26th March: First programming assignment due.
28th April: First Database Concepts assignment due.
14th April: First Computer Organization assignment due (In progress).
14th April: Second programming assignment due (In progress).
30th April: Second Computer Organization assignment due.

Took the day off by shopping at Brunswick with my sis today. Bought a lovely cowboy hat for myself...Will post a picture of me wearing it soon XD We then stopped by at a cafe for lunch. Toasted bread, sunny-side up eggs with chorizo, tomatoes and olives...Call that a "wholesome" meal! But yeah, we did enjoy our meal and since the weather is more cooling today, I told myself to quit feeling guilty from indulging as I'll be able to burn off those calories easily, just by walking back home.

So yeah, I'll be starting uni again tomorrow. I guess it's good for me since these lectures and tutorials at uni often motivate me to study harder at home...

And yes, I am really obsessed with my Oakley's right now...I just can't get enough of it!

*MyRa*

Time waits for no man,
or so the saying goes...
Third month of the year is ending,
fourth, coming right up.
The sixth month is what I'm dreading most,
studying is all I can do, I suppose...
A break on the seventh,
a new semester on the eighth.
And yes, there I go again,
Back to square one through the yellow brick lane.
But then again, thinking of all these make my heart glimmer with hope,
for I'll be back, home sweet home, in seven months or so!

It's only the first week of class for uni and I'm already loaded with assignments =S

26th March: First programming assignment due.
14th April: First Computer Organization assignment due.
16th April: First Database Concepts assignment due.
17th April: Second programming assignment due.
30th April: Second Computer Organization assignment due.

Attended my uni's O-Week Orientation festival yesterday. Many cool booths were set up in conjunction to that event and lots of freebies were given out to us. There was also a booth that gave out free henna tattoos but I did not opt in for that after thinking of the family dispute I had made last year regarding my tattoo. So, I just collected some student discount vouchers and other freebies before I left for my Math lecture.

Yeah, I did enjoy that event despite not being able to spend more time over there. Though, I am sad to say that I have lost the "four-leaf clover angel pin" Jon gave me during the festival The pin was on my sling bag but I guess it fell off while I was making my way through the crowd at that time...I have been thinking of getting another similar pin to replace it but its meaning would be lost by then. To add on my misery, I just found out that the Irish Shop which sold this type of pin at Melbourne Central has closed down
I do not know where else I could go to find a replacement but I'm sorry about that Jon...I didn't mean for that to happen

Silence.
Don't say a word,
nor let them hear you.
You have crossed the line.
Your words are no better than theirs,
or so that was what they had claimed.
Controversial yet realistic issues,
those were some that you often bring up.
Free speech, you say, is meant for the better.
But then again, my friend, please bare in mind,
you do not know who is out there watching you,
keeping a look out at you, tracking you down.
Despite us being majority in the community,
we do not have such power, that of the minority.

Speak.
Only if you need to,
not because you want to.
Do not let me lose another friend.
Hush now, my dear one.

New Students Welcome Session

It started at 10.30 am, we were divided to groups based on the course we take at uni. A talk was given to "inspire" us about our career outcomes in the future and we were then thrown into a room to mingle by ourselves. Seriously, the feeling was like us being placed in a middle of a sea and being expected to swim back to the shore on our own. I guess that's part of uni life but can't they give us more than that?

Tours around the campus

As stated by Walker (2008), "students do not benefit from tours. Hence, it is better to learn in getting around the campus by oneself...", we did not have any official tours. It was a bit of a let down but my friends and I made the decision to have our own tour around the campus since we have lots of time to kill. We made our way through the library, tutorial rooms, computer labs and finally...The student union.

Student Union

The food co-op has a wide variety of organic foods, really impressive and the surrounding is cosier compared to Union House. There is even an arcade situated near the food co-op for our leisure time and pool tables for those who just can't live without snooker. One word to describe it..."Amazing!" 

Academic Integrity Session

The outline of this lecture is mainly about the various types of plagiarism in the IT field. Well, most of them are pretty much common sense but yeah, it was a good reminder for us.

Heading back home via tram and bus

Going back by trams? A good way to travel, that is, if it doesn't break down. My class supposingly ended earlier today and so I thought I might be able to catch the 7.30 pm bus home instead of the 7.44 pm one. The tram I took broke down, causing me to miss the 7.30 pm bus. I reached the bus stop close to 7.44 pm, just on time to catch the bus, so I thought. Fifteen minutes went by and still the bus hasn't arrived, I made the decision to just walk home instead of waiting since the surrouding area has become more quiet. But as I started walking, the bus drove by me. I was like, "F**k! There goes my ride..." So yeah, I continued walking, reaching home at 8.15 pm, which could have been earlier if not for the delays!

 Attended a "Skills for New Programmers" workshop at uni today. Was surprised at how often programming can be applied in real life events.

Even a game of Tic-Tac-Toe can be written into a detailed program. Well, obviously, everyone knows how to play this game but when the explanation on how to play it becomes more technical, things get a lot more complicated. For example, this game's program can be written as follows:

Draw grid 3 x 3
Symbols X + O are used
One symbol per space, each player taking a turn
If 3 identical symbols in a row, wins the game 
   Else
Continue placing symbol at empty space
If there are no 3 identical symbols in a row and grid is full,
   Then becomes a draw.

Yep, this sounds alright but what about this situation:

An online store decides to give 10% discount on items under $100 and 20% for items above $100. A shipping fee of $6.50 will be charged for items under $100.

A more numerical problem but nevertheless, easier than many other programming problems. This situated can be programmed this way:

Read amount, y
If y<$100, then y - ( y x 0.1) + 6.5
   Else
y - (y x 0.2)

It's pretty interesting about how programming can help ease our daily lives. Though, from the looks of it, I realise that there's still a lot I need to learn from where I start off at high school last time. There is indeed no finish line.

So here's a round-up on what I've been doing today:

8.30 am - Left for uni to attend a Lab Induction. Arrived at the computer lab a little too early. So, waited outside the lab, browsing through bulletin boards around the corner.

9.00 am - A few students started to arrive, mostly guys ( I should have known by now that the ratio between boys and girls in the course I'm pursuing is 6:1). Chatted with a few of them and realised that some guys are just hard to approach. But then again, it is sort of the first week of orientation. So, needless to say, that often happen.

9.30 am - Lab Induction began. Gaya, the lecturer in-charge of this program, gave us an introduction on the systems we are required to use throughout our course at uni. He is friendly and approachable but I guess the pace of this program made things boring after a while.

12.30 pm - Lunch break for us after 3 hours fumbling on the computer.

1.30 pm - Got ready for the next session, UNIX survival guide. Arrived there only to realise that this session is a self-learning program. So, we were given handbooks and were required to complete each task in the book whilst we were still reading the manual...Lol!

4.15 pm - After almost another 3 hours in front of the computer, we decided to call it a day. My eyes were hurt from straining too much and my back has stiffen from keeping upright too long in front of the computer. This is just my first day of my course. I'll need to get use to this environment if I plan to be a full-fledge programmer in the years to come...

4.40 pm - Arrived home and went straight to get some nap.

This was how I spent my first day as a Computer Science student.

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

So, finally I'm enrolled to RMIT. Got my student account settled, timetable fixed up and bought my lecture notes today. It was quite a relief for me as my lecture notes cost $Aus 41.00 altogether. I was expecting them to cost more as I used to spend over $Aus 200.00 for my college books.

This is how my timetable looks like now:

So yeah, it's kind of a hectic schedule even though I have a few gaps in between but I'm hoping that I'll be able to join Yoga and Pilates classes during weekends for stress relief. Although the offical orientation is on the 25th of February, I will be starting mine tomorow. So, I'll be attending a lab induction and UNIX guide from 9.30 am - 4.30 pm tomorrow...

*MyRa* 

2.00 p.m: As stated in my offer letter, I attended a welcome session for new students and made some new friends.

2.30 p.m: Everyone was required to complete an enrolment form online.

2.50 p.m: Due to overwhelming accesses on that system, the server crashes. The IT consultant told us that the system should be back to normal in 10-15 minutes time.

3.10 p.m: The system wasn't showing any progress. The IT consultant assured us again that it will run smoothly soon.

4.00 p.m: No progress at all. The IT consultant reassured us again. 50 pairs of eyes glared back at him. I decided to go to The Hub for a while to submit some forms which were required for my university enrolment instead of waiting in the computer lab aimlessly.

4.30 p.m: Managed to submit my forms at The Hub. Returned to the computer lab and found out that the server is still down. Heaved a sigh, sat down and resume waiting.

4.45 p.m: The IT consultant received a call on his cell phone then returned to us saying, "good news...All of you can go home now. Just come back tomorrow at 11 am to complete your enrolment forms." Most of us gave each other the 'wtf-good news?!' look and packed away our things before exiting the building.

So yeah, this is my first day at RMIT...Unpleasant and frustrating. It's really sad because I've always looked at RMIT as a good university in the IT and Engineering field. Since the administration process has turned out to such a problem, I'm starting to doubt their university system. I really hope that this is just an incident which only happens once in a blue moon or I will begin to doubt fully about them...

*MyRa*