MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
Enjoy your holidays and have a very Happy New Year!
This year, as I sat down to write Christmas cards, I realised that I hadn't got the addresses
of many people to whom I would like to send Christmas wishes/greetings.
Instead, I thought I should put up a webpage, and try to write individual messages to as many people as I could.
The general message is basically enjoy your holidays and good luck next millenium.
So, for those of you whom I knew before this year (and haven't seen too much of),
I wish I was better at keeping in touch. It's all been so different to school, but very enjoyable in many ways.
To those of you whom I only met this year, I'm really happy to have got to know such a great bunch of people.
I found uni life fairly hard to cope with in first session, but especially towards the end of the year,
I felt glad and relieved that I chose to study Comp Eng/Biomed.
Now, if your name's in the following list, please click on it.
I still have to get around to messages for some people :(
And, um, if your name's not here - sorry, perhaps I have yet to get to you ...
NB: to return to the top of the page, hit the 
button :)
Okay here goes (alphabetical order):
ANGE: Hey Ange! How was the end of the uni year for you?
Did you go as well in the second semester as you did in the first? (ie - just about straight HDs!)
I hope so. How are you enjoying your holiday over in Taiwan? I wish I was over there with you and Cham.
My laziness is a curse. Oh well - have a good time overseas - I'll see you when you get back to Sydney.
CHARMAINE: Hey Cham! You made it through 1st year med intact - congratulations!
Are you happy with your second session results?
I hope you're enjoying a well-deserved holiday off in Taiwan (are you going elsewhere afterwards?)
I'll see you when you get back to Sydney - just call me and I'll drive round as always. Bye!
CHRISTINA: Hey Christina! How are your holidays going?
I haven't seen you around that much these holidays - are you having a good break?
Hopefully you are - like all the rest of us, you deserve it after a difficult year of uni.
I'll see you soon.
DAVID: Hey David! I wish I could think of something really inspiring to say to you,
but my mind fails me here. It's been a bit of a strange year, all said and done.
However I'm glad I firstly chose this course, secondly continued with it, and thirdly got to know you through it.
How is life going in Canada? I hope you're as happy over there as I have found myself to be here in Aus.
Are you maintaining your #1 rank over there? Lemme know.
DIMITRI: Hey Dimitri! Yes - this is my lame attempt at some form of a webpage.
Um, I don't quite know what to say next. Well, how is it going on the job front?
Are you still working behind the scenes at Saurabh's internet cafe, or have you found a better-paying job?
Have fun with it, whatever it now is. Enjoy your hols and get ready for next year and life doing boring
subjects like accounting and economics!
GERALD: Hey gerald! How is work at the Chocolate Factory?
It's kind of like Maryam said - we don't see that you've put on too much weight yet! hehe.
So finally you've worked out your arts/sociology thing for next year? I hope you enjoy it -
Emma did that in her arts degree - she found it really suited her.
Have fun over the rest of the holidays!
JENNY YU: Yo jen - life seems so different now, compared to PLC, with all its
odd little conventions and rules - I love it. I wish we were heading Melbourne direction again this jan though.
Boy - that was so much fun :) Btw - got any groovee pics I could stick up on a webpage somewhere?
(I'm not really thinking about that one you mentioned in your last icq message!!!)
KEOGH: Hey Keogh!
I think one of the things I am going to remember from this year, is when you said to me,
"you're really quiet - has anyone ever told you that before?"
I have to say that the honest answer to that is a big "no!". When I told my 4U Maths teacher,
she just laughed at me - no matter how many times she said to me "be quiet" in lessons, it never happened.
Moving right along though, I hope you're surviving summer session ok - at least you've got Sil around!
Enjoy what holiday you get, and good luck in Comp 1B this time around.
LAYA: Hey laya! It was great to meet you through Maryam this year.
Thanks for introducing me to the wonders of Warringah Mall, however now Chatswood Westfield has been expanded,
I think I'll stay closer to home! What else can I say?
Enjoy your trip to Iran (was it?) - that was such a nice surprise for your parents to arrange for you.
LEO: Hey Leo! I know you're Buddhist, but still I feel I should wish you all the best
over the Christmas/New year period. Good luck with your Comp 1B over the summer -
at least you're in good company at uni there. It's great you got through Haskell the second time.
Hey - what's this I hear about Larissa (is that her name?) - the girl you're interested in?
I wanna know! Hehe - good luck in your pursuit of her!
LISA: Hey lise - it seems almost wrong to write you a Christmas message,
since we're in contact so often (and I'm always saying exactly the same things!)
But just a few irrelevant ramblings ... um, hopefully by the end of January, you've figured out where
the dresses in the Grace Bros. Youth Dept go ;) I'm sorry for my harsh criticism of BH;
I've had to face the fact that my James Bond obsession is no better! (shock horror!)
What else? Oh - I hope your uni results were okay - enjoy whatever computing subjects you pick up next year.
Enjoy the rest of your hols - I'll come by Grace Bros soon if I don't see you elsewhere.
MARC: Hi marc - enjoying your holiday over in Malaysia? I wish I was off
globe-trotting like you these holidays. Looking back over this year, you're kind of special in my memories
(already fading) of first yr uni. You're just about the only person with whom i was good friends with
both in first and second sessions. Everyone else I pretty much knew, but not in the same way. So thanx,
I guess, for being a piece of stability during an unsettling and difficult time.
I'll see you when you're back in Sydney again.
MARGARET: Hey margaret! It was great to get to know you during this year.
It's reassuring to know that at least for one person, the co-op scholarship is a source of real
happiness and content. I hope you're currently enjoying your IT.
MARYAM: I can still hear you laughing :) Well, that was my first thought, as
I sat down to write my individual message to you. Do you remember when we had lunch together for the very
first time - after the first discrete tutorial with jim franklin? I even remember what I ate!
But I'm getting side-tracked. Thanks for always being around, laughing (hehe - you're like a homing beacon)
and generally being really nice, even when you were perhaps worse off than myself.
MICHELLE HLAING: Hey Michelle! How are your holidays going?
I must say - congratulations on your 8(?)-month relationship with Toufic!
1) That's a long time for any two people to stay together, and
2) With Toufic? need I say more ...
Well - that's enough of being harsh. I hope things are going well now we've hit the holidays,
and I'll see you soon.
MICH TENG: Hey mich! What a different year it's been!
It's so strange that we studied such similar subjects in Year 12 and yet now we're enjoying such different
uni degrees. It's good though, that we both suit what we're doing (I think, at least).
How are you enjoying your break over in Hong Kong? I hope you're really having fun over there.
Gimme a call once you're back in Sydney.
NADINE: Hey Nadine! How are your holidays going?
You seemed pretty cheerful when I saw you last.
Hopefully I can join you and the others for New Years Eve and the day at the cricket :)
I'm looking forward to the next week or so.
Um, good luck next year in your software engineering studies - I hope all goes well.
NAVEED: The brain, huh?
I left that intro there for so long I feel I can't change it, now I'm writing this message proper.
It's ages since I saw you - how are the holidays going?
Are you still working for Saurabh's parents, or have you moved onto a better-paying job? hehe
Anyway - have a good holiday and good luck in your soft eng next year!
NAVODI: Hey Nav! How are things? It's so long since I spoke to you.
(But hey, that's probably my fault for not picking up the phone!)
Are you glad we've finally reached the end of they year? I'm really enjoying this luxuriously long holiday.
I hope you're also enjoying the break (what are you occupying yourself with - job? travel?).
See you soon hopefully :)
PAULO: Hey Paulo! Enjoying your holidays?
How's Digital going the second time around? (I guess you don't have Steve, the canadian guy, this time around).
You don't get any respite from uni, do you?
Oh well - you seem to be surviving just fine.
Good luck in that, and in everything you do next year.
PS - can I borrow your glasses until I next visit my optometrist?
PRIYANKA: Hey Priyanka! How are things going these holidays?
Did you manage to find a better job than Kmart? How are things, all that way out west?
Well, whatever the answers, I hope you're having a good holiday and enjoying the break from uni.
REX: Hey rex - do I really need to write you a message?
Now I've got that far, I feel tempted to leave it at that!
Nah - I have to say that I envy you and your easy Eastern suburbs life!
Everything's so convenient, especially over the summer:
a mere busride into the city, a bikeride into uni (where everyone seems to stay),
groovy table tennis tables close by, a handy supply of straws from your local Oporto's ...
Hmm - I'm turning green with envy (like my pool).
So, I'll leave it at: enjoy your nice, easy summer and good luck finding the motivation to
actually do work at uni next year!
ROB: Hey Rob! It's been fantastic having you around this year, there
to put Wolfgang in his place in Calculus lectures and there to consume frighteningly large and
concentrated amounts of caffeine! Thanks once more for your help in computing (hey - with your help
I got 10/10 in the first assignment!) I hope you're enjoying your summer and all the best in 2000.
ROSE: Hey Rose! It's been great getting to know you this year.
Through this year, from the loud start in discrete tutorials to the loud finish in elec lectures,
it's been lots of fun having your around in comp eng. How is your summer going?
Having fun with Paulo? Why did you have to steal away one of the more eligible guys? (hehe, just kidding and
no offense to any of you other guys!) Enjoy your hols!
SAM HIJWEL: Hey Sam - how are your holidays going?
Are you enjoying the nice break from the stress of uni? You are one of the most hard-working people I know -
I know I could never do Comp Eng and hold down 3 jobs simultaneously!
It was great that you managed to sort out that HECS problem - for both yourself and others.
So enjoy the holidays and good luck for next year.
SAM HU: Hey Sam! How are you enjoying your Actuarial IT?
Are you starting to feel that receiving a Co-op is not quite so worth it, now?
Perhaps that's unfair though - I really wish I had some work these holidays.
So really, I hope you're enjoying it, along with the rest of the course.
I'll see you soon hopefully - bye!
SILVIE: Hey Sil! Are you enjoying your holidays
(well, apart from your summer session digital that is) ?
Do you feel any different being like a paulo/sean person rather than one of us comp eng people?
Hehe - I suppose not. I hope you find that it suits you better than comp eng did.
Good luck with it all, and enjoy the summer (out west - or more like, "to infinity and beyond"!)
STEVEN: Well - where to start? You've continually done so much for me this year.
Perhaps I should have taken your initial advice and never started Comp Eng, but I've set off down the path now.
Thanks for always giving me your time whenever I needed it and driving me home all those Thursday nights.
You've constantly given both help and (usually) useful words when I needed it and supplied me with handy contacts.
And even when you were torn between which job to take up in 2000, it was reassuring that I could look at that
and see what I was aiming towards with this degree. Overall - a huge thank you.
I hope you have a great holiday over in Hong Kong and you enjoy your 3 months in Florida.
TOUFIC: Hey Toufic! How are the holidays? (or shouldn't I ask?)
Are you finding plenty of things to amuse you on the web? (hey - can that parrot program of yours
speak my name?) I was sorry to hear that you failed your computing sup exam :(
I hope summer session (you're doing it now, aren't you?) goes well for you.
Good luck with that - keep yourself amused!
YVETTE: Hey yvette! Well - you got through a year at Macquarie Uni ok.
How is your planned transfer to Sydney uni going? Hopefully you can get into law there next year - good luck.
For now though - enjoy your holiday off in France (how I envy you) and a Parisian New Years Eve.
I'll see you when you arrive back in Sydney - bye!
© Jasmine Hellings, Dec 1999