(no subject)

[msss]

It's been a good day. I worked out something for the testing team which they didn't know. I feel happy and productive. (For a whole half hour's work!) But I did stay at uni late last night to get document updates done. And this was directly related to the product and not QA.

My troubles with faculty have been sorted out. Since I worked my way thoroughly through the lower echelons, I finally hit someone with a) a clue about what had happened over the last few years, b) the ability to count, and c) enough seniority to tell everyone else to get off my back. Basically, I was over the current point limit of 300 because bits of my course have been removed (don't even start me on compromising academic standards) due to my double degree status. And they changed the point value of subjects midway.

I have been accepted by the International Office at Melbourne for the exchange. We're currently negotiating with Toronto for subjects. But it looks good! :) Also been broadening my horizons, doing some intensive reading on Sharia and also just attended a lecture on policy-making in Vietnam. Tomorrow a writer from the New York Times is coming down to the Law School to give a lecture on Human Rights and Sovereignty. Fascinating topic, and links in particularly well with the article soon to be published in the August edition of the review.

I think I'm finally getting over the really crappy flu I've had for the last couple of weeks. I spent a whole weekend in bed, basically unconscious, and then had a week of exhaustion. Seems to be gone now though, but I have so much work to catch up... *sigh*

Overall, all good. Life is varied and happy and interesting. I hope the same for you all.

Comments

You're finishing uni

[mijbril.livejournal.com]

at the right time. You won't have to suffer the indignation of the Liberals destroying higher education around you. Pity those of us that have some time to go yet. But if you go into academia, you will suffer more still. I see it & hear it every day from my partner. Think carefully about your next steps....

Re: You're finishing uni

[msss.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've seen enough of it already. The shorter uni semester because they ran out of money to run the final week. I mean, who needs that last week of basic maths? Not us engineers...

I worry for my sister, going into uni next year (we hope). I worry about the future of the country. But I'm going into commercial practice, for sure. And then I'm going to use every cent to bring those god-forsaken economic rationalists down.

Careful

[mijbril.livejournal.com]

Once you're out there in the commercial world, it's like the Borg. "You will be assimilated." I imagine that even Brendan Nielsen & Peter Costello once had dreams of free, quality higher education for every Australian citizen. (Not Howard though, the poison dwarf doesn't dream.)

Universities are for their staff, nothing if not the intellectual equivalent of a sheltered workshop. ie, sheltered from the harsh realities of the commercial world.