Straight into the thick of things...

This year is a strange year in Adelaide. Usually, Easter falls in our 2-week mid-semester break. This year however, we only have our 4-day weekend for Easter and will only be having our mid-semester break in 2 weeks. Man, I'm so looking forward to the holidays. Easter was fun. As usual I went to church and it was packed to the brim with people having to stand at the entrance. The rest of the day was more or less uneventful because all the shops were closed. Monday was our Pharmacy group trip to Semaphore which was to allow the group of us who came here in first year to mix around with the new SIT students who came this year (3rd year). The trip was great with more than 30 people tagging along. We enjoyed a pot-luck lunch and involved ourselves with a game of monkey (where I was victimised simply because I chose to make the game more interesting by bouncing the ball off others to make them the monkey), walks on the beach and football. Haven't had a group trip in a while so it was rather fun.

I spent the whole day today (Wednesday) in the office again. This time it was like 9am to 5.30pm. Then went for a Golden Key meeting at 6pm and came back after about 15 minutes. Had problems with the media today. Our Association Council resolved to disaffiliate from the national postgraduate students association, CAPA earlier this year following the submission that was tabled by last year's president. CAPA are really crap and we pay them tens of thousands of dollars for practically nothing in return. I don't have any regrets attempting to disaffiliate from them. However, someone leaked the submission to the media and they are pouncing on it. I was warned that the media may twist our proposal to disaffiliate into fuel to support VSU citing that student funds are not being used properly by student organisations and such. As a result, I had to twist the story around and claim that it was because of the Government's intention to introduce VSU that we had to disaffiliate as a cost saving measure. Thank goodness the article in today's newspaper reported my comment accurately. Spent most of the day formulating media releases and considering what to do with the disaffiliation meeting on Monday. Managed to sort out most of it by the end of the day. I intended to spend some time studying in office today but wasn't able to due to this issue and me having to attend 3 meetings today.

Was watching American Idol today while having dinner. Simon seems to be getting a little soft in my opinion. Probably because Paula tries to suffocate him with her "affection" every time there is a hint that he may want to criticise a contestant. It's a pity though. Simon can be a real dick at times but you must admit that he really knows his stuff. I mean, if you look at it closely enough, Simon has the best skills at observing the whole performance of a contestant and is able to identify key points that add or subtract to the contestant's performance. People get angry and frustrated when Simon is mean but honestly, they act that way only because they are unable to accept the truth about themselves. Can't some of these rubbish performers look at themselves in the mirror? Some of them are so atrociously bad and yet they have the audacity to question the judges' decision. Oh well, humans are well known for the sin of pride.

My Malaysian Students Association AGM is coming up in two days. Sent a few e-mails to remind everyone about it. I really hope many good people turn up. I would have really liked to see MySA develop into a strong association and I really regret not putting more effort into it. Nothing much I can say though because my priorities last year were towards the Students Association General Elections. Oh well, I'll just have to make sure I give a lot of support and encouragement to the new president. I really hope I can get a dedicated and skillful president backed by a strong and supportive committee. Then at least I'll be satisfied that my effort put into establishing the club does not go to waste.

Managed to put some time into study tonight. I have a Pharmacology test next Friday so I'd better get studying. After all, I need to make sure I do well in all my papers so that I can not only keep my job but be respected for being able to handle both my job and studies well. It's interesting that our HR Manager, Simone pointed out today that I was studying and yet I came into office more often than any other President she has worked with. I thought I wasn't coming in enough! Made me feel good though that no one was thinking I wasn't around enough. Don't want to fall into Leisa's situation. I hope things settle down soon so I can give enough time to my studies...