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It has been raining for almost a week now and I hadn't be able to come to Uni to write about the incident. There is a deluge in Gold Coast now...the news said this is the first time in 10 years Australia had so much rain...

Mon, I'm not going home because the holiday is just for one month.

Kak nonie, memeng boring yea...saya rasa nak jalan ke Sydney tapi malaslah takdak geng. Pastu cadang2 tu kalau ada geng ingat nak ambik train dari sydney ke brisbane...pergh..plan bagus punya...tapi entahlah jadi ke tidak...susahlah nak cari geng nak jalan. Lagi satu reasonnya malas. Malas nak berpenat travel. Tapi terperap kat rumah bosan plak. Apala nak jadi ni. Apa kata ke Sydney lepas budak2 sekolah habis cuti? Jom ler...

Ok I'll write about the incident later...hmmm

Hmm...I'm bored. Now that uni is over there is a void inside me. Out of a sudden there are no more projects to work on. And it feels so weird to wake up every morning with nothing to do or goals to achieve for the day...Pelik tapi benar. Maybe I feel this way because Uni has always been my escapism from things that I don't like in life...

There's an incident that I must record here...but I'll write it tomorrow...

Just finish my studio report. When the office is open tomorrow, I’ll print and submit it…and that will conclude another semester here. I can’t believe that I’ve been here almost a year now!

This semester had been a very interesting semester. All my courses are more art and design oriented which focus on visual thinking rather than logical and sequential thinking. It was great to COMPLETELY get away from programming. What a relief! And I fulfil my life-long longing of taking a formal drawing class.

Best of all, I was introduced to Installation Art which I got almost obsessed with it. But that’s not all; I finally got a chance to do my own installation! For my graphic design final assignment, I was asked to critique the work of a designer of my choice and present the critique in such a way that reflects the style of the designer. I chose M/M Paris and I was quite lucky that my lecturer, M, provided me a room to set up my installation. I tried to make it like a real installation exhibition; I even sent a very weird invitation to M. When the installation was over I wanted to take everything down but M told me not to because he wanted to show it to A, the lecturer who introduced me to installation. I don’t know what’s with those two, cause I know that A showed my assignment for her class to M…hmm…isn’t this breach of privacy. Anyway, hope that my mark is good though…but never mind about marks…it is such a great feeling to have a chance to do what I like and wanted to do. Even if I’m not good at it, at least the experience was great…view my installation here

On other news, I called the boss of the boss and she confirmed that my scholarship duration had been corrected. She said that the boss already sent me an email, which appeared to have lost it’s way in the cyberspace. I’m a bit relief, but until I got my money, I can’t be so complacent. I just can hope for the better now…

Hmm… what to do during the break?

Still haven’t got any news about my scholarship. Still working in the masters room at 3.30 in the morning. For goodness sake, I just realize that tomorrow is public holiday. I can’t set up my installation cause I will not be able to get the key to the room that is provided for me.

Yes, at last, I have a chance to do installation art. But I underestimated the amount of work that I must do to complete this project. How I wish the elves that helped the shoemaker would come and finished all my work while I’m sleeping tonite…

I got a problem. Last week I realized that the amount of money I received from the financial department is not enough. So I called the accountant. She told me that my scholarship is only for one year. I was shock. I told her that it must be a mistake because my offer letter from Uni here clearly stated that the duration of my studies is one and a half years. She asked me to call scholarship department.

I called scholarship department. A staff there said she would contact me concerning this matter via email. But I called her again the next day. The reaction I got from her when I introduced myself on the phone was, “Oh my God, I forget!” Then she asked me to write a letter to apply for study extension. She said they will bring the matter up in a meeting and I will have to wait for the outcome. I was so angry, why should I apply for extension when my original offer from Uni here is to study for one and a half years. And how long do I have to wait before they decide? From my experience if they said they’re going to have a meeting, the wait would be very long. What about my insurance that will be expired this month? I called her boss. No answer. I called the boss of the boss.

The boss of the boss said that it is usual that the department sometimes give scholarship not for the whole duration of studies. I think that is ridiculous. She said I was supposed to check my memorandum before I got on the plane. What memorandum? I didn’t get any! She said I should’ve seen her before I came here. What? That was impossible because I got my ticket a few days before my enrolment here. She then asked me to email her about my problem, even though I already spent almost half an hour on the phone explaining it to her. “In case I forgot,” she said. Haven’t she heard of anything like ‘daily planner’ or ‘post-it’ or even ‘ pen and paper’!!!

One thing that is puzzling me is why my plan of studies that I submitted to the department just after I arrived was approved for one and a half years if they only gave me the scholarship for one year? Why for other students the duration of scholarship was approved for one and a half years? I feel like I’m being bullied here…don’t know what will happen to me? Is there a thing call ‘next semester’ for me?

Still I have a dream to pursue my PhD…pray for me…why do I have to deal with this whem I am busy with end of semester projects?

I got a letter from the Dean of my faculty, which was cc to the scholarship department. The dean asked me whether I want to continue my PhD. A week before, my friend emailed me saying that the Uni has a new policy which may give us a chance to continue PhD straight away after we finish our master. Therefore, even before I got the letter I’ve been thinking whether or not to pursue my PhD here since my friend said that the Uni would only allow us to continue in the same Uni we are in now. I got the letter quite late actually cause I’d been so busy that I didn’t even got the time to check my mail in the office.

I’ve made my decision now. I decided to continue if God is willing. I emailed the Dean about my decision and tomorrow I’ll post my reply letter to the Dean and a copy for the scholarship department. Well,I don’t have high hopes about this, but if I ever got a chance to continue PhD, I just wish that the decision that I make now would have positive outcomes.

I went to Brissy on Friday nite. I had dinner with B and we did some shopping. Australian Geographic shop in Winter Garden is closing down and canned Australian plush toys are only for two dollars each. Unlike the normal priced cans, there was no labels on the discounted cans thus we didn’t know what animal we would get. But I just like the idea of getting a surprise so I bought a can. Then B bought two; hence I decided to buy another one. We planned to exchange if we got the same animal.

After that we went to watch Episode 3. For me, it is better that Episode 1 and 2 and I must see it again…if only I had time…One downside of the movie was the 3d modelling didn’t look real to me, especially in the first battle scene. I don’t know why. I think maybe because I used to see students here produced 3D models, which have quite the same level as what were produced in the movie. So I expected more advance 3D graphics. However, the lighting and animation of the 3D models in that movie was superb. Lighting an animating a 3D model is very tricky. Last semester when I did 3D, most of the students didn’t got the lighting right, including me…hehehe…

After the movie we took a bus to B’s place. There were 3 drunken people on the bus and they started to argue which each other, which was so annoying. Although I planned to go home, B invited me to stay at his place that nite. We opened our cans and found out that both of us got two of the same animal – koala!

The next day I bought Jack Johnson cd before I got home. I saw jack Johnson on TV before and really like his song. But after I listened to his new album in a music store I knew that I must have his CD…

I haven’t got time to write these days. Tomorrow I have one final presentation for one of my courses, which after that I’ll have, time to breath a little.

Last week during a final presentation for another course my tutor handed me teaching evaluation form and he said, “Here you go, Hanif…” Two girls who sat behind whispered to each other, “Why is he calling him honey?”

It was so funny. My mind was laden with the thought of how to managed all the crazy workload that just pile up at the end of the semester that I couldn’t be bothered to explain to them…

Ok now back to work…cheers…