Photos

Hi my readers,

If you have time, you can view my photos at http://andrexng.gfoto.com. Now, you wont have to ask me when I will uplaod photos for u guys to see. :)

And u will know what UNSW, COFA, Baxter and Sydney look like!

Enjoy!

And by the way, have a good Easter weekend ahead!

Till then! *gonna rest my hands and arms now*

Week 4.. and Upcoming Easter break

Just now, went to COFA discussion board for the 1st time and read loads of posts. Came across some interesting urls sent by Andy Polaine who is our head for Media Arts.

See how popular your name is: [http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html]
Cute and funny 3D pictures: [http://boring3d.com/daily_archive.htm]

At the first sight, I was not very impressed by Andy. The people at the top tend to behave and look arrogant (well, I was proven quite wrong.. turns out that arrogance is actually an air of confidence, Eileen said. Had to agree with her). Later, my impression of him has changed abit but positively. The notes Karl wrote from Andy's lectures.. I read and was very impressed by the way and how he expressed. Very articulate and brilliant. He's a Englishman, worked as an interactive designer. Little wonder he speaks/ places emphasis on interactivity.

Anyway, didn't know my course was very popular, from judging the no. of posts and replies on that category: Media Arts compared to other schools (Art, Art Education, Art History & Theory and Design) at the online discussion forum.

I'm glad I took on the course, its pretty interesting, cool and of course difficult. And the lecturers all are pretty good.. and have high expectations. Some of them are very nice towards me. At today's lecture, the 3D lecturer named Steve gave me his notes on today's lectures much to my surprise. He also helped teach me some steps of making 3D fish when i told him i had some problems getting it done.

The nicer the lecturers are, the more hard work I have to do... to repay their kindness and willing to teach me more than supposed.

Ahem, u guys must be wondering how I fared in that test and presentation this week, I would say it's pretty bad. During the 3D test, I thought to myself "Shit, how do I create that one??" Was frantically trying to get the robot! model done. u know I wanted to give up almost immediately upon seeing the robot model image!

however, i told myself "no i can't just give up like that.." so i went and forced myself to do my best, the best that i can do. Felt like breaking down at the moment - that was when i handed in the work. And there was photo-taking sessions, the lecturer said they wanted to know who are in their class. didnt feel like taking a photo. was one of the last few ppl who had to take photos. luckily i was back to my normal self. coz by then, i knew i had done my best.. anyway i still have other chances. just go and do the best that i can be. yups.

and the presentation. one of my classmates has done the storyboard very nicely, she got talent for drawing comic characters and background realistically. reminds me of those flash taiwan-made movies where there was a love story on a guy, girl and star. wanted to contribute but ended up showing the presentation to the rest of the class. it had put a dent in my self-confidence. also saw impressive presentations of the rest.. i would say our presentation was OK compared to those impressive ones. oh the presentation was all about how we are going to shoot the video and what the video's all about. our main idea is to show a message.. something like that life is full of obstacles.. one has to overcome fears ... yeah something like that. we feature a guy climbing a rope for the 1st time... up the cliff. Jane (my partner) said the tutor liked our idea but felt that we need a stronger ending.

ok. i have 2 projects due in week 6, which means i have to do these projects during the easter break. the 1-week break will start next week. lots of research and hard work, i reckon. moreover, i have to start shooting the video also. with jane and daniel.

and those movies i watched during the lectures.. they were so intriguing.. enuff to make me sit up and watch closely.. and when the movies finished (not completely), i wanted so much to watch those movies to the end. those movies are called 12 monkeys (ya i know most of you have watched it a long time ago but hey i never watched it okay?) and LaJetee (12 monkeys movie was based on the latter).

"End of the world"

Almost everyone must have heard , seen or read stuff that is all about the end of the world. Even Jane told me she dreamt of the world going to end. And more and more movies (Deep Impact, The Matrix, Armageddon, Constantine etc) feature same stuff. Terrorism, Tsunami Attack, SARS, Bird Flu etc have happened in a tragic way that changed our lives forever (or may not have changed for some people). Also, there are some dark anime movies showing the same stuff. i'm so sick of that stuff.

Oh my goodness, will the people stop making such movies or whatever to make us think negatively? Surely the people can think of better ideas to make people feel good when they walk out of cinemas? Like silly comedies, romanace that make you feel fluffy and light-hearted etc.. we have news and actual happenings to remind us of that stuff.

Instead of focusing on/ placing emphasis on the end of the world, we might as well channel our energies and time into spending time with our loved ones, doing little nice things for our families, friends and even strangers that need our love and attentions. so if the world is really going to end in this way, we dont have to regret for we know we have done what we are supposed to do.

oops, ok back to the movies (that i've watched) topic. okay i told u they are intriguing and they do. and the latter movie is unusual, it is not a moving picture movie, it features every B/W photograph step by step with a narrative voice in the background. Looks very old.. think its a 50s movie. at 1 point, i freaked out coz the beautiful blonde suddenly sprang back to life from the still photographs. all about the biological threat and the people being forced to live in the underground coz of the chemical or whatever diasater that killed thousands of people (if u watched 12 monkeys, u will know wat i'm talking abt). some mentally-strong ppl are sent back in time to stop the threat and save the world. what the heck... will this kind of stuff actually happen? nah.. dont think so.. but if anyone especially engineers, scientists, Thomas Edisons etc) can invent the time machine, take me to the future or past!

i am not saying that i want to change the past or future. Its just that I find this kind of stuff so intriguing & interesting. One of my life-long interests.

Ok, that's all for now.. wow a really lengthy one huh... till then!

Week 3

Just recaping what I did last week. Yup this is the 3rd week of school. It has been slightly more than a month ever since I stepped on Aussie soil. It's quite good so far , having learnt some new and interesting things about Australia, my university and COFA till now.

Mon: Erm, cant really recall but every Monday, I have 1pm-2pm lectures. Ah, I remember now. There was a guest speaker... who's from Germany. Works there too. Spoke about the BIG mobile project for BMW (Car Manufacturer).. PDA stuff. Its interesting to see something different during the lecture. Didnt have guest speakers during lectures in poly. Also had guest speakers on that Wed!

Tues: 4-8pm Tutorials. I know its late but I have gotten used to having late classes now. Learnt how to make 3D fish (erm halfway) because was listening to the lecturer's assistant (i think)'s explanation on how to make 3D fish. Got an assignment which is about creating interactive stuff.

Wed: Was a bit upset cause was late for my morning lecture (started at 10am) and I missed that interesting part in which the lecturer introduced two TVindustry people.. but that was ok. The industry people were still there, talking and sharing their experiences with us. It was soooooo AWESOME! I respect and admire them deeply, they have been working in TV/Movies line for 20-odd years. They are 40 and 46 respectively. That guy did 24, 000 frames just in 2 days! Amazing... That same guy actually worked on that movie "House of Flying Daggers"!!! The other one worked on "Ghost Ship". Didn't believe I was sitting in front of those movie crew! They also said it was not easy working in this kind of line. They worked all day.. even till wee hours. That "House of Flying Daggers" guy worked on 3 machines, logging 30 hours in 1 day! Did the work of 4 people doing 50 frames per day! In other words, he did 7, 500 frames in 4 days too! Karl asked them something like "Is it worth it?"

They thought so.. they even mentioned they had to give up alot of things such as girlfriends. Could sense their strong passion in making movies and TV programs. Wah...

Besides listening to that stuff, I also learnt how to use Final Cut Pro , the video editing software better... it was quite embarrassing, was supposed to bring some footage along (to play around with that software) but i didn't (okay, i didnt know). As for the other tutorial, it was kinda confusing. the professor just said about coolour stuff and showed us some diagrams which are examples for our information visualation project. i was still blur cause there were no specifications for this project - karl said he was vague about it. oh well. will figure it out anyway.

Thurs: 3pm - 5.30pm lectures on video techiques and 3d modelling stuff.. those were very interesting lectures, enjoyed learning something new from those lectures. geometry and maths are actually used in movies and 3D modelling. even art (renassiance paintings), and photography. golden mean and 1/3 rule are used in these subjects. it made my viewing of movies/tv change totally. especially liked how the movie "Black Hawk Down" looked in the beginning... where the helicopters flow in sync. also saw those awesome 3D (good) and bad graphics made by students. at that point, i knew the lecturer will be giving our 1st 3D project (that is to create 3D graphics) after our test this week).

Fri: Went to lab to practise making 3D fish in preparation for the coming Maya test.. but halfway.. :( also formatted my external firewire drive for mac.. actually learnt alot about firewire and usb stuff... that was on that Thurs night where I came home late... because i wanted to practise capturing some footages and uploading to Mac and firewire drive as well..

Sat: A wasted day. sighs. went to my classmate's place which was quite near the city. her place was nice and very cosy... went to her place for the first place last Friday.. ate nice indian curry (not spicy one, much to my surprise) and rice.. discussed again on the video stuff. back to square one, trying to finalise the main idea for the video project. and i am grateful for the other classmate who drove me there and back home. he's also involved in this project. they have been living in OZ all their lives.. that classmate who owns that place is a very interesting gal. knows how to draw girls in chinese dynasty period era... good at taking photos... on walls, there were her photographs of A3 size.. the other classmate is cool too, knows how to surf, climb rope without a harness. he is also very nice, make efforts to type down everything anyone say (himself or Jane or even both). Jane's bf, John's also nice, setting up computer and laptop for us to type down and he even types down what jane says.

Sun: went jogging with a baxter mate, did the rest of rough storyboard thing. then went to that classmate's place again. more or less settled on some issues for the video presentation due this wed. oh no, we havent started shooting. will do so after this week.

after this week, it will be my mid-session break and i will have to start shooting with jane and daniel... i am looking forward to that.. also i will have to hand in a project in that week too.. but still i'm hoping to have some free time to go down to the beaches (Coogee and Bondi) and play... and catch up with my sister.

ok, that's all for tonight. so tired and sleepy.. going to eat my apple b4 i go Zzzz. Good night!

Conscience

I really regret alot every time I say sarcastic or tactless words that hurt people especially friends and family. Once I realise how much my words mean to them, nothing can make up for it; I couldnt take back my words.

What was done cannot be undone.

I wish there is a thing that can reverse time that stop me from saying those words and they wont be so hurt and I wont be in agony every time in this way.

I dont understand why I went ahead although my instincts told me not to. It served me right everytime I didnt listen to my own instincts.

At least, its better than having no feelings at all... everytime I make a mistake, I learn. It's not easy not to repeat mistakes. And its always good to remind me of what wrong I did... although I didnt want to be in agony.

Nothing can make up for what I have said, nothing can erase the hurt and words from their minds (if they really remember). Whenever I think about it, I would feel worse... worse than being in trouble.

Sighs. Now I ought to start thinking before I write or say.

Think think think, Andre. :(

Lectures & New Friends

Today, attended two lectures which the first professor talked about the tools of 3D software (that professor said in his lecture that it was the most boring lecture of the year!) and the other one showcased some asian films (mostly jap movies), explaining the directors' video-making styles.

Speaking of which, I have to make a 2-min video with 2 classmates (they are to be my partners) and I'm meeting up with them tomorrow afternoon to brainstorm for a good idea for that project. I really look forward to making & showcasing u guys my 1st video. Oh ya, my new friends-classmates-partners seem nice. One chatty & bubbly girl from Taiwan but think she has been living in Australia for sometime and the other quiet guy who was born in Irasel but actually a white guy.

That other one who showcased the movies... I dunno why but when I saw him again, suddenly disliked him. And my instincts were right when Karl told me he was arrogant. Karl asked him if he could show subtitling on the movies. The professor retorted something like if the movies are foreign, will show subtitling. Think he didnt know that I can't hear. *hmm*

In Wk 4 (next next week), I have to sit for a test on my knowledge and skills on Maya.. Gonna study hard for that upcoming test. Jia You!! Also, my partners and I have to make a presentation on our idea and storyboarding for our video project on the same week.

Made 4 more chinese friends while having dinner at the Goldstein dining hall. Some guys from Computer/Electrical Engineering.. one guy doing a double degree (wah!), a girl whose name is unusual - Ursula, another guy who kept looking at what we have written and play badminton well (that's what i heard from that other guy), and the last pretty girl called Fay from China.

Hmm.. ok. Very tired tonight, but still got to do some school stuff. Till then!

Irritating Pop-up Ads and Tutorials

hmm trying to recall what i wanted to share here with u guys... so many things to do and i kept forgetting to do this or that... only if pop-ups didnt keep appearing on my browser every time i used it... so distracting and irritating that i couldnt think or focus. so tried many means to prevent continuous pop-up ads. downloaded some spyware software until i found one good one (hope it continues to be good for the next 14 days.. ya it's a trial version) called StopZilla (http://www.stopzilla.com/)

If it's really good, guess have no choice to pay up after it expires for the next 14 days. another thing, pls pls avoid clicking the links... which involves .exe and .pif files on the msn chat window. Was too complacent for too long and I had been not so alert where it concerned viruses and spywares (thanks to seemingly stable yahoo and google pop-up ad blockers). Then I saw a link on a friend's msn window and stupidly clicked on that link. Afterwards, there were non-stopping pop-up ads! That really shook me up and I sat up trying to recify the problem for hours. Irony... if something happens, u will learn lots of things such as spyware and anti-virus stuff. And I did.

Ok. Yesterday evening, there were sooooo many techincal stuff coming out of the lecturer's mouth.. sat throughout the 3D Modelling and Animation tutorial for 2 HOURS straight! Kept turning my head from left to right: on the left side, i looked at the mac to see what the note-taker was typing and the other side, i kept looking at what the lecturer (oh i shall call him Steve, that's his name) did on Maya. what's worse is that i didnt not take a short walk around before that tutorial... which means i also listened and did Director for the other tutorial for another 2 HOURS before that! *rolling my eyes*

thank goodness my brain was still sane when Steve spouted alot of maya stuff.... learnt quite a lot from that tutorial although we didnt get to use maya. looking forward to using it from now onwards... of coz, i have to (next next week is a test). anyway i still want to learn!

i think i am beginning to prefer the note-taker to the interpreter (terp) although i have yet to experience the help of the professional interpreter. dont think the terp will be able to sign all the technical jargons and stuff. and i cant get to keep notes and refresh my memory... if i were to use the interpreter for tutorials and lectures... hmmm anyway let's see how it goes. might be enrolling in some auslan (australian sign language) courses otherwise i wont be able to understand and keep up with what the auslan interpreter would be signing. It'll be good to add auslan to my language list!

And yummy, had free lunch provided by COFA SA (Students' Association). Still yummy as ever!

hmm. ok. gonna download some school stuff to keep up with the subjects. ya ya i know some of you are dying to see some photos.. and i try to remember that.. will burn some photos to the cd probably and upload in the lab tomorrow or.... anyway u will see soon. Just wait patiently. ;)

Till then!

Recap of what I did on this weekend

Just to recap what I did on this weekend...

Yesterday, went to Mardi Gras parade... Gays and Lesbians' parade in the city. At first, didn't really enjoy it because there were loads, loads and loads of people blocking my Baxter mates' and my views. But somehow managed to peek through crowds and luckily there was a giant live screen. Nothing exciting and entertaining except some moments where some people displayed their affections so openly... Two girls kissing each other, the Mums showing off their kids, some people dancing in their flamboyant costumes, some wearing fake breasts outside their chests... actually the parade could be better and more entertaining only if I have a better view of the parade instead of tilting my head or trying so hard to peek through crowds. Also took some photos but some of them were so dark.... :(

After the parade, we had some problems finding our way home... but luckily I was familiar with the roads which were near my school (COFA) and told my mates. There were no buses since the roads were cordoned off for the parade. And so we ended walking on the roads... felt as if I have owned that road where there were no vehicles... Its ironic... that road where I took buses back to my hostel and now I was walking on that road!! It seemed miles away... then the transport staff told us to get on the bus when we walked along the empty buses. Saved our remaining strength to walk on... :p

The roads there were very dirty and messy, everywhere there were rubbish... worse than Singapore. That was after the parade.. eeee... and i also got my feet and sandals wet and dirty. I stepped on beer or whatever beverage bottle! Argh...

And today, did some software stuff and read some subjects notes.. still have to study afterwards, there's so much to read and do.. blame it on my insistence on installing Maya and other software this whole afternoon (but in the end, didnt really install because there got installation problems and I did some research on some software stuff.. sighs.). There was a AGM too, some Baxter people explained about the positions such as Social Director, Web page officer, Publications, etc. Was thinking of joining the Publication committee coz it might look good on my CV... hmm...

It's now Autumn and it's really cold outside. Did some checks... Autumn starts from Mar to May.. And I look forward to experiencing snow in June!

Ok. Gotta study now. Dong Dong, Study Time!

4th & 5th Day of this Week

Yesterday was ultra-cool! Attended two lectures.

The lecturer from the 2nd lecture, talked about the making of movies techniques. It was really really cool. I watched John Woo's "Hard Boiled" movie. The lecturer explained the techniques of John Woo and I realised for the first time how he made the movie with his style! His style was interesting. It's no wonder why Hollywood came knocking on his door.

The 1st lecturer showcased some movies ranging from Final Fanasty (2001), The Iron Giant, Tron (1982 movie, low grade animation but I was fascinated with the way that movie makers made! cool special effects way back in 80s!), Resident Evil (Oh watched that movie before, didnt realise the 3D effects were made in that movie.. like that hologenic 3d little girl), and the clash of the titans (once again, didnt realise the snakes on Medusa were actually 3D effects animations, anyway that Medusa looked scary enough to freak me out). Watching all those short clips all in 1 hour inspired me enough to come up with my own 3D effects someday.. maybe my works can be seen in some movies in the future. Those movies' 3D effects were just awesome! It's going to be hard for me when I have to learn to use the seemingly difficult software to produce 3d effects but I gonna get through!

Jia You! *saying to myself*

and so, today... was busy although had no classes. today is the deadline for school fees. lots of writings on my part to the bank, international student services and student central. actually didnt really expect to write so much ever since I came to Sydney. wrote everything on rough paper, notebooks and whatever i can write on to people from all walks of life: UNSW, Baxter, and COFA staff, friends here and there and everyone else. Remember my date (that friendly guy at the first formal dinner during O week) saying to me "I have never wrote that much every since high school!"

I'm glad in some ways that most Baxter people I met, are so willing to write down what they want to say or answer my questions.. and hence friendships are made in a nice way. Just now at the dinner (actually i came to the dining hall to discover i'm the first person to hae dinner there! very punctual :p), i made friends with a senior baxter guy who's studying commerce (he says he loves it!) and i was quite surprised that he initiated the conversation by asking if he can write on my booklet and we started to know each other better ever since we met on a few occasions.

hmm ok. going to make full use of this coming weekend to join some deaf and unsw clubs and be prepared for school next week.

and by the way, if u guys ever have Maya 3D software, do let me know, I need it!! Tried to install the personal learning edition of that software but got an error so cant install it. :( a waste of my time in waiting for it to download in the lab yesterday. :( Will try it again probably tomorrow or next week. i think i'm getting paranoid about this software, the lecturer says we have to work very very very hard (even to the extent of reaching beyond the instanity level) in order to pass this subject. *paranoid* God bless me...

2nd & 3rd Day in School... And Formal Dinner

Just now, went to Goldstein dining hall for yet another formal dinner.. Goldstein is one of the 3 residental colleges here at UNSW. They are called the Kensington Colleges. The other one is Basser. Some people say the Baxter College (where I am staying at) is the best of all... I still dont see why this Baxter college is the best of all although I have seen alot of awards and trophies on the shelves in the common room.

The formal dinner was unlike that dinner which I talked about previously, this time there were all the important guests such as the ex-vice chancellor who was from the baxter college.. they all wore university grand gowns. i remembered when i first steppped into the dining hall, it was like a hotel... there were nice-looking dishes, glasses and napkins and white cloth on long tables.. almost a wedding. also reminded me of that Harry Potter movie... if you guys ever watched any of Harry Potter movies, remember that dining hall where Harry and his friends had meals at? That dining hall in the movie was almost same as the Goldstein dining hall. Much smaller than the grand dining hall in the movie.

Kinda wished there was an interpreter, because i didnt understand what was going on, had to ask friends next to me to help interpret (but briefly only...). Some Baxter or other college (Basser or Goldstein) students were awarded some scholarships, awards for their excellence in their academic studies or something.

The food was not so bad.. Had quite a bad experience with the waiteress, i think she gave quite bad service (although she looked smart and pretty), suddenly felt discriminated... but soon forgot about her... the dessert was great... chocolate cake!

As for school, today was great! compared to yesterday (stress stress).. realised today's subjects were something i really want and enjoy learning... something that interests me. the first lecture for today was interesting, that lecturer didnt teach us the foundations of the subject but he shared everything about his work and what he did in the past. Impressive resume on his part, he worked for IBM, and some companies... won a $20 million tender to do something for clients (but he didnt submit the work!). Lots of his work were also shown on the slides. some awesome designs and videos! Somewhat inspired me to do something similiar in the future, that is right after i graduate with this degree (Digital Media).

The next subject was all about making films/videos... i must admit, that was one of my wishes, something that i always wanted to do... havent started making a video yet.. the lecturer was a producer, asked us what is a bad picture.. answers poured in.. including my answers such as "Bad directing, bad script etc".. he also taught us how to use the controls on Sony digital video cameras that we had to borrow indivdually from the resource centre. interesting to learn all the kinds of control that control the way the video is made... like zooming, zebra bars (exposure to light), shutter speed etc. he also gave us some assignments - he asked us to come up with good ideas. 80% of the movie comes from good idea and the rest come from technical skills. the film-making is easy but the preparations before making the actual film are much harder, u have to think of a good idea, and concepts etc.

Really enjoyed today's subjects compared to yesterday's subjects. Yesterday, the lecturers taught us how to use Maya software (3D software), it was really confusing and difficult to use the software, also had a hard time keeping up with the lecturers although Karl wrote/typed notes down. Had to divide my attention between Karl and the lecturers (yeah there were 2 lecturers for that subject!). Also another lecturer taught us how to use Macromedia Director (but i already learnt it in poly!) It has been ages since I used / touched it!! Argh... have to relearn to use Director. :( I even commented to Karl "Why are they teaching us Director when Flash is now very popular, and Director is old now already?" Karl also thought the same. Luckily, the lecturer says he will also teach us Flash! (finally one of my wishes is going to be fulfiled too!)

i am glad that i'm pursuing this degree... it's something that i know i will enjoy and all of the subjects which i am going to learn, are what i want to learn and use, thus i cant believe some of my wishes are coming true soon.. at first i was afraid that i might not learn much from the subjects... but i am glad all the lecturers are experienced and sometimes remind us of the real world out there, that's what i need to know... unlike at poly.. maybe it's now different with the help of Karl.

okies enuff of what i have learnt in school... it's only the beginning. Also have learnt other things, not just those subjects.. Have always thought students usually print some notes for free in school like i used to during poly. The system here at cofa is different, all the students have to buy a copycard at AUS $2.20 and top their cards with some value. then we transfer some funds to our printing account which we have to create on our own. only then can we print our notes from our printing accounts. *shaking my head* have to fork out some money also.. wah.. thank goodness i have my own printer to print my own notes.

as for using the mac, still learning everyday.. hopefully i will be better or proficient so that i can switch forth and back to windows or mac, that would be so cool! i think i am beginning to like everything at cofa: mac, subjects... hmm.. oh friends.. i made friends with a senior who is from HK, she helped me on the printing stuff. ah.. i remember now. i had a shock when one classmate asked "Why are we doing that? I am confused!" in an angry tone when the lecturer said we needed to do that assigment which was rather complex for me (but i will eventually figure out the problem and solve it). First time I have seen something like that, some people speaking up against the lecturer.

hmm what else ... got things i wanted to write, but forgot... okies think that's all for tonight. till then!

My 1st day of school

Woke up quite late today coz slept at 2am something last night.. trying to finish sorting my huge *exaggerating* pile of flyers, papers & brochures on UNSW, COFA, Baxter, ISS (International Student Services) etc. I also pasted some nice pics and photos on the wall (it's full of bricks! made me feel as if i'm in prison...) so that i wont feel like a jailbird (really!) in my room.

Went to cofa on shuttle bus which is a good thing. The shuttle buses here carry students from/to COFA from/to UNSW everyday. COFA is some distance away (not so near...) from UNSW, you have to take a public bus and then walk about 10 mins from Oxford Street if u are not taking shuttle bus. Remembered when I 1st saw and stepped into COFA for the 1st time, it felt as if I was at La Salle College in Singapore. That was where students displayed their artsy stuff (paintings, sculptures, videos etc at the gallery) and dressed up quite funkily. I felt as if I couldnt fit into their world.. and didnt really expect COFA to look like that - I sorta expected COFA to be a nice nice-looking building. But now, I'm beginning to love every bit & piece of COFA... am still exploring COFA, i still have lots of time anyway.

Okies, attended the first lecture of Multimedia Authoring.. I also had a notetaker, Karl with me, he wrote notes for me.. a privilege to have this kind of help... much easier for me... compared to those times when I was sitting throughout the lectures like an idiot at poly.. or had to ask my friends for help after the lectures. Anyway he told me that lecturer was very smart and used to work for a cool (sounds cool) design house called Tomato... How did he know? Maybe he reads up alot on the design stuff, u see he's in his 4th year... studying for honours on the same course as me.. But he studied the similar course in NZ for 3 years, then came to Sydney only this year to undertake the final year. Unusual. Went to his website (www.darcy.co.nz), looks cool too.

Hmm, after that, went to explore some areas of UNSW... discovered something cool about UNSW, it's really "GREEN"! Hmm what is green to you? environment? a colour? ha.. Green means saving the environment (ie trees or other parts of the earth). Saw the flyer saying there were free 2nd-hand stationery at Mail centre which is near Baxter. So went there and saw lots of ring files, paper holders, keyboards etc.. I took some ring files back! I thought to myself "Good, if i need more files like this, I can just go back and take some more! I wont have to fork out some money."

It suddenly occurred to me that Australia's really doing something about the environment and resources. A few weeks ago, I stayed with my sister at Gosford (about slightly more than 1 hour from Sydney).. went to the supermarket and saw lots of green bags which cost only $0.99 each. The message on those bags said something like "If you buy this bag, the money will go to the environment fund"

UNSW is really an interesting place to explore. At first, I was not so thrilled about exploring UNSW coz it didnt look nice as expected... Gee.. I too expected it to be very nice-looking as that picture on http://www.international.unsw.edu.au/... but as i explored unsw more and more, i realised that i was beginning to love unsw for what it was. u guys can see the slideshow at http://www.international.unsw.edu.au/home/slideshow/slideshow.html

2moro, hope i'll have a nice tutorial... always hated 1st-hand experiences (1st day of tutorials, intros etc) but guess 2moro will be different with Karl. Hmm... wish me good luck...