The Road Ahead (before it gets extensively re-edited)

My blog does not represent the views of Murdoch or any of its affiliates. All posts are NOT to be taken seriously and are written only for entertainment purposes.


So here I sit.


Two Jester's pies, one Vindaloo, one Spud Deluxe on the seat next to me. Regular Baskin Robins Triple shake, two scoops Chocolate Mousse Royale, two scoops Gold Medal Ribbon.


You know how there's those times you look forward to for ages, then it gets there and you're like "Oh."


Granted, I am still happy and willing to endure myself through the best meal you can buy for $17.10. It doesn't look like a lot for what you're paying for,but it is the meal I have work 3 long years to get to. You can feel the cholesterol really starting to hit, but then the sugar kicks in and you can start breathing again.


Even, with the sugar rush, my brain will not yet accept this is this end of uni.


 Hours of being cooped up in a lab trying to complete a tute. Midnight study sessions cramming weeks worth of readings. Breaking down concepts and creating mnemonics. 


I no longer have the opportunity to do any of these as I've run out of time to fit them in.


Maybe. My brain is being pessimistic, the 347 exam went a lot smoother than expected. But I must confess to you, dear anonymousness reader or my mother that the Prac didn't. That my 339 assignment two was rough round the edges and the exam didn't just fall into place as I expected, still went okay, but... Not as easy as the 333 exam. So it was probably a good thing that was last, ending on a happy note. Possibly a B#. Maybe even a C (Music students, you see what I did there?).

As I eat my pie and watch Parry ave in all it's glory, I think about the good stuff which has happened. That if Christian reads this post and really considers whether he wants another year of someone commenting on the relationship status between Alice, Bob, Carol, Eve, Mallory and Trent. (It didn't work out between Bob and Eve :( .... But Alice seems to be coming around...)


And although I do moan about the negatives, I have actually put in work this semester. And the one before that. And the one before that. And the one before that. But not so much the one before that, I still passed everything, but it was the first time I was living alone and it took quite some time getting over the fact I could walk around naked. Except when dealing with a hot kettle. (Ladies out there, the scar tissue has gone down considerably!) Which is why, if all goes well, next year I shouldn't be able to eat this delicious meal as there are no Jesters in Brisbane. Apparently the people of Queensland have no need for pies.


My clearance said what it needed to and I have filled in enough forms to take down a shrubbery. I've got a meet and greet in a couple of weeks, before some flights to find a house. In a few weeks, I should be in a full time job, be solely responsible for a rental property and just, managing myself, bills, social outings, getting to work. I have no family in Brisbane. I... will be forced to grow up very quickly.


Well, that kind of sucks.


The 19th of November 2007 was a very big day for me. It was the day after my last TEE exam. It was the day that I believed I would grow up. Naturally, I rolled over and went back to sleep, before getting up and getting into a few games. Snacking on sugar all day, then going to bed about 1 am after successfully completely nothing. "This" I thought, "was living." This continued for a whole month, getting up, stumbling over to the shops for a milkshake, grabbing my laptop and going to my mate's place (The mate that would eventually become my housemate.)


Although, when I look back on it now, it was a time a didn't really like that much, I don't really remember much of that month at all. The time I do remember gaming and going over my mate's place, was during the last weeks of year 11 and first weeks of year 12 when I should of be doing other things. And I remember it so well because I remember that sinking feeling in my stomach of the work I had to complete later that night.


The month after that, I also remember, because it was very tense. After hearing how badly I'd gone,  sitting through a STAT test (Which is VERY annoying more than anything, because the entire time you're saying to yourself "I should have done better, I shouldn't need to sit this. FYI, there was about 70 people sitting it when I did it, so a lot of people are not being good at English.) being relieved to find out that I had been accepted into TAFE, AND THEN... The uni acceptance letter arrived. After the initial happiness wore down, I had to ask myself a serious question:


Am I good enough for uni? 


I hand out my only piece of advice that I have said before and will say again. If you EVERY get to consider this question, YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH. Why?


Because uni is still learning. It's still a challenge and if you get offered, except for very rare circumstances, you are good enough for uni.


Lachlan, only 1/3 of people who enter uni graduate.


Shut up statistics man,  It's getting better... All of the people I knew for my first couple of units are getting through. Some people are repeating units, some have completely changed courses, the fact is, they're going to finish - And I think, as long as you go in with that finish what you start mentality nothing will stop you.


But the fact was getting that letter told me "It was not all for naught, and you have something to do this year." Although lots of people take gap years, some benefit, some don't, some crash and burn during uni due to the fact they didn't take them. Some don't take them and find themselves three years later with an almost degree and 1 and a 1/2 pies.


And that's the main reason I was overjoyed at this. I'm not just a guy with a degree, I'm a guy with a degree and a direction. As much as I love doing nothing, I realise that nothing is the last thing I want to be doing right now, to be in the knowledge that I will not get to thirty seven and never drive a sport car through Paris wearing a Cossack (Oh come on, we all know there is never warm wind in Paris.). Okay let's lose the melodrama, not be any further than doing IT support. I love IT support, I can get paid very well doing IT support, but I wanna be further up the tree and leave a better mark than just making sure all the printers work. I know all the printers working is VERY important, I just feel I can leave a bigger, better mark.


Okay, not the direction I thought I was going to be. But, if we all ended up exactly where we thought we'd be, that is, where we wanted to be, things would be boring, and I wouldn't be where we're NEEDED to be. Originally I though I was going to Curtin, and this blog MIGHT HAVE NEVER OF EXISTED. Scary thoughts.


I know it's weird to say it, but I kinda secretly believed I always would end up in Brisbane. IBM, I applied for, was told, If successful, you'll most likely go to Brisbane. ABS, if successful, you'll be going to Brisbane. ATO, if successful, you'll end up in Canberra, no ifs, ums or buts.


And would you look at that, ATO, Brisbane. I love the universe when it does stuff like that.


I find myself incredibly lucky, I mean, I know a lot of people said "Dude, ATO? Seriously?" And I'm like "Only grad program that let me in (Okay, that probably says something about their grad program.)." And I'm actually cool with that, re-reading some of the things I'd be doing. ATO was something I applied for just cause it was there and I wasn't too late too. Each of their things was always at an annoying time for me (on a Saturday or a day I was suppose to be at work.) And I always said to myself. "I'm going to end up working for them, it'll teach me for being annoyed at them for not working with my schedule."


Provided I get on rotation to do with security, or IT strategy, I'm REALLY looking forward to it. I've got purpose. Purpose is a lot like spam, it's always sitting there at the back of the cupboard, but when you've got nothing else is the one thing you'll set out to find. Wow, that started out as BS but actually came together quite nicely. I just know that there was a possibility that I could come out of uni and have nowhere to go. But I've got 4426.4 km to go.


So, back to my pie.


Damn, this is delicious. Although I'm regretting working three days a week for the rest of the department's semester, I'm regretting only having 4 days in which to find a place (Well, 4 days physically in Brisbane.), thank you internet for providing me pictures of beautiful properties that I cannot afford, and allowing me to see opening times that I can live in them for 45 minutes. That kinda is interesting, in a couple of weeks, I'll be legally responsible for a property, and that's scary. Mentally responsible for getting myself to work, finding things to do on weekends. Gonna be one hell of a trip.


Note of housekeeping, a particular reader was questing me about the random blue text appearing throughout some posts.


This means you can mouse over and click on the text to link you to a website, websites in this particular blogs are normally expansions of poor jokes, attempts at sarcasm, or puns. I mean, it's not like blue underlined text has been the main referencer to linking between website since the BEGINNING OF THE INTERNET. OH WAIT. Well, granted, you can actually change that blue colour to a different colour in the settings of most browsers, but lately it's being taken over by CSS. I will admit being guilty of putting hyperlinks very close together, such as each word in a sentence. I know that's annoying, but I can so I will.


Okay, now I've finished that pie. On to the next one. Hmmm Bacon and mash...


So I'm sitting there and I realise, that this will probably be the most insignificant moment of the next few months. I love doing nothing, but I only like doing nothing as a present and future tense. The thought of remembering only days of doing nothing sickens me. If I hadn't immortalised this in a post, I would probably think that I had a choc mint milkshake. Also delicious, but I wanted a richer flavour that day, choc mint is good when you want something cool and refreshing with a bitter aftertaste that is not bitter enough to ruin the taste.


I'm not joking what I said before about exams, the thing is, if I don't feel tense now about possibly not completing my units, or needing to take a detour in completing my units such as pleading on my hands and knees to my program chair that I need to be exempted from units I failed, because I have a job starting shortly.








ahem.


I have been asked by my program chair to explain that he, nor any other program chair, will not give out exemptions to anybody, but only in VERY select and rare circumstances.  Oh come on, you know I know my stuff I CAN INSTALL WEBMIN!


Okay, now I've been asked by the management of Aquila Septem Pty. Lmtd. Inc. to admit that I didn't actually install webmin on the image that was submitted. Fantastic. 


Okay. Is that everything I wanted to say... Hmmm.. Think so. Summing up. I believe I did well in my exams, and if that is true, I can feel I've truly earned my new job next year. And it will at least take Roa Wait I'm not revealing my next blog title yet... Well, it will give it a form of content, and a way for my parents to know I'm still okay and provide play-by-play descriptions of how females in Queensland get just as freaked out as those in W.A., How to hide the holes you've drilled in your rental property in order to successfully implement your star topology in order to get your bond back, and how to lobby for a Jesters to be built.


Speaking of creeping out females. Found out that the source for the statistics I used last time came from an all girls uni. 


Interesting Fact #1: There are all girl uni's


Interesting Fact #2: There are at least 5 females doing Computer Science at this uni


Interesting Fact #3: Given that, there is the possibility for a really terrible virgin/geek threesome...


Interesting Fact #4: My mother reads this blog as I say more in a post than I will in a month, and I'm not sure if she should be 


but they will be my main venting point during Queensland so I hope she does continue reading them


Now I can't show you graffiti of the week, cause I'm saving up stuff for next post, so I will show you this image

Acer Approved Repair Center? I believe you've underestimated my skills.

In case you are wondering, yes, I got this laptop all back together, with all it's original screws, and fixed the problem (The LCD wasn't working.)