ben fatto!

i think i have reaped the rewards of my study strategy. despite skipping almost forty hours of nothing-goes-into-your-head computer-based management information system lectures plus tutorials, and working on friday and saturday nights, i am elated that i have done well and achieved my target for this semester.

dean commended: "well done, mate!"

conducente

while i was on the last bus home from city, there was a pleasant sight and sound whenever the bus stops. "thank you!" with a wave. every single passenger who alighted thanked the bus driver for driving them to their destination/home safely to their bus stop. i must say this is a scene which occurs regularly here. we should never take it for granted that because this is their job and we pay for the service provided that we do not have to thank them. driving for hours with the responsibility of providing safety to each and every passenger on board is no joke. a little thank you gesture would definitely end their day on a high note.

"thank you mr bus driver and good night..."

triste

i was waiting for you the whole day and night, but you didnt come

tempesta

these photos showed what occured since sunday. thunderstorms have been battering queensland, creating havoc mainly in south-east queensland where brisbane is situated. wind gusts of about ninety-five kilometres per hour were recorded, causing roofs to fly, power cable lines to fall and trees were uprooted. hundereds of thousands of homes and businesses had no electricity for a couple of days. hundereds of millimetres of rain poured within hours causing localised flooding in a few suburbs and landslides. the inner city bypass, i.e. like a tunnel, was inaccessible because it was flooded with eleven million litres of water. river banks and creeks were flooded too and two person have died thus far. apparently, one had died because he was so excited about the storm that he went down near the river to take some photos when suddenly the water just swept in and gone, he was, with the water. reports of hailstones as large as cricket balls and rockmelons were reported falling from the heavens above.

on a personal note, i am fortunate that this was not occuring at the suburb that i am residing. however i think it would be quite an exciting post-exam activity (because i have been stuck at home watching dvds from videoezy) if this had occured at where i am living. i did managed to have a brief stint of being in the eye of the storm cell yesterday evening. lightning flashes were some of the brightest ive seen, thunder roars were some of the loudest ive heard and wind gusts of great speeds were gusting so fast that the trees and bushes out of my window were swaying as thought they will be uprooted anytime. however it left as fast as it came. after which the heavens treated me to a picturesque symphony which i will call it "god's rhapsody". it was a non-stop twenty minutes of flashes of lightning dancing somewhere up north of where i was. pardon me for the low resolution video.

there may be another storm predicted for this evening but the one which everyone is not looking forward to, except me, is the severe thunderstorm occuring tomorrow late afternoon and evening. it is expected to cause more damage and delay rescue and repair efforts that has already been stretched to the limit since sunday. lets just wait and see...if the roof over my head is going to fly off...

come to think of it, is this a prelude of more wild weather to come in the near future due to climate change and global warming? the photos are similar to what i saw in the movie "category six: days of destruction" and "category seven: days of destruction". you should rent it from videoezy.

work time, bye!

mio vita

i have just finished my examinations for the year, woohoo! i think i tried my best, but i dont think i am able to achieve my gpa target for this semester and build on the unexpected good results which i had achieved last semester. it comes to a point that you have done more than enough for it but the results arent what you had meant it to be. lets see what happens on twenty-sixth this month.

now that summer break has begin, it means ive got about three months (till end of february next year) to do plenty of stuff since i am not going back singapore. wont be going to sydney to meet puspowidjono since he is going back to indonesia. crossing my fingers and hoping to do some trips around queensland with friends, maybe byron bay, moreton bay, uq's gatton and ipswich campuses, sunshine coast, gold coast, so photos should be showing up soon. suddenly theres so much excitement in what i can do.

these are the stuffs which i will probably be doing. firstly, i will be doing summer courses in the hope of accelerating my studies so that i am able to graduate a semester earlier. its going to be a challenge as i am going to apply to work casual at supermarket. earn as much cash as possible. however this will happen only if there is vacancy. on top of this, i will still be working at don's place. thinking of taking the ielts test as the companies here uses this test as an assessment of an international student's english proficiency. honestly, i am clueless why singapore students are also required to do it. also, i will be signing up for italian language class!

hmmm why aint french's bon jour, german's guten-tag, spanish's hola but but but italian's pasta, i mean, ciao? thats because i am going to do a semester-long exchange in milan next year! yeap it is milan, the fashion capital of the world. so why is it milan? why did i choose to do an exchange in a country that is not renowned for its education? milan was my choice because i am fond of the italian culture, language, food and maybe the italian hotties. watching jamie oliver's italian escape series and david rocco's cooking shows made me so wanna go to italy, so this could be one of the factor why i chose italy. i chose a european country so that i can travel around europe during the weekends. moreover, the euro was and is still lower than pounds in terms of currency exchange with the singapore dollars when i was filling up the application. also, i didnt want to go to an english-speaking country like england or united states for exchange as i would like to experience living in a non-english speaking country and be lost-in-translations. this is why i am like going to slog my ass off and work and earn as much cash as i can so that i can enjoy and not restrict spending on travelling around europe. however, this exchange is not entirely confirm as there could be problems with my course approvals or any last minute events. but i am determined to do it. i am also thinking of doing an exchange at berkeley in california after milan, pending cash flows. i would love to:

throw a coin into the trevi fountain and be assured of a return to rome

visit the roman colossuem - a wonder of the world

ride down the grand canal on a gondola in venice

make trip to st peter's basillica, vatican city

and since i am at the vatican city, i could check if the pope's loafers are from prada

and

hopefully,

with plenty of charm

bring back with me an italian babe

or two!