Scary Brisbane

Ok, I’m not trying to exaggerate. But it seems that Brisbane’s violence is increasing. There were 2 separate ’stabbing’ incidents, both happened in the Brissy’s City Centre within a month. The victims were stabbed in the neck in the public place (shopping centre) during busy hours and it happened during the day, not at night!! It’s so scary, isn’t it?? Read the other news here.

About a month ago, a thief broke into 3 units at the apartment where I live. He used a special tool to break the deadlocks to get into the units. And strangely enough, he only stole laptops. I was freaking out!! I thought my apartment was one of the safest! You can’t even go inside the building without a keycard. Safetiness was one of the issues arisen when we’re about to find a house/apartment. Because I’ve heard so many stories about theft in Brisbane. Since we knew that this apartment has a good security system with 24 hours “guardian” (our property manager stays in the same apartment, so he could be approached easily when something happens), we decided to live here. It’s been a year since I first moved here, and really, nothing bad happened. But it scares Jenny, Mayu, and I ever since the incident happened. We live in the first floor, facing the main street. So somebody can actually jump up into our balcony very easily. Anyway, our property manager installed the new deadlocks and the thief was captured already. Apparently he had broken into 79 units!!!

Ok… let’s forget about those scary stuffs. Hmm.. I’ve been enjoying my own life this semester (not only this semester, the previous one also). No, nothing big happened, but it’s just so enjoyable hehe. I guess I feel so great to live without having to demand and ask for everything. I’ve had enough; great friends, a wonderful Uni life, a slow-and-almost-dying-but-working laptop, and a cozy house. And that makes me happy already. I’m grateful, thankful, and lucky, thank God… I always remember that when I was a kid I always complained about my life for whatever reasons. And I’m glad that nowadays I have nothing to complain. It feels great… it just makes you happy all the time.

I’m learning many stuffs this semester and I’ve been keeping myself busy+fun! C++ language fascinates me. It’s quite easy, knowing that my first language is C. The lecturer of that particular course is also a student adviser whom I have talked to for so many times. He’s so nice and very dedicated to his students. I’m also learning about “.NET package” which includes DTD, XML, SOAP, ASP, and C#. I’ve been so curious about .NET and I’m glad that UQ offers a course which covers that technology. There’s a project to build a library system which dues on the end of semester. It’s a group project so it’s gonna be fine hehehe. My team consists of 4 people; Chris, Richard, the ‘other’ Chris, and myself. Two Chris-es in our group, one is an ABC and the other is a Singaporean. Richard is an Australian. I’ve been teaming up with the ‘original’ Chris for 3 straight semesters hehe. He must be so bored of that!! We sometimes have lunch together with Jerry at the Pizza Shop. Both Chrises are my good friends at UQ. They are funny and know how to treat and respect girls hehehe. I like to hangout with people who think that money and appearance are not the most important thing in this world.

I also learnt a little bit about Ruby language and Ruby On Rails (RoR). I even borrowed a book about ruby so I can learn more. But I gave up so easily hahaha… the RoR application itself is too confusing for me. I still need time to get used to it. I also read quite a number of interesting books. The latest one was
this book by Carmen Bin Ladin who was married to Osama bin Ladin’s half brother. I don’t really like the book though. I expected something more detail than that, particularly about Osama. But it helps me to understand that Bin Ladin family is one of the most powerful families in Saudi Arabia who has a very close connection with the royal family. It’s hard to deny that NONE of the family members (and some powerful Princes) financially support Osama to do his dirty job, knowing that he has 54 siblings! Well, where else does he get the money from?? Anyway, I’m now reading a book titled Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books. Have a good weekend, everyone!