Archive for October, 2004

No Comments

Johnie won last senate seat


2004
10.28

Posted in australia, politics | No Comments »

its official, johnie has won the last qld senate seat giving the coalition majority control of the seante (39 out of 76). the results came after the aec, hit the computer button to distribute preferences at 11am. this signalled the first time government has both control of the houses since 1970s Fraser govt.

the full privatisation of telstra and the vsu bills are not even remote possibilities this time…..urrghh….

whats wrong with the australian people? arent senate supposed to be the balancing act?? yet they kindly delivered both control to mr johnie….. Mr Johnie, today is the happiest man in australia

No Comments

the wait is over


2004
10.26

Posted in politics, uni | No Comments »

finally after one year of waiting patiently, the students of melb university are being served justice. As reported by the Australian today, 15 people so far have been summoned by to the Victorian Supreme Court about the allegations of wrong-doings in the MUSU last year.

Both Darren Ray and Scott Crawford have been and will be questioned over the next three days at the Court, after the liquidator requested the hearing.

There are numerous of charges: mishandling of records, awarding of contract, election rigging, to the famous $18,000 business class trip to Canada, California and Hawaii.

Hmm… im tasting justice already…………… (who has the last laugh??)

No Comments

Happy Birthday to Jelita


2004
10.24

Posted in general | No Comments »

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to Jelita
Happy Birthday to you……

May you have a good and happy year ahead!!!!!

No Comments

the biological shakeup


2004
10.22

Posted in general, life in general | No Comments »

i have managed to change my biological clock… while the change is welcomed, its unexpected… in the past i slept around 10am until about 3pm…… now, i slept around 6pm until about 3am….. hahahhaa… weird…

anyway… i have become zombie in the past week or so… i have just finished by legal essay due on monday… gonna go to uni to print off and submit it…..i have also finished most of the coding for my industrial project… implementation and final presentation is next week…… and i have one more essay due on tuesday… this one, i havent even done any research… so you could see me goin crazy over the weekend too……

i received an email from CPA saying that they havent received my completion letter… its the same thing again like last time!!!!! ims tarting to get annoyed…. maybe the letter from my academic registrar is not enough…. there goes my PR chances for now… anyway.. i dun want to think about it now…. right now, its a matter of priority….. and i have to keep prioritizing……

i have also been broadening by job search now (i found new motivation now to start looking for a job – some of you might consider it too late)…. i have applied for some… not really expecting much….

btw, i have also considered applying for MBA…. but the average age is 27 and the cost of an MBA for a year is US$68,000!!!!! Where the heck am i going to get the money from?? Sure enough that i can get some sort of financial aid, but most probably i would take loan out…. (the collateral probably is by MBA degree…hahaha)

and exam is in two weeks, i havent even done anything!!!!! the fact that it will be three days consecutively is not a pretty sight… but oh well, im not stressing…. one day at a time….

No Comments

slow blog week


2004
10.19

Posted in international students, politics, uni | No Comments »

it has been a week since i last posted on this blog….. it has been a slow blog week.

as usual, the last two weeks of uni have been putting huge constraints on my time. my biological clock is still messed up. so no exciting developments so far…

so today i learned that NSW is finally giving transport concession to international students… it has been an interesting journey, esp to me, a victorian. surely the deal wasnt exactly in the form that we were expecting.. but its a move in the right direction….

basically the NSW govt is signing a deal with the three big uni (unsw, usyd and uts) so that the uni could provide the so-called transport concession stickers to internaitonal students too. other unis have yet to join the rank, but i guess the pressure will force them to sign too. apparently, the deal is for the next 6 years.

this is surely good news to even us, victorians. it will create pressures to both the victorian governments and universities to somehow ‘match’ at the very least the proposed offerrings at NSW.

i wonder what is the main motivation behind such a sudden change of position by the nsw govt… im sure that its not because of the current legal suit that nlc and capa have jointly submitted to the tribunal and is currently still on proceedings….. it must be about $$$$$

i cannot help but remember the news i have read for the past weeks.. about australia becoming the third expensive countries for overseas students in the world in terms of living expenses…. and also the projected decline of overseas students coming to australia….. with a 1/3 of overseas students in australia located in nsw, it is a slow death if the govt is not succumbing the market pressure to create a more competitive environment for nsw uni to compete on…..further, the decrease in federal fundings to public uni have left the uni with no choice but increase the intakes of full fee paying students….

so my analysis is.. this recent change is not based on compassionate ground… instead its the outcome of market forces….forcing the govt to make corrections in its policies to level up…. but you know what… when the govt is ready to announce the decision (the deal is expected to sign on tuesday by minister of transport), i bet they are going to announce that they are doing it on compassionate grounds, to end discriminations, to level nsw with other states in australia (except vic)……same old bullshits….

but hey, its working.. its a good news for international students movement in general…. and yes, you wont be able to receive it until next year…. but it is a good change…..a change that will send a tectonic impact on victoria…..

the thing is.. Mr Brack… the ball is now in your court… would you match up????

No Comments

a note to my soul


2004
10.11

Posted in life in general, uni | No Comments »

Dear soul,

I have been wanting to ask you for the past few weeks why are you so restless? Sure, you have been moody and stuff, but i just dont get it. You must have been confused. You told me last time that ‘life is hard until you make it simpler yourself’. I tried that, it didnt work.

While it is entirely within your own rights to behave and act in this way, you must understand the physical constraints you have put in me. My biological clock is turned upside down. You cant stop working and thinking and i cant sleep. I have been wanting to sleep at around 2am but you forced me awake until 9am in the morning. This has created an unbalanced lifestyle that i do not foresee i would be able to sustain in the long term.

Obviously, you must be sick. I really don’t know whats up with you? But could i beg you through this public space, that you stop whatever you are doing. This is not good for us. You need me and i need you. It’s as simple as that. Dont make it more complicated than it already is. Im barely able to sustain what i have now.

The thing is, i have about 1 month left before my tertiary study ends. While i am not really looking forward to see whats there for me next year, i want you to calm down for the next one month, at the very least. That way, i can focus on my last semester, finish my assignments on time, ace my final papers, and we can then discuss this further.

I guess, im not making anymore sense, am I? Anyway, if you want to talk to me, you know how to reach me (you are good at that you know)….

Thanks anyway…. drop me a note now and then, will ya?

cheers,

your other vain’s half

No Comments

a sad day for australia


2004
10.09

Posted in australia, politics | No Comments »

today, federal election was held. three hours after the poll ended, Latham from the Australian Labor Party conceded defeat. Howard from the coalition is now set to again be the PM serving his fourth term consecutively, and in that process being the second longest serving PM of Australia.

i personally wanted badly for the ALP to win. but the Australians have made their choices. There were two messages i received as soon as the early results came up, one read “F%^&!” and the other read “I hate this country”… Both of them are Australians (disclaimer: they are members of the ALP). I agree.

tommorrow, all Australians will wake up to a very very sad day. unbelievable.

No Comments

SBY is the 6th Indonesian President


2004
10.05

Posted in current affairs, politics | No Comments »

Earlier today, KPU (Indonesian Electoral Commission) has declared Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (popularly known as SBY) as the winner of the 20 Sept direct presidential poll. He won a landslide majority of 60.62% defeating the incumbent President Megawati. He is expected to be installed as Indonesia’s 6th President on Oct 20. Despite the announcement, he has yet to give the acceptance speech. Apparently, he hold off such announcement until Megawati congratulated him and give a concession speech. He was meant to hold a press conference earlier tonight, however, it was cancelled last minute, as Megawati hasnt delivered her concession speech yet. He instead, sent his son, Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, to the airport returning to his study in Perth.

I did some little research and found out that his son is studying business in Curtin Business School of Curtin University… So all of you in Curtin, make sure you locate this man and bring them unto your fold in ISC!!!! Hahahaha… he would be great asset!! Im sure there would be bodyguards protecting him and stuff!!

SBY is well known as the ‘thinking general’. His tough stands on terrorism was shown during the One Year Anniversary of the Bali’s attack, when he gave his speech representing Indonesians (Megawati has ’snubbed’ the event). His speech was widely applauded by the Australian media and public as better than that of Howard. He delivered the speech in English. This is a small part of the speech that inspires me:

“Many of the terrorists have been cuffed, put behind bars, put on trials, and sentenced by our courts. Some are still on the run. But make no mistake, we will hunt them, we will find them, we will bring them to justice. These diabolical men and their brand of evil, simply have no place in our society. They belong to our darkest dungeon, locked away deep beneath our children’s playground. History will condemn them forever.”

So yes, Megawati has lost. I guess its now time for me to show support for the new President. Hopefully he can bring about change and carries on the promise that he has been campaigning for.

Thank you Megawati for your 3-year service to our country as the fifth president of Indonesia!!

No Comments

marriage for citizenship?


2004
10.03

Posted in amusing, life in general | No Comments »

last thursday, i met an WA – ALS kid at Stelar bar. our common friends were getting married the next day. the funny thing is, she offered to marry me on paper for 2 weeks so that i could get the australian citizenship. in return, she conditioned me to marry mie so that she could also get her australian citizenship. her reasoning, she loves mie so she wouldnt mind marrying me on paper.

as we bid farewell, the offer still stands. i just have to place a phone call to z, her friend, to get in touch with her, to let her know of my intention, place and time. and we are set.

to think about it. how scary…. but then.. lots of people are doing it… so why not? … would you?