It is finished!

Sat for my final subject exam today ... after two years and six semesters ... I have finally completed the Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance. There has been a lot of pain, blood (well, not really...) sweat and tears (mostly it's stress) ... but it's finally finished!

I got exempted for two subjects and had to complete 6 subjects.

• Securities Industry Law and Ethics - good introduction to the regulation that applies in Australia
  
• Interest Rate Markets and Risk Management - very interesting, enjoyed doing this subject
  
• Risk Management for Finance Sector Enterprises - very poorly written. There were a lot of errors in the notes and they stopped doing face-to-face lectures. They also scheduled the exam before the assignment, but because it was so poorly prepared, the exam ended up being cancelled.
  
• Technical Analysis - this one did my head in, looking at charts and looking for patterns. The language was funny too ... like - powerfully broke through resistance levels... etc etc. Wish the technical analysts could use more down-to-earth language. Also, the online lectures were not very good - as they were referring to something but the animatedly doing something else. Felt completely lost!
  
• Futures and Options Markets and Trading - this went pretty well. The forum facilitator was very helpful in explaining all the different little things about options...
• Foreign Exchange Markets - The forum facilitator started an exam bootcamp and put up various questions that we could encounter ... and everybody tried to answer them and helped each other out, explaining the approaches and the answers. By far, the most "fun" I've had doing a subject, but with the same amount of stress!

So yes, after 2 years ... it is done ... I'm very likely to pass this one ... so I think it's done. :) On to the next project ... and that is wedding plans!! Maybe a holiday would be nice... oh and Christmas is coming!! :) And Cheng is coming for Christmas... :) Yay! Fun times ahead.

In memory of ... a childhood friend.

A few days ago... I found out that a friend I had in school had died last year ... we went to the same primary school together, were in the same class for about 4-5 years, she was fairly competitve (as was I), and we were friends... playing basketball, being "Brownies" and going to campfires, talking about boys - the usual stuff 12-year-old girls talk about. She and another friend had huge crushes on the boyband of the early 90's - New Kids on the Block. :P

Then we went to secondary school - and though it was the same school, we were in different classes - and our circle of friends changed and we drifted apart. She went on to do Advertising and I went towards Finance. One time, quite randomly, I bumped into her, at a resort where I was attending a conference or something like that interstate in Malaysia. We didn't say much - just "Hi" (as it was at the lift) and that was it. That was probably 6-7 years ago.

Then, about two years ago, when I finally joined Facebook - I thought I'd look her up. Added her to my list of friends but didn't quite make any other contact. A while later though - I thought she sort of disappeared from facebook. I tried searching for her again but I couldn't find her profile. I figured she'd had enough of it (as it does suck up a lot of time) and that was all there was to it.

So, I was really shocked to hear that she had died last year... and even more shocked to hear that she had fallen to her death. I really don't have all the information (if any, at all) ... I just feel so saddened by this. I feel bad for not having made a proper connection. Could I have done anything to help? Why didn't I make a connection? She was only 29 with potentially, so much more ahead of her. I don't understand it. Why???

I also feel really sorry for her parents ... she was an only child. :(

So all I can say now, is "Goodbye, old friend" ... although belatedly... I hope you're with God now and that He has taken away all your hurts and all your pain.

Virgin Blue - Fool's Gold

Last week, I received an email from Velocity Rewards, the loyalty program of Virgin Blue saying that my member status had been upgraded to Gold (for a year). Now given that I'm about 25% of the way to Silver ... I thought, wah... this is a super bonus! The perks are fairly good, the main stand-out benefits being use of the Velocity Lounge as well as free luggage allowance (that's worth $10 each way). Now, as I didn't think I'd earned enough points to warrant a free generous upgrade like that, I thought it was because I recently signed up with V-Insiders, this invite-only forum/discussion room moderated by Virgin Blue, to get people's opinions etc about the airline industry and get feedback on future promotions.

Unfortunately... it was a HUGE mistake!!! They sent that upgrade email to what could be, everyone on their members database. Within 3 hours, they sent an email - saying that the first one was sent out in error and they blamed Friday the 13th. Man, what a let-down. The local newspapers carried this story the following Monday... and people got upset, demanding compensation, etc. As much as I was not pleased or impressed with this whole fiasco, I was really disappointed when I found out it was an error. I don't expect them to honour the first email, (they'd probably lose money and go out of business) but what a letdown! The Velocity website has since taken off their announcement that they made a mistake sending the upgrade email to everyone (within a week) ... like they want to forget about it quickly ... I'm writing about it, so it at least stays on my blog! :P Also, since this happened, the person who was moderating the forums @ V-Insider, seems to be missing-in-action. :P Some further explanation would have been good.


But anyway, as much as I was/am disappointed by this - flying with them is still better than flying with Tiger Airways... so better they stay in business than they go out of business and I have to travel with Tiger...