Recently, I just received a letter from University of Newcastle, inviting me to attend my graduation ceremony. At last, the long awaited moment has come. MY 1.5 years of exhaustive diligence has finally bore fruit. Yes, I'm rewarded a piece of paper. With some wordings on it. And a stamp maybe. And a signature by an Aussie.
Now I'm still wondering why I was "conned" or rather convinced into applying for this course as my friends(of course we became classmates) psychoed me saying," Hey come on lah, this course so cheapo, some more with our powers combine, we can complete our assignments easily with half our efforts." In the end, I seemed to have put in twice the effort.
Haha, but I still want to thank the guys for bringing me to such a great challenge; work and study at the same time really is not my piece of cake. I suck at time management, and being a slacker really "contributes" to the the suckiness.
But I realised I got great fighting spirit along the way. I could sacrifice my sleep and toiled through day and night just to finish an assignment, and never even thought of giving up.
Other than complimenting myself, I owe my success to this beloved laptop which I'm using now. Although it has arrived late, but the final months of projects could not be completed without this Dell system. I used to work with it for days and it never complained, and it never exploded like some Dell did.
Of course, I had to thank all my loved ones for giving me the patience and understanding I needed during this "bacheloring" period, and I must admit my temper could not be worse when assignments kept piling in with time limits comparable to a Mario game.

Here's what the letter says:
Graduation Package - $250 ($100 refundable when you return the academic dress).
Additional guest ticket for graduation ceremony - $25 each
Alumni Dinner - $40
Guest ticket for Alumni Dinner - $60 each.

I don't seem excited at all. And the more I look at the price, I feel like sending the "Just mail me the cert" form. Yah yah, they say once in a lifetime, but I might really puke to see myself in that dress with square top cap(or helmet? coz it looks heavy).
For the Alumni Dinner, I would be killing myself if I went for that. Firstly, all the classmates I knew where the few who kindly recommended me this course. I don't remember talking to anyone else in the campus. Oh, we did talk to the security guard to convince him to let us open the gate to slot in our late submissions of assignments. Secondly, going to a dinner at $40, I would rather we classmates gather somewhere for a dinner. Definitely ample times cheaper. Lastly, I don't think they will provide vegetarian food.

1 Comment

1. michael on November 12, 2006 1:03 pm

   Dear Guntaobu
   
   You may be delighted to know that there is now an unofficial University of Newcastle (NSW) Alumni Blog!
   
   Do pay us a visit.