As February 2009 was coming to an end, so was the unpaid holiday, and two choices were left standing as the possible next step:
- go back to Melbourne, should the uni approve my request to continue the study for one more semester and complete the degree; otherwise
- get to Zadar from Singapore without the use of the aeroplane transportation in time for Puhi's wedding on the 30th of May. I gladly accepted Puhi's ultimate compliment to be his best man a few years earlier.
Luckily, I passed the two out of three subjects while studying during the August-December 2008 semester at NUS. Thus, providing the proof to the UniMelb that my leave of absence has not gone beyond 2 years - one of the sticky points - and more importantly, a justification to resurrect my degree from the ashes.
I enrolled into Knowledge Management class. Landed in Melbourne on the 5th of March 2009, just in time to make it to my 1st class of the semester. Taking all the events that took place prior this into consideration, it's needless to say that I enjoyed the study like never before. For a change, I did the work as it was suppose to be done - to the best of my ability, and on time. The subject did not have the final exam - a lucky coincidence, as I choose it quickly based on the 'sexy title' (as Ray might say) - so I managed to arrange to make it to Puhi's wedding and stay for half a year - if not more - away from Melbourne. After the wedding, there was two more weeks of school work that I did remotely while in Zadar. Gratitude goes to the KM teaching team and my project group who OK-ed my contribution to be provided remotely. When it came to the last bit of work, the individual component, I did well, but not as well as I could have. At the end of the day, the grade did not matter so I compromised my effort on the final component in favour of enjoying the time being back home-home. The main objective was just to pick up few more credit points and close the chapter on the formal education (at least for now). In addition, being a teacher for a while, I knew that the work done for the group project was by itself already adequate for a decent final grade. After the final submission - the individual component - the feeling of contentment/happiness/pride was making me do the triple-backward-flips - in my head that is. On the outside, I just had a slight grin. Actually, thinking about I grin now as well. In the end, I ended up with 83% for the finial subject mark, and with it successfully completed the journey that started back in February 2002.
On the 8th of August 2009, they will call out my name -in the absence for the third ceremony of this kind (plan changed) - during the graduation for The Master of Information Systems...!
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Thirst for Travel:
As the unpaid holiday was approaching to an end, and with no news from the UniMelb, option of going back to uni was becoming less and less likely, and simultaneously, option b) more and more exciting by the each passing day: to travel lightly - very lightly - from Singapore to Zadar on trains and buses, slowly moving from on place to another... At the end of the February, with the approval to continue the study finally secured, part of me was sad that the option b) will have to stay on the back burner until the next opportunity... maybe to (motor)bike the route.
I enrolled into Knowledge Management class. Landed in Melbourne on the 5th of March 2009, just in time to make it to my 1st class of the semester. Taking all the events that took place prior this into consideration, it's needless to say that I enjoyed the study like never before. For a change, I did the work as it was suppose to be done - to the best of my ability, and on time. The subject did not have the final exam - a lucky coincidence, as I choose it quickly based on the 'sexy title' (as Ray might say) - so I managed to arrange to make it to Puhi's wedding and stay for half a year - if not more - away from Melbourne. After the wedding, there was two more weeks of school work that I did remotely while in Zadar. Gratitude goes to the KM teaching team and my project group who OK-ed my contribution to be provided remotely. When it came to the last bit of work, the individual component, I did well, but not as well as I could have. At the end of the day, the grade did not matter so I compromised my effort on the final component in favour of enjoying the time being back home-home. The main objective was just to pick up few more credit points and close the chapter on the formal education (at least for now). In addition, being a teacher for a while, I knew that the work done for the group project was by itself already adequate for a decent final grade. After the final submission - the individual component - the feeling of contentment/happiness/pride was making me do the triple-backward-flips - in my head that is. On the outside, I just had a slight grin. Actually, thinking about I grin now as well. In the end, I ended up with 83% for the finial subject mark, and with it successfully completed the journey that started back in February 2002.
On the 8th of August 2009, they will call out my name -
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Thirst for Travel:
As the unpaid holiday was approaching to an end, and with no news from the UniMelb, option of going back to uni was becoming less and less likely, and simultaneously, option b) more and more exciting by the each passing day: to travel lightly - very lightly - from Singapore to Zadar on trains and buses, slowly moving from on place to another... At the end of the February, with the approval to continue the study finally secured, part of me was sad that the option b) will have to stay on the back burner until the next opportunity... maybe to (motor)bike the route.
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