of course, the conference organizers created a slack channel (on Tuesday) for questions and answers from the sessions. Each conference session had its room. DisCoTec is an umbrella event with a parallel conference (including DAIS) and workshop sessions. So it had several rooms in the Slack channel with one general channel. 

2. No coffee-hour friendships and networking

One thing I usually love about conferences is the coffee hour discussions. We meet the presenter and ask questions or compliment their work. I am an extrovert when it comes to conferences. I roam around with a cup of coffee during the coffee breaks. I go and introduce myself to any lone participant and discuss their work. Penetrating an already existing group is harder. Sometimes, participants from the same university, company, or friends from the same country make a group and stick to each other. I always avoid that. Such groups usually appear less open to make new friends. On the other hand, I have always made friends with diverse groups that were formed on the spot. I have made groups at conferences, by joining several participants over the coffee hours. Then we all go for dinner or sightseeing together. The best of the conferences, indeed!

3. Less opportunity to find long-term collaborators

Conferences are an excellent opportunity to find long-term collaborators and even employers! During IC2E/SDS conference, I met my supervisor from Croatia for the first time. She had attended my presentation and found that her research aligned with my on-going Ph.D. research (which was still in its infancy). That's how I ended up in Croatia, spending a summer in a short-term scientific mission (STSM)! That STSM contributed to the core of my Ph.D. research. Such fruitful interactions won't happen easily in online conferences. At least not in this format. I tried to interact with participants on Twitter via the hashtags. But not much luck except for some minor chats. The potential to meet collaborators is highly limited in remote conferences such as this and almost non-existent for the audience. I hope that at least presenters got some visibility and interaction beyond the Q&A. Communications with potential future collaborators are the key motivation for conferences. Otherwise, I would rather publish my work in a journal instead. In fact, journals are even valued highly in academia. So there must be more incentives to submit and present our papers in conferences when the advantage of meeting researchers physically is no more.

4. Timezone differences

The timezone difference is the biggest challenge, even for an introvert who doesn't like to network with random researchers. The conference was in Malta timezone, as it was originally scheduled to be in Malta. So for the 10:00 - 18:30 sessions, I had to wake up early in the morning, as it is 4:00 - 12:30 in Atlanta time. I was planning to sleep early and wake up early. But I also had other work meetings, and I could not escape my work duties for the week. Hence, I ended up having to spend most of the week without proper sleep. I went to bed at regular times and woke up as early as 4 a.m. Given a chance, I would go to bed earlier and adjust my timing to the conference timezone, including the meal hours. That would have made me virtually travel to Malta!

Although when we travel to conferences, I still end up with little sleep - as I have to prepare my presentations and try to find some time to explore the city. I am used to timezone shifts. But the last week was like double work since I had the conference sessions followed by my regular work hours. If the conference sessions were held at Atlanta time, of course, I would have to sacrifice one of the two - either the work for the week or the conference.

Can we do better?

Yes. My university in Portugal (IST/Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa) is hosting remote seminars on Mathematics, Physics & Machine Learning weekly. I joined the session on "Learning from Distributed Datasets: An introduction with two examples" last week. It was interactive. The session was hosted in a Zoom meeting. So the participants were able to see each other and even interact with the presenters before the event. It was nice to introduce myself to my ex-colleagues remotely. It was my first IST seminar after two years. Also, it is my first remote IST seminar ever. These online open seminars are one good thing that happened out of the pandemic. The recordings are, of course, available to watch later.

So in my opinion, such Zoom meetings that allow the participants to see and interact with each other before the sessions and during the "virtual coffee breaks" is a better option. Of course, zoombombing will be an issue. Password-protected conference zoom meetings can fix that.

The current move towards online conferences to combat COVID-19 travel limitations is a welcome move. However, it is not sure how long this will last. It will depend on the COVID-19 as well as the associated travel restrictions. The conference committees should take extra measures to make the conferences more interactive, to encourage communications between the participants and networking, rather than merely playing the recorded videos followed by a customary Q&A. This is new to all of us. So, of course, this is going to take a lot of iterations. Moreover, I empathize with all the conference organizers. They all have made tremendous efforts to organize the conferences physically. But they had to cancel their plans and again prepare for the online conferences.

Now CoopIS 2020 has gone online. It is one of the conferences I have presented in the past (I had papers there in 2015 and 2016). I am looking forward to attending more remote conferences whenever the topic is relevant to me, as long as the registration is free for the participants. I am yet not sure whether paying the registration fee is justified for a remote session, unless my paper is published in the conference.

Pandemic Atlanta Lockdown - Week 9

Turmeric milk

Busy days with work. There were some sleepless nights last week. If I want to, I could use the weekends to finish some work. But as a policy, I try to avoid working during the weekends, except for reviewing some papers. Weekends are still home, cooking, and practicing some Portuguese and Chinese in Duolingo.

Canceled orders

Nothing exciting this week. I have this 5$ monthly subscription from CVS, which gives me 10$ free coupons every month with free deliveries. So I ordered some chocolates from CV on the 2nd of May for 13.08$ - I had to pay only 3.08$, after deducting that 10$ coupon. The delivery was scheduled in 2 parts - May 8th and May 14th. But I did not receive my chocolates on May 8th or May 14th. Instead, CVS canceled the order on May 14th and refunded my 3.08$, citing product unavailability. However, my 10$ coupon was not refunded. That means I cannot use the coupon this month, although this cancelation was not my fault. Literally, this makes me lose 10$ for their own cancelation. I sent an email asking for clarification. Waiting for a reply. Let's see how this goes. It is interesting how the economic losses due to flight cancelations and order cancelations are coming back to individual customers, even when the cancelations are not something we customers initiated.

Memories of a Romantic Lisboa

My lunchbox

7 years ago when we started dating, my wife and I went to Café Império, a bar-restaurant close to Alameda, Lisboa. She instantly ordered 9 shots from the menu after confirming with the bartender the shot glass size. I told the bartender I need more time to decide as I was still reading the menu. I guessed she was an expert in drinking shots. I was new to cocktails and shots, but I didn't want to go with beer or wine. Her shots arrived, and I was still analyzing the menu. After tasting her first shot, she realized that shots are alcoholic drinks! Whaat? I ended up drinking all her shots. Even today I am yet not sure whether she really didn't know that shots are strong liquors or she was pranking me to drink 9 shots. I have a feeling that that was the latter. Recalling those sweet memories, as the pandemic continues to keep us on different continents.

Black Russian topped with Ice cream

And now, me with my overproof rum in a shot glass. Home alone, a lazy weekend. The background music is from INNA. When you drink ~140 proof liquors, you are drinking fire. You instantly receive the blessings of the Fire God, as the overproof rum burns your throat as it goes down. oh yes, as long as you don't mix anything; no stupid nonsense into my majestic rum.

Reopening the city?!

It seems that our university will open June 22nd onwards, considering we are reaching Phase 3 by then. This is not the end of the pandemic of course. But a decision that we cannot go on an endless lockdown. However, I have a feeling that the rest of the year will be ruined by this pandemic. At least I had some interesting first 2 months. So looking back, hopefully, I won't claim 2020 is an entirely boring year.

 

 

And DuoLingo gets heartbroken.

Pandemic Atlanta Lockdown - Week 5

Box of the birthday cake from my friends, with all their greetings, 2013 January in Lisboa.

Sometimes we move non-stop and way too fast. Only when we slow down, we have time to look back and appreciate the good things we had in our life. The COVID-19 pandemic is such a moment. We are all forced to slow down. Some people are used to staying home alone, while others are trying other coping mechanisms. We have already completed one month of working from home. So far, our team has managed the work from home quite elegantly.

From an Inconvenience to the Bitter Reality

The pandemic started as a minor inconvenience for many of us: canceled travel plans and being forced to stay alone away from family due to the International travel restrictions. But the situation keeps getting worse in the USA and the world. Now, we know that we have already lost a massive number of human lives, and this count keeps increasing. Also, this is going to be a gigantic economic disaster, too, once the pandemic is over. Everyone is comparing this pandemic as a combination of the 1918 Spanish Flu and the Great Depression.

Some more greetings!

We already hear about cuts in benefits and salary increments. At this point, at least one university has introduced pay cuts up to 20% or furloughs for all its staff and faculty. The hiring freeze also means a risk of unemployment for those in temporary work contracts. For those in work visas, this may also mean having to leave the country, as hiring freezes make it hard to find a new job as the freezes last until August 2021. Nomadic life (i.e., moving between countries and continents for life) is not new to me. But being forced to move by a deadly pandemic followed by an economic Great Depression isn't going to be fun. There is undoubtedly a cloud of uncertainty that covers the rest of the year and next year, like a dark cloud.

Coping up with the Current Situation

Now we have a better perception: This is a deadly pandemic, and its effects are going to last beyond this year, as a humanitarian and economic crisis. Having that in mind, I am complaining less about minor inconveniences, such as having to stay home alone. At least for now, I have the job, and I eat and drink as usual. Although I do not go out, I order the materials for delivery (from Kroger, WholeFoods, and Amazon Fresh) and make myself good food and drinks. I have successfully replicated a decent life and happy moments alone with cocktails and fancy food I cook for myself once in a while (thus, replacing the need for a random restaurant/bar run). Oh yes, of course, I still miss Lisboa's Hard Rock Cafe. I also have my projector for music videos. I spend my weekends mostly practicing Portuguese.

To overcome all these negative moments, I wanted to refresh my memories of my young, energetic days, and previous travels. So I was going through my old photos. And I found some interesting photos from 2013 January -- The case of the cake from my friends on my birthday in Lisboa. ❤️ Good memories. :) 

Future Uncertainties

Bombay Sapphire with lime juice

I know there are challenges ahead. I willingly accept uncertainties as a positive part of my life. But there is a fine difference between taking challenges on your own vs challenges imposed by a deadly pandemic. Predictions such as an economic Great Depression spanning the first half of the 2020s is worrying. Of course, the humanitarian costs caused by the deadly disease and the lengthy path towards the normalcy are even more concerning before we can even think about the economic hardships.

The economic downfall of the countries may force many of us out of our resident countries. I have been very flexible with migrations 2012 - 2018 and always took them positively. 2017 tested me with its extreme challenges. I managed it quite well, despite the way too many flights, uncertainties, and migrations. The last time I moved between countries or continents were in 2018 summer. I might have to wear my nomad hat once again in 2021, judging from how things are going. I believe I have the energy to take this challenge in 2020 - 2021. I might have some unhappy moments and uncertain times in the process. But we will survive together.

In the meantime, I hope everyone takes care and stays safe! Peace.

I, via a phone call: "The US is facing an economic crisis. Employers are cutting down the staff. I fear I may be forced to move out in 2021 June"
Mom: "Portugal?"
I reply, "Hard to say," and continue to describe my vague plans.
Mom: "Awesome! you have a plan."

Proud of my mom.

— Pradeeban (@pradeeban) April 18, 2020

Pandemic Atlanta Lockdown - Week 4

Skyy Vodka, Kahlua, and ice cream

Busy despite the lockdown

We are reaching the completion of the 1st month of WFH. Although the WFH and the lockdown looked like I will have too much time with nothing to do, the reality was far from that. The weekdays went with work. In fact, thanks to collaborating with some workaholic colleagues, my work time stretched from my regular 7:25 a.m - 4:45 p.m to until quite late. To adjust to that, I also started a bit later this week, around 8:25 a.m instead. I will see how this goes in the upcoming weeks.

 

Weekdays are quite busy with work and then cooking and cleaning. So only weekends I got some extra-time, that I spend with music videos, Twitter, learning Portuguese, and writing these weekly blog posts. I have finally reached the Diamond League (the top-most one) in Duolingo! That's an achievement on its own. As usual, we also had the virtual coffee hour on Friday at 3 p.m. This time, we had some important work topics mixed with our fun hour. Consequently, the coffee hour lasted until 5 p.m!

Groceries and delivery

Full fridge again!

On Monday morning around 9 a.m. I ordered grocery items from Kroger. Although I asked for the 1-day delivery, the earliest time available was only 4 p.m - 5 p.m on Wednesday. I chose those slots. The delivery was further delayed, and I receieved it by 7:51 p.m. The person who did the delivery was awesome. She made sure to get perfect substitutes for whatever item not available. When in doubt, she sent a message to confirm. 

Although I asked for a doorstep contactless delivery, I realized that the weight will be too much for the delivery person to handle. So I went downstairs as I would do usually to get my groceries to the entrance of the building near to the parking. But with a safe distance of 10 meters, I told the Instacart delivery person to leave all the groceries at the side near the parking. She happily obliged. It is safe for both of us. Then once she was done with unloading and bidding goodbye, I went and picked all the groceries to my 2nd-floor apartment!

Friends with a distance

Reaching the Diamond league!

The only times I went out these days were to throw the trash. On the way, I saw a neighbor I usually make a chit chat with. We both intentionally slowed down and walked further from each other. After reaching a safe distance of at least 10 meters from each other, we turned back and talked as usual. I mentioned to her that "this social distancing" pointing to the space between us, and she nodded with a smile. We both knew what we were doing.

Yes, I take social distancing seriously. I know sounds weird for a people-oriented extrovert. But I am not an idiot to ignore science. These are difficult days, and as such we have to make small steps to help slow the pandemic spread. We still have a long way to go. Even we are planning to work on some work related to COVID-19, and every small contribution helps humanity to overcome this huge crisis.

80% of the residents who live in this Atlanta Senior Apartment Community have tested positive for COVID-19, according to FOX. 6 people have already passed away from this community due to COVID-19. Very sad and scary because that community is for seniors. i.e., a high-risk community. When I live inside my apartment perfectly sealed off from humanity, I do not witness the bad news first-hand. But the threat is real and is at the doorstep.

One of the papers I co-authored last year eventually got accepted. I was happy about this positive news amid all this negativity. I was more stable this week as we are getting used to WFH and lockdown life. However, that didn't prevent me from feeling bad and down once in a while due to the pandemic and its local and global impact. I hope we overcome this pandemic soon and also manage to keep ourselves safe and sane in the meantime. I don't want to return to humanity as a lifeless zombie once everything is over. Let's see how everything goes in the upcoming weeks.

I have been to 46 countries. But no other country touched me the way #Portugal🇵🇹 did -- not even a fraction. Every little corner of #Lisboa is filled with hundreds of my memories. ♥️ #saudade

[#Lisbon, October 2012] pic.twitter.com/ERxqC5oIMq

— Pradeeban (@pradeeban) April 11, 2020

1. A weekly blog post on locked down life.
2. Recalling good old days and past travels more
3. Twitter threads (not fights. No energy for that)
4. Music videos in my projector and pretending I am in a cinema.
5. Sending messages to old friends.
6. Collaborations with workaholics. https://t.co/EQj03F21Ag

— Pradeeban (@pradeeban) April 11, 2020

Reminds me of my first apartment mate. New to Lisboa, I mistakenly had bought sweetener instead of sugar.

She noticed, "Why not sugar?"

I said, "I thought this is sugar."

She replied, "No, it is a sweetener. Don't use it. Sugar is açúcar. You can use mine. I have plenty." https://t.co/a1wOujqtQk

— Pradeeban (@pradeeban) April 9, 2020

Cry cry, can't you see the music...

Pandemic Atlanta Lockdown - Week 3

First grocery shopping in Lisboa, 2012

A first sleepless night in 2 years

Although I have had sleepless nights during my mid-PhD for paper submission deadlines, by 2018, I had developed better time management for deadlines and never had a sleepless night in 2018 - 2020. But the WFH messed up my rhythm, and I had a sleepless Thursday night for a Friday 8 p.m deadline. Luckily, the next one is a Friday night. I had a long sleep last night. Now, everything is okay. I am relaxed and also successfully submitted my paper (codenamed, "Niffler") by the deadline.

Change of Perspectives

When the pandemic started to ruin my regular life of traveling, going out, and meeting people, it was stressful. I am an extrovert. I love people. I love seeing new places and interacting with humans in the real world. January was concerning, February was saddening, and March was an outright disaster. April is probably going to be worse. But I have a better perspective now. Things are going to be worsening. But we are privileged that we can work from home, and live in beautiful apartments. People are risking their lives due to this virus. I am thankful for what I have. I have also well-adjusted to the indoor home-alone (a.k.a., boring) life. Not to say that I don't have sad or feeling down days. But I am also not complaining too much, at least not this week.

Life is an Indian movie

Wild Kopi Luwak

In Indian movies, when the plot gets sad, they throw a flashback of the past when everyone was safe and happy. Sometimes, they do a dream scene of a happy future, often with a song in a random country. Or some random comedy scene to cheer you up in the middle of all the movie sadness. When you are stuck home in a never-ending pandemic, you cannot clearly think of the fun activities you want to do in the future (which future?). You definitely cannot escape reality by running to a random country. You can, of course, think of the past - the times before the pandemic hit hard. I see many people are doing that, including myself. We share our old photos on social media. We now appreciate all the good times we had while life was normal -- which is merely 2 months ago.

Life changes with a pandemic

Going abroad and coming to Portugal changed me drastically. I was an introvert in Sri Lanka, and Portugal converted me into an extrovert really quick. I also became more people-oriented and love going out more. I still remember my first day and the first week in Lisboa vividly. I arrived at my apartment. It was still empty as my then-unknown-stranger apartment-mates hadn't arrived yet. I had to go to buy something to eat. By then, I didn't know how to cook. So I went out to buy something to eat quick. I was lazy. I was not that comfortable finding my way to the supermarket - although the landlord showed it to me on my way to the apartment from the airport. Luckily, there was a small shop right next to my apartment. I bought bread, butter, and milk. I handed the shopkeeper, who introduced himself to me instantly as a Brazilian, a 50 Euro note. He said he doesn't have change. Luckily, I also had some coins. I gave him the exact amount of coins (around 2 Euro). He spoke English, sufficient for the transaction. 

Brown cow

Eventually, and quickly, I fell in love with the city. The city changed me completely. Now, we are stuck at home. Moving to Portugal was a choice and a personal life event for me. But a pandemic is global. Everyone (with exceptions) is forced to stay home for the betterment of humanity. I cannot stop imagining how we all will change when the pandemic eventually comes to an end. Will we have different priorities? Will we become more introverts (again)? Will we start to change our lifestyles? How long will this last, and what will be the long-term consequences? So many questions. Since I always kept moving between countries, even a little period seem like a long one. With this pandemic, my trip to Panama in January feels like a distant past. I am here like, "Oh, I miss those good old days!" apparently referring to the mid-January when no one was concerned about a "small SARS-like outbreak" in Wuhan. I hope we all will recover soon.

Perception of time

Overdosing on flower tea

Looking back, time looks weird and non-linear. Sometimes I feel like the years since I left Sri Lanka have been quick. Other times, I think the exact opposite. 2012 seems like a distant past and a yesterday - both at the same time. Staying home alone alters the perceptions of time as well. Especially a deadly pandemic. The last 2 months felt like a decade. Not to say that I had a dull 2020. My January and February were quite impressive, despite the growing concerns and sadness of the pandemic and my ruined plans to reunite with my family. But March was when things got ugly, as the virus became global and a pandemic was announced.

This Sunday, I was happily cooking, humming an Indian song. Suddenly, I mistakenly stepped onto a long piece of glass, and my foot started to bleed. I carefully and quickly removed the glass off my foot, thinking, "who the fuck put a glass here?" Realization kicked in that I was home alone for 4 months, and that must be the glass I broke a few weeks ago. I had cleaned the floor then, but somehow a piece of glass escaped to hunt me down later. I slowly jogged to my bed, not to ruin the carpet with all the blood thinking to myself, "where is my wife to protect me?"

 
We are all zombies...
 

Parque das Nações and Expo '98

Gil, the Mascot

Parque das Nações was built for Expo '98 World's Fair and incorporated into Lisboa. It is arguably my most favorite neighborhood in the world, with so many great memories. Over the 7 years between 2012 - 2019, I witnessed the growth and evolution of Parque das Nações. Old restaurants replaced by new ones. Old friends replaced by new ones. A good thing about migrating to new places is, you can start afresh. Life from bottom up. Meet new people and make new friendships. However, this also comes with a challenge. While you can make some nice friends, you will also lose that "best friend" moments. Most humans are wired to have their best friends from childhood and school days. Also, the quickly moving life makes you lose track of friends you made all along the way.

Pavilhão do Conhecimento

 

Also, not everyone that you meet on your path is on the same journey as you. In a flight, a few may be going to a new country for travel, a few may be returning home, and others may be traveling for routine business. While the Erasmus Mundus was my best memories so far, I cannot say the same for everyone. Others may have had a different experience. However, at certain point in our life at a certain place, we all crossed paths. Sometimes I imagine a future date where we can bring back all our old friends to Lisboa. It might be hard as we all are different continents and most have moved on with their life. I have developed this special bond for Lisboa, and Parque das Nações is surely a major part of it. I imagine a day I retire in this neighborhood decades later. :)

A few things that made my 2019 interesting..

UFOs and Bratislava

2019 is my best year so far, followed by 2017, 2015, and 2013. This post lists 30 things that made my 2019 interesting.

1. The finishing touches of my Ph.D.

Final moments of my terminal degree that lasted almost 5 years.

2. Successfully defending my thesis in ULisboa.
I got a Pass with Distinction.

3. UCLouvain Public Defense of my Ph.D.
As a double degree, I had to defend my thesis twice. My defense in Belgium officially concludes my Ph.D. of 5 years!

4. 10 Years of many things.
Time to reflect on the goods and bads of the 2010s, now with a little one.

 
5. Hosting a RIPE NCC Atlas Probe.
Fascinating to contribute to the Internet measurement community.

View from the Zugspitze Summit

6. Watching the Lunar Eclipse in Atlanta.
I was also present in Colombo during the Solar Eclipse. But did not dare to watch it.

7. Leuven twice - the second time was the charm.
Starbucks Leuven has also become my most favorite Starbucks.

8. Finding the Louvain-la-Neuve lake completely dry.
It was sad to see my favorite lake missing - although it was temporary.

9. Porto after exactly 6 years.
It was a magical experience, being in Porto on the same 3 days.

10. An overnight stay in Charleroi Sud, Belgium.
Realizing there is more than just a cheap airport in this region.

11. Time travel - Lisboa version.
The feeling of saudade was so real.

Panevėžys Train Station

12. Transcontinental boat ride in Istanbul.

Consistently chased by an army of seagulls.

13. Praia das Maçãs - The Apples Beach in Sintra.
A place where my favorite song from Romania was shot.

14. The bright and energetic Antwerp.
Probably the most random trip of the decade.

15. Random walks in Bratislava, Slovakia.
A cheap Ryan Air flight after a long time.

16. Getting a new passport.

For another decade, until 2029!

17. Hot summer days in Houston, Texas.
It was special as our first trip with our infant son.

The Hollywood Sign

18. My second GSoC Mentor Summit, after 8 years.
This year we successfully resurrected Emory BMI as a mentoring organization.

19. Cold evenings in Riga, Latvia.
Our first city from the former USSR.

20. A day in a "ghost town" in Estonia.
Pärnu, a summer resort that hibernates during autumn and winter.

21. Panevėžys, a way of travel.
Who guessed a boring town would influence us this much?

22. Zugspitze, on the top of Germany.
At 2950 meters, it is literally the highest point I have ever been in my life.

23. The majestic Salzburg.
It has this true European vibes.

Crowded Istanbul

24. Daily Duolingo lessons of Portuguese.
Because I don't want to forget the language.

25. Apple Picking in Ellijay.
It was an unexpectedly nice and refreshing activity.

26. Batu Caves, Malaysia.
It was also my first visit to Kuala Lumpur and South East Asia.

27. Long metro rides and walks in Los Angeles.
Evening rides to Santa Monica and Long Beach, and hikes in LA.

28. Postdoc life in Emory.
I presented my first conference paper as a Postdoctoral Researcher at BigData conference in LA.

29. Döner Kebab and Sahlep in Istanbul.
After some long walks during the Christmas vacation.

30. A "direct" flight via Male.
It was my first direct but not non-stop flight, from Istanbul to Colombo, via Male.

Every year, I have one new year's resolution - to outperform my previous years. :) I already have high expectations for 2020. I wish you a happy new year. Thanks for reading my list until the end. You may also read the blog posts of all the previous years as well.