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I picked up my Mt Buller V/Line [vline.vic.gov.au] coach transfer ticket today.
It’s A$103.60 return. That’s pretty steep but it’s the cheapest coach transfer to Mt Buller that
I could find.

Anyway, one Good Thing^TM happened today. I bumped into my IE Project coordinator
today and got enrolled in the subject. =D It turns out that you can’t start IE in summer starting
from this year, so I can either do it now, or wait till March ’03 to do it and graduate November
’03. IE takes two consecutive semesters to finish, and it requires ITPM as a prerequisite.
Unfortunately, I only took ITPM this semester due to failing SDI the semester before, and SDI is a
prerequisite for ITPM. I hate these “chain prerequisite” subjects. Fail one and it could fuck you
up. But I did pass SDI last semester, so I took ITPM this semester. Back to the situation, since I
only took ITPM this semester, it seems that I’m doomed to graduate in November ’03. However, the IE
Project coordinator was kind enough to enroll me into IE even though I haven’t done ITPM because I
would have graduated in July ’03 if I wasn’t held back by IE. Woo hoo. =D Apparently, you can get
special consideration for IE if you’re going to graduate otherwise. Cheers to my mate Vivek for
informing me about the “no starting IE in summer” rule.

Well, I can’t overload while doing both IE and ITPM at the same time, so I’ve dropped one of my
subjects. The IE weekly meeting clashes with my ITPM tutorial too, so I was hoping to go to one of
the earlier tutes to see if I can get myself into one of them. But even better than that, I just
happened to log into Allocate+ (our tutorial allocation system) and found a space for tomorrow’s 12
pm ITPM tutorial! There wasn’t space in those tutes a couple of hours before. Heh. It seems to be a
day of Good Things^TM today. I shudder to think of tomorrow when Newton’s Third Law will
be invoked. =D

I only had about four hours of sleep last night, so it was a record 30 minutes after waking up
before I started nodding off again, in the shuttle no less. I dragged myself to the first lecture
of the day and had several micro sleeps, which prompted the guy beside me to look at me smugly
while taking conspicuous sips from his Coffee HQ mug. Hmph…I got myself a large latte (which I
downed in three long swallows – my poor, scalded tongue) and a Chunky Kit Kat during the break.
It’s either that or fall asleep on the nice carpeted lecture theatre floor. Perked up a bit after
that and even managed to catch a bit of the really interesting lecture about the different
grades of twisted pair cables. Long day today…I had two tutorials after the lecture with a one
hour break in between. I grabbed a turkey ham/pineapple/raw onions sandwich on sour dough from
Merlin’s Cafe and camped outside my course coordinator’s office during my one hour break to discuss
some course issues with her.

Merlin’s Cafe

No sign of her though. Oh well, at least I got 10/10 for my graded exercise during my last tute.
I’m going to catch an early night and pick up my Melbourne -> Mansfield -> Mt Buller V/Line
coach ticket tomorrow after my single lecture. I can’t wait…I’m chomping at the bit for some
winter sports action already. Heh.

Tomorrow is Monday again. It seems that the weekend has slipped by without
me realizing. Cliché, but true. Since I didn’t manage to go to the city
yesterday, I’ll have to wake up early at 12 pm tomorrow to head down to
the city to pay for my Mt Buller accommodation. My class only starts at 5
pm, which I take is a pretty good start time for Mondays. =D I’ll be in
classes till 9 pm though. Not as bad as my 8 pm – 10 pm lecture last
semester, but 9 pm is pretty late coz I need an hour to get back from my
campus. Anyway, I haven’t been up to much today…just read my lecture
notes for a bit. Pretty hardworking huh? I had dinner at the halls dining
room. Saw a tempting cheesecake but decided to eat (relatively) healthy
and settled for fried noodles with fish and a fruit salad. Heh.

Halls dining room aka slops

Oh, and my
newest Mirror Project submission
[mirrorproject.com] is up. This one is pretty uninspired, but hey, I’m
feeling pretty uninspired today.

There I was, walking to the bus loop to catch the shuttle to Caulfield, when I caught sight of
the line. It was really long and I started counting before I reached the loop. There was 24 people already waiting in line and the shuttle fits 25, so I picked up my pace a bit and walked briskly to the bus loop. When I was about halfway to the waiting bay I saw this guy walking from the other end.

He caught sight of the line too and started to trot a bit as well. Not to be outdone, I started to walk faster as well. I needed the stability whilst running but must keep the pace too so the shoes I had on proved to be very helpful. Unfortunately, the waiting bay is closer to the other end of the bus loop so naturally he reached there first. Grrr…I had to take the bus and the train to
Caulfield. Oh well.

I slept for a nice, solid 12 hours last night. I cast a resurrect spell on myself at
around 7:30 am and went to the halls dining room to grab some breakfast. It’s good to know that I
can barely finish two bacon and egg muffins and two hash browns. I used to be able to eat three of
each. Perhaps that is a sign of better things to come. I’m planning to go on a diet, coz my weight
is becoming atrocious. I dunno how much I weigh now, but I feel heavy. =D Well, I met Vivek in my
IT Project Management lecture, and he told me about this gym promotion where you can get a
membership for the price of a renewal if you register on the 5th of August. I’m planning to get a
membership coz the Clayton branch of the gym
[monash.edu.au] is just a 2 minute walk from my halls and I can also use the Caulfield branch if
I want. The gym is owned by Monash University’s Sports and Recreation
[monash.edu.au] department, but it’s pretty well equipped. Anyway, I went for my first lecture
today – the aforementioned IT Project Management. It seems to have a pretty aggressive
deliverables schedule. Starting from Week 5, there will be a part due every week. Nasty.

Outside the Cummings (I kid you not) lecture theater.

Margot Schuhmacher is the lecturer for this course.

Anyway, I only had one lecture today so I went to the bank after that to bank in my bank draft
(try saying that three times, fast). I also managed to pay my Optus bill at the post office. Good
thing I thought to bring it with me this morning. Went to the Asian grocery in the campus center
after that to get some much needed laundry detergent and also a box of Cola chicken wings with rice
to eat later. Pretty good stuff, it’s nice to see that the rice boxes in Frank and Lily Lee’s Asian
Grocery has been beefed up with new products.