Hearty Breakfast...

Breakfast is the same everyday but it seem to taste better this morning... Maybe 'coco pop' is finally back after the stock ran out a few days back. I had orange juice, 'coco pop' cereals with milk, yogurt with peaches and a piece of toasted margarine bread spread with rich nutella. =)

There is in influx of emails from Mr Aaron Tan and Dr Pan SL with regards to my application for my UROP (University Research Opportunity Program). This module (worth 8 modulars credits) will also be my ISM (Independent Study Module) under the advanced usp modules. By no chances am I going to choose a programming project... =) I have just submitted my online application for Dr Pan's project... The details are as follows:

Project ID	U093030
Title	the Role of Information Technology in coordinating the relief effort of the Tsunami of December 2004
Proposer	pansl
Description	Crisis situations are difficult to prepare for because crises strike in unanticipated ways. When the tsunami swept the shores of several countries in December last year, it was unanticipated in most of those shores. Close to three million were killed leaving millions more to deal with the after effects of the disaster. The remains of the disaster were shattered families, completely destroyed communities and ruined means of livelihood. In the process of managing such a disaster, information technologies played a crucial role providing support services such as information dissemination, supporting lost family members, gathering and channeling aid to the affected regions, mobilizing much needed volunteers to the massive rescue and relief operations and now in channeling resources towards rebuilding affected communities. This project proposes identifying activities that were supported through information technologies and studying their role in detail. Crisis management systems will benefit from a detailed study of such use of information technologies. Key lessons learnt from the analysis of such data should also be compared with a review of crisis management research literature.
Skill	Strong writing skill. Independent desktop research ability is required.

Dr Pan called me from Singapore for a short chat with regards to the 2 projects that he has proposed. I told him that I will make a decision by yesterday night. Yeah, and my choice is the one above... I chose this project over the "E-Government Initiatives" as I feel that there is more room to explore for the former and it is much more interesting albeit more challenging than the latter. This project may also give me access to some sensitive military information on how SAF actually employed IT to coordinate the Tsunami relief operations. At this point in time, I realised something that is very coincident: take a look at my project ID; they bear my favourite numbers 3 and 9!

Going to accompany Cindy to the Student Flights to buy domestic flight tickets for the rest. I will not be going Sydney and Auckland with them... But I'll be going Sydney at another date my friends from Singapore... But I will have to wait till monday to confirm the flight details. =)

Ciao for now... Need to pack up my room a little and take some photos for Wilbert before I shift to a double room tonight. Peirro, from University of Paris, who is in currently in UQ for internship will be taking over my room....... It is rather comical to listen to Cindy converse to him in her 'half-bucket' french... =)

8am in the morning...

8 Mar 05 (Tuesday)

Making full use of a day...

It is now 8am in the morning (09 Mar 05)!!! I am feeling a little groggy now as I slept at 4am last night due to the caffeine in the Cuppachino I took at Milton last night. Spent some time telling my friend about the stuff she need to know for the Australia trip... (My Hello prepaid was used up!) I thought I can skip breakfast today and have a good sleep through the morning... And guess what... the neighbouring house switched on their machinery from 7am in the morning!!!!!!!!!!!! Arghz.... Okie... Enough of complaints... Time to make full use of this brand new day... It will start with finishing up with all the unfinished entried of my blog, followed by emailing my professors...

I spent some time snapping up photographs of the creative vandalisms on the tables of the lecture theatre yesterday morning. I must they they are much more artistic than those we have back in Singapore... Met up withh Chee Meng outside the UQ Arts Museum to view the Tatau exhibition:

Pe'a: Photographs by Mark Adams Measina Samoa: Stories of the Malu, a film by Lisa Taouma

Featuring the compelling photographs of Mark Adams and an experimental film by Lisa Taouma, TATAU is an exhibition examining the origins, history and practice of Samoan tattooing and it's contemporary significance. Bringing into focus the pe'a or traditionally male tattoo, and the malu or traditionally female tattoo, TATAU explores Samoan tattooing from a contemporary perspective.

The exhibition was insightful as I never knew that tatoo is actually a symbol of power and status in some of the family in New Zealand... Even the women tatooed themselved too! One great difference between these tatoo and the commercial ones is that the patterns are usually abstract and repetitive in nature...

As I was having lunch under a tree in Great Court, a spat of 'shit' fell onto my pants from the tree above... Arghzzz.... I was lucky to have finished off my sandwiches before the misfortune was donned upon me. Oh yaz, did I mention that the male toilets here have condom vending machines (look at the inset i the collage above) before?

Went to Milton in the night for coffee with Hong Ee, Jolene, Cindy, Gladys, her bf, Mika & Fumie... It was Chee Meng who first introduced the place to me and he mentioned that there is a mini-effiel tower which is about 3 storeys high there... We hunted for the beer ice-cream clemmie has mentioned... but there is no sign of it there... I will enquire with her soon... Before I end this entry, I found out the japanese pronounciation of my name from Mika, it is: Yu Su Kou!

First Try at Beach Volley Ball at UQ

7 Mar 05 (Monday)

Beach Volley Ball in UQ. (There is no ocean but the sand is like those in Gold Coast)

The first and only lecture of the day was Operating Systems. Cindy sat in for the lecture and she mentioned that she did not understand a sentence of what the lecturer was talking about... Hahaz... Well, I am not better off... I think I only get about 30% of what the lecturer was speaking about at this stage in time. Stay with Cindy at the Rooftop Cafe at the Faculty of BEL (Business, Economics & Law) after my lecture... She was waiting for her tennis classes to commence at 4 pm while I was waiting to join in for the beach volleyball at 5pm... I spent the time doing my software engineering assignment and attempted the OS tutorial.... The latter wasn't easy to do at all... It is so ironic that the computer is invented by Man and yet it is so difficult to comprehend by Man.... Or is it just me? Hahaz

Beach Volleyball was fun but I think I hit the ball too hard at times; and for that, we have to send Hong Ee running after the ball a couple of times... =)

Sunshine Coast...

6 Mar 05 (Sunday)

A brief pictorial summary of the day...

Discovery of the day

1.) Drank my first Heineken (half a bottle) - bitter... =2.) Had my first uncooked oyster soaked in lemon juice...
3.) Collected seagull feathers from King's beach
4.) Realised that Toni's Merc bears my favourite numbers (9 and 3)[My favourites are 3, 6, 9]

We almost did not made it back to the lodge as Toni's petrol indicator was at 'E' in some small town... After asking for direction to the nearest petrol station, he cruised all the way down the road... He asked us if we had stayed overnight in a car before, he said it could be our first... =) Fortunately, the car did not failed Toni and we made it to the petrol station successfully..... (we actually go against the arrow in a one-way street coz we could see no other way to reach the petrol station...)

Kings Beach

6 Mar 05 (Sunday)

Kings Beach @ Sunshine Coast!

Kings Beach seems to be a better beach to surf and play in compared to those beaches in Gold Coast... The waves are higher and you get the companionship of numerous seagulls in the sky... Sunshine Coast is not as commercialise as Gold Coast where the backdrop is cast with high-rise commercial buildings... Hence, it is a much better place to recuperate and enjoy the really strong wind...

6 Mar 05 (Sunday)

View from the top of Glass House Mountains ...

If I have read correctly, those humps in the panormic photograph above are actually volcanic plugs... =) It is really a breath-taking view up there... Thanks to Toni for driving us up this mountain... =)